wirejock

wirejock

Well Known Member
Help. I'm following the manual. P-mags enter "set up" mode. Red LED is solid. I blow in the tube. Red LED goes out on both mags. They don't switch to blinking red. Waiting for a call back.
 
If you are trying to time them both through a single line, that's something I could never do. Never could blow hard enough, had to do them individually.
 
wirejock said:
Help. I'm following the manual. P-mags enter "set up" mode. Red LED is solid. I blow in the tube. Red LED goes out on both mags. They don't switch to blinking red. Waiting for a call back.
Click to expand...
Mine did that too. I powered down and tried it again blowing less hard and it worked. One mag at a time though.
 
Hey Larry. I had the same thing happen on one of mine. The tube was Tee'd together and one was setting but on the other one the light was just going out completely. Emag said that it was in the no mans land between one of the 11 jillion set point segments. They instructed me to bump the prop lightly (not even really trying to move it) to get it confidently in one segment or the other and try again. That made it behave and it set just fine.

I set them both at once with no problem,. Where I was blowing into it was downstream of the blue restrictor fitting, but I don't know if that made a difference.
 
Tried both. Moving off TDC & blowing individually. Nope.
Brad thinks it's got something to do with my elevation. 7500'. I'll try a couple more times then bail till the fuse is at a lower elevation in the hangar (5000'). Frustrated.
 
wirejock said:
Tried both. Moving off TDC & blowing individually. Nope.
Brad thinks it's got something to do with my elevation. 7500'. I'll try a couple more times then bail till the fuse is at a lower elevation in the hangar (5000'). Frustrated.
Click to expand...
I know stuff like that is frustrating, but by the time you get flying, I predict that you'll have prettiest, most squawk free zero time airplane in Colorado. Meanwhile I'll still be bombing around down here in the flatlands with no wheel pants or passenger seat...
 
I retimed mine 3 days ago and had the same issue. Power cycling the 12V bus with the p-lead switched to off fixed it. When blowing into the mags it takes a solid 1-2 seconds before the light starts blinking and you need to blow hard. I blew into the T and was able to time both at the same time.
 
rph142 said:
I retimed mine 3 days ago and had the same issue. Power cycling the 12V bus with the p-lead switched to off fixed it. When blowing into the mags it takes a solid 1-2 seconds before the light starts blinking and you need to blow hard. I blew into the T and was able to time both at the same time.
Click to expand...
I am pulling the breaker to reset so they should be power cycled.
I will try blowing longer.
Keep them ideas coming.
 
I timed my today and had the same thing happen. This was the 6 or 7th timing of a P-mag I have done. It drove me crazy for several minutes. After recycling power 2 or 3 times, moving the prop and trying again it finally worked as it always had. 623' elevation and only one P-mag. The head scratcher was the light going out completely when trying to put it in setup mode
 
Last edited:
I didn't blow at all. I pinched the silicone tubing to obstruct airflow then pinched the tubing leading to the mag. That worked great.
 
Mine do take a good amount of pressure to get them to timing mode. Don’t be afraid to blow too hard to get it into setup mode.
 
I got it. Holy moly. Must have taken 100 attempts. Finally, I fabricated a rig to apply a steady pressure. That's when I saw the P-mag wants a definitive change in pressure. I applied pressure till the red LED went out. Waited a few seconds then popped the syringe off. Bingo. LED switched to blinking red. Repeat. LED switched to blinking green. Power cycle. LED is green. Rock the flywheel back and forth to observe the LED cycles from green to red. All good.
 

Attachments

  • 20240712_124635.jpg
    20240712_124635.jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 62
I've been flying behind pMags foe 20 years and never had such problems settimg timing. Perhaps I've been lucky.

Side note. For the six cylinder pMag the timing process sets both base timing and the maximum advance timing (you decide what you want). I set 9 degrees. It has worked out very well.

Carl
 
Amazing that it has been 20yrs nearly since I was failing Pmags with ease and invited Brad down to go for a ride as we watch it fail together (for which he declined of course). It has come a long way I guess, but isn't there a bit of comedy in blowing in a tube to configure your aircraft engine....🤣
 
scard said:
Amazing that it has been 20yrs nearly since I was failing Pmags with ease and invited Brad down to go for a ride as we watch it fail together (for which he declined of course). It has come a long way I guess, but isn't there a bit of comedy in blowing in a tube to configure your aircraft engine....🤣
Click to expand...
I too felt very weird blowing in a tube attached to the back of the engine. Made me want to look around for a hidden camera used by those tiktok kids.
 
Be careful of the size syringe you use. A 3ml syringe can produce 200psi, 10ml 50psi, and 20ml 20psi.

For reference, a person can produce 1-2 psi when blowing. A fart is about 0.15 psi. 🤣
 
Webb said:
Be careful of the size syringe you use. A 3ml syringe can produce 200psi, 10ml 50psi, and 20ml 20psi.

For reference, a person can produce 1-2 psi when blowing. A fart is about 0.15 psi. 🤣
Click to expand...
60ml. I wasn't using it for psi. I used it for consistent pressure. I applied just enough to trigger the LED then popped it loose. Seems patients in the hospital should be more careful.
 
wirejock said:
60ml. I wasn't using it for psi. I used it for consistent pressure. I applied just enough to trigger the LED then popped it loose. Seems patients in the hospital should be more careful.
Click to expand...
I have been using my buddy, former college baritone player, to set my p-mags. I’m gonna try your syringe method! 😎
 
You can also just take a piece of hose with one end plugged and wrap it around a dowel. The wraps will cause a pressure increase inside the hose.
 
MED said:
I have been using my buddy, former college baritone player, to set my p-mags. I’m gonna try your syringe method! 😎
Click to expand...
I can only assume he was using the oral pressure method rather than the aforementioned fart method.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.