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To: flyrotary@lancaironline.net
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 14:51:13 -0800
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: [Potential Spam Identified by FDIC]::[FlyRotary] Re: Oil level sensor
Message-ID: <20051101.145536.3408.4.alwick@juno.com>
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From: al p wick <alwick@juno.com>

My background is failure prevention. I'd encourage giving strong
consideration to an analog sensor, rather than an attribute one like
this. With analog sensor you gradually see the level get lower and lower.
This means you are better informed. Also less likely to fall into "must
be bad sensor" trap. 
If you can't come up with analog sensor, this attribute one is way better
than nothing.


-al wick
Artificial intelligence in cockpit, Cozy IV powered by stock Subaru 2.5
N9032U 200+ hours on engine/airframe from Portland, Oregon
Prop construct, Subaru install, Risk assessment, Glass panel design info:
http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/alwick/index.html


On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 16:32:33 -0600 "Rogers, Bob J." <BRogers@FDIC.gov>
writes:
> The low oil level sensor offered at
> http://www.aircraftextras.com/LowOilSensor.htm
> is a float that acts as a magnetic switch.  In order for the sensor 
> to
> think that your pan was full of oil, there would have to be a pool 
> of
> oil in the pan (or surrounding the sensor) deep enough to lift the 
> float
> to the top of its stem.  A dribble of oil would not serve to make 
> the
> device think that you had a full pan.
> 
> If you wanted to adapt this device for use in a 13B and were 
> concerned
> about whether you had enough clearance from the bottom of the pan to 
> the
> motor mount (and you did not want to remove the oil pan to find out 
> or
> to create clearance by drilling extra holes in your engine mount), 
> you
> could mount the sensor externally, as follows:
> 
> Take the drain plug, drill a hole through the center of it, weld a
> fitting to the hole in the drain plug (AN-4 or -6), and run a hose 
> from
> the fitting to another similar fitting welded onto the side of a
> vertical aluminum square tube (big enough to weld a 1/2 inch NPT 
> fitting
> in the bottom - to accept the oil level sensor).  This hose fitting 
> on
> the vertical tube should be at or below the bottom of the oil pan.  
> At
> the top of the vertical tube is another AN-4 or -6 hose fitting, 
> from
> which a hose can be run to the oil vent at the top of the engine.  
> The
> level of the oil in the vertical tube will always be the same as 
> the
> level of the oil in the pan, since liquids seek their own level, 
> and
> your sensor will be able to measure the engine oil level, without 
> your
> having to invade the oil pan or the engine mount.  Additionally, you 
> can
> remove the entire device and put an un-modified drain plug back in 
> the
> pan if you ever decide that you do not want or need the sensor.
> 
> You can test the sensor by slowly adding oil (to a stopped engine)
> wise empty of oil. When the light goes out, that is the amount of
> oil that will be in your engine when the warning light first comes 
> on.
> The engine does not have to be running out of oil to conduct the 
> test.
> You may have to adjust your calculation by the additional amount of 
> oil
> that would be circulating in the engine when it is running.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] 
> On
> Behalf Of Joe Hull
> Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 3:53 PM
> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
> Subject: [Potential Spam Identified by FDIC]::[FlyRotary] Re: Oil 
> level
> sensor
> 
> > Here is a company that makes an oil level sensor that can be used
> > both
> > on Lycoming engines and Mazda Rotary engines (with a little
> > adaptation
> > of the oil pan).  It can trigger a signal much sooner than the
> > sensor
> > that is built into the 13B engine.
> > 
> > http://www.aircraftextras.com/LowOilSensor.htm
> 
> That item really looks like it would do the job. But, a couple of
> questions only one of which I can answer without a probe to test 
> with:
> 1. is there 3.5 inches of space between the fill plug and the
> "sandwich plate" that is part of the Conversion Concepts motor 
> mount.
> 
> 2. I'm not sure where the oil drains back into the pan in relation 
> to
> the fill plug with the adapter plate in place. I'm not going to 
> drop
> my pan to figure that out right now. But my concern is that if a
> trickle of oil - say the last quart in the engine happens to come 
> out
> of the oil gallery and dribble on the probe - then it will think 
> there
> is a full pan.
> 
> Other than those questions - it really looks like a good product. 
> Oh,
> and even if I had a probe - I'm not sure I'd want to test it on my
> engine. In order to really find out if it works on a running engine
> that is losing oil you'd have to run it out of oil and if it didn't
> light up as advertised...well bad things happen.
> 
> Joe Hull
> Redmond (Seattle), Washington
> Cozy MkIV #991 (working on Engine & Electrical & Finishing)
> http://www.maddyhome.com/canardpages/pages/JoeHull/index.html
>  
> 
> 
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