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GRT EIS R66 - LED Light

Funguy

Well Known Member
I have the GRT EIS R66 Warning light hooked up and it flashes constantly. The documentation for the R66 is not particularly helpful but I did find the troubleshooting guide for the EIS 4000 and apparently this is the expected behavior and it will go solid for an alarm. I have never seen it turn on solidly... The EFIS warning light behaves like I would expect and only turns on for an alarm. I find the EIS light flashing constantly to be distracting and am not sure that I would notice immediately if it were to change to solid. I am suspecting that the EFIS warning light is the only one that I need pay attention to. So I am thinking that I will get rid of the EIS light. Any thoughts on why I might keep it?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers, Sean
 
I have an EIS6000 and a blinking warning light is not normal behavior. It blinks when the interval timer times out. Can an automatic interval timer be set on the R66? On my 6000 I just push the left button and the light goes out, and the timer re-sets (mine is set for 30 minutes, I use it as a reminder to switch tanks).

Edit: Okay, measure of last resort: RTFM (read the ..... manual). You must have the engine off. The R66 blinks the light whenever there is no oil pressure.
 
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RTFM

Bob - I don't believe you ever sleep. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I did kinda RTFM but went straight to the troubleshooting section which is quiet on this issue. I see that the light should go out once the engine is started and the oil pressure registers. This was in fact the previous behavior until I recently added a current sensor. I am now suspicious that I screwed up the wiring or the settings. Oddly, the EIS light continues to blink after engine start and continues to do so after all the alarms have cleared on the EFIS and the EFIS warning light goes off. I'll have to revisit the 100 Amp current sensor.

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Cheers, Sean
 
It’s noon here, and I’m awake -:)
My EIS 6000 alarms at start up until it detects both oil pressure and alternator current, so you may be on the right track. I like the no-shunt Hall detector for current, but the actual detector (inside the slot in the torroid) is a somewhat fragile solid state thing. Might check that you didn’t yank on the fine wires. Also that you didn’t reverse them, and followed the instructions with respect to the bias voltage.
 
Maybe I am not understanding your problem, but I think mine behaves the same way. My warning light is flashing before engine start, indicating low oil pressure, as it is designed to do. I can press the “NEXT/Ack” button and the light will turn to steady on until I have oil pressure on start up. See manual:

The Alarms – The most important part! The instrument's alarm function will alert you to out-of-limit conditions by flashing the warning light (to get your attention), and simultaneously changing pages to a labeled screen and flashing the reading above its label to identify it. If the problem can not be fixed immediately, the alarm should be acknowledged by pressing the “Next/Ack” button on the EIS. (When the alarm light is flashing, the instrument will ignore the other buttons.) Acknowledging an alarm returns the instrument to the page it was previously on, and allows it to alert you to the next problem. After acknowledging an alarm, the warning light will remain continuously on as long as any out-of-limit condition exists. The warning light will go out when everything is within limits. An alarm that goes away, and then returns, is treated as a new warning, and will again generate the response described here. Multiple alarms are presented according to priority, one at a time.

On my installation, the only limit I monitor on the EIS is oil pressure. All other limits are configured through my Horizon EFIS. My EIS box is hidden behind the panel on a hinge that allows me to pull a push pin and swing it down below the panel for viewing if needed. I can easily reach the “Acknowledge” button before engine start to change the light to steady. If you still have a flashing warning light after acknowledging all limit exceedances, that doesn’t seem right and you may have an issue.
 
R66

Hey Scott - I have the R66 which does not have a screen or an Ack Button. All that functionality is driven from the Sport EX EFIS. Bob has mentioned that the Ammeter also needs to see flow before the EIS light turns off. My particular setup requires that the Alternator Feed is off until after engine start otherwise it pops the field breaker. I am now wondering if that is related. Maybe I turn on the field too late after engine start and the alarm stays on. It's just not annunciated on the EFIS.

Cheers, Sean
 
That’s not how my EIS6000 works. E.g., if I start with the field circuit off, the red light comes on, reminding me to turn on the field circuit, at which point the red light goes off (assuming I also now have oil pressure).
You should be able to start your engine with the field CB on, unless it’s a bit undersized (during start when the regulator detects low buss voltage it will demand max output from the alternator, meaning maximum field current.)
 
Sean,
Sorry, I didn’t know what R66 was. I thought it was a nomenclature for the red light. I’m assuming now that it is the remoter EIS unit. I have the old fashioned panel mount unit with screen and buttons, and I have it mounted remotely. It’s a different operating system apparently. Mine doesn’t need an alternator, just power from the bus it’s connected to. In my case, my aux bus. In your case I’m wondering if there is a recommendation in the install manual to install a momentary ACK push button. In any case, I would think the Red light is a redundant indication for low oil pressure in case the EFIS dies during engine start. I have a small back up battery to prevent this, but it has still happened a couple times. That’s why the GRT tech recommended I have the EIS red warning light configured In my EIS to warn of low oil pressure (at least). During engine start I always monitor that red light to make sure it goes out right away. I can also watch the oil pressure indication in my EFIS, but it’s not as noticeable as that red light in front of my face.
 
GRT Tech Support

Hey gents - Thanks for all your feedback. I did get ahold of Eric at GRT today and apparently on the Remote EIS R66, the warning light flashes only for low oil pressure. Specifically, if the oil pressure is below 15 psi. The Sport EX tells me I have about 70 psi when the engine is idling so apparently the sensor is working correctly. I have a couple of things that I would like to check but barring a revelation, it looks like I will sending the EIS back to the factory. Quite the pain in the butt with cross border shipping...

Cheers, Sean
 
If you are shipping it back, get them to calibrate the MAP sensor. Mine is off by quite a bit.

Unlike the EIS-4000 etc, the EIS-66R has an INTERNAL MAP sensor which does not allow for user calibration. I wondered why the airplane seemed a little slow after converting from an AF2500 to the EIS-66R... Sure enough, I was running at a reduced power setting, thanks to the error in the MAP sensor.

I'm riding GRT hard to incorporate two features in EIS-66R software - if you feel these are worthy additions please feel free to "pile on" and make the request next time you talk to GRT.
1) user calibration of EIS-66R internal MAP sensor
2) user setting of tach time (this one is just plain stupid - who would build an engine monitor and not give the user the capacity to sync their "new" engine monitor with actual aircraft hours?!?!?!)
 
Going South

Hey Mark - I have one more thing to check and then it's most likely heading back for a check out. I have been following your other thread on the MAP sensor calibration and agree that it makes sense that it be user adjustable. Although I have to admit the amount of error isn't a huge concern in my style of flying. I did also find the inability to start my engine time at the actual time very odd. The other thing is the oil pressure limit to turn on the warning light is internally set at 15 psi. I would think that would be user adjustable also... I'll try to be persuasive.

Cheers, Sean
 
The internal 15psi limit is, in some ways, a good thing. I say it's a good thing because it's one limit that is absolutely critical because you absolutely want to know when the oil pressure has dropped. As a result, GRT has taken away our ability to screw up this setting, thus it's something one can depend on! :)

I do hope you get your issue sorted out, Sean. The good news is that GRT is, even in this covid environment, turning things around pretty quickly.
 
2) user setting of tach time (this one is just plain stupid - who would build an engine monitor and not give the user the capacity to sync their "new" engine monitor with actual aircraft hours?!?!?!)

It’s odd that they deleted this — the eis6000 had this function.
 
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