Lightspeed GM coils

[vic syracuse]

Originally Posted by mckes

Hi Vic, which style coils are you using? For those wondering about the standard lightspeed triumph coils I believe Klaus is the cheapest so you’re best off going through him. I’m just trying to find out what the larger/heavy duty coils actually are before getting replacements and wether people have had success as there’s no real info on them. I have just heard people referring to them as GM coils.
Cheers,
Sam

They are the new coils provided by Klaus.

Vic

[bjdecker]

Originally Posted by RV8JD

A buddy did some research on replacement coils for his original LSE Plasma III coils (in talking with Klaus) and came up with this Nology P/N: 152 051 350, PFC-30D, for 3.0 Ohm Systems (Electronic Ignition - 2.4 Ohm Actual). Don't know if Klaus agreed or not.

Would both choices work with the Plasma III?

Attachment 8945

Per the LSE manual, the input resistance should be ~ 1 Ohm, the coils listed don't meet that specification.

[Lars]

The new coils are larger and require different mounting brackets. Different vendor, supposedly higher output.

[deek]

Originally Posted by krwalsh

I have had luck with PIDG connectors for both the core and the shield of the RG-400. I used a solder sleeve onto the shield braid instead of the "strip it back and twist it" method. The solder sleeve has a pigtail that I then crimped the PIDG onto. The center core was backed up with heat shrink and the coax supported close to the coil. So far so good.

^^^ Excellent!^^^ Good installation practices and securing the RG-400 (not solid core as Klaus initially provided decades ago) to prevent vibration and relative motion is key to reliability. I have almost 6,000 hours aggregate on five LSE systems with no coax/connector failures; one coil failure. I might own the coil failure; the coils are mounted to crankcase upper spine which is on the hot side of updraft EZ's

[nharris]

Originally Posted by kaweeka

I had a coil failure of my Plasma III ignition last weekend returning from San Diego. My aircraft has 719 hours and this is the first problem with my Lightspeed ignition. I measured the resistance of the output coils and indeed the one for cylinder 3,4 lower plugs was well out of spec (7.5kOhms spec and 1.3MegaOhms measured). I called Klaus and he send 4 new coils at my request. The new coils are completely different in form and appear to be 0.5 Ohm dual output coils from Dynatek. They make high output ignition systems for motorcycles and ATVs. I needed to make new mounting brackets which was not a problem. Luckily, the existing wires fit. What I didn't expect was the positive lead on the bad coil had broken. Klaus uses coax cable and the positive lead is a solid copper wire. I'm not sure if vibration broke the solid wire and if that fried the coil. I'm not an engineer! Additional new tidbit while speaking with Klaus was the difference in spark plug gap with the new coils. Higher output and duration of the spark he says needs a larger gap at .040". My back went out today while I was working on this so I'll update when I can move.

kaweeka do you have a picture of how you mounted these new coils and the brackets you made?

I just upgraded my system and was surprised to see a new style coil, my old setup had the coils mounted to the top of the case.

Thanks

[kaweeka]

Originally Posted by nharris

kaweeka do you have a picture of how you mounted these new coils and the brackets you made?

I just upgraded my system and was surprised to see a new style coil, my old setup had the coils mounted to the top of the case.

Thanks

I would be happy to if someone would refresh me on how to post a picture.

[kaweeka]

Hopefully this picture uploaded. As the coils are a bit larger, the ones on the firewall extend down slightly further than previous. I'm not sure how that will affect removing the oil filter. Luckily, the existing wires fit the new installation. I replaced the NGK with the Denso as Klaus suggested and gapped to .040". Started up very quickly and ran smoothly.

[theduff]

Originally Posted by mckes

Hi Vic, which style coils are you using? For those wondering about the standard lightspeed triumph coils I believe Klaus is the cheapest so you’re best off going through him. I’m just trying to find out what the larger/heavy duty coils actually are before getting replacements and wether people have had success as there’s no real info on them. I have just heard people referring to them as GM coils.
Cheers,
Sam

I have a set I got from Klaus sometime back but never used them. If you get me an email address I’ll send you some pics.
Duff

[Robb]

What is the OHM rating on the old style coils?

[Robb]

I cannot see what the actual mag drop is on my 540 when doing a run up on my GRT display. I do know its rougher that my standard Slick mag. I did a simple in flight mag check and it is indeed rougher than my mag. I have new plugs in it and normal EGT's just curious what others experience. I have the older lightspeed with original coils and new wires