Need to make a change, looking at light speed and EFII by R Paisley. Which one is best. And why. Thanks, Dick. [email protected]
Am I the only one trying to figure out why this thread is in the classifieds instead of the discussion forums?
Need to make a change, looking at light speed and EFII by R Paisley. Which one is best. And why. Thanks, Dick. [email protected]
I would also put Electroair into the mix.
Spent a bit of time talking to them at Reno last weekend, and was very impressed with what they had to say. I was impress with their crank trigger mechanism that did not require any drilling of the case or flywheel.
BTW, they just received FAA certification on some models and are close to the cert for the rest of the line-----------if such is important to you.
http://www.electroair.net/index.html
I believe the electroair uses a collar that clamps around the prop shaft? That's one of the things that was a negative in my book. I like the efii unit. Their crank trigger mounts with no drilling or tapping either and is a much more modern unit.
I believe the electroair uses a collar that clamps around the prop shaft? That's one of the things that was a negative in my book. I like the efii unit. Their crank trigger mounts with no drilling or tapping either and is a much more modern unit.
WM,I believe the electroair uses a collar that clamps around the prop shaft? That's one of the things that was a negative in my book. I like the efii unit. Their crank trigger mounts with no drilling or tapping either and is a much more modern unit.
I recently removed my Lightspeed Plasma II+ Ignition system and do believe that the EFII is the most modern and well engineered electronic ignition available for Lycoming engines today. The choice is ultimately yours, and there are always products that fit well in some situations, but not in others. I'm still running a Slick Mag but not for long. I plan on upgrading to the dual EFII ignition very soon, and am already considering a longer-term transformation to EFII's fuel injection as well. Take a look at the competitive ignition report on the EFII website:
http://www.flyefii.com/ignition/ignition_comparison.htm
EFII system installations in progress on multiple aircraft,
Chris Randall
KWHP, CA
Your math is right but you are calculating peak power, not average power.
Paige
Plasma II+: 1.5 amps, 13 millijoules, 0.25 millisecond duration. Dividing millijoules by milliseconds I get 72 watts. This works out to 72/13.8=5.2 amps. This is not even close to the reported current draw. I have a Plasma II+ and I'm pretty sure it doesn't draw 5 amps.
I won't go through all the calculations,
But the system current draws are related to average power over time that the system pulls from the aircraft electrical system. The average current draw is consumed partially by the control electronics and partially by the creation of sparks.
Spark energies, spark currents, and spark voltages are things that only exist for a very short amount of time during the engine cycle. These numbers do not translate into average system power levels. If you like math, you can calculate the average power of the sparks during an engine cycle (two sparks per rev on a four cylinder), the power consumed by the control electronics is the difference between the average system power and the amount of power involved in making sparks.
Don't worry, all the numbers stated are correct. The results are much more interesting than the details of the calculations.
Robert Paisley
Is there any electronic system out there that has a built-in backup mag so you can run two electronic units.
Thanks for the explanation; makes sense that the spark itself is only part of the total power consumption.
From the graphs it appears that that the inductive system has higher total spark energy, but the CDI spark is actually more powerful for the short time it lasts (52 watts vs. 16 watts). Does this have any practical significance, or are voltage and spark duration all that really matter?
Slick Lasar, and G3 are the only ones I know of.
Hi Alan,
The spark voltage is a function of the size of the spark gap and the combustion chamber pressure. Electrically, the spark gap looks like a zener diode. It take a certain voltage to jump it regardless of what power source is providing the energy. CD ignitions run out of sufficient firing energy very quickly. They do pump more current through the spark for a short time as you mention. But the spark may not be lit when a burnable mixture gets to the plug during excessively lean or rich operation.
A long duration spark has a better chance of lighting an excessively lean or rich mixture. This benefits lean of peak as well as max power operation when the mixture may not be optimal. When the mixture is optimal, long duration may not matter much.
Robert
There's a story of someone wiring a small 9 volt battery into their ignition when there battery was dead. That's enough to hand prop the engine with dual pmags. Then just keep the rpm up! And I wouldn't do it for an IMC flight.If two E-mag P models are installed and your battery is dead or very low and needs a charge and you have no back up battery, can it be started by hand?
E-mag site says no back up mag or battery needed and will work as long as engine is turning but will hand propping turn the engine fast enough?
I'm thinking no.
Is there any electronic system out there that has a built-in backup mag so you can run two electronic units.
Those E-Mags sure do look nice.