Unison LASAR / Slick ignition question...

[flyer46]

I agree with mtnflyer. I've got almost 300 hours on the Laser mags. They work just fine and even allow me to fly LOP on a carbed O320. But as previously mentioned, timing with the special box takes a little care.

[Rosie]

Originally Posted by Brantel

Not to be negative or anything and I have nothing either for or against the Lasar setup but there have been many failures of this system documented here over the years. Seems there were never any attempts made by them to resolve those issues.

I have a friend that had his break a shaft on the sensor mag within 100hrs. Almost trashed his new engine, lucky for him he got it shut down in time.

He worked a deal with Unison to swap it for two brand new regular mags, plugs and harnesses even trade. He now has over 500 hrs on those mags.

I have to disagree with the 'never any attempts' comment. Unison made many attempts to get it right (and did). The first 700 hours of flying with LASAR had me go through (4) sets of mags during the 2000-2001 time frame (I was flying 500+ hours/year the first 4 years after my first flight so I became an unexpected test pilot for Joe Logie at Unison...)

None of the failures were ever complete failures and we made every landing safely (all manifested themselves as a fouled plug). Unison tore my mags apart, saw what was going on then improved on the design. The mechanical relay that's the 'bump' in the wire harness was a direct result of moving away from a circuit board mounted relay based on analysis of one of my sets of failed mags.

I'm still flying the 5th set of mags they sent me.....now nearly 2,800..... yes, two thousand eight hundred hours later and they've not missed a beat...over lots of water I might add. Gary Sobek opened them up last just before my Cayman Islands trip in 2009 and did not see any wear in the mechanical mag parts. The engine starts in maybe 2 turns of the prop, and we have averaged < 8gal/hr fuel burn since first flight.

I am a LASAR believer and plan to take them on a month-long trip next year down the Antilles, up Central America and home via the Cayman Islands Rosie

[jjconstant]

I feel obliged to post this link to the thread discussing my experience. I make no claims about how widespread the problem is, this is my experience ONLY. PMags were not available when I was making my choice and the LASAR was the only ignition system that offered this kind of perceived redundancy. I know of many happy LAZAR users but I switched to PMAGS.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...=lasar+failure

FWIW

All Best

Jeremy Constant

[jjconstant]

In the interest of giving as much info as possible for people to mull over, my engine is a vertical induction IO 360 Red Gold Mattituck with 9.2:1 pistons spinning a Whirlwind 200RV carbon fiber constant speed prop. The prop is considerably lighter than many C/S props and will undoubtedly have differing vibration characteristics from Hartzel, Catto, Sensenich and all other flavors. It has always been operated within the RPM guidelines published by WhirlWind. It would be interesting to see if there is any correlation between failures and either prop types or compression ratios.

I know the initial poster was mostly interested in timing issues but also asked about experiences. Timing requires patient and methodical adherence to the intructions in the manual, which is written in a way that, in my case, 3 people interpreted differently. I found that being the least experienced person helped me to interpret them in a way that turned out to be correct.

All Best

Jeremy Constant

[NYTOM]

Thanks mtnflyer. Spent a lot on this system hoping to have the best ignition out there but somewhere along the way the price went through the roof and shut a lot folks out of the market. Talked with Lasar owners before I bought who said their engines never ran so well and difficult hot starts were a thing of the past. As with any product out there, the people who have had trouble with them will yell the loudest. I don't mind first hand accounts of issues people are having with a product, it's just when you start getting stories of people who had a friend who had a brother with a friend that had such n such problems with a product that it gets crazy. The only warning I heard was about the timing method and to go exactly by the instructions and I would end up a happy camper.

[NYTOM]

Originally Posted by Rosie

I am a LASAR believer and plan to take them on a month-long trip next year down the Antilles, up Central America and home via the Cayman Islands Rosie

Holy **** Rosie you don't fool around do you. I've been following your bi annual trips for years hoping to maybe join you on one but by the time I get flying you'll probably be making trips to Austraila.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by NYTOM

Being a Lasar owner who has yet to fly his creation and very nervous about it , I find this very negative.

Originally Posted by NYTOM

Thanks mtnflyer. Spent a lot on this system hoping to have the best ignition out there but somewhere along the way the price went through the roof and shut a lot folks out of the market. Talked with Lasar owners before I bought who said their engines never ran so well and difficult hot starts were a thing of the past. As with any product out there, the people who have had trouble with them will yell the loudest. I don't mind first hand accounts of issues people are having with a product, it's just when you start getting stories of people who had a friend who had a brother with a friend that had such n such problems with a product that it gets crazy. The only warning I heard was about the timing method and to go exactly by the instructions and I would end up a happy camper.

Hey, someone asked and so I provided my first hand experience. I was there on the field the day my friend's system let go. I helped him take the thing off and personally witnessed the broken shaft.

There are many more reports of broken shafts and here is one thread:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...=lasar+failure

You make up your own mind but realize there have been some serious issues in the past with this system.

So have their been some serious issues in the past with P-mags but I now fly behind a P-mag because I know those issues have been addressed. I am sure the same goes for those that fly behind the Lightspeed units.

[Brantel]

Originally Posted by Rosie

I have to disagree with the 'never any attempts' comment.

Should have said that "I am not aware of any attempts". I retract my original statement and have edited that post.

As far as I know, they were in complete denial about the issues with the shaft breaking even though there are many reports and pictures of broken shafts all over the forums. Now granted I have no idea if the shaft issues were limited to a certain batch or range of serial numbers or ???. Could have been a short term issue with materials or something. Who knows???

[N184JG]

I have two LASAR timing boxes complete if anyone needs one.
jegall@cox.net

[artrose]

I've got some leftovers too from my O-360 installation. Control box, harness, warning light, interface cable.... A few expensive leftovers still in the hangar from the day after the third failure when I finally gave up and installed new Slicks. It had been a long and very unhappy tale for me, but on the other hand, others have had good luck.