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P Mags vs Lightspeed's Plasma II or Plasma III

Yes. In fact I did it for the late Jay Baldwin because he wouldn't believe how easy it was. I tapped in to the wiring system with a pig tail on a molex connector and carry a 9V in the seat back pocket. I change the 9V battery at annual. Very easy to start. Usually on the first pull. BTW, I always hand prop with the brakes set AND stand next to the door with my left leg behind the axle.
Stewart....very perceptive of you, yes the starter will not engage with less then 11.5V or so. Can't imagine needing the 9V batt in a real world situation unless it is stone cold dead!
My PMG's are energized down to 800-850 rpm.In a simulated E/O I keep the rpm above 1000 to ensure there are no surprises!

Lou
 
Thanks Lou. I don't always believe the claims made by the manufacturer. But if a real person makes it work, I'll believe. And you go ahead and hand prop just as much as you desire. You're a big boy now and can make your own choices, lol.

As for the battery voltage question, remember that it's not the resting voltage that counts, it's the voltage that the battery holds when it's supplying power, such as during starting. For instance a battery that's partially discharged may show 11 to 12 volts. It will engage the starter and may even turn the engine over, but while the starter is engaged, the measured voltage will drop way down. Most electronics will have a cutoff voltage, below which it just will not work. The minimum is usually given as 9 volts from a power supply, but by the time it goes down to the component level it will be regulated to 5 volts. That's why the tron chasers tell you 9 volts, because below that, the internal regulators start to drop off line and can't supply power to the other components. This is one reason that I like the system with one main ships battery and one smaller battery wired together. If you wire a circuit to keep them isolated during start up, the ships battery will only need to turn the engine over via the starter. The smaller battery will only be powering the electronic ignition. That way, as the voltage drops off on the ships battery (such as hard start or multiple attempts) it will have no affect on the voltage on the smaller battery. This could allow you to hand prop in case of a totally dead ships battery (master left on) without having to connect the 9 volt. Good redundancy. By the way, this is also the reason lots of cars with electronic ignitions are hard to start in extreme cold conditions. When the starter is engaged it pulls the voltage down and the ignition system cant fire.

Web
 
Take a fully charged brand new 9v Duracell and touch it to your tongue. That's how we all test 9v batteries, right? Think your weak starting battery isn't going to run that magneto like that 9v battery? Take you starting battery and run it down to about 11.4v. D-E-D (dead) by starting battery standards. Hook up some jumper cables to it and then touch those to your tongue. That should be a convincing demonstration. :)
 
Have you started one like this? If you connect the 9 volt battery, can you hand prop the engine? Know anyone who's done it?

Web

I've hand propped my RV-4 w triple Catto in the winter when ran batt down w starter.... 160 hp 0320. Wouldn't want to do it every day in the winter but love my pmags! SMOOTH!
 
Stewart. I stopped drinking years ago! But it is good to see that you've stuck to your scientific methods.

Web
 
Comparisons, comments, criticisms welcome. I'm trying to learn about these new-fangled EX ignition systems.

3 years have passed and I get another try. Anyone have any useful insight into any of the popular exp electronic ignitions? What's hot? What's not?
 
Ok.. I'll bite. Probably not useful insight but.
I have an experimental cub with a narrow deck o320, one slick and one pmag. I really like this setup. Starts easy, runs smooth and big fuel savings compared to running two slicks. I bought the cub with the pmag installed and at that time it had about 500 hours in service. I sent the pmag in for the flat rate service at about 550 hours and have since put about 150 trouble free hours on. I like it.

Sent from my VS987 using SuperCub.Org mobile app
 
Stewart
I put 2200 hrs on my Pmags in the cub. Sent them back for an inexpensive OH at 1400 hrs. Saved enough fuel to buy 6 sets of Pmags. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Lou
 
I had Pmags on the last motor. If I was buying EI today I'd buy EFII's System 32 or Light Speed. I'm moving toward solid state, but I'll probably run mags initially. I'm hoping for some more user comments and service comments on the various systems.
 
Stewart
my first carboncub i flew about 250 hrs, the second one has close to 100, both with Lightspeeds Overall good service, excepting early on with number 1 cub. it would have a spell of rough running on one side. After a bit of looking around we found this on one coil:

IMG_3148.JPG

The bottom coils are easy to inspect, the top ones are under the plenum This was a top one. i dont care for this slide on female crimp connector. Seems like it is lawnmower technology.
Ive not had any more issues,i allways look at them with the cowl off.
Im also partly paranoid about the battery failing inflight, then the little backup not working when aske d to. M y third backup is in my pocket, to backfeed thru the accsy socket

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I know, belts and suspenders

jim
 

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Stewart
my first carboncub i flew about 250 hrs, the second one has close to 100, both with Lightspeeds Overall good service, excepting early on with number 1 cub. it would have a spell of rough running on one side. After a bit of looking around we found this on one coil:

View attachment 41769

The bottom coils are easy to inspect, the top ones are under the plenum This was a top one. i dont care for this slide on female crimp connector. Seems like it is lawnmower technology.
Ive not had any more issues,i allways look at them with the cowl off.
Im also partly paranoid about the battery failing inflight, then the little backup not working when aske d to. M y third backup is in my pocket, to backfeed thru the accsy socket

View attachment 41770


I know, belts and suspenders

jim

And you can always use it with your Milwaukee jacket:idea:
 
True that Glenn, I never considered it. I actually used this little one at christmas time. A lady left the key on in her car and killed it. Plugged it in and waited 10 mins. She was smokin hot so the time passed quickly, her mostly drunk husband called my little booster names, and said I had a purty makeup case. The thing started right up, and I should have brought her home. Figured that wouldnt work out either so traded the boost for a hug. She went home with drunk ass
Tru story

Jim
 
I had Pmags on the last motor. If I was buying EI today I'd buy EFII's System 32 or Light Speed. I'm moving toward solid state, but I'll probably run mags initially. I'm hoping for some more user comments and service comments on the various systems.


Stewartb, could you expond on why you are choosing a different system over the Pmag? Were you dissatisfied with the one's you had? Just curious, the plane I am trying to finish and get flying has an early O-320 narrow deck. It has dual Pmags on it and after reading most comments, I thought they were they best choice.
 
My Pmags worked fine. I know of a few failures and that got my attention. In other electronics in my life I've appreciated the change from moving parts to solid state, like with computer hard drives. Reliability is better with no moving parts. And in the aircraft example the solid state systems are lighter and easier to maintain. I have no bones with Pmag. I just want to consider my options. The electrical failure self-power thing isn't reason enough to dismiss other systems.
 
Jim, doesn't the Carbon Cub ise a TCW IBBS battery backup for the Electronic ignition?

TCW just got TSO approval for the IBBS packs. I'm not very concerned about total electrical failure, especially given how easy battery backup is to add.
http://www.tcwtech.com/Installation instructions model IBBS-12v-6ah-CRT_725.0001_Rev1.3.pdf

http://www.tcwtech.com/

Yes exactly right Stewart. It’s wired and fixed on the right boot boot cowl. I check it’s operation at every mag check and can monitor both primary and backup battery voltage. That being said the backups battery failed on the first one
shortly after I got it. And I haven’t heard of one quitting while flying from lack of juice yet

jim
 
I've had a couple of issues with the Pmags. Still really like them, but #1) had an edge connector fail, which caused one P-mag to lose two cylinders. Emag repaired for free, but had to turn around and head home during a trip out of town for the issue. #2 - Had a second failure on the same P-mag, probably caused by the repairs to the first failure. The head of the mag quite literally fell off the mounting base in flight. Apparently someone failed to torque the mounting screws correctly when they put it back together again. Again, Emag covered the repair at no cost, but was down for 3 weeks as it coincided with Oshkosh time. Issue #3 was a starting issue that only involved the Pmags tangentially. Replaced the crappy pull starter on my O-200 with a B&C starter. Starter spun the engine like crazy, but it wouldn't start. Would fire on the fist pull if I propped it. It would start when warmed up, but a week later, the engine would spin like crazy, but not start. The problem was that the B&C starter was pulling the voltage down low enough that the P-mags wouldn't fire. Replaced the 175 CCA flooded cell battery with a 325 CCA Earth-X battery. End of issue. I've seen this issue with an O-320 with Pmags as well, so it's not unique to my O-200. I really feel like issues #1 and #2 were kind of unusual one off issues, and not really reflective of issues with Pmags as I have only seen one other issue with an edge connector on another plane.

I helped a friend with his EFII fired IO-360 with electrical design on his RV. He didn't really want to have to mount a backup battery for his EFII ignition, so added a light weight B&C dynamo on the vacuum pump mount, and a relay to toggle between alternators. With this configuration, an alternator failure is not an emergency, but only an inconvenience. His primary alternator failed 1000 miles from home last year. No big deal. He just minimized his electrical load and ran on the backup dynamo for electrical power for the remainder of his trip, then dealt with the failed alternator once he was home in his own hangar.

-Cub Builder
 
Don't know much about them, but the SureFly EFI system recently received their STC for replacement of a single mag (certified engines/planes). Solid state, no moving parts, and uses the Slick harness. Lots of talk about them on several other forums, where they are being well received. https://www.surefly.aero/
 
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