SonexBuilders.net

Anyone got a cross reference or suggested alternate for the VDO 360 001 80psi oil pressure sender? Out of Stock anywhere I can see - at least in the USA.

The issue with the -001 model is the M10 thread. The technically similar -005 model has an NPT thread.

Amazon, Jeggs, Summit racing has stock

Hi Graeme,

I’ve gone through quite a few oil pressure senders in my 500 hours of flying my Sonex. I then decided to use an electronic sender, with no moving parts.

https://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/i ... ey=3758722

This continues to work well on my Sonex. Do some research to see if this might work for you.

Mervin Friesen
Sonex 122

I like the concept - but it is NPT - not metric - and that doesn't bode well down the road if I start to make the engine non-standard. Even if I document and remember - for the next owner..... Also from the Q&A:

Q: Can I replace a 100psi VDO sender with a falcon sender?
We do not recommend using VDO gauge with a falcon sender.

Q: Will this sensor work with an MGL EMS instrument?
MGL recommends using MGL sensors with their instruments.

Ah ha.....

V 360-006 has the 10mm x 1 thread and a redundant extra pole for a warning light.

Friesen5 wrote:Hi Graeme,

I’ve gone through quite a few oil pressure senders in my 500 hours of flying my Sonex. I then decided to use an electronic sender, with no moving parts.

https://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/i ... ey=3758722

This continues to work well on my Sonex. Do some research to see if this might work for you.

Mervin Friesen
Sonex 122

I've also gone through too many VDO oil pressure senders. I'm seriously thinking about using the Swift electronic oil pressure sender you mention.
Which EFIS are you using? If you are using the MGL RDAC what, if any, DIP switches did you need to flip?

GraemeSmith wrote:Ah ha.....

V 360-006 has the 10mm x 1 thread and a redundant extra pole for a warning light.

Hi Graeme,

Where did you source the V360-006 from? I couldn't find it on ACS.

XenosN42 wrote:

Friesen5 wrote:Hi Graeme,

I’ve gone through quite a few oil pressure senders in my 500 hours of flying my Sonex. I then decided to use an electronic sender, with no moving parts.

https://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/i ... ey=3758722

This continues to work well on my Sonex. Do some research to see if this might work for you.

Mervin Friesen
Sonex 122

I've also gone through too many VDO oil pressure senders. I'm seriously thinking about using the Swift electronic oil pressure sender you mention.
Which EFIS are you using? If you are using the MGL RDAC what, if any, DIP switches did you need to flip?

In 540hrs I'm up to VDO replacement number 4. I intend to eliminate the moving parts and use a solid state sender next time.
The MGL extreme itself can use any type of common sender input. Resistive, 0 to 5v or 4-20ma. If not a VDO, UMA or rotax sender for which the extreme has pre set settings inbuilt you will need to calibrate it for your sender from the oil pressure sender menu.
Calibrating shouldn't be too difficult but I believe you would need to supply the sender with pressure to do it. I would use an air compressor and regulator. I dont think the RDAC DIP switches will need to touched.
Steve
Steve

I calibrated my sensor using stuff from the plumbing junk bin - basically built a female NPT to mate with the sender, and on the other side I adapted to an air collet. Fill up a tire with the pressure of your choice, check it, then put the air chuck on the sender adapter collet and check the tire pressure with your sender.

I agree the VDO sender is not very reliable. Directly mounted to the engine, I'd go as far as saying it's basically junk. Maybe it's better remote mounted?

Several years ago, I decided to do a bunch of research and replace it with the same Kavlico sender Dynon and Garmin recommend. It was a little pricy, but I was willing to pay extra (compared to Falcon) because the big names seemed to like it. It was super satisfying until both Garmin and Dynon soon announced recommendations to switch to a different sender due to reports of leaks. https://dynonavionics.com/bulletins/sup ... 50620E.php

For only ~$150, I can now upgrade to a state-of-the-art solid state sender that is unlikely to leak. https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Se ... bpEA%3D%3D

I admit, I'm still flying the old Kavlico and there seems to be claims that the likelihood of a leak was pretty small. I can't currently find any examples of catastrophic oil leaks despite having a memory of seeing something to that effect when the issue was first announced (thought it was a sender directly mounted to a Rotax engine). I do plan on upgrading, but my plan is to remotely mount the new sender at the same time and I haven't completely thought through the plumbing including filling in the fitting with a pinhole to mitigate any leaks.

I suspect the Falcon and old Kavlico sender are very similar. If I remember correctly, my MGL Enigma didn't allow me to input the correct calibration table, so it reads a bit low, but otherwise it is very satisfying compared the the randomness of the VDO.