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Garmin G3X Fuel Tank Change reminder/alert

BoyRacer

Member
Hi Folks,

In firmware revision 8.92 Garmin G3X Touch introduced a great feature to set an alert based on fuel consumption (requires a fuel flow transducer) to give an on screen reminder/alert to Change the selected fuel tank. Prior to this we could set a timer based reminder. Have found the fuel consumption based alert (I use 5.0 Litres) to be VERY handy, my fuel gauges tend to read full for quite some period so a consumption based changeover is much better at keeping the fuel levels between tanks in balance.

I notice the Garmin G3X Pilots Guide (Revision S) and Installers manual (Revision AP) do not yet mention the feature. Suspect this has just been omitted from the documents.

Trying to determine how this feature manages a shut down in the G3X, e.g. If you are flying and get the alert to change tanks, you don’t get again until you consume the preset value again (in my case each 5.0L consumed).

If say you have consumed 3.0L since the last alert (2.0L until the next alert is triggered) you land, shutdown the engine and G3X, then re-start engine and G3X does the fuel tank reminder re-start at 5.0L each time the G3X is started or does it remember that we have consumed 3.0L and still have another 2.0L before next alert?

I could document/log the fuel consumed each time the alert occurs and test what happens after the next shutdown/re-boot of the G3X, was just looking for some feedback if anyone can confirm how it should handle a power cycle in regards to the fuel tank change reminder?

I wrote to [email protected] with a query, they did reply however think they may confused my query for fuel consumption (Obviously the G3X retains fuel consumed value each time you power cycle it and remains until you reset it manually)

Thanks in advance for anyone feedback on what they have found with the feature.

Regards,

Byron.
 
Last edited:
My guess is that it would reset to 5l as that is what the timer based version does. I have mine set to alert me every 30 minutes and if I landed at 20 minutes it would not alert me 10 minutes into the next flight.
 
Fuel Tank Reminder

Hi Folks,

In firmware revision 8.92 Garmin G3X Touch introduced a great feature to set an alert based on fuel consumption (requires a fuel flow transducer) to give an on screen reminder/alert to Change the selected fuel tank. Prior to this we could set a timer based reminder. Have found the fuel consumption based alert (I use 5.0 Litres) to be VERY handy, my fuel gauges tend to read full for quite some period so a consumption based changeover is much better at keeping the fuel levels between tanks in balance.

I notice the Garmin G3X Pilots Guide (Revision S) and Installers manual (Revision AP) do not yet mention the feature. Suspect this has just been omitted from the documents.

Trying to determine how this feature manages a shut down in the G3X, e.g. If you are flying and get the alert to change tanks, you don’t get again until you consume the preset value again (in my case each 5.0L consumed).

If say you have consumed 3.0L since the last alert (2.0L until the next alert is triggered) you land, shutdown the engine and G3X, then re-start engine and G3X does the fuel tank reminder re-start at 5.0L each time the G3X is started or does it remember that we have consumed 3.0L and still have another 2.0L before next alert?

I could document/log the fuel consumed each time the alert occurs and test what happens after the next shutdown/re-boot of the G3X, was just looking for some feedback if anyone can confirm how it should handle a power cycle in regards to the fuel tank change reminder?

I wrote to [email protected] with a query, they did reply however think they may confused my query for fuel consumption (Obviously the G3X retains fuel consumed value each time you power cycle it and remains until you reset it manually)

Thanks in advance for anyone feedback on what they have found with the feature.

Regards,

Byron.

Good Morning,

The amount of fuel used since the last volume based fuel tank reminder was issued is not carried across power cycles, in any case.

Thanks,

Justin
 
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Good Morning,

In the Engine Setup Menu (MENUx2 > Setup > Engine) you can choose to set the Fuel Used counter to automatically reset on power cycle, or only reset when manually commanded to do so. If set to Auto, the tank reminder will reset with a power cycle, as the fuel used is reset. If set to Manual, the tank reminder will remember the fuel used up until the point of shutdown, and will accurately remind you to switch tanks when your programmed threshold is met during the next flight.

Thanks,

Justin

Thanks Justin, appreciate you describing the sequence ut will follow, in annideal world it would retain the amount consumed since tbe last alert to keep the best possible balance between the tanks.

Thanks!

Byron
 
Byron,

No problem, it does retain this information as long as the Fuel Used Counter is not set to Automatically reset on each power cycle.

Thanks,

Justin

Thanks, just read your first reply properly, excellent, its an ideal solution!

CheersM!
 
Fuel used

Are use this as a switch tank reminder as my plane uses about 6 gallons per hour and therefore I switch tanks every hour with this reminder. I found mine was set for manual so that’s good however how can I start the meter over again at a fuel top off stop?
For example I’ve used 4 gallons of the six on the meter reminder and when I fill the tanks I want to start back over again On my left tank.
 
Fuel Used Reset

Yes, you will just want to manually reset the fuel used field on in the EIS page after filling up.

Thanks,

Justin
 
Yes, you will just want to manually reset the fuel used field on in the EIS page after filling up.

Thanks,

Justin

Hi Justin,
Please, please, please. Add the ability to track fuel usage per tank. No hardware modification is needed to the G3X system. A simple micro switch or Hall sensor can be added to the fuel selector. This can be wired to a discrete input which would tell the system whether the left or right tank is selected. The system could then track the fuel burn on that specific tank in addition to the total fuel burn. This feature would be greatly appreciated.
 
Do you really switch tanks every 5 liters?
That seems awfully often … even if you are flying a -3.
 
Good Morning,

In the Engine Setup Menu (MENUx2 > Setup > Engine) you can choose to set the Fuel Used counter to automatically reset on power cycle, or only reset when manually commanded to do so. If set to Auto, the tank reminder will reset with a power cycle, as the fuel used is reset. If set to Manual, the tank reminder will remember the fuel used up until the point of shutdown, and will accurately remind you to switch tanks when your programmed threshold is met during the next flight.

Thanks,

Justin

Justin, I was so excited to see this post! I've been flying with the fuel reminder set to gallons for months and hated that it would start over at o gallons before a flight when I did not refill the tanks. So, this week, before flying a cross country trip I followed your instructions to set this to "manual". Well, when I got into the menu>engine section, it was already set to manual. So now I'm confused???? With mine set to manual, the reminder starts over after every shutdown, whether topped off or not. Any thoughts, suggestions on what I may be doing wrong?
 
Good Morning,

In the Engine Setup Menu (MENUx2 > Setup > Engine) you can choose to set the Fuel Used counter to automatically reset on power cycle, or only reset when manually commanded to do so. If set to Auto, the tank reminder will reset with a power cycle, as the fuel used is reset. If set to Manual, the tank reminder will remember the fuel used up until the point of shutdown, and will accurately remind you to switch tanks when your programmed threshold is met during the next flight.

Thanks,

Justin
Hi justin,
Can you please explain the calibrate function when this is set to manual. Is this meant to be set each time and how does it differ when you calibrate the K factor. I looked it up in the manual and could not find anything about it.
 
Fuel Flow Calibration

Hi justin,
Can you please explain the calibrate function when this is set to manual. Is this meant to be set each time and how does it differ when you calibrate the K factor. I looked it up in the manual and could not find anything about it.

Mehrdad,

See page 104 of the G3X Touch Pilot's Guide for instructions on using the fuel flow calibration. It is not directly related to the Fuel Used Reset in any way. Fuel Used reset either automatically resets the Fuel Used field on each power cycle (Auto), or only resets when manually commanded to by the pilot (Manual).

The calibrate function allows you to adjust the fuel flow calibration from Normal mode. Each time you enter an actual used, it will adjust the K factor to further dial in the fuel flow calibration.

Thanks,

Justin
 
Mehrdad,

See page 104 of the G3X Touch Pilot's Guide for instructions on using the fuel flow calibration. It is not directly related to the Fuel Used Reset in any way. Fuel Used reset either automatically resets the Fuel Used field on each power cycle (Auto), or only resets when manually commanded to by the pilot (Manual).

The calibrate function allows you to adjust the fuel flow calibration from Normal mode. Each time you enter an actual used, it will adjust the K factor to further dial in the fuel flow calibration.

Thanks,

Justin

Thank you Justin, it looks like this is can be used for a more fine tuning and easier than going to the config mode to change the settings.
 
Justin, I was so excited to see this post! I've been flying with the fuel reminder set to gallons for months and hated that it would start over at o gallons before a flight when I did not refill the tanks. So, this week, before flying a cross country trip I followed your instructions to set this to "manual". Well, when I got into the menu>engine section, it was already set to manual. So now I'm confused???? With mine set to manual, the reminder starts over after every shutdown, whether topped off or not. Any thoughts, suggestions on what I may be doing wrong?

Justin, not sure if you saw my post?? Any clues as to why my fuel reminder resets after every shutdown even with it set to manual?
 
Volume Based Fuel Tank Reminder

Randy,

I did see your post and ran it down on our bench. I was mistaken on the ability of the system to account for fuel used since the previous fuel tank reminder was issued, across a power cycle. The system will always reset the reminder at the configured value upon power up. I apologize for the confusion!

Original post edited to avoid confusion for anyone else that comes across this one.

Thanks,

Justin
 
Randy,

I did see your post and ran it down on our bench. I was mistaken on the ability of the system to account for fuel used since the previous fuel tank reminder was issued, across a power cycle. The system will always reset the reminder at the configured value upon power up. I apologize for the confusion!

Original post edited to avoid confusion for anyone else that comes across this one.

Thanks,

Justin

Thank you for the clarification. Hopefully this will become an easy fix for next software update??? I really like the fuel used reminder, but having it retain last flights use without adding fuel would be GOLDEN.
 
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