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From: "Bill Bradburry" <bbradburry@bellsouth.net>
To: "'Rotary motors in aircraft'" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
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Subject: RE: [FlyRotary] Re: Crickets & progress
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2013 19:19:01 -0500
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Tracy,
I suppose that this upgrade will be for the EC-3 only and not for the EC-2?

The wide band that I am using (PLX Devices) has its own little controller
that supplies the voltage it wants and it outputs both a wide band signal
(0-5V) and a narrow band signal (0-1V).  You are correct that most of the
mixtures that we would want in an aircraft are outside this range.

It would be nice to be able to hook the wide band up to the EC-2!  :>)

Bill Bradburry

-----Original Message-----
From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Tracy
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2013 6:09 PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Crickets & progress

Not much new here either but have a few squawks & details to report.

The AeroTurbine muffler has about 15 hours on it and still working well but
I do see a loose piece of SS inside.  No danger of it clogging things up so
leaving it to disintegrate.

After flying with the EC3 closed loop software for awhile I have a better
feel for how the O2 sensor responds to mixture.   Its more like a switch
than a linear sensor in that it's full range of output occurs over a very
narrow range of mixture.  Guess that's why they are called narrow band
sensors!   Anyway, it makes it a little tricky to set the EC3 target
mixture.  Best results are obtained by setting the target at a fairly lean
mixture.  Because the best fuel economy is achieved at a mixture below which
common narrow band sensors work at,  It is not possible to get as good fuel
economy in closed loop as you can by carefully tweaking the mixture in open
loop when in cruise.  The difference is not large (about .3 GPH) but enough
to make me want better.

After seeing this, I decided to experiment with a wideband sensor.   They
have come down in price so even penny pinchers like me can afford them.
$150.00 range.  They typically put out a voltage between 0 & 5 volts instead
of 0 to 1 volt like narrow band does.   The polarity is opposite as well so
rich mixture is at low end of range instead of high.   With the latest
version of the software (after Feb 2013) you can now setup the EC3 to use
either  type sensor.   With the wideband sensor it is much easier to target
the exact mixture you want and to achieve the best fuel economy in closed
loop.

Both the Renesis in the -4 and the 20B in the -8 have been wonderfully
non-eventful. 
 I'm always amazed at how long the apex seals take to fully seat in.   The
20B cranking speed compression is still improving after 120 hours.  The 13B
was at around 250 hours when it reached maximum.

Tracy

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 9, 2013, at 3:52 PM, Chris Barber <cbarber@texasattorney.net> wrote:

> I so dislike when this list goes silent. 
> 
> Phase One report:  After addressing a clogged fuel filter (ultimately
removing it....very small passages in the screen) I flew again on Thursday.
Just a quick hop around the patch. This is sometime more an issue than it
would seem at a towered field with heavy military/NASA traffic under Class
B. 
> 
> No squawks and nice data log with the latest Dynon 5.1 update. Along with
"Clouds Ahoy" ya get a pretty nice picture off the flight and parameters.
This was only the ninth flight but was more fun as I seem to be getting
things sorted. Still haven't left the pattern :-)
> 
> Chris
> 
> Sent from my iPhone 5
> --
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