Engine Monitor Recommendations

[hoot777]

What do you mean by normalized??  Also I see some installs with altimeter over on the right I think it is more important than the engine monitor. All have a great day.

[ArtVandelay]

What do you mean by normalized??  Also I see some installs with altimeter over on the right I think it is more important than the engine monitor. All have a great day.

Normalize means you can level all the EGT and CHT readings, makes it easier to spot an outlier. Your readings will never be the same across cylinders.

Altimeter on the right is probably a secondary indicator, common for those with graphic displays like G1000, etc.
Nowadays the G5 or something similar is used as a backup indicator.

[hoot777]

Will these new monitors improve fuel quantity accuracy ?? I have a 68 G. Fuel flow is nice but my gages are pretty sloppy .

[kortopates]

Will these new monitors improve fuel quantity accuracy ?? I have a 68 G. Fuel flow is nice but my gages are pretty sloppy .

Yes when in conjunction with modern CIES fuel level transducers in the tanks.


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[Echo]

Chem Trail?  What's up with that?

Edited August 28 by Echo

[jetdriven]

The 275 engine monitor is the best one out there right now. And since it's primary, you can throw everything else away. We've done three of them and it really takes about 80 or 90 hours to get it all done when you add up the fuel quantity and everything else.  It takes 6 hours to swap the senders, and calibrate the fuel, for example.   You've got to get rid of the engine strip gauge, and then figure out what to do with the hole. And then all of the wiring to that strip gauge that goes through the firewall canon plug. All of the wiring harnesses are built just like avionics, it all gets pulled to the firewall and goes to the GEA24.  

[Echo]

80-90 hours?  Wowza.  Naw, I'm good.

 

[Jackk]

On 10/27/2023 at 8:54 PM, gwav8or said:

So my bird is currently in the shop getting some new avionics.  Talking with the avionics shop, I'm thinking about going ahead and installing an engine monitor.  If i'm doing an engine monitor, I feel like I might as well go ahead and replace all the primary analog engine instruments with digital.  So, I'm looking for recommendations. 

I prefer having a single instrument, so the CGR-30P is out, unfortunately.  I also want data logging.  Looks like my only real options are the JPI 900/930 or the Garmin GI-275. 

So for those of you that have installed the JPI 900/930 or the GI-275, what was the total cost?  Which do you recommend?

My shop quoted 30-40 hours for the install.  Looks like the JPI/Garmin units will be 5k - 7k.  

Garmin

Garmin talks to Garmin and it’s really the top choice  

 

[Aerodon]

3 hours ago, jetdriven said:

The 275 engine monitor is the best one out there right now. And since it's primary, you can throw everything else away. We've done three of them and it really takes about 80 or 90 hours to get it all done when you add up the fuel quantity and everything else.  It takes 6 hours to swap the senders, and calibrate the fuel, for example.   You've got to get rid of the engine strip gauge, and then figure out what to do with the hole. And then all of the wiring to that strip gauge that goes through the firewall canon plug. All of the wiring harnesses are built just like avionics, it all gets pulled to the firewall and goes to the GEA24.  

 

Byron,

Did you install one GI-275 as EIS and the other as MFD?  And just showing both on engine because you can?

 

Aerodon

 

 

 

[Fly Boomer]

3 hours ago, jetdriven said:

The 275 engine monitor is the best one out there right now.

Wow!  I have seen standby alternators, dual batteries, standby vacuum, multiple nav/com/gps radios, and more duplication in larger airplanes, but this is the first standby engine monitor.

[kortopates]

Wow!  I have seen standby alternators, dual batteries, standby vacuum, multiple nav/com/gps radios, and more duplication in larger airplanes, but this is the first standby engine monitor.

Not exactly, just two GI-275 displays capable of displaying the one GEA’s data.

Byron, how do you have it set up
such that RPM doesn’t turn Red exceeding Redline at 2720? Or is that a Garmin thing i wasn’t aware of?


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[Echo]

8 hours ago, hoot777 said:

Will these new monitors improve fuel quantity accuracy ?? I have a 68 G. Fuel flow is nice but my gages are pretty sloppy .

Meh to CIES. If you have a totalizer showing quantity used and yoy have stick to know initial quantity in tank you are good. Gauges should read accurate on empty…of course. 

[Fly Boomer]

5 minutes ago, kortopates said:

Not exactly, just two GI-275 displays capable of displaying the one GEA’s data.

Really?

[jetdriven]

The second GI275 is actually an MFD, although it will display all the Engine monitor pages. It also has a HSI map page, a lightning page, a terrain page and a bunch of other stuff. It gets the data from HSDB piped in from the top unit, but if you pull the breaker on the top unit, the bottom one goes all X's. It doesn't forward the data through it.  This is common with HSDB actually. 

But it's nice because you can have the leaning page on the bottom like that is and then leave the other one at the top with all the other gauges. 

STC says 2700 but I might have mistyped 2730 in there, but it hardly goes red now at 2710. 

[Aerodon]

Byron,  I think a MFD GI-275 with battery and AHARS is one of the most capable instruments out there.

A little bit of scope creep, but I am contemplating something similar with an SL30 for #2 and a G500 as the main display.  My current thinking is to do a serial or resolver output from the SL30 to the GI-275, and then hope that the HSDB to the G500 will transfer #2 Nav to the G500.  And then 'first prize' would be that the #2 OBS could be adjusted on either the G500 or the GI-275?

Your setup is somewhat similar, can you adjust the #2 OBS from the Aspen?

 

Aerodon

 

 

 

 

[jetdriven]

We had a SL30 connected to the bottom GI275, it was connected with RS 232. But it also has HSDB from the top one which is forwarded through from the GTN750XI, so you could display NAV one or two on the bottom GI275. 

Your G500 will have HSDB but it's not allowed to have any parallel legs, and they want it to go from the navigator to the 500 and then from there to the back up. But the problem is if the 500 quits, the backup won't get the HSDB data....and Trek Lawler said on Beechtalk that this STC tells you to find VFR if that happens. Some of the people have wired HSD from the navigator straight to the back up and then you get that data if your primary screen quits.

[natdm]

I can't speak for all the other EIS's, but the 275 is far better than expected. Here's a link to a Savvy Analysis page, you can see so many options on here.. https://apps.savvyaviation.com/flights/shared/flight/9865701/86bf233b-c077-4aa0-b60a-fe02c114542d

 

[Ragsf15e]

On 8/28/2025 at 3:14 AM, hoot777 said:

Will these new monitors improve fuel quantity accuracy ?? I have a 68 G. Fuel flow is nice but my gages are pretty sloppy .

My edm-930 was very accurate with the stock fuel probes.  If they are working well, then yes, the new gage will reflect their accuracy much better than the old ones.

[jetdriven]

If you have the stock fuel senders cleaned up and IRAN'd, it's just as accurate as the CIES senders.   they are infinitely variable 0-32ohm resistance, but in series, so 0-64.  Ours rounds to the nearest gallon but the ipad shows .1 gallon resolution.

[TaildraggerPilot]

On 8/28/2025 at 10:31 AM, jetdriven said:

The 275 engine monitor is the best one out there right now. And since it's primary, you can throw everything else away. We've done three of them and it really takes about 80 or 90 hours to get it all done when you add up the fuel quantity and everything else.  It takes 6 hours to swap the senders, and calibrate the fuel, for example.   You've got to get rid of the engine strip gauge, and then figure out what to do with the hole. And then all of the wiring to that strip gauge that goes through the firewall canon plug. All of the wiring harnesses are built just like avionics, it all gets pulled to the firewall and goes to the GEA24.  

90 hours? Jeesh

[DCarlton]

20 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

My edm-930 was very accurate with the stock fuel probes.  If they are working well, then yes, the new gage will reflect their accuracy much better than the old ones.

We installed overhauled J model senders from Air Parts when we installed bladders this year.  We made sure we had good wiring, new gaskets, new  insulators, good grounds, etc.  They work great now.  No bouncing.  No jitter.  They even work well with the original fuel gages.  I have an EDM-730 for everything else.   

[Pinecone]

On 8/28/2025 at 2:18 PM, Echo said:

Meh to CIES. If you have a totalizer showing quantity used and yoy have stick to know initial quantity in tank you are good. Gauges should read accurate on empty…of course. 

And if you have a loose cap that is siphoning fuel..........

[Pinecone]

I had a JPI 830 in my M20K then switched to Garmin with the G3X.

I had a GI-275 installed in my CAP-10 as the stock gauges were having issues.

Of them, I prefer the JPI look and layout.  Very easy to read and intuitive.  I like the GI-275 the least.  Just too much info in less screen space.