Ragsf15e

It looks awesome!

The airflow in our engine compartment never ceases to amaze me. As far as flying wives... mine soloed a C-172 a few years back. And then promptly totaled it on a short cross country.

Hot starts are a common issue. Have you had the airplane long? Has it been doing this consistently or has it gotten worse? I recommend searching with Google, “Mooney Hot Start”. You will find lots of threads on this. personal technique for hot/warm/lukewarm starts... shut down with mixture cutoff and throttle set at 1,000 rpm. When you go to start, don’t touch anything! Don’t prime it. Don’t use fuel pump. Just Crank it. When it fires, be ready to increase mixture to rich. Unless you have an ignition or fuel problem making this worse, it’s purely a technique issue and easy to learn to start reliably.

I tend to think (or maybe hope) you’re right. However, I’d really like to check out the VR before replacing it. Unsure how to do that, but learning quickly!

Thank you. I do see negative amps before starting the engine and briefly when applying a big load (gear up or down), but the amp reading wasn’t really my worry. Iwas more concerned with the low voltage. I’m starting to think it’s the voltage regulator, but I have no idea how to check it. I think I’ll make a call to zeftronics...

Thanks. I have a new alternator (November 2018) and looked at the jpi download on either side of the work. Voltage appears low and variable before and after. Thanks for the info on the cig lighter wiring.

Finally got the video link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/pj3XWE2tvhQ2NXaWA

So I checked the voltage at the cigarette lighter... now I have more questions than answers. There is no voltage at the cig lighter until I turn on the Avionics Master. The JPI is obviously on without the Avionics master. The JPI and Cig lighter check match within 0.1 volt when I power on the Avionics master. 1. Is it normal that the cig lighter is through the avionics master? 2. If it's connected through the avionics master, should I still see 13.7ish - I'm still seeing around 13.2volts. 3. When I turn on everything (LED lights and pitot heat), my voltage decreased to 13.1 and my amps were relatively constant... seems wrong? (see linked video) - When I turn off everything (including the avionics master), I was at 13.9 volts and about 5 amps which seems pretty good. When I turned everything back on, I went back down on the voltage. (sorry, I'm still working on the video) So I looked through flights from the last 3 years on my JPI 930 data. See pictures. In 2016 (slide 1 picture), voltage was constant at 14. In 2018 (slide 2) it was a lot more variable, and more like 13.5. Now the third picture is from last month, 13.2 ish average. The voltage scale is the same on the pictures and it's definitely lower. Am I chasing a non-existent gremlin? Is my voltage regulator at fault? Battery and Alternator are <6 months old. Zeftronics voltage regulator.

T82 Fredericksburg has Pippen-York. I heard good things when I lived there but didn’t get the chance to use them.

That’s sounds about right for the Cirrus crowd.

Heck on a Cirrus they are just about required equipment! Who designed their tiny access for checking/filling air??

You’re not even sure the alternator is the problem yet....

I had mine extended and installed a cotter pin exactly as you described. I really hate it slipping out and ending up on my butt in front of a busy ramp. Again.

Personally, I’d just do the 345. Remote version is a nice touch to keep the panel clean. You probably have ~3 or 4 gps in your airplane every time you fly already. Yes, only 1 is certified for approaches, but if that fails, my phone, ipad, and sentry ADSB will all get me where I need to go. As far as approaches, there are plenty of ils out there to count on as a backup.

+1 on takeoff flaps and 90mph instrument approaches. Not much reason to change flap settings after I that. She lands real good with takeoff flaps.

You’re not the only one. My jpi 930 MAP fluctuates about.5” too. I’ve grown use to it. My FF fluctuates a bit as well. %HP and other readings are stable. I did contact jpi support and they want me to send in the unit for updated software to fix these issues. If that doesn’t work, they move on to the snubber solutions. I just haven’t had a good time to pull mine and send it back.

Well then you’re good!! Go fly at night in lifr, you already had your engine issue!

Tried Oreilly auto parts on the way to fly home from KBOI. No luck. Ill get one on Amazon and check it. This is what I saw on the way home (100 ROP, about 147ktas because you know you’d look).

So is there an a simple voltmeter I can put in the lighter? That would be a good check.

Thanks Yetti. Terminals should be ok since I just installed it but I’ll check. Got the battery in February and it was from October 2018, so that seemed ok. I was wondering about the JPI too... is there an easy way and place to check the actual voltage with the engine running? Jpi is only indication I have.

Thanks clarence. I haven’t, but I’ll take a look at it. Yeah, I don’t think it’s adjustable at all. Last flight was 1.9 hours at 22mp, 2500rpm, 13.1 volts. I can download the data tomorrow when I get home.

Hello, I’m not so good at troubleshooting electrical stuff, so some simple steps to start before I hand off to my mechanic would be awesome... I have a JPI930, and it shows 13.0-13.3 volts pretty consistently. If I put any draw on the system, it sits at 13.0. I’m talking transmission, pitot heat, LED strobes, any one of those is noticeable. Generally sitting at ~3-4 amps as I don’t have much draw. Battery is new as of 2 months ago. PP alternator was new from last October annual. VR is Zeftronics R15300. To be honest, I’m pretty sure it was already doing this before the new alternator and battery... According to my limited knowledge and the battery instructions, I should see more like 13.8-14, no?

Fellas, as a cfii, I can assure you that you can log PIC during all your instrument training... guess what, the cfii can as well. Yep, you can both log pic as long as you are sole manipulator and the cfii is providing instruction. Even in imc on an ifr flight plan. If you still need xc pic time you can log that while getting ifr training too, just do an approach and landing at a destination 50nm away. All this is covered under below links. It requires you be licensed to act as pic... so not a student pilot. Now, it still wouldn’t hurt to have the cfii named on your insurance as he’s providing instruction and I could see the insurance company coming after him if something happens... gear up after an approach to mins? https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/learn-to-fly/legacy-pages/aviation-subject-report-logging-pilot-in-command-pic-time Also covered in the FAA CFI magazine about a year ago. Let me know if anyone wants me to dig that one up.

Get some clarification from your insurance company. As long as you’re a licensed Private pilot or more, you can be PIC during all your IFR training. Even in actual IMC. Your instructor probably wants subrogation coverage or his own cfi insurance, but shouldn’t need to qualify as PIC or transition pilot on your airplane... you’re not doing this during your transition hours are you?

Sheesh, I just wanna know how something like this could happen so I can try to prevent it happening to me or someone else. I knew the nose truss could be damaged by oversteering during towing, but could it result in this? Is it something else preventable or is it simply a “big pothole”? I definitely wouldn’t pile on, and I understand if there are some kind of legal reasons not to talk about it, but I also understand why people want to know. “There but for the grace of god go I...