Lightspeed Plasma CDI

[Sam Staton]

Curious to see what experiences folks have had with Klaus's ignition. Thinking of using it to replace the single mag setup on my engine.

[crabandy]

I'm sure you'll find good reports on the lightspeed ignition, I would also encourage you to look at EFII. Browse through their install manuals and you'll have a good idea on which EI is best for you. I'm assuming you have a single dual bendix mag based on your post.
Good Luck!

[Sam Staton]

Andy -
Thanks for your input! I was not aware of EFII, and have taken a look at their web site. It looks very promising. You are correct in your surmise - I do have the single Bendix mag that incorporates both in one housing. I simply do not trust it. Heard too many horror stories.

Sam

[pierre smith]

Sam, I have three years and 300 hours behind Klaus's ignition and it's absolutely half of the solution to hot starts with these injected engines.

The issues I've had is quality control. On two occasions. my EMS showed two cold cylinders and a rough running engine during the mag check and on both occasions, it was a loose wire to the amplifier modules on top of the engine. The wires are not soldered, just crimped and they slid out....been meaning to speak to Klaus about that.

Best,

[Walt]

Originally Posted by pierre smith

Sam, I have three years and 300 hours behind Klaus's ignition and it's absolutely half of the solution to hot starts with these injected engines.

The issues I've had is quality control. On two occasions. my EMS showed two cold cylinders and a rough running engine during the mag check and on both occasions, it was a loose wire to the amplifier modules on top of the engine. The wires are not soldered, just crimped and they slid out....been meaning to speak to Klaus about that.

Best,

The only thing mounted on top of the engine are the ignition coils, the terminals for these are crimped on by the installer so this would not be a quality issue from LSE.

When I chose an electronic ignition for my aircraft, the most important thing to me was reliability and service history. The Light speed units have been around a long time and have a proven track record (more so than any of the others) so this is what I went with. I had one brain box fail very early on but other than that "burn in" failure I've had 100% reliability. I've been running dual EI for the last 800 hrs without a single hicup. My first 500 hrs was with a single LSE system.

[Guy Prevost]

After ~500 hours on a Plasma II+ (crank sensor) and a Slick Mag (that had two issues), I added a small backup battery and a second lightspeed Plasma II+. It was the right decision for me.

[deek]

I have 2,300+ hours on a Plasma system and had almost 700 hours on a second Plasma equipped EZ when I sold it. I intend to use a single LSE system and one Bendix mag on the 14. I think if I were doing it now I'd use Klaus' mini-sensor and send him the flywheel/ring gear for machining and installing the magnet ring.

[dmaib]

Closing in on five years and 650 hours with one Lightspeed with crank sensor, and one Slick mag. Lightspeed has been flawless.

[bhester]

I second the vote for the mini-sensor! I had a failure of my halls effect sensor and switched to the mini-sensor, a little more work than I really wanted to do, but should be more reliable now. You can read about at the bottom of this page:
http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhester/2012Flying.htm

[YellowPeril]

They're so nice, I put 'em in twice...1,000+ hours with the flywheel sensors.