- Joined
- Oct 14, 2017
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A 15% increase in efficiency sounds a bit too good to be true. I have been following the electronic mag development, or lack thereof, for a couple decades and based on what has been published so far I'm not seeing how it is possible at the % power settings most of us fly. Now, if I was doing pipeline patrol or fish spotting where if flew around all day at 40-50% power I see how advancing the timing would make a noticeable difference; but in the power band the engine's original fixed timing was designed for in the first place? The claims seem hopelessly optimistic.
I did try a couple sets of the Lightspeed systems (LSE Plasma) some years ago, both failed rather quickly. The first made it a bit over 100hrs and the replacement didn't even do that. Needles to say, I wen't back to the old stuff.
My friend next door that builds aircraft engines for a living has a nifty dyno that will answer a lot of these questions and I have a mid-time IO360 sitting on the shelf doing nothing that would make a great guinea pig to test a few of these gadgets on. I suggested he contact a couple of the manufactures and ask for a setup to test, if they work we will buy a few if not we will send them back. Their answer alone would be telling.
Don't get me wrong, I think electronic ignition replacing the unreliable mechanical stuff the FAA has saddled aviation with for decades too long would be great. Not to mention the better starting smoother operations and so on, I just think those that expect to have the savings in their fuel bill pay them back will likely be disappointed.
Jeff
I did try a couple sets of the Lightspeed systems (LSE Plasma) some years ago, both failed rather quickly. The first made it a bit over 100hrs and the replacement didn't even do that. Needles to say, I wen't back to the old stuff.
My friend next door that builds aircraft engines for a living has a nifty dyno that will answer a lot of these questions and I have a mid-time IO360 sitting on the shelf doing nothing that would make a great guinea pig to test a few of these gadgets on. I suggested he contact a couple of the manufactures and ask for a setup to test, if they work we will buy a few if not we will send them back. Their answer alone would be telling.
Don't get me wrong, I think electronic ignition replacing the unreliable mechanical stuff the FAA has saddled aviation with for decades too long would be great. Not to mention the better starting smoother operations and so on, I just think those that expect to have the savings in their fuel bill pay them back will likely be disappointed.
Jeff
