Engine analyzer

[Jack Askins]

I had an Insight G4 installed in my PA 30. 2 different shops and the Insight technical support have not been able to make the instrument usable. Start the engines, power it up, and then the device goes nuts: egt, cht, oat, and all the other pages of data for both engines become a chaotic display of full scale deflections of the data. 3 different instruments, all new harness installation on the left, ground run-up and in-flight magneto, alternator, radios, strobes switch off and on - nothing corrects the problems. We have tried everything technical support suggested. I have spent the equivalent of 4 installations in addition to the original cost of the instrument. I am left to conclude if 2 stray electrons enter a wire somewhere, the entire instrument goes nuts. Why oh why did I not install a JPI? Any experience or thoughts out there?

[Gomer Pound]

Hi Jack, Sorry for your inconvenience and expense. I have been looking for a certified replacement for my instrument gauges that was not $10 K or more for a twin. I appreciate you sharing your experience. The fellow in the hangar bay next to me has a turbo charged Debonair that just had a brand new engine installed. He had an Insight G3 installed at the same time. I asked how he liked it. He felt the knob felt "flimsy" like it might not last long. He also said it was a bit hard to read due to size of characters in display. He's 30 yrs younger than me and appears to have good vision. I think the G3 is functioning fine. The engine and monitor were installed by Kalamazoo Aircraft, a great shop in my area. The actually did the install in the hangar since he had a seized engine due to bad main bearing.
I have my eye on a pair of the EI CGR-30P, mostly because of available panel space. I could remove my TACH (dual indicators) and MP and replace with the EI CGF-30P's. I think I could still see them pretty well, even at an angle. I would also like to replace my fuel flow (fuel pressure) gauge with the Osborne Shadin STC. However, when you add them all up, it's above $10K since the CGR-30P's would have to be the Premium versions @ $3500/each, plus the installs. That's getting close to half the price of an engine overhaul just for the instrumentation. Somehow pilots flew my plane since 1968 without graphic engine analyzers. Of course, I would still like to have them for the extra information.
Gomer N2106RG

[Jack Askins]

I agree the knob feels cheap and is difficult to stop on a page as you turn the knob, particularly in turbulence. It needs more robust detents at each page stop. I also agree the letters are too small - too much info crammed into a page for the size of the instrument. Of course, in my situation, it doesn't make much difference as the instrument is not working. I can not recommend it. I looked at the cgr 30 but decided against due to cost. Unfortunately, this G4 has cost me as much as the twin CGRs. Thanks for your post.

[patbarry]

Jack, your post is aged now, but the reason why you did not install a JPI 760 is because the 760 is not certified as a primary - which means that you need to maintain your original probes and gauges, and that defeats the whole purpose of installing a modern engine analyzer.

The Insight G4 is an excellent unit and is certified as a primary on our planes - I recently helped an install of a G4 on a PA30 with good results. I'm probably going to put one on my own PA30 soon.

Pat