Yes, much to my embarrassment, while at a
Rotary Round up. We decided to compare the exhaust notes of a two rotor
(mine) with Tracy’s
new 3 rotor. I hopped in my aircraft hit the prime switch and cranked and
cranked and cranked – well, it finally started before battery exhaustion and
I could not figure out what the problem was even after discussing it with Tracy.
It acted as if the engine had been flooded, but I could figure out how that
could possibly have happened. Well, you know the rest.
It was not until sitting around the
campfire that night drinking beer and telling lie… stories, that I
mentioned hitting the prime button in mode 1 before attempting to start starting
– whereupon Tracy’s head spun around (not completely) to stare at
me which immediately (telepathy I guess) lead me to realize I had hit the
injector simulation mode with two high pressure pumps running. NO wonder
it flooded. Fortunately, having “Plugs Up” the excess fuel
pour out the exhaust ports on the bottom and it eventually started.
Yes, I had been flying with the Ec2 in
mode 1 as I sometimes fiddle with the map settings as I fly – and I had
left it in mode one and neglected to move it to mode 0 when I hit the prime
(program button).
So thanks, Tracy for making that change.
Ed
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Tracy Crook
Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2008
12:49 PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: EC2 test
Mode Alert
While discussing a recent EC2 problem with a builder, the reason for an
upsurge in controller chip failures finally came to light.
I had noticed that chip failures had suddenly skyrocketed after the
addition of the test modes. Here's what I think is happening
(confirmed in at least one case).
The instruction manual cautions that the when performing
the ignition diagnostic (in Mode 8), coil spark plug leads must be
terminated with a sparkplug and that the plug body must be grounded to the
engine block. If the lead is just left hanging or if the sparkplug
falls off the block, the 30-40 KV pulse will find a way to go somewhere and if
that somewhere is wiring that leads back to the EC2, Bad Things
happen. Even if the spark plug lead does not arc externally, it can
arc internally in the coil module, possibly damaging both the
coil and/or what it is hooked to (the EC2). Even worse, the Bad
Things are totally random and not be easily diagnosed over the phone. Program
memory in the EC2 is sometimes corrupted with extremely confusing results.
Also worth mentioning is the change to the Mode 1 injector
diagnostics. It is now required that you turn the cold start switch ON to
enter this test mode. Too many builders were leaving the Mode
switch in Mode 1 then hitting the Store switch to prime the engine on
their next engine start. This of course immediately floods the engine
when injector test mode kicks in. The extra step of turning on Cold Start
helps avoid this (hopefully). Note that Cold Start is almost never
used in all but the coldest weather now that Primer Mode is the recommended
cold start procedure.