Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #46882
From: Al Gietzen <ALVentures@cox.net>
Subject: RE: [FlyRotary] Re: Corruption of EC settings
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 2009 11:16:23 -0800
To: 'Rotary motors in aircraft' <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>

Mike;

Your experience of the problems is quite different than mine, so the ultimate cause is probably different as well.  My B controller was always more stable than A; so when things changed, I could switch to B.  From about hour 3 to about 15 I flew mostly using controller B while we tried to figure out what was going on.

 

Al

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Mike Wills
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 7:24 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Corruption of EC settings

 

Al,

 

No I was not aware that you went through similar problems. I was off this forum for about 4 years during which time you completed your project and flew it.

 

Your experience seems similar to mine. If anything yours sounds more severe. Looking back over the past year and a half since I had my first engine start, I've realized that I've gone through very long stretches without any of these problems. In fact the first 20 hours of ground run time I had all of the typical (many self induced) tuning issues, but no cases of corrupt data that I could identify. It wasnt until after my first flight that I had it happen. Three times and then I grounded the airplane. In the subsequent 4 months and an additional 5 hours of run time on the ground there were no instances of corrupt data until this past weekend when I started prepping to resume test flying. Since then in about 2 hours of ground running I've had 4 instances of corrupt data. Three cases where it wouldnt run on B, but since I have no way to know whats loaded in B I dont know what exactly is happening there. And one case of the staging point on the A controller changing to 12".

 

I could probably resume test flying as long as I remain over the airport. But given my phase 1 test area and the terrain I'd have to cross to get to something landable I wouldnt want to venture too far from Brown Field with it like it is. Whats the point of having a backup controller if you have no confidence in it?

 

My EC2 is also an early one. I've had it so long I cant recall when I bought it! So as you say, newer units may not have similar issues. And of course in my case since the problem is unresolved at this point, it may still be an installation issue, though at this point I'm stumped as to what that issue may be. I agree that the EC2 is the best option for the application. When not having these problems, the engine runs great. Which of course is part of the frustration - with it running so good why cant I go fly it and have confidence in it?

 

No opportunity to do any further testing today but hope to get back on it tomorrow. I've sprung an oil leak (previously thought repaired) that I need to fix before I can start the engine again.

 

Mike

 

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