Fuel Level Calibration

[rfazio1951]

I calibrated the two fuel tanks in my RV-6, and then like a dummy I reloaded the sensors.sfg file after I made changes to it and lost my fuel level calibration. So I recalibarated the tanks again today. The first time I did it The left tank got to 8 gallons and told me the value did not change and I confirmed it. After that I filled it the rest of the way and I got a reading that would go to 7 gallons then 7+ when over 7. The right tank because the sender is in a different place worked well up to 18 gallons then showed 18+. I thought this was ok cause the left tank sender is all the way inboard and gets pinned when the tank is not full, Today after starting over the left tank went to 12 before it wouldn't go any higher. I thought, good maybe it was a good thing that I messed up and had to recalibrate. I got better settings and it went to 12 then 12+. But then when I went to do the right tank it just stopped at 12 and said I was done? Even though the numbers were still changing? Why did it stop? I would much rather have the 18+ gallons on the right I got the first time. I know you are going to tell me I have to do the right tank over again.

 

[dynonsupport]

SkyView will warn you that it's not seeing a significant change, but it won't stop you from keeping going if you keep hitting ADD instead of FULL. So I'm not sure why the calibration ended unless you told it to. Note that once you have a calibration stored, you can edit it manually right on SkyView (look for the EDIT button right on the calibration screen). Be careful when changing the numbers, though, since you can get SkyView to report artificially high or low fuel levels if you don't completely understand how to edit them. The key thing to avoid is to NEVER give SkyView a data point that represents more fuel than the actual sensor can measure once its hit its stop.

Generically - yes, we'd recommend redoing the calibration if you think it's not correct.

 

[rfazio1951]

Thanks for the responce. I did look at the file after I saved it so I don't lose the calibration again. I did see the calibration numbers at the end of the file. I guess I'm going to redo it and see if I cen get a better setup on the right side.

 

[mmarien]

If you go to the fuel calibration page, it shows the current calibration but also shows the current reading from the sensor in the top right hand corner.

My sensor is a screw type float and it sometime sticks. I missed the first forty litres of the total 130 litres on my calibration so the next time I had the tank empty, I used that page to re-measure the first forty litres in 10 litre increments and then modified the file on my computer and reloaded it.  

 

[rfazio1951]

I was thinking along the same lines. If I get the fuel level to 12 gallons, which I can tell from the sensor reading. I can then go from there up to full, putting two gallons at a time in the tank and taking readings. Then modify the file, as you say and add the extra steps. I'm wondering if the first attempt was not as good because of battery voltage. Is it possible that when I was doing it I ran the voltage down a bit in the battery and then got wrong readings from the sensor? The second time I had just landed with a fully charged battery.

 

[mmarien]

Don't forget to change the red/yellow/green ranges in the gauge if you change the top value.