Archer-181 wrote:
As far as I remember, the main source of engine failure is running out of fuel. The best thing about this device is the reed switch which detects which tank is being used and then gives a fuel total for each tank. At present I have to write down “FUEL USED” at each tank change then do the sums on my knee pad. It all works well but extra stress when busy and if you lose track then you are in a mess. You know your exact fuel used but not which tank it’s in.
My EFIS has a fuel totalizer that uses your input about the starting fuel in the tanks and a fuel flow meter – I usually just fill up the tanks, but you can say “I just added 120 liters” and it will keep track of fuel burn. It also does not keep track of which tank it came from, but I do have float sensors that give me a hint about which one to use.
I would guess that these are available for your aircraft.
I have a fuel totaliser on the EDM. It is correct to 1% – For maximum range I will run a tank almost out leaving maybe 5 litres of fuel in that first tank.
This means for the last part of the trip I will have my fuel + 45 minutes reserve in the other tank and I know exactly where my fuel is. It all works fine but having a nice display which tells me where my fuel is would be better than relying on bits of paper, remembering to write things down and the Piper fuel gauges which are pretty awful.
On a long trip when you are organised the “paper”, “record” and “sums” system works fine. Where it all breaks down is when you are doing a 2 hour trip when you have not been recording things and then you have to divert due to fog/ weather. Or when you are not full fuel and you need to dig out your jottings on the knee pad from the previous trip.
The Blue max would solve this problem – always up to date totals in each tank.
Archer -181
As you might have noticed the U.K. is no longer part of EASA and the U.K. CAA is taking a much more pragmatic view on aircraft modification.
If you can show this as a safety enhancing modification that has no direct effect on safety critical systems it is very likely they will accept this as a minor modification.
A_and_C wrote:
As you might have noticed the U.K. is no longer part of EASA and the U.K. CAA is taking a much more pragmatic view on aircraft modification.If you can show this as a safety enhancing modification that has no direct effect on safety critical systems it is very likely they will accept this as a minor modification.
Do you have reason to believe that EASA won’t? The difference is – AFAIU – that in the USA you don’t even need approval from the FAA for these kinds of modifications.
Peter wrote:
I will get one for sure but need to check my EDM700 has that config for continuous data output.
Have you checked that Peter? I think they mean holding both buttons a 3rd time when FAC LIM is presented, which you must have seen. These additional config possibilities aren’t documented in an JPI document that I’ve seen. I need to check that too.
P1 pin 24 is the data port on my old EDM701, which I have running to a jack under the panel for data dumping to pc/rs232.
In the PROGRAM section, the last prompt before END? is RECRD? which is Y for data recording and N for real time data output. Of course, it is currently set to Y. This is not mentioned in the BlueMax instructions. I wonder if it also needs to be changed to real time data output for the Blue Max to work….. i.e. for data to be present on pin 24 during real time operation and not only during the data DUMP operation off-line. Changing this would mean that internal data logging in the EDM701 would be disabled if data is logged real-time to the BlueMax. Not an issue, but something of which to be aware and also needing reconfiguration.
I have never tried to analyze the EDM dumped data, but it would be interesting to compare what the EDM logs internally vs in real time. The BlueMax web site doesn’t have much detail about data capacity other than the statement that there is enough for 100hr. As everyone knows, the EDM internal capacity is severely limited (<10-15hr?) if recording is set to every second which is necessary for serious trouble-shooting…. implies regular dumping to pc during trips. Using the BlueMax only for this makes it an expensive usb stick, but would simplify detailed EDM data logging on trips. Having to dump EDM data after every leg is a pain.
I found some pages in my 2002 EDM700 user manual which describe the config for the continuous data output, emailed them to Bluemax (twice) and… they never replied 
Yes I reckon that if you enable the continuous streaming option, you lose the internal logging, but that has a very small capacity anyway.
I had forgotten about this product but I ought to buy it at some point. The 1st problem is that I have access to hangar only once a year, for the Annual, so unless I pull some strings this installation will have to wait until Jan 2023. There isn’t a lot of room in the TB20 avionics area now and I can’t just drop this box in quickly.
Under FAA this would unquestionably be a Minor Alteration. Some notes on the Major/Minor decision flow chart are here. The European system doesn’t have clear rules on this (broadly speaking).
The same old political stuff has been moved to the OT/politics thread. Some relevant to post-brexit tech stuff to here.
A_and_C wrote:
As you might have noticed the U.K. is no longer part of EASA and the U.K. CAA is taking a much more pragmatic view on aircraft modification.If you can show this as a safety enhancing modification that has no direct effect on safety critical systems it is very likely they will accept this as a minor modification.
It is EASA certified as a minor mod.
Anybody here who is interested in automatically fetching avionics/engine/logs/serial/arinc data and downloading it via mobile internet? Send me a PN and I can include you in our testing (send you hardware).
Bluemax have confirmed to me that Pin 24 on the EDM just churns out RS232 without messing up the internal storage of the EDM700. I’ll let you know in due course when I do some testing
Hi @UdoR -
I am trying to get the data from an EDM on pin 24 and I’m having problems getting the continuous data. Did you set the EDM record option to N
Also did you get the RS232 on pin 24?
Thanks -
