ElectroAir EIS 61000 Start Problem (Dual Electronic Ignition on Lycoming O-540-J3C5D)

[EchoDriver]

I replaced my Bendix dual magneto (with its single drive shaft & plastic gears!) with an ElectroAir EIS 61000. In the subsequent 4 flights, every start has required repeated attempts, and several times I've not been able to start at all. My A&P/IA informs me that numerous airplanes with my engine (see title) all over the country are having this same problem.

Has anyone had a similar experience, and if so, what (if anything) has ElectroAir done to FIX the problem - not kick the can down the road? This is clearly a systemic issue for these engines and the STC, and one which could affect airworthiness (think about engine failure in flight for some reason other than fuel starvation or carb/inlet icing, and trying to restart...) Would appreciate any feedback, as I'm considering returning the kit and reinstalling the magneto(s).

 

[Dan Thomas]

I replaced my Bendix dual magneto (with its single drive shaft & plastic gears!)

Well, now. ALL our high-voltage magnetos have plastic gears in them. They have to, to insulate the spark in the rotor from reaching ground in the mag instead of being sent to the sparkplug. Complaining that they have plastic gears is like complaining that all your airplane's wiring has plastic insulation.

Plastic gears fail when the magneto is not maintained as per manufacturer's recommendations. I have encountered mags that had not been off the engine since it was built in the 1970s. Corroded internally, gears all yellowed and cracking from age and heat and ozone, points totally shot. Running stuff to failure in an airplane is just plain stupid. On the other hand, doing the 500-hour checks on the flight school airplanes, those mags all reached TBO with no problems. Only once did I have to replace the distributor in one, and that was due to a manufacturing error at the factory. There was an SB on it. Maybe 35,000 hours on engines and mags in my time there.

Electronic ignitions, now, present many failure points. Fragile electronics that hate heat and vibration. Many, many electrical connections. So far, electronic mags and the like have not been quite as reliable as properly-maintained magnetos, judging by the posts on POA.

Your starting problem might be something as simple as a botched connection at the mag switch. The ignition might not be receiving a "start" signal in order to know to raise the spark voltage. The old cars that had points-and-condenser ignitions had a similar problem; there was a ballast resistor in the power line to the coil, and the start voltage to the starter solenoid was applied to the coil side of that resistor to raise the primary voltage to counter the overall voltage drop caused by the starter. A burned-out resistor would let the engine start but not run. Now, you're problem won't be a bad ballast resistor, but a bad connection somewhere might make for hard starting. Or the Electroair stuff is failing already. Wouldn't be a big surprise.

 

[Klaus M]

I've had poor service from ElectroAir so you need to do a little troubleshooting of your own. Each time something else has been the problem because the aircraft old components don't work well with new tech.

Troubleshoot: Check that the ignition switch is not turning off the start side of the magneto when in start position. I have no experience with the EIS 61000 but in other installations the magneto that did not have a start-up spark retarded to TDC was not turned off so it was contaminating the start.

Troubleshoot: Check that the voltage to the new ignition system is high enough to initiate a good spark. Easy way to do that is jump the aircraft with a running vehicle. There's a minimum voltage necessary to create a spark and sometimes the starter turns the engine good but pulls the voltage too low for spark during the start.

 

[Dan Thomas]

https://www.electroair.net/pdfs/ICA EIS-61000 Engine.pdf

 

[EchoDriver]

Thanx for the info. Learning new things about the start process - including I may have to install a high-torque, high rpm starter...

Something about "a hole in the sky into which one pours large sums of money..." LoL