Fuel sending units

[Joe Parish]

I am going to send in a down payment for my wings and looking for advice on the fuel sending units. I am looking for input- pros or cons to either?

[hydroguy2]

I bought QB wings they only come with the float sensing units.....they suck for accuracy

[BSwayze]

I originally ordered my wings with the capacitance type fuel guages. I liked the idea of no moving parts. Then, I got to reading and found a lot of negative comments about them. Some builders I respected a lot said they would have gone with the floats if they were to do it again. So before my wing kit was ready, I changed my mind and went with the floats. I don't have any experience with either one, so this is all hearsay, I suppose, but it's my humble opinion. Your choice. I know many who have used the capacitance units like them a lot.

[hydroguy2]

I guess i should qualify my statement above. They suck at the upper end of the range. My right tank shows levels accurately from 20 down to 0. the right tank does show any change until 15 gallons down to 0.

so works good to show you when you're getting empty, but I have to run for an hour before my right tank even registers.

[bullojm1]

I have capacitive senders in my wings and love them. They seem to be very accurate in my first 23.5 hours of flying. I am using the GRT/Princeton converters with my GRT Sport EFIS/EIS.

[Wicked Stick]

I have capacitive senders in my wings and love them. They seem to be very accurate in my first 23.5 hours of flying. I am using the GRT/Princeton converters with my GRT Sport EFIS/EIS.

I'll have to SECOND this comment !
I too love them. They are soooo acurate in both cruise and on the ground. (of course this is as long as you calibrate them properly)
I did mine in 2 gallon increments and since it was a tail dragger I calibrated for both in flight and on the ground settings.

The other day I test flew the right tank dry. When it said zero, it ran for about another minute and a half, then started sputtering. When I refilled it, it took 20.7 gallons so I have .3 unuseable. (I'll placard for 1/2 gallon or maybe even 1 gallon to be on the safe side)

I am using the AFS3500EE and Princeton converters. It's a bit more money, but no moving parts, and it works great.

[airguy]

Not flying yet, but I put capacitive senders in my main wing tanks and float senders in my outboard tanks. My fuel setup pulls fuel from the outboards to the inboards as I burn it through the engine, so total outboard fuel quantity accuracy was less important to me than inboard, but some type of indicator was required.

One item of concern with the capacitive senders - they will have different readings for different fuels (100LL/Mogas/JetA/Diesel) so you will need to recalibrate if you change fuels (or accept the error).

[captain_john]

Not flying my -7 with caps yet but I am flying Bill H's -6 with caps.

Yaaahhh! They are spot on accurate!!!

They are more complex and cost more but for fuel planning, you CAN count on them.

OTOH, do you really need that kind of accuracy? Probably not.

...but they sure are nice!

CJ

[Joe Parish]

Thanks for all the input guys. I have decided to go with the capacitive. The only time to trust them is when they read empty right? That is what I have decided and I have sent in a check for a down payment and will hopefully have the rest when they notify me that they are ready to ship. The lead time is 8 weeks according to the web site. Thanks again!