I hate engine monitors

[M20F]

I just wanted the first post to be controversial. 

[carusoam]

Way to go Mike!

-a-

[David Lloyd]

New engine monitor 

What the heck

Why is it doing that

Temps are exact 

But not exactly expected

Pressures are jumpy

It’s like four engines up there

9.2, I always thought 9 or so

Did this mayhem just begin

Or was it like this forever 

So many new things

Now to worry over

Was fat, dumb any happy

Till I met you, JPI

May start diet tomorrow 

[PT20J]

It seems a lot of pilots secretly wished they had been flight engineers on DC-7s.

[Utah20Gflyer]

My least favorite thing about my JPI EDM 800 is the fuel flow. It jumps up and down every second through a range of 2 to 3 gallons.  Seems like they could have averaged it over 15 or 30 seconds, I'd happily take a short delay to get a consistent number.  

[ArtVandelay]

My least favorite thing about my JPI EDM 800 is the fuel flow. It jumps up and down every second through a range of 2 to 3 gallons.  Seems like they could have averaged it over 15 or 30 seconds, I'd happily take a short delay to get a consistent number.  

Make sure it’s installed correctly (horizontally, secure, and protected against heat ), best place is the firewall (footwell extension) IMHO.
If it is try cleaning it with some carb cleaner at next annual, it might be sticking.

[jaylw314]

7 hours ago, David Lloyd said:

New engine monitor 

What the heck

Why is it doing that

Temps are exact 

But not exact as expected

Pressures are jumpy

It’s like four engines up there

9.2, I always thought 9.5

Did this mayhem just begin

Or was it like this forever 

So many new things

Now to worry over

LOL, it's like a mutated haiku 

[larrynimmo]

My engine is an IO360 so my fuel flow is consistant…if you have an O360 carbureted, according to mike Busch the Jpi and be programmed for carbureted which smooths out the flow rates

[Greg Ellis]

1 hour ago, larrynimmo said:

My engine is an IO360 so my fuel flow is consistant…if you have an O360 carbureted, according to mike Busch the Jpi and be programmed for carbureted which smooths out the flow rates

It is relatively easy to fix.  It is in the programming mode on the JPI.  There are three levels of sensitivity.  They had set mine to the lowest level and it was all over the place.  I set it to 3 (the highest level) and it smoothed out tremendously.

[aviatoreb]

15 hours ago, M20F said:

I just wanted the first post to be controversial. 

Well it would have been more controversial if you said either

-I hate puppies.

or

-vanilla is really the best flavor.

-camguard is useless.

[A64Pilot]

A lot of the analysis paralysis comes from the measuring level being in excess of the accuracy. That’s just an example of what people have come to expect. 

Faced with which $10 multimeter to buy at Walmart, people will always buy the one that displays to three decimal points assuming of course it’s more accurate than one that only displays to one decimal point, but neither is actually accurate to one decimal point over the full range.

I have a lot of experience with the MVP-50T, one thing that helps is to observe the temps and pressures prior to start up, sometimes you can spot a transducer problem or thermocouple by observing it’s static readings.

But FF etc should be relatively stable without requiring averaging, they should be mounted with straight tubes on each end, you shouldn’t have a 90 on the FF transducer for example, the installation manual should cover this.

 

[Utah20Gflyer]

3 hours ago, larrynimmo said:

My engine is an IO360 so my fuel flow is consistant…if you have an O360 carbureted, according to mike Busch the Jpi and be programmed for carbureted which smooths out the flow rates

Thanks. I’m going to try this

[EricJ]

20 hours ago, M20F said:

I just wanted the first post to be controversial. 

If the airplane is on a treadmill, will the engine monitor still work?

Can you do touch-and-goes in a Mooney with an engine monitor?

Is shock cooling really a thing if the engine monitor says it is?

The engine monitor helps me to run LOP, which will destroy my engine, right?

 

 

[tmo]

1 hour ago, EricJ said:

The engine monitor helps me to run LOP, which will destroy my engine

from which it follows that the engine monitor will destroy my engine?

[EricJ]

5 hours ago, tmo said:

from which it follows that the engine monitor will destroy my engine?

That would support the OP's title case.

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by EricJ
Fixored speeling.

[M20F]

On 5/12/2022 at 6:49 PM, EricJ said:

That would support the OP's title case.

 

To be clear the OP was just being difficult I have a MVP-50 in mine.  That being said I do find engine monitors to be an over rated cult. 

[hais]

On 5/11/2022 at 4:12 PM, David Lloyd said:

New engine monitor 

What the heck

Why is it doing that

Temps are exact 

But not exactly expected

Pressures are jumpy

It’s like four engines up there

9.2, I always thought 9 or so

Did this mayhem just begin

Or was it like this forever 

So many new things

Now to worry over

Was fat, dumb any happy

Till I met you, JPI

May start diet tomorrow 

They do ruin the joy of flight. Bliss is wonderful!

[Wildhorsetrail]

So much data...so little time

[Marc_B]

12 hours ago, Wildhorsetrail said:

So much data...so little time

I tend to look at it in another way...look for the important stuff while you're flying, then you can download the data and look for trends, abnormalities, or to answer specific questions at your leisure.  Engine monitor AND flight recorder!

i.e. is my engine making full power, how are each of my CHTs, how are all of my plugs looking on mag check, etc.  Don't have to worry about recording that anywhere on my knee board note pad. 

I'm also of the mindset that sometimes by looking over these things you are subconsciously developing a background, and then when you see an anomaly it will actually "stand out" rather than blend into all the things you look at but never really see.

[jlunseth]

The one real thing to worry about is that it is electronic. Lose the power, lose the monitor, plus a whole bunch of other stuff. But the engine is still running on those two beautiful, old school magnetos. Now what!! Especially in a turbocharged engine where you can hurt it if you don’t know what is going on. And don’t say the chances are small, they may be small but been there done that. Hopefully you are in a stable regime when it happens. Still, you will have to pry mine away from my cold dead fingers.

[DXB]

11 minutes ago, jlunseth said:

 Still, you will have to pry mine away from my cold dead fingers.

The right to a digital engine monitor applies to well-regulated militias, not individuals 

However the electronic nature is indeed a potential issue if you use it to replace everything.. If I had to do it again, I'd keep backup analog MP and RPM gauges.

[jlunseth]

Yeah, me too. I would have put them over in front of the co-pilot and built a second, analog panel over there. Chasing 7lbs of useful load has definite drawbacks.

[jetdriven]

On 5/12/2022 at 7:21 AM, Greg Ellis said:

It is relatively easy to fix.  It is in the programming mode on the JPI.  There are three levels of sensitivity.  They had set mine to the lowest level and it was all over the place.  I set it to 3 (the highest level) and it smoothed out tremendously.

Where is this setting?

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, jlunseth said:

The one real thing to worry about is that it is electronic. Lose the power, lose the monitor, plus a whole bunch of other stuff. But the engine is still running on those two beautiful, old school magnetos. Now what!! Especially in a turbocharged engine where you can hurt it if you don’t know what is going on. And don’t say the chances are small, they may be small but been there done that. Hopefully you are in a stable regime when it happens. Still, you will have to pry mine away from my cold dead fingers.

I've had to fly my airplane twice after electrical failures where I turned everything off, including the engine monitor, to save the battery for landing.   I still have my mechanical tach, but other than that all the instruments are in the JPI.     Other than not having warnings if temps or pressures go out of range, operating the engine wasn't a problem.   I think it wouldn't have been too big of an issue even without the tach, although that helped a little.   I don't have a turbo, though, so that probably made it easier, but it was much less of an issue than I had expected.

 

[0TreeLemur]

The first time I flew my C for night currency a few years ago, all the panel lights went out just as I turned final during the second landing.  Mild panic set in.  I grabbed the flashlight.  Shining a flashlight all over the place was really distracting.  Then I remembered what my primary instructor told me: "You should be able to land VFR at night by sound and feel."   I turned off the flashlight and landed the plane.