danny_galaga

1 hour ago, cscotthendry said:

Rotax reccomend a capacitor between the output of the regulator and ground. An isolator on the positive terminal of the battery shouldn't be placed between these two or it negates the benefit of the capacitor.

The capacitor provides a small load to the regulator to stop it from overvoltage damage if the connection between the regulator and the rest of the system is lost, most likely from the isolator switch being turned off, or a master relay failure, while the engine is running.

Good to know, but the one aftermarket thing I spent more on than the 'original' is the regulator. I bought a Dutch one, name eludes me right now. They've been making regulators and rectifiers to replace hard to find motorcycle parts for years. And Rotax. And of course to replace any crappy Italian electronics 😄

Upshot is mine doesn't need a capacitor (either better design or a capacitor built in or I don't know what) and has one less wire. It just has AC in and DC out, and a warning light. Simples ☺️

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Good idea but how much "Live wire" is involved?  You could eliminate that by using a hollow rod (tube) to actuate something nearer the battery.  Nev

I do like this sort of idea, and I think oldkorelah did something like that. It's the lightest way to go since a light aluminium tube extension to a switch close to the battery is going to be lighter than copper cable. I thought of doing something like that with my little motorcycle battery isolator. But I have to weigh getting the plane actually flying against experimenting with homemade gadgets. I've been building this too long. 

9 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I'd rather a manual switch than a solenoid..  Nev

Agree, that's what I've just put in my panel 🙂

There will be an extra 550mm cable..it's still less cable overall than the kits master solenoid idea. And WAY less than some aircraft where they've had to put the Battery rearwards for C of G purposes 🙂

A bit of an update. I had put a little motorcycle battery isolator in, but of course that's not easy to reach. Fine if I'm on the ground. But if I happened to need to use it in flight, I'd probably 'John Denver ' myself. 

So I picked up a panel mounted isolator from Whitworth marine. Much the same as the ones with the red plastic key, but these look tidier. Might as well have form AND function if it's available. Installed it where my USB outlet was, which I moved over. Looks tidy there and it's just about the shortest amount of extra cable at the location 🙂

12 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

This could be faulty logic.

 

Partial/intermittent earth return, can effects 12 V systems in a wide variety of ways. Sometimes one system will show normal function, while another is completely dead.

The clever electronically savvy, folk on this Forum, will I have no doubt have an explanation.

 

The hour meter is built in to the tacho. The tacho is working fine, thus the earth is fine. Perfectly logical 🙂

On top of that, when the revs are above 1800, the hour meter switches to revs. It does this faultlessly.

I have a reply from aviasport. I'll see where we go from there, but I just bought an $8 hour meter from eBay as recommended by a friend. He fits them to all motorbikes he's owned. The oldest hour meter is 6 years now and still fine.

What is RA? I take it that refers to the close call...

There is Enroute Flight Navigation, which is free but it may not have all the bells and whistles. Someone here put me on to it. I downloaded just to test out my skyecho.

But if you don't want to give money to 'The Man' check it out. You have nothing to lose.

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

The 3 per side covers under the outer Leading .Edge of the UPPER wing cover the hinges  You are supposed to lock them when taxiing but I forgot a few times. . So did the bloke doing a test flight  in a U tube I viewed since this has all come up. From now on I will spell Gipsy correctly.  Nev

Would that be because they might bounce around a lot, causing wear and tear? Sounds like a pain, lock, taxi, get ground crew to unlock, line up.

Cool..I've been in one, but hadn't noticed the slats. I kinda assumed the tiger was the first for some reason.

Just looked it up. I reckon it's VH-UMK . Until this discussion I had no idea it was all wood. I was already a bit nervous about wooden wings, let alone the whole thing 😄

Still, was a great experience. My partner was in the Tiger Moth.

The same owner, Bill also has a Tiger Moth and a Leopard Moth, which apparently is exceedingly rare. I don't believe the Leopard Moth is flying though...

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/VH-UMK

If you look closely in these pics, there seems to be something under the top wings leading edge. Now I know, I would say that's part of the automatic retract mechanism for the slats?

I agree, but it's easy to place a conditional order. If nothing is ever approved, you haven't paid for anything.

VDO

59 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I do too.  but everybody reads this stuff.

Aren't they called a Hobbs meter?. I suspect that they are abit like some mechanical speedos with some skinny little gears involved.?  Nev

No, this one is digital. The tacho has an analog face (but no doubt converting a digital signal, same as my altimeter) and a little LCD readout at the bottom. When the engine is running it just shows the RPM in digital form as well as the analog face. But if the engine isn't running, it shows as an hour meter. 

If I'm stuck with this tacho (as in can't get it replaced under warranty) I will get a little standalone Hobbs or BDO hour meter. 

8 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

As always, with 12V systems - Check your (-) earth/ground connections are clean & secure/firm

Tacho is working, so earth is fine. I have a feeling there is some sort of fault internally, but thought I'd check here in case someone knew something I didn't about it's operation. I will contact the manufacturer, hopefully they come to the party. That's a problem with builds isn't it? By the time you get to test stuff, most of the stuff is out of warranty 😄

5 hours ago, facthunter said:

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. You could use fuel used, but check on that. Faking required records doesn't go down well.  Nev

I SUSPECT sfGnome was joking...

Just imagine all the racket if a number of them start whizzing around.

I have this tacho in my plane. Rotax 912 specific.

http://www.aviasport.com/Pagina_348.aspx

I must have run it close to an hour by now on the ground. The hour meter is supposed to measure time when the engine is over 1800 rpm. Because I haven't fine tuned the throttle assemblies yet most of the time it's never below 1800 rpm. But it seems to have stopped at 00:22. (I just realised that's in minutes, not 1/10 hours) .  The tacho seems to read rpm reliably.

Anyone have one of these tachos? Am I having a brain fart and not doing something correctly? I didn't think there was anything to do 🤔

On 10/11/2023 at 6:46 AM, turboplanner said:

Yes, but they can start earlier due to this general funding.

An interesting boost for "Flying Car" projects in reviving the use of hydrogen. Not only will it power the car, but it will lift itself (c).

It's going to be  liquid hydrogen, that means it'll be heavier than air.

The tiger has those pressure activated slats too. Dunno if the gypsy does 

15 hours ago, Blueadventures said:

A guess is maybe a fuel line leak or ruptured fuel tank that leaked fuel into cabin area and ignition on impact???  Don't know just a guess as the discussion is about the fire damage and how it occurred.

That was my thought too. Just the right circumstances that the fuel continued to flow while burning in the cabin. A giant kerosene lamp. 

Just googled. Extreme heat due fire can release oxygen in ammonium nitrate, resulting in explosion, like in Beirut. I stand corrected on that front.

Still as you've pointed out, this wasn't an explosion.

1 minute ago, facthunter said:

ammonium Nitrate is a strong oxidiser and will explode with oil or organic matter.   Nev

Doesn't it need a supersonic shock wave to knock the oxygen molecule lose though? Hence it's use as a plastic explosive? Potassium nitrate oxygen molecule is ready to strip off with just heat. 

Dunno if ammonium nitrate would burn. Could be wrong. Potassium nitrate is used by farmers too, that will oxidise aluminium and steel nicely, turned the whole thing into one giant flare. Potassium nitrate, or potash is the oxidiser in black gunpowder and solid fuel rockets. Ammonium nitrate is used as a plastic explosive. Normally needs a shock wave to set it off. I believe American soldiers used to burn C4 as a camp fire fuel in Vietnam, it's that benign.

That's just speculation. I'm not sure there's a reason to carry lots of that in a plane, I would have thought you would normally truck it 

This guy flies a Yak 11, on a relatively low budget

https://www.flyingmag.com/the-intricacies-of-getting-ready-for-reno/

Wake was cancelled for the public because the grounds would be too soggy for all the expected cars. Family only. I think there will be one later for friends. But I happened to be at the field working on my plane at the southern end of the field, so got to see the planes flying from the field. First a jet did several low passes! I think an L-39. Also a Tiger Moth, I think one of the Moths Dave flew regularly. A Cessna Bird dog, Boeing Steerman and Phil's red STOL.