The cost to retrofit CiES senders to a pre-74 B55 is around $3200 (plus installation). That may seem "outrageous" but it's only about 50% more than what it costs to have the eight (2 per tank * 4 tanks) senders "overhauled" and my experience with overhauled senders is not very good. At best the OH senders will perform as good as when new for a few years which is to say they're accurate to within about +/- 5 gallons. Properly calibrated the CiES senders appear to be within one gallon. In a Bonanza with two 40 gallon tanks or a post 1973 Baron there are only four senders so that cost is cut in half. IIRC the last time I checked, new (1940s technology based) senders from Beech were around $1,600 each or over four times what CiES charges.
I'm having a hard time seeing anything "outrageous" with CIES pricing.
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And one additional point about CIES senders. I have absolutely no doubt if any question or issue came up, Scott would be on the phone within the hour. (More likely in minutes.) Every interaction I have had with him and interactions I have seen others have with him have been very positive.
Phone or email he's always been very helpful.
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+1 on the CiES/ Scott Philiben Phan club. There's no better customer service than that provided by Scott. anywhere. I'm still VERY happy with my CiES senders. You know, when something "just works", you take it for granted. I don't really give my CiES senders much thought. They're underappreciated little heros quietly doing their job. Perfectly. All the time. ------------
AIRCRAFT FUEL GAUGES THAT YOU CAN TRUST
"With over 10,000 units now flying, CiES has taken over the OEM fuel level sending field. Our combination of outstanding quality, reliability, and accuracy has made CiES the standard and the industry leader for fuel level indication on all aviation platforms, GA, Utility, Rotorcraft for both reciprocating and turbine engine applications"
We just completed a set of Piper Navajo senders for Mike Jones Aircraft.
We replaced the old resistance sender design with the CiES Magnetic Field design . Like a lot of well regarded aircraft, the Piper Navajo has not been supported by the factory for some time and the existing replacement senders either don't work or they have outlived their ability to be effectively re-worked along.
The CiES fuel level sender is built for the Navajo application, with a custom arms dedicated to each location on both the main and the auxiliary tanks. Our non-contact fuel quantity measurement method insures that leakage can not happen through the sender body. A modern digital sender component to compliment a modern digital cockpit interface, like a JPI or Aerospace Logic.
All of our sensor electronics are fully enclosed in the aluminum housing. Unlike traditional failure prone senders - our senders have amassed an impressive record of 350,000 hrs of flight time without error or in service replacement. We will change your opinion of what float fuel senders are capable of - both from a precision and reliability standpoint.
Finally a fuel level sender specifically designed for the aviation market.
We have now digitized the Baron 55 Senders. For the Baron 55 we have gone ahead with part production for top mount senders and have established the arm lengths to complete this design. As we produce the arms in house - This gave us the shortest time to achieving a TSO Baron Fuel Sender for our customer.
All dimensions for these new senders were captured from a legacy set of Beech Baron Fuel Level senders. As our design constraints are different from the legacy senders - there is a little bit to getting the right geometry in the tank We are looking forward to this system in the aircraft as it represents a chance for us to utilize our capability of giving a multiple tank system accurate fuel level.
We have now digitized the Baron 58 Senders. For the Baron 58 we have gone ahead with part production for top mount senders and only needed to establish the arm lengths to complete this design. As we produce the arms in house - this gave us the shortest time to achieving a TSO Baron Fuel Sender for our customer.
All dimensions for these new senders were captured from a legacy set of Beech Baron Fuel Level senders. As our design constraints are different from the legacy senders - there is a little bit to getting the right geometry in the tank We are looking forward to this system in the aircraft as it represents a chance for us to utilize our capability of summing multiple senders to achieve a single fuel tank output One of the interesting items that came up in investigation is that every legacy Outboardd bottom mount Beechcraft Baron 58 Fuel Sender has a seemingly factory grind mark on the housing and screw - Clearance ?
CiES is rapidly expanding the number of aircraft that can utilize our Fuel Level Sender technology. Today we delivered the first set of Beech Bonanza / Debonair fuel level senders. This set replaces the Beech original equipment Leigh senders still found in the aircraft. The old senders had long ago given up on providing accurate fuel level. These new fuel level sender utilize non contact, wear free magnetic field technology to locate the float in the tank. The technology found in CiES Senders is similar to that in your cell phone for it's compass operation. But instead of pointing North in the compass example, the sensor in the CiES Sender points to the float and to an accuracy less than a 1/4 of a degree. It does this accurately and repeatably. You trust your compass to always point North - you'll trust this sender to always tell you how much fuel is in the tank. The old rusty senders depicted in the pictures utilized continuous wearing potentiometers typically found in legacy General Aviation fuel tanks. Potentiometer senders have an in aircraft life of approx. 10 to 12 years before replacement or rebuild.
You should'nt fly with fuel level senders that are 30 to 40 years past their functional life, Now you don't have to
This week we are producing multiple shipsets for a production jet aircraft. The use of our technology on jet aircraft is in keeping with the reliability, simplicity and accuracy of our aircraft fuel level sensing solutions. These units can output fuel level and local fuel temperature.
The CiES Fuel Level System solution does not rely on complex electronics to limit the energy in the fuel tank. We simply keep the electronics out of the fuel environment. The CiES Fuel Level System does not have to correct for fuel temperature or entrained air. We simply measure the position of the fuel surface, and we measure it to an repeatable accuracy of 0.03 in. In all temperatures and under all aircraft conditions.
The CiES Fuel Level System does not require a summing or conversion box all calculations for summing and output conversion are handled internally to the unit. The CiES Fuel Level System can output a variety of formats compatible with most aircraft, from the same internal system.
This sophisticated Fuel Level System is just as happy providing accurate fuel level in any class of aircraft.
We recently completed a set of fuel senders with the same technological advancements for a 1938 Fairchild 24. Something new in the sky - An FAA TSO'd Fuel Level Sending System applicable to the breadth of aviation.
Recently we ran across an article in the Cirrus Owners Magazine - Cirrus Pilot The article talks about the Continuous Improvement Process that Cirrus Aircraft utilizes in its aircraft design and production to improve reliability.
This article it discusses the complete paradigm change CiES made to aircraft fuel level measurement and Cirrus Aircraft's customer satisfaction with our non-contact fuel measurement technology.
As the article states - CiES Brought a Whole New Approach to Aircraft Fuel Level.
An approach that changed fuel level reliability, so significantly, that it is no longer necessary to question your aircraft fuel level indication.
Take Your Fuel Level Indication to Un-Charted Territory and Embrace the Reliability of the CiES Non-Contact, Magnetic Field, Fuel Level Solution
We are consistently being tapped by new product development teams in aviation for Turboprop fuel level indication. Aircraft and Rotorcraft Manufacturers are finding that CiES provides high quality fuel quantity indication systems.
Fuel Quantity Suite - Temperature Compensation - Automatic Switching
Our system is so accurate that we provide fuel quantity switching for single engine aircraft that utilizes fuel tank quantity as the only sensor system utilized to balance fuel tanks. That's right - no more switching tanks on the 1/2 hour, it is now accomplished automatically on many of the platforms we are now serving.
DIGITAL FUEL LEVEL
Our digital fuel level technology utilizes modern sensors to detect fuel level or ullage boundary and output the either the native digital information or convert the digital signal to an analog output for use in legacy aircraft platforms. Our consistent high quality performance indicates that our signal is not degraded with fuel type, fuel contamination, fuel temperature or entrained air. In fact we accomplish this without any electronics in the fuel volume.
SIMPLE SYSTEM - HIGH QUALITY
The high technology sensor combined with a simple mechanical system is patented by CiES for measuring fuel level. Our demonstrated quality output, illustrates our effectiveness in fuel measurement.
UNCOMMON VALUE
The fact that our fuel indication system is finding its way onto so many new Jet A platforms shows that CiES offers an uncommon value in aviation. The CiES fuel quantity solution represents both a higher quality and a more cost effective solution than traditional Jet A fuel quantity systems --- We are worth looking into.
Today we delivered 2 sets of CiES Mooney Fuel level senders for late mode M, R, S, & TN Mooney aircraft. So we now have fuel level senders for the popular Mooney Bravo, Ovation, Eagle & Acclaim.
We are now adding a new aftermarket general aviation platform every week. In addition CiES is adding a new OEM or commercial application every month.
Unique to CiES Fuel Level Senders:
Set 1 - was set up for a Mooney Bravo with a voltage output for interfacing to a JPI 900
Set 2 - was set up for a Mooney Acclaim with a resistive output for the factory G1000 system.
CiES has the unique capability of supporting multiple platforms with the same sender design. This sender design physically plugs into the same mounts in the aircraft. While the float remains - CiES's method of measurement is lightyears away from the traditional potentiometer or resistive sender of the past. CiES senders utilize a patented magnetic field technology that has more in common with the digital compass in your flight instrument or your cellphone. Like a compass that always points north, the CiES fuel level sender always points to the float. The sensor is precise enough to measure the angular position of that float down to tenth's of a degree and that precision is repeatable over time, temperature and vibration.
We just completed our first set of Beechcraft Bonanza Fuel Level Senders These magnetic field senders are for Tip tanks produced by a popular Beechcraft modification facility. We are starting to branch out into multiple applications in the aviation field with our magnetic field fuel level senders, from turboprop, helicopter or piston aircraft. Our technology allows for a nearly plug and play solution for legacy resistive fuel level sender installations. What started as a Cirrus Aircraft only application for fuel level sensing is slowly starting to spread across the aviation field. With over 10,000 senders produced to date, CiES is "The Word" in aviation fuel level sensing. Ask us about your application?
We manufactured our new TSO Senders for this kit built aircraft providing a universal sender for every location. These senders incorporate fuel temperature probes to provide - Lbs. or Kilo's Fuel as this is a Jet A Application utilizing the Walter M601 Turbine.
We are interfacing with a VR Avionics MFD and we expect to see an interesting interface for fuel level.
Both, Bull Aircraft and VR are Experimental - but the senders for this aircraft are FAA TSO Approved.
We received our second TSO C55a designation for our aviation fuel level senders.
To meet this requirement our senders were rigorously tested in in harsh environmental and electrical conditions.
In these conditions, the CiES senders had to provide a stable and effective fuel level output.
Our output quality level met the most rigorous FAA TSO standard for fuel level sending @ 0.75% of full tank volume. A fuel level standard that the big iron fuel senders can only hope to achieve.
Meeting these standards proves that CiES technology provides an accurate fuel level output for any aircraft or rotorcraft type.
The fact that a float based sensor meets this critical FAA requirement - proves our technological and patent advantages, as
only CiES produces FAA TSO Approved Float Sensors.
Additionally there are no wires or electrical components in the fuel volume. The requirements of the FAA Advisory Circular AC 25.981-1C - Fuel Tank Flammability are inherently met in our fuel sender design.
What was Added to the New Sensor
Universal Level Output
Resistance
Voltage
Frequency
Fuel Temperature Output
Lbs or Kilos Fuel Level Capability
Flying Lead Connection
Better Connection Flexibility
Unlimited Connection Interface.
Can Accommodate Limited or Tight Connection Clearance
Simpler Data Transmission Between Senders.
7 fold Increase in Output Sensitivity
Improved Flexibility in Meeting Future Fuel Level Challenges
It is interesting to us to see where our unique fuel level technology turns up next. We are making rapid progress making CiES the company to turn to for aviation fuel level.
This is the 3rd new configuration we have revealed this week alone, and there are several we can't talk about at the moment. Each one is on a more sophisticated platform than the next.
Our technology is simple, reliable and not in contact with the fuel. It makes for a robust and effective helicopter or turboprop fuel level system.
We had several new challenges to measure a tank of 40" or 100 cm. We rose to the opportunity and we developed new technology to effectively handle this fuel depth, as well as reporting fuel temperature.
Our combination of simple float and sophisticated sensor technology has proven itself to be the "Go To" technology to provide fuel level in all aviation applications.
This design is an expansion of our Cirrus SF50 Jet design.
From the beginning, CiES has been driven by innovation. Our first invention was the world-renowned magneto resistive fuel level sensor this same sensor that is used today on the most popular aircraft in the world.
Since our breakthrough in fuel level that begins in 2003, we’ve accelerated our strong culture and track record of innovative technologies that solve real-world challenges for our customers.
More recently, we pioneered automated fuel tank selection system for a global aviation company, developed a wireless propane vehicle fuel level sensor, & a marine fuel level sensor that addressed whether the boat is on open water or in the harbour.
By accurately monitoring fuel level and providing an updated range capability, operators avoid breakdowns, protects valuable high pressure fuel systems, reduce environmental impact, and save money at the pump.
Today, CiES delivers customer-driven innovation to a diverse spectrum of industries and applications– from automotive to industrial production, to off-road/heavy-duty equipment, marine to agriculture, aerospace and oil level sensing solutions that protect and perform.
After two years of production we have crossed a major milestone.
There are 5000 CiES Inc Fuel Level senders in the field or more appropriately, in the air.
What does that mean for our customer base or our potential customer base? The CiES Magneto Resistive Fuel Level system is proven and a good solution for fuel level measurement in a variety of applications. We have proven the concept in what may be the harshest environment for fuel level measurement - aviation. By proving ourselves in the aviation world we literally can take this method anywhere. Our quality is phenomenal - out of the 5000 units in the field we have yet to take one out of service. Can you say the same for your fuel level solution?
On announcement of the TSO and the patented CIES Fuel Level system on Cirrus production aircraft, we were approached by several RV owner/builders. They asked us if we could build a fuel level sensor for the popular Van's Aircraft Series.
We thought about it - it was easy to do (on initial thought) used the same housing as the Cirrus System. The same circuit card, But the devil is in the details.
We can easily produce a Digital Fuel Level Sensor that fits the Vans Aircraft Tank - For all models of Van's Aircraft - Ok RV-3 thru RV-9 and the RV-10
Stewart Warner Fuel Level
Yes - This is a more expensive solution than the Stewart Warner sender sold by Van's.
In looking at the alternative used by the builder community - A Capacitive sensor formed in the tank - this sensor uses outside electronics to sense the amount of fuel in contact between two metal plates. Capacitance is a compromised solution for aviation fuel level - the no moving concept is good if it works all the time or doesn't need cleaning or temperature calibration. The capacitive system used in some Van's aircraft is not set up for replacement or maintenance - something the Big Boy OEM capacitive probes employ. Capacitive probes should be cleaned occasionally, as fuel born debris or corrosion is caused by moist air that is introduced on descent in every aircraft cannot be avoided. - moisture severely degrades the capacitive system, both in output and the degradation of the system itself. Simple capacitive solutions do not accommodate different types of fuel. Fuels can have a vastly different dielectric constant - and this translates directly to fuel level. AutoGas is close but not the same as AVgas and ethanol is grossly different. Auto fuel with high ethanol blend ratio 10-15% will actually read falsely up to twice as high if used in a tank that was calibrated for Avgas. OK - at CiES we have solved fuel level in the Cirrus, Gipps, Partenavia, Quest aircraft with float based sensors - a radically different sensor system to locate the float in the tank - but it is float sensor none the less. What is happening in the Van's aircraft world to give a nearly universal complaint that the Steward Warner Float Gauge doesn't measure full fuel - However a user built capacitive plate that is only 3 inches further outboard does. This didn't pass the sniff test. Floats by design - float on the surface of the fuel and you miss some. In review of the RV tank and wing dihedral, a capacitive plate may not measure full fuel as well.
Lenny Iszak Rendering of the Van's RV Fuel Tank
There are limitations to float design, the last 0.25 inch of potential travel is limited when the float hits the skin. This is a well known and in an aircraft fuel tank, a quarter of a inch can represent many gallons. But from what we heard in these nearly coincident fuel sensing systems - capacitive and float - they could be off. So the general assumption in aviation is that float sensors are not as effective. That is generally what we hear in the certified world as well. So we set out to discover what could be going on. The first thing we found was that RV provided a rather approximate bend diagram for the Stewart Warner sensors. The Stewart Warner sensors have a bit of lateral play and they seemed in our models to contact structure or other items in the tank prior to hitting the skin. OK several owners had modified their Stewart Warner float attachment to limit this possibility. Well we can do a good job in measuring the fuel in blue. We have very conclusively proved in the Cirrus G5 aircraft and others that a float sensor can measure full fuel, it can be very accurate and very reliable - and we know that we can do the same in an RV Aircraft tank. We may need to look at a multi sender installation. If we put a little thought and a quality assembly we could achieve good results each and every time CIES we believe we could get you something just a little bit better. Stay tuned - something simple to operate and understand - a communication method that has real immunity to poor connections or induced voltage - a fuel sending unit that is robustly built to measure fuel in the light aircraft environment.
This FAA approved fuel level reporting system is a better solution over the capacitive sender system and most likely equal in monetary or personal effort when it is all said and done.
Our sensor have the added benefit of being field replaceable and easy to diagnose. What happens when your capacitive system fails to operate. The CIES fuel Level sender doesn't need to be cleaned - ever - and frankly is pretty darn simple.
We have 5000 units in the field - Zero issues, problems or returns
The output is now resistive, voltage, digital frequency or CANBUS
We took exceptional care to insure we reduced the float size to minimize issues with float / structure interference.
For a Van's aircraft we will offer a full replacement transferable warranty for 10 years for unmodified senders.
Yes I know - you could build your own and you are - but when it comes to fuel level reporting - spending a little more gets you something - like this reaction from our customer
WOW - this is a must have - Maybe you'll think so too
The cost to retrofit CiES senders to a pre-74 B55 is around $3200 (plus installation). That may seem "outrageous" but it's only about 50% more than what it costs to have the eight (2 per tank * 4 tanks) senders "overhauled" and my experience with overhauled senders is not very good. At best the OH senders will perform as good as when new for a few years which is to say they're accurate to within about +/- 5 gallons.
And one additional point about CIES senders. I have absolutely no doubt if any question or issue came up, Scott would be on the phone within the hour. (More likely in minutes.) Every interaction I have had with him and interactions I have seen others have with him have been very positive. 
+1 on the CiES/ Scott Philiben Phan club. There's no better customer service than that provided by Scott. anywhere.
