Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net> (Marvin Kaye)
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 09:15:56 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-2562491@logan.com>
From: "Benjamin.Welch" <Benjamin.Welch@carle.com>
Subject: WX-500
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Does anyone have a Lancair IVP that they've installed a WX-500 Stormscope in
that they can say honestly works?

Lancair Avionics installed mine.  It is controlled by my Sandel unit and I
cannot say it ever really worked.  I can have it displayed on the Sandel,
Garmin 430 or Avrotek Avidyne Flight Monitor.

  Initially, I just got alot of noise artifact.  I worked with the Lancair
Avionics fellow who installed it and have been out to Oregon for my anuals
and have worked on ensuring the unit is grounded putting an aluminum mesh
down in the floor of the tail.  I have a static wick system installed on the
plane but cannot say that it works as there is no fraying of the ends of the
static wicks but there is leading edge tiny wing and horiz. stab. paint
craters forming when in IMC.  It is at times like that that I have had two
OAT probes fail and twice the rudder indicator in my panel fail and once
full right deflection alert ammeter readings.  Static zaps over my headset
are an occasional norm and have been associated with diodes burning out in
my Frantz annunciator DPU such that I have simply pulled it and hooked the
cables up end to end to have an annunciator system without the audio stuff.
I have tried running grounding cables from my fuselage to my wings and wings
to control hinges where my static wick system is located and this has
cleaned up the stormscope artifact to some degree but it still has alot much
of the time and I get "Sensor Error" about half the time in flight where it
won't give me any information at all.  
My unit is in with the BFG people now and they say it is OK and that it
sounds like it is the noise in these composite planes that I am going to
have to deal with to get it to work.  They say the unit sends a test strike
to the antenna every 3 seconds and something in the way of overwhelming
noise must be interfering with its interrogating test causing it to give the
Sensor Error.  My cables are not coiled or bundled with other cables but my
Ryan TCAD and WX 500 do sit side by side in my tail floor just aft my main
wheel wells.  
 I have had the plane skin mapped by Kirk Hammersmith and located the dome
antenna accordingly but that is with the plane stationary on the ground and
everything on.  That is not moving, esp. thru moisture with static build up
in the wings.  I am told that the voltage that these planes can build flying
thru the air is considerable and indeed if you exit the plane and touch one
of the little paint crater areas after such a flight it shocks like the
biggest kick you can generate with your rubber soled shoes on a carpet.  I
am concerned about the long term structural damage from continuing to fly
and discharging into the atmosphere that such activity might lead to with my
carbon structure let alone appearance.
I would appreciate any insight or help from any one who can help me solve
this problem.  I cannot say that when I have flown and been in range of a
thunderstorm on my stormscope that it has reliably shown it.

Ben Welch
N61BW
200 hours.
benjamin.welch@carle.com