Skyview & Van's Steam Gauge integration

[Junglepilot]

Was about to buy a set of second-hand but new Van's fuel gauges and was told by seller that the SV will not work with them (as backup). He (a new Skyview customer) said [Dynon rep said] they would give erroneous readings when both the Dynon and Van's gauges are connected to the traditional Stewart Warner senders Van's sells (float type).  I will be verifying this with Dynon this week when I order my system.

However.....

That said, as I plan my panel (RV-8) are there other Van's gauges that won't integrate with the Skyview system or better said, there are known issues with? (such as EGT, Fuel Pressure, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp).  I downloaded the SV manual and am now reading through it, but haven't run across  anything yet.  Maybe someone could point me to the chapter and verse on this if it exists.

I want to have a few analog backups. Curious to hear what everyone else knows or has experienced.

Ordering my SV unit this week.

Thanks!

 

[dynonsupport]

You cannot hook two gauges to the same sender. This isn't a SkyView thing or an analog gauge thing. Two analog gauges hooked up will read wrong too. A gauge powers a sender, and hooking two gauges up causes twice the power to go to the sender which causes a incorrect reading on both devices.

Plus, you only have one sender. So you don't have as much redundancy as you think, since a failed sender will cause problems.

The only senders you can hook up to two gauges are RPM, Fuel Flow, CHT, and EGT. Even with that, there is a chance that a failed SkyView or analog gauge could mess up the signal, and you CANNOT hook CHT and EGT to SkyView and an analog gauge at the same time, but you could hook them to two digital gauges at the same time.

Really, if you need redundancy, you need two senders, no matter what gauges you buy.

 

[Junglepilot]

OK. Thanks. I believe you gave me the same answer others have over at VAF. I agree, usually the problems occur from failed senders or shorts than with gauges (in my experience). That said having two senders would actually be a better concept.

Thanks,

Sandy

 

[skysailor]

Sandy,
If you really want the redundancy, the two senders mentioned is the way to go. The sensor manifold Vans sells is actually set up for this as each of the three positions has three fittings. This would allow for a supply line into one, a Dynon sender in another and a Vans sender in the third. To be honest, the quality of the Dynon products is so high and the reliability so good, it is doubtful you will gain anything more than weight and a headache looking for the panel real estate to mount the analog gauges.

 

[Junglepilot]

Sure, thanks. I agree. I just flew in an environment with two of everything and wanted that again if possible. As I said, in my experience as both A&P and pilot most of my failures were not gauges (readout devices) but senders or wiring.

This will actually save me a lot of panel space as noted. I will have backup airspeed and altimeter but those just need pitot static system.

Thanks for the help in this phase!!

 

[dabear]

But you already have redundant fuel readings with the SV. If you confirm at start the fuel level via eyeball and SV fuel level reading. You then confirm the fuel guage and the fuel flow read correctly in flight every "X" period of time. If one reads wrong, you then decide when to land.

Just my thoughts, your mileage may vary.