Cessna 210 Digital Fuel Level

CiES Added Another Aircraft Today 

So three new aircraft configurations this week in as many days.    This one was admittedly easy as it is identical to the Cessna 177 Design.   

I believe our greatest accomplishment this year is developing a methodology to add TSO'd configurations to our list.   

Our magnetic field design makes changes to fuel senders as easy as changing float arm length and an internal map profile 

Our technology for fuel level sending is eclipsed by no other method.  Magnetic Field is superior to both traditional aircraft Capacitive and Resistive fuel senders.  

Contact us to find out why we can make such a bold statement.

Cessna Cardinal 177 - Owner Reviews

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." Arnold Bennett

As expected with a new system there will be a learning curve with both the installer and the aircraft owner / pilot.  It is inevitable and AOPA E Brief provided us with the proper quote last week.  It fit our feeling so well lat week, we utilized this as a alternative heading.

So far this week all issues accounted for and happy installs going on in the field.

At present we have Greg Ridder and Dennis Del Grasso with flying Cessna 177's that have the CiES Fuel Level senders installed.  The PIREPS are good to great, both of them noting a big improvement in fuel level indication.  This may be more true of a combination of new indication and of new sending units.  

While we are pretty new with the JPI EZtrends software - we can see a definite pattern to empty with the ever-present oscillations in the fuel tank.  If you look closely at the data as the tank empties the peak to peak get larger as there is more room to slosh.   

Dennis Del Grasso: 

Very sorry to hear of all these issues.  All I can relate is that when I got into the idea of going with CIES, Scott was only making the frequency based senders.  Fuel level indication was one of the primary reasons I went with JPI (actually, ALL of the engine gauges were__)

Anyway, when I bought my JPI in FEB 2014, I told JPI the type senders I was going to install - the box came configured for it.  When I finally got them plugged in and went thru the Cal process, they have worked swimmingly well!

Mostly for Scott, but if any else would like to see it, attached is the export from my two most recent flights.  (Widen the "B" column to see Date/Time) Starting on 7/20 (outside of Phila), the tanks were filled at 25 Gal each.  Flight home about 2.5.  Went up again on 8/9  without adding any fuel and the CSV file shows the fuel remaining at the end.  Aligns pretty closely with total USED between the two flights at 25.8 (meaning 24.2 remaining according to the FuelFlow sensor and computer) while the tank gauges show 23.2 remaining.  Within a gallon!  I'll take that ANY day.

Greg Ridder :

Last Wednesday Brian installed the new right sender and since then all seems to be working well.  We have not done a new calibration since the old calibration appears to be fairly accurate.  Today I will return your old sender to you.  I will be interested in hearing what happened to the V Out circuitry since the frequency response was never affected.  BTW, I did not swap out the old resistors in the connectors - still could if you think it is advisable. I was trying not to change the calibration if possible.

I’ve made few observations since the new sender was installed.  When I got the plane back with a nearly empty right tank (gauge read 4.6 gallons), I added precisely 15 gallons at the pump and the gauge read 19+ gallons. Granted, the plane was not in flight attitude, but it was hopeful that the gauge change reconciled with the gallons added.

I have also filled each of the tanks to the 22 gallon hole in the filler with the gauge results of 26 (left) and 24 (right) on the ramp and in flight.  After flying for 1.5 hours at 7.2 gal/hour via the flow meter (estimating 10.8 gal used - I was throttled back and past lean 25°) I dipped the tanks and got a crude estimate of 15 (left) and 17 (right) - indicating 12 gal used - with gauge readings of 20.6 and 18.8 respectively - indicating 10.6 gal used. Certainly the fuel level changes match up pretty well with the gas pump and flow meter and full reads “Full”. 

Watching the chart data on the gauge shown right indicates the precision of the senders and gauge are pretty noise free and clearly shows slight sloshing of fuel in the tanks during abrupt attitude changes.  

What we don’t know yet is the absolute accuracy of an “empty” tank. Our next step is to drain each tank completely and add 2 gallons of unusable fuel.  If the numbers are close to zero (± 3 gallons?) we will placard it. If not, we will redo the calibration.  

In the discussion of precision and accuracy, I’m not sure how accurate to expect any fuel system to be if changing the plane’s attitude will change fuel level measurements.  

We are pretty conservative on keeping reserve fuel and this system already appears to be MUCH better than the old steam gauges.  Hopefully, more experience with it will bring more enlightenment.  Anyway, you now have a happy customer!  Hope the rest of the installs are going well.

Thanks again for your great customer support,

We are most proud of the customer support component, because without it we would never overcome the drawbacks and discomforts.

Cessna - New Technology Non-Contact Fuel Level Sender

CiES Inc, Cessna Fuel Level Sender 

We are in the process of serial manufacture of a Cessna Fuel Level Sensor.  

Cessna Fuel Level Sender 

This fuel level sensor utilizes our patented magnetic field technology and carries FAA TSO Approval.  

Note:  TSO Approval is FAA component approval and not FAA installation approval.

We set out in 2010 to change the dialogue about fuel level indication in aircraft & we accomplished this by building an aerospace specific fuel sender design.  

Fuel Level Sender Exploded View

This new fuel sender design, while resembling older technology potentiometer fuel level senders, centers around a robust patented non contact sensor technology.  

The only common part between our fuel level sender and old technology is the float.  You can see the CiES attention to detail we are internationally known for.

Our goal was to design a fuel level system that had the potential of replacing many legacy aircraft fuel senders in the field.  Our initial fuel sender production was utilized almost exclusively by OEM aircraft manufacturers and to meet OEM requirements they utilized a robust proprietary digital output.  Unfortunately this output was only suitable for Garmin G1000, JPI 930 & Aerospace Logic displays and instrumentation.   We have produced over 7,500 non contact fuel level senders in this configuration and the results have been exceptional.

Our recently issued TSO allows us to reach and support a broader range of cockpit fuel indication interfaces and as a correlation allow CiES to spread it's wings so to speak.   This new sender design allows the CiES fuel level sender to output a variable voltage or resistive load giving us a nearly universal capability to support legacy aircraft.

As such, we are actively working on CiES fuel level solutions for many popular aircraft. 

Contact us and see if we have a solution for your aircraft.

Learn more on the CIES Inc Website