Today's Message Index:
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1. 08:34 AM - Charging system failure cuts short a long x-country trip (Ron Lee)
2. 02:45 PM - Ignition Problem Followup (Kyle Boatright)
Message 1
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| Subject: | Charging system failure cuts short a long x-country trip |
I first flew to Memphis to enter the Memphis 100 race. I did it.
Then on to Atlanta to visit family. The next day I flew to Kitty Hawk.
That was uneventful other than flying over water and turbulence on
approach and departure from the 15 knots gusting 25. An aerial view is
here:
http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/KittyHawk/KittyHawkAirSmall.jpg
This is my aircraft with the memorial in the background:
http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/KittyHawk/KittyHawkGroundSmall.jpg
I thought they took off from the hill but no. It was flat terrain north
of the hill.
The starting point is here:
http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/KittyHawk/FirstStartSmall.jpg
And the end of the first flight here:
http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/KittyHawk/FirstEndSmall.jpg
I refueled at an airport west of Kitty Hawk and planned on getting back
to Atlanta right around sunset. Unfortunately, around Rayleigh the
voltage
went to just over 12 and the amperage went negative. I had been hearing
a static like popping since leaving Kitty Hawk and someone suggested
that
it was arcing from the failure.
I told approach that I was getting lower than the approaching cloud deck
and decided to make a precautionary landing at Sanford NC (KTTA). No
mechanics were around so I got a rental car and went into town for the
night.
The next morning I replaced the voltage regulator with no success so I
removed the lower cowl and found that the battery ring terminal wire on
the alternator B point was fatigued and broken. It was previously bent
to
make proper contact.
I had a mechanic install a new ring terminal but that did not make the
alternator work. Using advice from a primo mechanic at home (and not
being able to find a replacement alternator), I bought a battery for my
Blazer,
wire, ring terminals and added the new battery in parallel with my
aircraft battery.
Nothing blew up so I prepared to leave. The engine started normally and
to my surprise the alternator worked. It worked all the way home with
four restarts.
On this trip I flew below an overcast with less than 6000' between me
and
the ground (perhaps 1500'). I flew over a broken cloud layer. I flew in
less
than 100 nm visibility.
As I approached Springfield MO towards sunset, I descended thinking that
I
was about to overfly a cloud layer. Nope. It was haze. Silly me. It made
more sense to stay where I could see ground to the sides anyway.
I had planned on going to Key West and the Bahamas but elected to get
home
to fix the alternator problem. TS Noel would have kept me from doing
that anyway.
In retrospect, the alternator to bus wire/ring terminal should have been
made
better long ago. That will be corrected. I am now in the process of
trying to decide
which readily available alternator I will install. The current one will
not fly again.
I also did not know what my safe flying time was when the ring terminal
broke.
Perhaps I could have flown another two hours (4-5 amp current draw and
one EI)
on a PC925 battery. But since I did not know for sure, I played it safe
and landed
at the nearest airport.
With the truck battery, it may well be 20 hours. Regardless, I did buy a
battery
charger just in case.
I did find out that the RV community is awesome. Three guys stopped by
to offer
assistance (I did the repairs on the ramp). The FBO at Sanford was great
as was
the mechanic shop.
Stopping at new airports is fun. I expanded my flight experience beyond
CAVU
but nowhere near scud running. The haze illusions were baffling but I
just reacted
with safe flight adjustments.
Message 2
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| Subject: | Ignition Problem Followup |
As a follow up on this thread, last week I spoke with Electroair's
technical support folks (Jeff Rose and Mike Kobylik) regarding my
ignition problem. Both indicated that the symptoms sounded like a
sensor problem, so after doing a little troubleshooting, I ordered
another timing sensor. This is the little 3/8" probe that inserts into
the timing housing, which replaces the right mag in a single mag/single
EI system.
>From these discussions, both Jeff and Mike indicated that they have
upgraded the timing pick-up since mine was purchased 7 or 8 years ago.
They have improved both the potting material that surrounds the wires
that terminate in the probe and have improved the wire wrap they use.
Both of these changes are designed to improve the reliability by
preventing fatigue breaks in the probe wires, which was their best guess
as to what caused my problem.
Anyway, when I dug into the system this morning, it turned out that I'd
suffered a mechanical failure of sorts. The probe (which determines
crank position by counting teeth on a rotating gear) had slid into the
gear. Eventually, the gear cut a groove into the pick-up and
<presumably> failed the probe. How or when did the probe slip? No
idea. As I recall, the two set screws that hold the probe in place
seemed tight before I removed them today. Of course, I wasn't looking
for loose set screws and may not have noticed if they were loose.
Based on this problem, I may add "check EI probe gap" and "retorque EI
set screws" to my conditional inspection list. My guess is that it'll
add 10 minutes to the inspection.
After fixing the problem what did I do? I went flying, of course. I am
always amazed at the difference in performance when my airplane is light
vs heavy. Last weekend, we were probably approaching my plane's gross
of 1675 lbs, and the plane flew just fine. But today, at 1300 lbs or
so, what a difference! I swear the tail was up and I was off the ground
after a roll of a couple hundred feet. Followed by an amazing climb out
of the traffic pattern. Yeeha!!!
All I can say is build 'em light...
Kyle Boatright
RV-6 N46KB
160 HP Aymar/Demuth
----- Original Message -----
From: Kyle Boatright
To: rv-list@matronics.com
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 8:33 PM
Subject: RV-List: Ignition Problem - Troubleshooting
We went from Atlanta to College Station, TX this weekend to see my
wife's Aggies play (and lose to) Kansas..
Today, we made the return trip.
And about 30 miles from home the engine lost a little power (~100
rpm). Some in-flight troubleshooting showed that the Electroair
ignition that I have on the right side had quit. I flipped the on/off
switch several times, reset the breaker, etc. and the ignition didn't
come back to life. That being the case, I left it off for the remainder
of the flight and made sure to stay high enough to glide to an airstrip
if the other ignition system (a magneto) decided to take the day off
too.
And once we landed, I flipped it back on and voila', it was working
fine. Which was a good thing. Sorta...
Because troubleshooting an intermittent problem is a pain in the
tuckus.
I plan to check all of the connections between the battery, the
breaker, the switch, and the ignition system. I'll check the ground
connections too. Beyond that, I'll call the folks who are now
supporting the ignition and see if they have any ideas.
Any other thoughts on how to troubleshoot this problem?
Thanks in advance,
Kyle Boatright
N46KB
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