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.