Mike,
I have developed a system where it is
possible to observe and record once per second about 20 parameters that the EC2
is using. It has proven useful to
me to understand the workings of the EC2 and may be useful in diagnosing what
is happening with your system. It
requires either a laptop with a serial interface or a USB to serial adapter, or
an IPAQ with a serial interface. A
voltage level converter which converts the 5 V EC2 signals to RS232 levels and costs
about $20 is also required. If the
EC2 is accessible and a 1-inch long connector can be inserted between the EC2
and the existing connector, no wiring changes are required. If you are interested in trying this
system, let me know, and I’ll send you a CD with the software and
instructions.
Steve Boese
-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:10
PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] frustrating
couple of days
I havent flown my RV since a couple
of cases of lost data in the EC2 back in february. Spent the last few months
making a bunch of mods, some suggested by Tracy, others were things that I
thought might increase long term reliability. Also had to fix leaking fuel
tanks in the ensuing period.
Been working up toward renewing
flight testing. Engine has been running really well for the last few months.
Thought that the problem was cured, though not clear how. Then on saturday
found that once again my B controller had lost all data. Engine wouldnt run at
any throttle setting on B. Restored the B controller by copying A > B.
Last night after work ground ran the
engine for about 30 minutes at various throttle settings and it ran as good as
always. Also ran fine on the B controller.
Tonight after work I fired it up.
Ran fine initially. After about 15 minutes noted some minor surging at a couple
of throttle settings below 2000 RPM. Also noticed that in this RPM range where
the mixture had previously been fine, my mixture monitor is off the scale
lean. Slowly got worse, to the point that it wouldnt idle at what was
previously a solid 1350RPM. Couldnt get it to run at all below 1500, everything
between 1500 and about 3000 RPM pretty rough. Everything over 3000 is fine. No
idea what caused this change. I put the airplane away and walked away in
disgust. I'm back to where I was a year ago and I'm just about fed up with this
thing.