EI CGR-30P install

arnoha

arnoha

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arnoha
So, it looks like I'll be installing an EI CGR-30P Premium on my 172SP in October or November during annual. Looking for folks' experiences with this device. Been happy? How reliable has it been?

I'm in the SF Bay Area. Thinking about flying out of state to pull the cost down. Anywhere in Oregon or Nevada that would be recommended for this major upgrade? How many days did it take you to install it? Trying to figure out the best method, maybe pair it with a vacation.

And yeah, I know what everyone is going to say: Why do you need an engine monitor on a 172? Turns out it should be the cheapest way to deal with some of the issues I've been having. Some of you guys may have been tracking my fuel sender issues. I did replace it with a new Rochester sender, but now I'm getting issues on BOTH sides! I'm so, so done with Rochester anything. CiES is going in, and it requires a new fuel gauge. $1000 for the gauge or $3,500 for an engine monitor is an easy RoI tradeoff. My clock/timer/volts/temp gauge is also failing, so there's another $500 being fixed here. Drops some round gauges, drops some weight, gets me more data. Overall seems a win given the situation.
 
paging @NealRomeoGolf

He has one and I'm pretty sure likes it. It's in his Archer. Hopefully he can chime in for you.

I was going to put a couple in the 310 but with WAAS'ing the 530, getting a GTX345, just installed a Garmin G5 and just getting my props back from a double overhaul I opted to go a little cheaper on the monitor and am either going to get a Insight Twin G4 or JPI 760 at OSH.
 
I have one in my Super Viking. Love it. It's had to go back to EI twice in 2.5 years, though, for repairs. Our A&P, who had never installed one before, did the work in around 18-20 hours. I did, however, remove the old gauges which sped things up a little bit. Some shops will claim it's a 40+ hour install. Avoid those shops.
 
I put a CGR-30P in my Cherokee three years ago. I was having my engine overhauled and figured it was the best time for the install. I really debated hard over whether it was worth the money or not, but figured that the engine overhaul was so expensive that I wanted to take the best care of my new engine that I possibly could. Although the CGR-30P was expensive, I have not regreted it. I have not experienced any issues with it. I already had a digital OAT on my airplane so I installed the OAT sensor that came in the kit in my carburetor. This might be an option you will want to consider too. When I perform my runup and pull the carb heat on, I not only see an rpm drop but I also see a temp rise on the carb sensor. I also like the fuel tracking features too. I have mine setup to alarm for swapping fuel tanks each 5 gallons of burn. I can't give you a good time or cost estimate since a friend and I helped the mechanic install it.
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Thank everyone. So, it looks like install should be in the 2 AMU range.

@MickYoumans , no need for a temp gauge in the carb...it's fuel injected.

I wish I could get more than 5 and 5, but here are the selections for my setup:

Primary: RPM, EGT, CHT, Fuel Flow, Oil Pressure, Oil Temperature, Left Tank, Right Tank
Non-Primary: OAT, Flight Timer, Tach Time, Zulu Time, Volts

Will probably also add the USB-6A during the install. Shockingly, $185 is great price for 5 USB ports in the panel. Because planes.
 
arnoha said:
Thank everyone. So, it looks like install should be in the 2 AMU range.

@MickYoumans , no need for a temp gauge in the carb...it's fuel injected.

I wish I could get more than 5 and 5, but here are the selections for my setup:

Primary: RPM, EGT, CHT, Fuel Flow, Oil Pressure, Oil Temperature, Left Tank, Right Tank
Non-Primary: OAT, Flight Timer, Tach Time, Zulu Time, Volts

Will probably also add the USB-6A during the install. Shockingly, $185 is great price for 5 USB ports in the panel. Because planes.
Click to expand...

We have the USB-6A as well. Never did get it to work right with the CGR, but it's a great USB charger. But remember, only 2 of the ports are high-power. The three "middle" ports are all low power ports that, by default, don't even have power to them. You have to jumper them to get 1a. They're made to interface with the CGR, not charge devices.
 
bradg33 said:
We have the USB-6A as well. Never did get it to work right with the CGR, but it's a great USB charger. But remember, only 2 of the ports are high-power. The three "middle" ports are all low power ports that, by default, don't even have power to them. You have to jumper them to get 1a. They're made to interface with the CGR, not charge devices.
Click to expand...

If the USB-6A isn't working right, what method do you use to get data off the CGR?

Aware of the 1A limitation. It actually works out nicely. Intend to use the bottom port for the CGR. The two side ports go to the high-draw items: iPad and Stratus. The 1A ports can trickle charge my phone and the front-seat passenger's phone. The SP also has a 12V power port, so that would still be available now for items that aren't USB charged, like my handheld radio.

Oh, and I'll plug the three middle ports when I'm not in the plane, so renters won't use them.
 
Actually, that's an interesting question to CGR owners: Is it easy enough to use that you wouldn't feel the need for training before flying behind one? I don't mean to access the fancy functions, but to use it as a replacement for the basic gauges that will now be replaced? Will I have a problem with renters not figuring it out or possibly messing up the CGR?
 
arnoha said:
If the USB-6A isn't working right, what method do you use to get data off the CGR?

Aware of the 1A limitation. It actually works out nicely. Intend to use the bottom port for the CGR. The two side ports go to the high-draw items: iPad and Stratus. The 1A ports can trickle charge my phone and the front-seat passenger's phone. The SP also has a 12V power port, so that would still be available now for items that aren't USB charged, like my handheld radio.

Oh, and I'll plug the three middle ports when I'm not in the plane, so renters won't use them.
Click to expand...

The CGR has it's own USB port that we have tied under the panel. We just use that. When using it with the USB-6A, all you do is plug a loose USB cable that's part of the USB-6A harness into the CGR's female USB cable. It basically acts as nothing more than a coupler. Ours wasn't playing nice, and we already had the CGR's USB cable in a convenient spot, so we just keep using that.

As far as "training," it's quite simple to use. The fuel flow stuff is a bit trickier if you want to set your fuel load, but the basic functionality is easy.
 
I really like my EI CGR-30P and I think that it has increase the safety of the plane significantly, regardless of the age or the cost of the plane.

I would just keep your fuel sender units “as is” and just use the fuel flow monitor to tell how much fuel you have. The fuel flow is extremely accurate monitor 0.1-0.5 gallons error rate between fill ups.

I am going to start a separate thread to see what monitors people choose for the CGR-30P and why. My biggest problem was trying to decide which gauges to choose to make primary and secondary.
 
ahypnoz said:
I really like my EI CGR-30P and I think that it has increase the safety of the plane significantly, regardless of the age or the cost of the plane.

I would just keep your fuel sender units “as is” and just use the fuel flow monitor to tell how much fuel you have. The fuel flow is extremely accurate monitor 0.1-0.5 gallons error rate between fill ups.

I am going to start a separate thread to see what monitors people choose for the CGR-30P and why. My biggest problem was trying to decide which gauges to choose to make primary and secondary.
Click to expand...

I have no choice on the fuel senders. The CiES units have a different interface to the gauge vs. the stock Rochester ones, so I can't keep the stock gauge. I can't not have a gauge. It's required as a primary instrument, and currently it's airworthy...but just. It won't last long. By the same token, a fuel flow meter is great...as long as all the fuel is going through the meter. Without the fuel level gauge, I won't catch things like forgetting the caps off or a leaking drain point. I would even have trouble with forgetting the fuel selector in the wrong position, since there aren't separate left and right fuel flows.

As it turns out, that little detail made selecting the 5 and 5 nearly a forced decision in my case. RPM, EGT, and CHT are, of course, standard. Left and Right Fuel take two of the five. Fuel Flow is an easy third to choose. Since Oil Pressure and Oil Temperature are on one gauge, that made that decision for the last two easy, as I can ditch that gauge and also get a data logging of those two critical engine parameters.

The secondary ones were chosen to best back up the existing instruments and to be able to ditch ones that don't have to have a primary display. Tach time is needed, since the tach is going away. Since the clock/timer/OAT/Volts combo gauge is also showing signs of distress, that made the next four pretty easy: OAT (Celsius), Flight Timer, Zulu Time, Volts. Of course, I haven't actually bought the thing yet, and I don't currently know if any of those four items must be primary to ditch the existing unit. I'll need to talk the mechanic to figure that out...but does anyone know whether any of those can be fulfilling by being secondary on the CGR in a 172SP and still the IFR-capable?

I'll get to eliminate the tach, fuel gauge, oil gauge, and possibly the clock! Hopefully I can sell all of those, along with the old fuel senders, to defray the cost somewhat. The only function I would lose in the panel is Local Time and OAT in F, neither of which are terribly interesting.
 
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Sorry I came late to my page. I just got back from Germany.

Yes, I have a CGR-30P. Almost a year old. Love it. The fuel calcs have always been within a tenth of a gallon when I refuel. Having 4 cylinder CHTs is awesome. My install was about 24 hours if I remember correctly. I had a bad EGT probe from EI at the start but they swapped it out on warranty. I wish I had a GPS to take advantage of some of the other fuel monitoring pages, but I don't.

I have MP, RPM, CHT, EGT, Fuel Flow, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, HP%, Carb Temp, Flight time, Volts, Amps and Tach.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
Sorry I came late to my page. I just got back from Germany.

Yes, I have a CGR-30P. Almost a year old. Love it. The fuel calcs have always been within a tenth of a gallon when I refuel. Having 4 cylinder CHTs is awesome. My install was about 24 hours if I remember correctly. I had a bad EGT probe from EI at the start but they swapped it out on warranty. I wish I had a GPS to take advantage of some of the other fuel monitoring pages, but I don't.

I have MP, RPM, CHT, EGT, Fuel Flow, Oil Pressure, Oil Temp, HP%, Carb Temp, Flight time, Volts, Amps and Tach.
Click to expand...

Very cool.

Were Volts and Amps on the secondary pages enough to eliminate the stock gauges?
 
arnoha said:
Sounds awesome...but requires registration. Is there a quick way for me to see it, or do I need to go through the process?
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Sorry, probably not. I forgot that you had to register to view that forum now...didn't used to have to :/ I've had nothing but a good experience with it to sum it up. If you have any particular questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you.
 
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