Lightspeed Plasma III Wiring

Does anyone out there happen to have a Plasma III for six cylinder laying about where you can help me trace the wires from the hall effect PC board to the 15 pin input connector?

As I mentioned before, the 15 pin input connector on my Plasma III had to be cut off to remove the engine (firewall hole was too small and I did not want to unbolt the prop to hang the timing sensors loose) so now I have to field install the 15 pin connector.

The installation manual is well written however it does not state the colors of the 9 wires that run from the crank sensor PC board to the 15 pin connector.

If I knew what colors the wires were that powers channel A / B / C then I could deduce the respective black and bare wires.

Inside the single large cable are three shielded sub-cables and each sub-cable has a black wire, a bare non-insulated wire, and then the third wire is the only difference and that would be either a white or green or red wire.


Can you please tell me what color wires are connected to the following pins:


Channel A:

PIN 3 of the HALL EFFECT sensor is a ??? wire and it connects to PIN 4 of the INPUT CONNECTOR (this is a 5 VDC power to the HALL EFFECT sensor and it shares PIN 4 with channel C) If I knew what color wire was Channel A then I could deduce the respective black and bare wires.

Channel B:

PIN 7 of the HALL EFFECT sensor is a ??? wire and it connects to PIN 5 of the INPUT CONNECTOR (this is a 5 VDC power to the HALL EFFECT sensor) If I knew what color wire was Channel B then I could deduce the respective black and bare wires.

Channel C:
PIN 4 of the HALL EFFECT sensor is a ??? wire and it also connects to PIN 4 of the INPUT CONNECTOR (this is a 5 VDC power to the HALL EFFECT sensor and it shares pin 4 with channel A) If I knew what color wire was Channel C then I could deduce the respective black and bare wires.


If nobody has one of these systems opened up or accessible with the prop off then I will sadly need to remove the propeller...Grrr.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I would unplug the harness completely at both ends.

Next use a jumper to ground one wire at a time to the airframe. Go to the opposite end and check what wire has continuity to the frame. Do that for each wire and you will know the color/pinout. Even easier if you still have the connector end you cut off.

I don?t think I would trust colors to be consistent in a manufactured harness.

Don

If it’s only the phase wires you are uncertain about I believe it doesn’t matter which inputs are selected because they are only channels, you can find out which outputs they correspond to and change the coax outputs.

>I would unplug the harness completely at both ends...Next use a jumper to ...

Good thinking and I thought of that however the propeller is still on.

I have a trip to do so HOPEFULLY during the next couple of weeks some kind Vans Enthusiast who just happens to have a Lightspeed Plasma III uninstalled would stumble upon my thread and provide me with the wire colors...please please ...PLEASE!!!

If not I will need to remove the propeller to gain access the hall effect sensor ...as I understand it the sensor end is not a D-Sub plug it is actually a PC board with wires holes arranged and numbered like a 9 pin D-Sub.

Drats...if I had only removed the propeller in the first place...Grrr

Who not just call Klaus. He is grumpy but has been helpful anytime I have had to call him.

Do you have the dual crank sensor circuit board? If so I just removed one to upgrade to mini sensor, maybe that would help? I can maybe take photo.

One more try

Another way would be to guess. Pull a spark plug from each cylinder but leave it connected to the harness and ground it to the engine. They will spark one coil at a time as you pull the prop blade around, telling you whether you got it right. Make corrections and re-check.

Good luck!
Don

dougnlina said:

Who not just call Klaus? He is grumpy, but has been helpful anytime I have had to call him.

Click to expand...

^^^^ This. Klaus will frequently answer the phone and e-mail on the weekends and evenings. Suggest you read the manual one final time before calling him though

I did the same thing to repair my plasma 3, here is a photo of diagram I wrote down while repairing it.

LSE III

I have dual LSE III on my RV10. No motor right now so everything is in the open.
I am on the way to the hanger now. text me at 724-622-0939 and I will take pics of whatever you think will help.

I gotta tell ya...this Vans Forum is the bomb (as the kids say)!!! I start a "please help me" thread and go to bed and then the next morning there are tons of helpful replies...THANKS!!!

>Do you have the dual crank sensor circuit board? If so I just removed one to upgrade to mini sensor, maybe that would help? I can maybe take photo.

Yes that would be most helpful!!! I need to know the colors of the wires that connect to the PC board.

My unit has the following colors:

Black x 3
Non-insulated X 3
Red
Green
White

If I had a close up of the PC board end I could figure out the channels because there are three wire bundles so I just need to know what channel is the red/green/white.

Dave, your notes show white/blue/green/orange. The numbers you cite are they the number of pin on the 9 pin end or the 15 pin end?

Lightspeed will not provide me with the colors of the wires because he does not condone field connecting the connector ends. He said he would sell me a PC board with wires connected for $487.00 each...I have two.

THANKS everyone for your help

Those are the wires that connect to the 15 pin input connector to the box. If you didn?t disconnect at the crank sensor those would be the colors to hook up to the 15 pin connector. That?s assuming Klaus was consistent with each channel. Worse case would be outputs not corresponding to inputs and as I said before you could swap coax outputs to match a, b, or c firing order. I will check my crank sensor module and get a photo you you.

Bill;
send me your email address and I will send you the schematic I have for the LSE. The schematic shows wires to 8, 4 and 12o'clock as white, blue and red respectively. They go to cyl 1&2, 5&6, 3&4,respectively.

[email protected]

>If you didn?t disconnect at the crank sensor...

I did not disconnect the crank sensor because I did not want to remove the prop...shoulda...coulda...woulda...Grrrr.

>those would be the colors to hook up to the 15 pin connector. That?s assuming Klaus was consistent with each channel.

Just curious, what vintage is your Lightspeed III? Mine is a circa 2003 unit. It has red/green/white.

>Worse case would be outputs not corresponding to inputs and as I said before you could swap coax outputs to match a, b, or c firing order.

I am on a trip for two weeks now so I will not be home to play with the airplane until then...unless someone chimes in with some info by then I will have to go that route.

>I will check my crank sensor module and get a photo you you.

Dewey was super nice and tried to send a photo of the sensor end however the silicone sealant on the PC board end made it too opaque to see the colors. If you already pulled off the PC board if you can kindly do a continuity check on yours I would buy you a cyber beer [BEER GLASS CLINKING AND CHUGGING HAPPY FACE EMOTICON ADDED FOR DRAMATIC EMPHASIS]