Ragsf15e

Ahhh, that helped. I didn’t check those screws but I will now. Would be nice to have a better way in!

I recommend this: https://www.zeftronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Z14PS.pdf I think you’ll be a page 2 type of system. 11v at the field seems reasonable, but the troubleshooting will lead you through systematically. If you get frisky, run it and check the alternator output at the alternator terminals. Use long wires with clips - be safe! I found measuring actual voltages with battery or engine on was working better for me that resistance with power off.

Yes, mine is 68-0164, F. Smooth skin, not hybrid weight thankfully. Already signed off!

It’s the rod end attached to the steering horn above the nose gear. I’m trying to picture what you’re saying, but I think it’s well forward of the firewall? With the gear up and gear doors disconnected, it’s not bad as it rotates down towards the ground where you can get at it.

I appreciate the offer! My IA’s fix by adding some spacers and tightening it up seems pretty solid for now and I’ve got one ordered. Mostly, no, I didn’t take careful measurements. I will when I get the new one and I’ll post them. That rod end isn’t easy to get in and out… the nose gear has to be retracted to get at it.

Well it’s in the federal register, my IA found it, found the SB, did the check and signed it off. I’ll take it.

Mine happened to be in annual this week. I showed my IA the AD (it wasn’t in adlog yet), he inspected, tried the magnet, signed off and charged.25 hours. No bad weights. Good deal!

It was definitely the rod end. We took it out in the hole is slightly elongated. Laser ordered a new one for us from Mooney, but it’s going to take two months. For now, my I was able to tighten it up with some spacers, and it’s much better than it was before.

Success!! it didn’t go without a fight, however. I got the correct bulb for the plastic socket, but when I put it in, the wire fell out the back of the socket. The solder broke up in the socket. So I handed the tiny plastic and metal socket to my IA and said, what do we do? he said, take it apart and see if we can fix it. Some very small soldering and gentle, disassembly and reassembly, and it’s fixed!

I do my standard runup check lean, so maybe that’s why? I don’t have a great technique, but somewhere between taxi lean (which is really lean) and rich. It just sounds like a quick pause switching through.

Lasar didn’t have the rod end in stock but they ordered one from mooney. They called first and were told one month.

There are reasonably good troubleshooting guides on both Zeftronics and Plane Power websites. Throwing parts at the problem seems how most of these issues are solved but troubleshooting them fully is usually possible (intermittent problems are tough). The thing is that our airplanes are old. There are almost invariably noisy, corroded, or loose connections (or CBs) somewhere. If a new VR or Alt doesn’t fix the problem, you’ll still be back to a voltmeter and troubleshooting guide or finding a shop competent in electrical issues (sometimes difficult). At the very least, I’d suggest checking the connections at the alternator carefully. You might also check the voltage on the field wire and alternator output (if you have low voltage), this can help narrow it down. Or just do what I did and replace the VR and Alternator. When that didn’t fix the problem, I learned how to use a voltmeter and went through the system more carefully to isolate the problem. It cost a lot more, but I got some education.

That sounds about right. I was about to go in from the top which seemed to require an octopus with really long arms as an assistant since there were screws in the cabin with free nuts in the belly. I went back for one more look under and got lucky. The 336 is almost identical but slightly smaller and they are use for avionics too. The base is just a little different…

It is the Lasar truss, do they have a separate steering horn STC as well? I agree it could be made pretty easily, and more cost effective too… $145 on Lasar website. I’d pay it for a new one though because we’ve got her all opened up for annual.

Well crap. It’s not the bolt or washer because I have them on hand. It’s the very short and unobtainable rod end (blue circle). Anyone have a lead on where to find them? I left a message at lasar but website says out… part 914012-013 rod end.

Did you ever find a new 914012-013? mine is developing some slop too and I haven’t found one yet. Call is in to Lasar, but doesn’t look good from their website…

So Skip and Carusum were right! The black plastic end cap screwed off and the whole socket and bulb dropped downward into easy reach. I celebrated (too early), went and grabbed my new bulb and found it slight bigger than the existing one and too big to fit in the socket! Crap, that new socket has a GE336 in it instead of the GE330 we normally use. So I have a $25 bulb on the way from AeroLeds… $5 bulb and $20 expedited shipping.

Yeah mine has the longer reboot time but it hasn’t been a problem. Doing a normal preflight mag check doesn’t cause a backfire. It does “skip” (no pun) as you go from R back to Both, but no backfire. I did an airborne full power mag check after I got it… that did cause a backfire. I guess it was the higher power? Since then, if I do an airborne mag check, I reduce power before switching back through. That works fine. Anyway, on a 14v system, even the old one seems ok to me. I’ve been happy with it.

Possibly. I tried a gentle turn and got nowhere but maybe it needs more. I’m try to be careful. I might have access from the top too so I’m going to take those screws off tomorrow and look. @EricJ ? @N201MKTurbo?

Help… where do i put the wrench and turn to take out the tiny light?

I know it’s warm in Texas, even in the clouds (I lived in Del Rio), but it’s smart to turn it on before takeoff any time you’ll be imc. The pitot tube can ice before the wing. You aren’t gonna hurt it. Just turn it on. I iced a pitot tube in North Carolina once. It’s warm there too. Your groundspeed still works, so you can get an idea from that until your pitot heat warms up.

I disagree. Not to say there haven’t been some issues, but I feel like they’ve been addressed. The one I’m thinking of is the issue with 24v planes where the voltage was fluctuating and causing the SF to reset. They have an updated model that fixed that. Are there other Issues? Mine has been great, but that’s only one data point.

When your left mag needs changed or OH’d, switch it for a Surefly E mag. Eliminates the SOS. Also, it just works better than a mag and requires less planned maintenance. I’ve had mine on for 2+ years and 200 hours. It’s great.

I think so, thanks. Chief and spruce have them back in stock. Fingers crossed.

Depends on the country of course, but I’ll never forget flying from Egypt to Kuwait… tanker took us just past the red sea, topped the two of us off and went back to Spain. Route was across northern Saudi. Up until the tanker left, they had all the comms on vhf, but we were uhf only at the time. They gave us a freq, the route, and “comms aren’t real good right here but you should be able to contact them on 336.2 in ~50 miles.” Then that beautiful big KC-10 did a 180 and it got really quiet. Next thing I see is the WSO in #1s jet with about 8 feet of map in a 3 foot cockpit. He was covered in charts. Probably looking for more frequencies because we couldn’t talk to anyone, but we quickly started getting yelled at on several frequencies including guard. Some of it was even in English which was great except when we heard things like “American fighter jets, you very bad!” and “you not clearance!” My flight lead tried to communicate, but we never really got through. Well that went on for what seemed like about 40 minutes until we got close to Kuwait. My flight lead looked at me at one point and shrugged his shoulders? Still no reliable comms or really any clearance. We just assumed the “super power, coming through!” Mindset and crossed into kuwuait, called up AlJaber tower and got a real live American controller who cleared us to land. Good memories…