FX Impact with upgraded gauges " WIKA" photos

Jump to latest Follow Reply
If I hadn't been so impatient, I would probably have opted for a direct order just to get the chrome color, but fortunately I'm not too hung up on looks. I also decided to order a digital gauge with better accuracy to keep the other gauges honest.

The one I ordered is advertised as 0.25% of reading accuracy, which should be plenty accurate. It has a 1/4 NPT fitting, so some adapters will be required, and I'd like to set it up on a Tee to be able to make a direct comparison to the gauge I'm testing. The gauge is about $193, but you can get 15% off if it's your first order and you join their email list (at least briefly).

https://www.zoro.com/ssi-digital-pressure-gauge-0-to5000psi-mg-9v-mg-5000-a-9v-r/i/G1835639/

Cheers,
Rusty (mad scientist mode)
 
Upvote 0
I got my digital gauge and fittings, and was able to put together a Tee to measure the pressure with the digital gauge, and one of the rifle gauges. Sadly, the USPS dropped the ball an didn't deliver my wika gauges today, so I'll have to test those tomorrow. I did test the original FX gauges though, and they're crap, as we already knew. Hopefully Wika will be much closer. 

When filled so the bottle gauge read 250, the digital gauge read 211. Yep, that's a whopping 39 bar error, and probably a significant number of shots. I made a mark on the FX gauge for now where the real 250 bar pressure is according to the digital gauge. I also noticed that this gauge doesn't return anywhere close to zero when there's no pressure. 

Next, I compared the regulator gauge. The reg was set by AOA to 141 with their super gauge when they had it for some touch up tuning. Without adjusting anything, the FX gauge read 145, and the digital gauge read 135. That makes the FX gauge 10 bar off at this pressure. The good news is that even if I respect the current 143 bar limit, I was able to adjust the reg 8 bar higher.

Another thing I noticed is that there's some creep in the reg in the short term. After setting the reg to 143 bar, I took a shot, and then recorded the pressure at various time intervals. Interesting, but probably not super significant. 
15 sec 140.7
30sec 141.3
45 sec 141.7
1 min 141.9
2 min 142.5
5 min 143.1
10 min 143.1


Cheers,
Rusty
 
Upvote 0
Hey Rusty,
I will be especially interested in how the Wika gauge compares. I ordered one from Edgun West last Monday night and got mine today...it was mailed First Class in a bubble envelope. It feels very solid and substantial and looks like a jewel....I will wait for your results before I go any further. For lack of a reg tester I plan on using my Wika to screw into the air bleeder hole on my Wildcat and Streamline to read the true reg pressure setting of my Huma regs. I can open the valve all the way on one of my SCBA tanks that has gotten a little low and one rifle gauge reads 230 bar, while the other one reads 250 bar...go figure. I also want to see if maybe it will fit in the end of my air tubes as a permanent replacement.
Hope to hear results on Wika soonest. Thanks for buying a digital gauge and pursuing these gauge pressure tests. Can I borrow it when your done? :)
All the best, Chuck
 
Upvote 0
Great news. Wika RULES! I just tested both of the Wika gauges I received from Edguns, and they're spot on, absolutely as good as you could ever hope for on an analog gauge! The pictures show two different gauges. I lost some resolution in the upload, but the needle is just past the 250 bar line in both pictures. When I installed the gauges, the reg went right to about 143 where I set it yesterday. Gotta love things that work.

2e35babd87d2a1531059d35d8c148283.jpg
584146b41c0ad8f0aaee215f86923296.jpg


The gold is still ugly, but performance is more important :)

Cheers,
Rusty

PS- Dear FX, please contact Wika ASAP :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gwelo
Upvote 0
WOW Thanks Rusty! I am letting the air out of my Wildcat as I type this...can't wait to use this new Wika gauge now that I am certain of its accuracy. A pic is worth a thousand words...don't you just love this new picture upload feature Michael did?

Update! Good news...it turns out that the FX gauge on my Wildcat reads exactly the same as the Wika gauge does!
 
Upvote 0
"CHUCK"WOW Thanks Rusty! I am letting the air out of my Wildcat as I type this...can't wait to use this new Wika gauge now that I am certain of its accuracy. A pic is worth a thousand words...don't you just love this new picture upload feature Michael did?

Update! Good news...it turns out that the FX gauge on my Wildcat reads exactly the same as the Wika gauge does!
Click to expand...
I love it when forums host pictures! It's a HUGE feature, and makes the forum so much more useful. I'm on an enormous airplane forum that refuses to host pics, and as a result, people either don't post pics, or they use a free service that eventually stops hosting them. 

I just had the Impact out, and it's such a simple pleasure to have gauges that you can believe. The extra 45 bar that I can fill the rifle now helps a lot as well, though the .30 cal sucks down air. 

BTW, thanks for getting those measurements for Nick.

Rusty
 
Upvote 0
A question I haven't heard answered is whether the Crown gauges are better than the ones on the Impact. With all the complaints, you'd certainly hope FX made an attempt to use better gauges, so maybe the Crown gauges are fine. AOA would probably be in the best position to know, since they handle most of the Crowns, and have an accurate digital gauge. It's possible the Crown owners don't have anything to worry about. 

Cheers,
Rusty

PS- I could swear I posted this earlier...
 
Upvote 0
Just for the record....

Wika doesn't make those gauges anymore. So if you want them, you have to pay to have them made. They cost just under $55 each. When I had mine made (delivered just this month after a ≈6 week lead time ), I had them do one at 0 to 6000 PSI (they don't make a 5000 PSI), and one at 2000 PSI. 

By the way, these are class 4 gauges.

The part numbers are: 

52815389 6000 PSI

52815388 2000 PSI
 
Upvote 0
Rec'd my Wica gauge from edgunwest.com and installed it in place of my Crown reg gauge. Surprisingly it read the SAME!! Seemingly the factory supplied gauges are more accurate than the ones used on the Impact, at least from a sampling of ONE. 

There is a some reg creep in the Crown as well as the Impact, possibly same reg? The reg gauge holds the same pressure until you fill the CF bottle past about 190-200b and then it creeps up about 5b. 
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu