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Permalink Reply by Stephen R. Smith on February 13, 2023 at 12:05pm

Hello David,

I also had issues with the oil pressure sender - two failures. I mounted the third one off-engine in 2011 and it is still working 1,600 hours later. I used barbed fittings with hose clamps on both ends of a rubber oil line - no kit needed but if you can find one it would save you a trip to the hardware store and auto parts store I guess. Yes the sender needs to be grounded. I can't help with that because my sender is attached to a remote bypass oil filter. I grounded the bypass filter's mount to solve that problem.

Steve

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Permalink Reply by David Gallagher on February 13, 2023 at 12:45pm

Steve,

Thanks for the response. I see you mentioned having a bypass filter, so your set-up must include a return line.  ACS has a Rotax 912 pressure sender relocation kit, which dead-ends at the sender.  One part of the installation process is purging the new hose of air by turning the engine with the starter and the hose open, going into a plastic bag to catch oil, then connecting the sender.  The engine-side fitting also includes a small orifice to preclude rapid draining of engine oil should the line or sender physically fail.

I'm sure I can source this myself as you did.  

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Stephen R. Smith on February 13, 2023 at 1:53pm

Yes, I have a return line that runs to the oil pan. I drilled a hole for that.

How strange that they think it necessary to purge air from a dead-end line. The air would harm nothing.

I do know of two aircraft that had the remote line come loose during flight. One was an RV10 which crashed as a result. The other was a 601 which managed to get back to the airport. So failing to properly clamp the hose can be hazardous to your health.

Steve

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on February 13, 2023 at 2:39pm

If your Dynon allows for calibration of custom senders (My MGL XTreme does!), I highly recommend the "Swift" solid-state sender sold by Aircraft Spruce.  After going through 3 VDO senders, I switched to the Swift and have not had a problem since.  It's solid state - no moving parts - so in theory, there's nothing to wear out and should last indefinitely.  However, as I said, you do have to have an EFIS that allows calibration of the sender and it will require a voltage source.  It does not, however, require re-location and that eliminates a hose and more leak-potential connections.  I don't know if it has an internal signal filter, but the output on my engine (Jab 3300) is rock-solid and when I calibrated it, it was accurate to +/- 1 psi across the entire scale!  More information here:  Solid State Oil Pressure Sender

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by David Gallagher on February 13, 2023 at 5:03pm

John,

I have followed your solid state sender discussions.  Unfortunately, the Dynon D-180 installation manual only supports four sender types and the set-up instruction asks you to enter a number of 1 thru 4 to specify the type as follows: #1 Dynon P/N 100411-002 or Rotax 912 pre-installed-prior to mid-2008, #2 GRT HPS-01, #3 Jabiru pre-installed, #4 Rotax P/N 956413 mid-2008 and later.  Unless any of those are like your sensor, I am limited in my choices. 

I am OK with sticking to the Jabiru VDO type as long I can extend the life.  I will continue to look into remote mounting options.

Thanks,

Dave

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Permalink Reply by David Gallagher on March 11, 2023 at 9:13pm

So I just incorporated the Aircraft Spruce Rotax oil pressure sensor relocation kit (P/N 05-11919) onto my Jabiru.  The 34" line the Rotax uses works just fine for the 601XL if you use the firewall shelf as the mounting point.  The only issue I had was the 1/8NPT fitting only screwed 3 threads into the NPT thread on my new VDO sensor.  A quick chase of the sensor threads with an NPT die fixed that. I did a leak check engine run today and all connections were dry.  Oil pressure read as expected. 

The fitting where the old VDO sensor sat has a small orifice restrictor in case of line breakage. 

I mounted the new VDO sensor on the front of the 610XL firewall shelf.  I double P-clamped the sensor.

The sensor case ground is a bare wire double wound around the case and secured with silicone tape under the p-clamp.  I added a double strand of safety wire around the sensor and through the clamps for piece of mind against slippage from the clamps.

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