MGL EMS-2 Blaze Engine monitor install

[airlina]

Had a few guys ask me to review my MGL EMS-2 Blaze Engine monitor installation that I completed yesterday. Here are a few pics and if you are one of those guys and are interested drop me a PM and I'll give you the details. Its a novel not a short story so via phone conversation will be best . Bruce N199CL

[desertdave]

Nice job!
Care to share a parts list?
I'm assuming it went on a Rotax 912

[airlina]

Actually the install was on my Continental IO-240 powered Series 5. Parts from MGL- EMS-2 Blaze instrument, RDAC XG (a firewall mounted remote data aquisition computer), 4 of each EGT and CHT thermocouples with splice kit and extension wire and a VDO oil press. sensor (My current Oil temp sensor was compatible with the MGL setup). A quick look on the Aircraft Spruce website will make tears come to your eyes with the price of most engine monitors so 3 things jumped out at me when I saw this MGL at OSH this summer. 1) it was a drop in replacement for my Westach quad engine gauge and fit in the 3 1/8"hole without redoing my panel. 2) functionality and screen display - I believe an engine monitor to be one of the most important instruments in the panel and a great safety feature when it comes to engine operation & diagnosis, so instead of monitoring one cylinder with the old Westach , I can now see all 4. Some of the competitions units have what I would call awkward displays , and when on Takeoff roll I don't want to read bar graphs, when a quick glance is all the time you have , with the MGL green is good . I also installed a HI-LO limit warning light that is triggered by the EMS-2. 3) Price-
The price on some of these stand alone engine monitors will bring you to your knees , while the MGL only made me start to buckle - call it $1050 spent on the above units. Bruce N199CL

[avidflyer]

I ordered an MGL engine monitor from this guy is the UK and had a good experience with the deal. Would do it again. Was almost 25% cheaper then if I had bought from the USA. You don't pay VAT when they ship out of the country. JImChuk
https://www.parts4aircraft.com/mgl-avionics-blaze-ems-2-c2x27370932

[little rocket]

Airlina have you had a chance to fly using the MGL yet and what is your opinion of it now?
THANKS

[airlina]

I have flown about 10 hours with the MGL installed and really like it. The display is very readable and everything is user programmable , I especially like the ability to set warnings and caution parameters that activate a user supplied warning light .For example -I have CHT cautions and warnings based on Continentals limits. Also can set this light at minimum parameters, and I have it set to keep the light on after engine start to stay on until my oil temp reaches 75 degrees, which is the min that full power can be used-no runup until this light goes out. Very helpful to immediately get the pilots attention quickly. The unit has way more capability than I will use and the display I use the most is the one you see in the picture. As a matter of fact if you start adding too much info that cannot be displayed on the page , the unit has to switch to a second display page and does this at 2 sec intervals which I found very distracting . I do however manually select other pages in flight -for instance there is a leaning page that shows EGT's only in big numbers for more accurate leaning. So for the money I am pleased with the instrument -be aware though that the install is not a plug and play. I replaced a westach quad gauge that only monitored 1 cylinder, and to monitor all 4 you will be running a bunch of new wiring. As I recall new 23 wires to route and terminate. Bruce N199CL

[little rocket]

Thanks for the quick reply,Good to hear you like it so far,it looks like a pretty Interesting gauge that can replace a bunch of other gauges in the plane.
How is it to read in bright conditions,I wonder what it would be like in cold weather when you first start up as far as the screen working in the cold.

[airlina]

Screen readability in bright light is great no issues at all, and cold weather ops are not a problem , as I live in upstate NY and have flown it at 25 deg F so far . As soon as the master is on it powers up. Bruce N199CL

[HighWing]

The unit has way more capability than I will use and the display I use the most is the one you see in the picture. As a matter of fact if you start adding too much info that cannot be displayed on the page , the unit has to switch to a second display page and does this at 2 sec intervals which I found very distracting .

Bruce,
Just discovered this thread and very glad I did. I recently installed the Blaze instrument and for my needs - Rotax 912UL - all I wanted is to replace the four gauges that were in the Westach Quad Gauge. For some reason, I am getting the "two second" page shift and find it distracting as well, as I have no need to see the fuel pressure that wants to be displayed even though I have no fuel pressure sender. Prompts me to go through the programming again and see if I can delete that from the program. I was hoping to have the one page display only. Is there an option to program it so the one page is displayed unless prompted to go elsewhere?

[airlina]

Hi Lowell, I was able to get that page shift to stop with some tech support from South Africa. (I was having problems with timely tech help from the U.S. distributor , so I tried emailing the factory in S.Africa and got quick and correct responses fast . Here is the email for future use: info@mglavionics.co.za and Rainier Lamers seems to be the go to guy for help) I too only need one page of readings Oil P & T , CHT and EGT. My display was flipping to the second page because OAT and fuel flow were selected on , although not used. You have to go into the analog channel menu and make sure ALL 4 channels have no parameters set to the on position. This instrument is new and I suspect they might come up with a future software fix that would allow manual instead of the auto 2 sec page flip, but for now , when you shut off those unwanted parameters , the display will stay on the primary page only . I do like the capability of the instrument and its a big step up from the Westach that I ran for so long. Good luck Bruce N199CL

[HighWing]

Exactly what I needed. Thank you.

[HighWing]

Thanks again. Works perfectly.

[airlina]

You are welcome Lowell , glad you got it worked out, I know that flashing screen was driving me nuts. If someone needs to use those extra pages , it make sense to make it user selectable . Bruce N199CL

[KenZ]

I installed the MGL on my model V with Lycoming o-290. Mounted the RDAC on the engine side of the firewall as per the documentation and found that it over heats and CHT went up to 600 deg. Contacted MGL in South Africa and they told me that the RDAC has a max temp of 70 deg C which is about 158 deg F. Here in Arizona it could reach 158 without the engine running in the sun! So to fix the problem I added a cooling duct from the engine baffling to the RDAC to keep it cool and works fine in flight but still get erroneous indications if over 90 deg OAT during taxi. Im going to relocate it to the cockpit side of firewall with spacers to keep it cooler on the next conditional insp.

[airlina]

Good to know Ken, thanks for the update, haven't experienced any issues yet with mine , but thats because I live near Buffalo where its still snowing. Bruce N199CL

[KenZ]

Hey Bruce maybe you should make some skis for your Kitfox like that Jonas Marcinko guy on Youtube. Then you can fly all year and take them of in June!

[airlina]

I do have skis Ken (not homemade though) and with a good winter here I usually take them off in mid March. By the way where exactly is you RDAC located on the firewall ? i have an IO-240 engine and mine is mounted high on the right engine side of the firewall. Also what was your first indication of the overheat and did it wreck the RDAC. just want to know what to look for, as we do get some 90 degree days during the summer. Thanks Bruce N199CL

[KenZ]

Hi Bruce.

MY RDAC is located in same spot up high and on right side.
The first indication was a sudden jump on all cylinder head temp to over 500 deg. One minute you look and all ok check later and 500+ and you gasp and say "Oh Crap , new engine is how much?" . I was doing a lot of TO and Landings, like 10 in a row. On the second time it went to over 600, I taxied to the hanger and shot it with an IR temp gauge and the cylinders read 280 on the IR gauge, MGL gauge read 500+, so now I knew it was an indication problem. I then determined it to be a heat soaking problem so I added the cooling tube to the RDAC for trouble shooting and it worked.Took 3 weeks to get answer from so the Africa, thats when they told me it was working temp limited to 158.
After the RDAC cooled down the temp dropped very quickly to normal. Haven't had a problem after til it got even hotter here in Tucson, about 95, and It happened again only during taxi to the hanger. Doesn't seam be any damage to the RDAC, works normal when not over heated.
Ken

[KenZ]

Oh I wanted to add that So Africa gave me great response before. I don't know why it took so long. I had to send a stern follow up email before I finally got a response. Could have been Covid issue , don't know. The also refused my request for a replacement.
Ken

[airlina]

OK Ken, thanks for the detailed quick response, those high CHT's certainly would have got my attention too, and i will keep an eye out for the anamoly. A move to the cockpit side might be in order, don't know why MGL would not recommend this in the first place! I must admit I do like the engine monitor though, its been working great and is a very capable instrument. I use the lean mode to get accurate lean of peak mixtures that can save lots of fuel . Bruce N199CL

[311Brodel]

Had a few guys ask me to review my MGL EMS-2 Blaze Engine monitor installation that I completed yesterday. Here are a few pics and if you are one of those guys and are interested drop me a PM and I'll give you the details. Its a novel not a short story so via phone conversation will be best . Bruce N199CL

It's been a while since you've installed this - you still happy with it?

[airlina]

It's been a while since you've installed this - you still happy with it?

Yes Jeff I am still real happy with the Blaze engine monitor. It has worked as advertised and really like its functionality at a reasonable price compared to the other offerings out there. Even added a tach reading to the primary page of the display. One of the best features is the master warning/caution light which takes into account all the limits that are user programmed based on your specific engine parameters and will illuminate when any are exceeded or not met. Bruce N199CL