pjsny78 Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 I just installed a new transducer for a shadin miniflow. Shadin suggests programming the K-factor to 29.84. This setting is too high as it indicates me burning 13+GPH. My fuel receipts also do not verify these findings. Does anyone know the correct K-Factor? I have the I0-360-A3B6 Engine and not the "D" version if this makes any difference. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetdriven Posted April 24, 2012 Report Share Posted April 24, 2012 -D does not matter. IF it indicates 18.0~ GPH on takeoff full rich and 10 GPH 25-square at peak it is close. We had to adjust ours 3 or 4 times after filling up to get it dialed in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danb35 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 The correct K-factor varies considerably with the details of the specific transducer and installation. To compute it for your plane, fill the tanks and fly for a while (use at least half your fuel for a good sample). Then fill them again and note how much fuel it took. Then New K factor = (Actual fuel used * Old K factor) / Fuel used according to your Shadin It's often an iterative process, but this is the math for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 We had a new Electronics International FT-60 "Red Cube" installed last year and got the K-factor correct the first time. As I've written here previously, whenever I top off the tanks the EDI-700 is accurate within ounces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjsny78 Posted April 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Thank you everyone. I really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSMooniac Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 One tip for burning fuel in cruise... top off at least one tank, and save that full tank for the cruise portion (longer the better). Take off, climb, and descend on the other tank, and set your cruise power setting before switching, and then note exactly how long you fly on the "cruise" tank and what the fuel flow reading is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danb35 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Quote: flyboy0681 We had a new Electronics International FT-60 "Red Cube" installed last year and got the K-factor correct the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted April 25, 2012 Report Share Posted April 25, 2012 Quote: danb35 EI claims that the K-factor on their transducers is much more consistent than for others on the market--your experience would seem to support that claim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Txbyker Posted April 26, 2012 Report Share Posted April 26, 2012 My K-Factor is set to 29.2. 1987 M20J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepilot Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Is pulling the unit out & adjusting the K-factor something I can do myself (with the manual), or a job for the shop? Shadin manual makes it sound pretty easy. I have a Shadin Mini Flo. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Is pulling the unit out & adjusting the K-factor something I can do myself (with the manual), or a job for the shop? Shadin manual makes it sound pretty easy. I have a Shadin Mini Flo. Thanks The k factor adjustment is usually pretty straightforward and done through the unit's keypad. I am not familiar with the Shadin procedure but the JPI & EI I own allow you to do an adjustment by using the actual fuel amount to recalculate the factor. It typically is nothing more than applying the actual (how much you put in the tank) against the unit's calculated usage. The process may be a little different for each unit but the overall concept is the same; i.e. readjusting the k factor based on actual usage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepilot Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks! The Shadin manual says I have to pull it from the panel & make the adjustments with a small screwdriver. I'll call them tomorrow & see how much I need to tweak it. It usually shows 20%+ more fuel used than actual. Unless it's getting air in it or radio interference, which I doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks! The Shadin manual says I have to pull it from the panel & make the adjustments with a small screwdriver. I'll call them tomorrow & see how much I need to tweak it. It usually shows 20%+ more fuel used than actual. Unless it's getting air in it or radio interference, which I doubt. That sounds a bit high. My units are within a gallon of actual usage. Your Shadin must be an older model. The newer stuff usually is updated through the keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbridges Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 For those of you who weren't with us here then, Patrick (the OP) and his Mooney are no longer with us. RIP, Patrick. Jim Thanks, Jim. I didn't catch that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hi, Rob. He was an incredibly nice young man who was attending an aviation school and building hours in his late model J towards an ATP rating. It appears that he did an intersection departure late at night from a short, unfamiliar runway with an upslope with three aboard, and came up a little short. One of his passengers survived. Just a terrible situation. He has been missed here. Jim Definitely missed. I think from learning the details of that night that we all learned a lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbridges Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Hi, Rob. He was an incredibly nice young man who was attending an aviation school and building hours in his late model J towards an ATP rating. It appears that he did an intersection departure late at night from a short, unfamiliar runway with an upslope with three aboard, and came up a little short. One of his passengers survived. Just a terrible situation. He has been missed here. Jim sorry, I meant I didn't catch the user name. I remember when the accident happened. He was a very active member on this site, Very unfortunate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Patrick is still missed in the NJMP as well. He is still reminding me to calculate my Density Altitude along with all the other critical T/O parameters... It is so easy to know before you go nowadays... Patrick, like JoePilot had many questions as a new aircraft owner. Thank you Patrick, and JoePilot! best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonMuncy Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Patrick's crash and death really got to me. He had stopped through Dallas on his way back to New York after getting his plane painted in California several weeks earlier. he and I spent several hours in my hangar. He was deeply interested and curious about all things aviation and Mooney. A real delight to talk with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Patrick's crash and death really got to me. He had stopped through Dallas on his way back to New York after getting his plane painted in California several weeks earlier. he and I spent several hours in my hangar. He was deeply interested and curious about all things aviation and Mooney. A real delight to talk with. When I took my instrument check ride last year the DPE questioned a gap in my flying for a few years. I mentioned that it came after I lost my best friend to a horrific, fiery crash. He said that given enough time, every pilot will lose one or more friends to a crash. He went on to say that he must have lost at least a dozen friends over the decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepilot Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Sorry to bring up sad memories. Tragic when we lose friends in aviation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepilot Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Off topic now, I'll post what I learned for future searches. The "newer" Shadins can be adjusted in the plane. After the self test, the software version displays. Last numbers are 70-80 for newer software. Mine has an access hole on top of the unit. Change aft dial from F to E. Make k factor adjustment with right toggle (mini flo) on unit face. L3 250 = k factor of 32.5. Have to set it. Dial back to F. Restart. Shadin website has good info. Live phone support excellent. http://www.shadin.com/documents/manuals/FuelFlowTips.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantom Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 Be careful, Joe....you're going to need a very small screwdriver. Remember, the transducer was supposedly just changed out. It's always read 8-10% high, but never anywhere near 20%. I've written about it on the forum, somewhere. At a MAPA convention back about 1997, a number of J owners from the same 1994 production grouping had exactly the same issue with high reading Shadins. Mooney and Shadin just pointed fingers at each other. The only resolution I got was a new Shadin....that continued to read 10% high. I was through messing with the K factor, however. For those of you who don't know him, Joe is the proud new owner of 49GH, except for the mental calculations required for fuel flow. My BO friends used to love to give me a hard time about those high readings, false though they were/are. Good luck with it. PS: R.I.P. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costa Leite Posted September 29, 2020 Report Share Posted September 29, 2020 Dear ALL, This is a very old topic, but I would like to share with MS community that I had the same problem of high fuel flow readings on Shaddin Miniflo-L (S/N:8008 Software:60.01.77) on our 1998 M20J Allegro with IO-360-A3B6 (the third last J that rolled out of Kerrville). The difference from the Miniflo to the fuel pump was around 15% higher on Shaddin. After reading all the comments on this topic, I went through the Shaddin instructions and performed a flight test to turn ON the fuel pump for a couple of minutes while on cruise and didn’t notice any drop on fuel flow that could indicate an air leak on the fuel line. Then, I started the hangar work on the Shaddin and realised that the biggest difficult was to release the Shaddin from the panel because of all the wiring that goes behind the unit and around GTN750. But after a couple of attempts I was able to push back the unit and pull it under the panel, as you can see on picture in attach. Then, and first of all, I confirmed that the Shield was on the wright side, because if it wasn't it could cause "electronic noise" and high fuel flow readings, but this was not the case. Only then I started with the K-factor adjustment, and I was really surprised to see that the K-factor was set from fabric at 29.00 (as you can see also on the picture in attach) and not at 29.84 that I was expecting. I set it to 32.50 which gave a 12% change, and now we have a much more precise fuel flow readings, only with 2% safety margin from real fuel consumption. The only thing I regret is that our Miniflo-L is such an old version that cannot communicate TO the GTN750 to inform real FuelFlow to the GPS. It only receives information form GTN750 which is already very nice. If anyone have questions about adjusting K-Factor on Miniflo-L on late M20J, fell free to ask that I will be glad to help. Anyway, the Shaddin PDF shared above by Joe, and also the Miniflo Operating Manual, both give valuable information on how to master this not so difficult tuning. Cheers, Fredi 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted September 30, 2020 Report Share Posted September 30, 2020 Nice work, Fredi! Thanks for putting all that detail In one place... Best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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