P-Mag not appearing to power up

Hey - I'm just about finished with checking out / troubleshooting my electrical system. Tonight I decided to make sure that I could power up my P-Mag. I read through the P-Mag instructions and installed the spark plugs as directed.

Not sure if it matters, but I am using a VP-X box for my electrical system.
When I switch on power to the P-mag, I am not seeing any lights and the VP-X screen is indicating "0" for amp draw. I pulled the main connector plug and verified that when I flip the P-Mag power switch (seperate from P-lead switch) that I am getting 13V on the #5 screw head.
I also checked that my grounds were connected - they both were (I ran a ground to the engine case and a second one to my ground tree tab for good measure).

At this point, I'm not sure what else to try. I'll give the guys at Emag a call in the morning, but thought I'd throw this out to see if anyone else ran into a similar problem and how they solved it.

Thanks,
Jason

This is an odd one and based on my experience, I can't tell you if the P-mag is working correctly or not, since the engine is not running.

You did not mention of you have a 113 or 114 P-mag. (The 114's have cooling fings milled in to the neck.)

Try this:
With the ignitions in “ground maintenance mode” AKA setup mode, turn the prop until the LED's come on. Then you know there is some current draw, however small.

Also, if you get a yellow LED, you will need to send them back.

Setup Mode

Jason,

Did you try to enter setup mode? Sending 12V to the Pmag without first setting the timing will not allow you to test it. Once the Pmag is installed, next step will be to place it in "setup" mode. To do so you need to send 12 volts to the Pmag *and* ensure that the p-lead switch is off (grounded). This will place the Pmag in setup mode which will be indicated by the illuminated LED on the Pmag. You can now set the timing and then test to see if the plugs will generate a spark.

Let us know what you find.

Mike

Just check the wires again

Take another look at the plug and the wires. More than one person has wired them up reversed. With power and the p-lead grounded, you should have a red or green led.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have double checked;

1) the wires at the P-MAG to make sure that they are in the correct order. If I hold the connector with the terminal screws facing forward, the #1 wire (GND) is on the far left, and the #6 wire (Tach) is on the left.

2) The P-lead - using a multi-meter, it indicates that there is an open connection between the p-lead terminal and GND when the switch is up, and a connection when the switch is down (grounded)

3) When I flip the P-Mag power switch, I am seeing 13V on the #5 terminal.

I spoke with the folks at Aerosport power (they installed the P-mag on the engine when I bought it) and they confirmed that my engine was run with this ignition during break-in.

At this point, I'm stumped. I have a call into the guys at EMag air. Hopefully I will hear from them soon and I can get this working.

Thanks,
Jason

Delete the pmag on the VP

Jason,

I'm no pro at this, but, I had a very similar problem with my pmag's.

I have a vp100 and I just deleted both pmag's from the software and then added them back in the software on the same pins.

All done with one finger - no actual disconnecting of wires.

I think when you are messing with things it some times happens.

Easy, doesn't cost anything but about 10 min of programming .

Good luck,

SmilingJack said:

Jason,

I'm no pro at this, but, I had a very similar problem with my pmag's.

I have a vp100 and I just deleted both pmag's from the software and then added them back in the software on the same pins.

All done with one finger - no actual disconnecting of wires.

I think when you are messing with things it some times happens.

Easy, doesn't cost anything but about 10 min of programming .

Good luck,

Click to expand...

Oh, man, say it isn't so. I would love to hear Marc's comment about having to dump the config and re-program for no(?) good reason.

not the entire program...

Just remove (delete) the pin that the pmag's are on and then add them back. (of course you have to name it again, etc...)

For the "Non" VP believer's this seems odd.

But for us VP-beleievers it is sometimes a fact of life you have to do some type of reboot.

Marc and I have gone through this procedure together.

It's a micro processor, one would have to think its trying to protect itself from what ever the builder is changing, adding to experimenting with.

knock on wood, I haven't had any issues will my VP100 and when I have I can trace it back to...well...me and Marc has always been there when I did.

I'm not sure that removing and reinstalling the link to the P-Mag power pin will do much to help.... when I flip the switch that have designated to control power to the P-mag, I can read 13V on the P-Mag... When the switch is off, I'm reading around 12.5V (I believe it has to do with the electronic circuit breakers) Anyway, based on the rest of my testing, the VP-X box appears to be doing exactly what I am telling it to do.

Thanks,
Jason

Ok.

Is it also showing a amp draw along with your volts?

I chased the same thing.

It may be worth a try since your engine did test run fine.

Please let's us know what you find.

I'm curious.

Nope - no amp draw... In the morning I'll connect the lap-top and try and redo that pin assignemnt and see what happens.

Thanks,
Jason

Sounds good

Make sure you don't physically remove pins, just delete them in the program and put them back exactly like you had them.

Hey, like I said, I'm not a pro at this, just a thing that happened to me twice, once doing pmag work and once playing with something else I did.

Good luck Jason.

Ok - I may offically be an idiot.... I think it was working the whole time.
The LED on the P-Mag is recessed in the case, and somewhat difficult to see. In my well lit workshop, I have to lean waaaaay over the engine to see if the LED is lit. It very likely was lighting up the whole time.

I did deactivate the output via the VP-X software and reactivate it, but not really sure that it did anything.

Just running power to the P-Mag still does not show an amp draw(with the red light, with the LED on. I'm going to call the guys at E-Mag to make sure that this is correct. Again when testing the P-Mag plug with a mult-meter, everything switches correctly.

Thanks,
Jason

Two words, "Dental Mirror".