tmo

With a closed loop you are way ahead of me and yes, your desiccant should last much longer. Dang those moving targets

Additional data point - my silica gel is as dry as it will be after 2h at 250F, based on weight. 1h gets most of the moisture out (75%); the decrease in weight after the 2nd hour is about 10%; after that it is a measurement error at best. It could very well be that my silica gel (which originally was called kitty litter, but is 100% silica gel) is not as good as yours, although I suspect they are one and the same in terms of performance.

I would be really interested to know the relative humidity (RH) of the air leaving the device when half the beads turn green. I suspect at that time pumping the air is doing no good, or worse. I base my suspicion on my measurements, where about 3 lbs of silica gel lasted only two weeks, and it weren't especially wet weeks. I have a Raspberry Pi with two Bosch BME-280 sensors, one measuring air at the top of my "dehumidifier tower" and one measuring ambient air. Initial RH of 0% lasted for a week, but after two weeks it was approaching 30% regardless of ambient air. After three weeks it was around 50%, a 30% decrease from the 80% ambient air. I suspect that at 50% it doesn't make sense to keep pumping new air in, better to leave what's in the engine there. I have gotten similar results over two iterations (the 2nd one is at 25% RH after less than two weeks). I am focusing on doing my first oil change, but once that is done and I'm back to flying, I was going to test a) a smaller pump, because how much air volume can there be inside an engine, and possibly b) having the RPI turn the pump on and off based on RH ratio. Your idea with the timer is brilliant, and I'll do that together with the smaller pump.

Kind of begs of a Mike Busch (I think) quote: "Not how hard you drive the engine, but how you drive it hard"

FWIW, I think it takes less hours (28) to get a ultralight plane license (that includes specimens such as this 200kt 2-seater) than a driver's license (30). Then again, you could probably use those pucks in a UL plane, if they weren't too heavy...

There is some discussion about the Sandel light bulbs and brightness over on EuroGA here and here - try the second link first.

Yes, vertically, of course, brain fart; will pre-fill, thank you Doc. No warming up this time, so will let it drain for a good while. Brief power-up for leak check post change is OK. The connector is happening when the IA is around to pre-approve a type; my slight personal preference is the "screw to lock" type, but seems like anything of reasonable quality should be OK. Thank you AndyW95.

I think it could also be a grounding issue, an out of spec capacitor, or probably many other reasons. Apologies for the possibly assinine question but you are sure you have separate magnetos, not a dual mag, right? But a ground issue would likely also cause issues during a mag check, hence my initial guess of "capacitor".

Thank you sir. Is starting up the engine without the cowl in order to warm up the oil a no-no, or a good idea? The airflow will be 100% random, hence the question. I can certainly just let it drain longer if that is the better approach. Since the oil filter is mounted horizontally on the TSIO-360, do I put some oil in the new filter before I install it, or will it fill itself as I pour oil in via the proper tube? Haven't found a definitive answer. As a follow-up question - is there an acceptable / recommended connector I can replace the "knife" style ones and be done with ty-rapping things? Or is this one of the things where the neophyte in me sees something worth fixing that really isn't worth thinking twice about? The newer models seem to have a "plug" #9 pn. 206060-1 shown in section 71-10-01 of the Illustrated Parts Catalog. Edit: is this the the $5 connector from AMP?

Any capacitors in the magneto circuit? In cars they are (were...) sometimes used to quieten down the coils.

Hang them, tell people they are living art

If a device is just reading serial data and use the same protocol, several can be connected to a single transmitting source, right?

When removing the lower cowl, do I really cut the ty-raps and then the taxi/landing light wires are on knife-style connectors that I can disconnect? 71-11-02 in the Maintenance Manual says so, but would like confirmation from the wise before I cut something I don't have to, or should not, cut.

Phillips also make single weight oils, which are said to be good. Just saying, I know you know.

For me it is linear within a given range of values - my insurance co charges a one percentage under 50k, another up to 100k and so on. The percentage decreases as the value goes up, so it might even make sense to slightly over insure if close to the upper limit. FWIW, I paid a little over 2100 EUR (about $2300) for 65k EUR hull and 6m EUR CSL (combined single limit, so I guess "smooth" in US speak). Hull cost 1k EUR. 0 hours in Mooney, 0h in complex / retract / hpa.

Shouldn't it technically read: "if a N-reg airplane" instead of "if in the US"?

How much is a decent hangar-home in one of these flying communities again? Over here AVGAS is $2.32 per liter, which gives $8.78 per USG. I gotta move, we're all working from home anyway...

Dealer pricing?

TBH, I was kind of thinking along the same lines...

And to not bring a turbo into the mix - think a dirty, clogged air filter - it will give you less MAP than a clean one would. Your engine will be making the power indicated by the gauges, but with a dirty one, perhaps not all it could. Same with closed / open ram air / power boost (which I imagine is the same thing). What really gets confusing is the basic M20K-style turbo, where touching any of the knobs messes up the relationship - but you still look at what the gauges are showing. Thankfully this forum has people that have tamed the beast, I hope to be able to follow in their footsteps without breaking too much...

Why would you consider anything than what is currently indicated? If it says 21", the engine has 21" to work with, no?

That is assuming you are willing to keep them clean and shiny ;-) Then again, if it's just a ramp decoration, gratuitous power washing with some heavy duty NAPA stuff won't take much time... That said, that Sonex doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive to run. A L39 will, by the nature of things military.

I found that drilling in reverse is gentler on plastic.

Why not get one that actually exists as opposed to CGI eye candy. Remeber the Raptor or the Pipistrel Panthera (from people who build quite successful ultralight planes - a couple at our field, and the owners love them).

IIF the antenna and cable is already WAAS, otherwise that gets to be replaced; that said, yes, from what I see, as trivial of an upgrade as can be, with a lot of "bang for buck".