BaldEagle

Nice... When did you order your upgrade, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m also in the queue but didn’t put my order in until mid April, just prior to the close of the special offer.

I just fried mine, and surprisingly none listed for sale on eBay. Anyone have a spare one kicking around for a reasonable price?

An update, in case it might help someone else in the future. I only just discovered that my EDM 700 also stores the voltage data, so I looked at the data for the last 7 months and the voltage output reduced from 13.3 to 12.8 over the time period and was occasionally dropping to 12.3 on the flight described above (at which point the Aspen would run off battery and low voltage light would flicker). Anyway, it seems that if alternator output is below 13.5 volts the alternator output is considered too low. Ideally I should have run a multimeter from the back of the alternator to be certain, but as the alternator is at least 15 years old I decided to replace it anyway so my A&P installed a new replacement this morning. Test flight was fine with the JPI showing between 13.8 and 14 volts, and Savvy Analysis showed the same so I’m calling this resolved. These engine data monitors are a godsend, I don’t know how we managed without them...

Difficult to read the plate but I think it's a Kelly Aerospace 6520LS (12V). A new replacement (now Hartzell) runs at 0.8 AMU from Spruce.

I had some time today to do some troubleshooting before my A&P takes a look at it tomorrow. I noticed that the connections on one of the alternator posts was loose and dirty. So perhaps that's the issue. I cleaned them up with fine sand paper and contact cleaner, put them back on the post but the nut would just spin and wouldn't tighten, and then brains here managed to break the post. So now the alternator has to come off. So if it has to come off anyway what would you do? Send it off for repair / overhaul (in which case any recommended shops?), or just replace with a new one and be done with it. While I was having fun I was able to confirm that the ground strap is good. 2019-04-27_11-12-03_000.MOV

With my last Mooney I had a cylinder replaced not long after the purchase. The engine then started throwing oil all over the place, which was tracked down to a large crack in the case = premature (unplanned) major overhaul. I suspect that the cylinder through bolts were over torqued when reinstalling the replacement cylinder, but this opinion is unqualified. But I wouldn’t pull a jug off to entertain a prospective buyer with this experience in mind.

One local avionics shop wouldn’t take 3 AMU from me for an Aspen Max upgrade. I know they’re all no doubt overwhelmed with the ADS-B mandate and 2020 coming up, but that was a bit surprising. And I’ll be lucky to see the upgrade this side of Christmas. Another shop did take my money, but they made it quite clear that they’re not hurting for business. Good for them. Aviation is a really weird industry.

Kelly Aerospace, who I’ve never heard of. The replacement original listed on Spruce is a Hartzell, with the same part number. I think my alternator may be rather old. I did drop the lower cowling this afternoon and poked about, nothing obvious and all the connections to the back of the alternator looked good (nothing broken or loose). I’ll get it booked in to an avionics shop to get a diagnosis. I’ve been out of the airplane ownership thing for a while, and the one thing that used to have me pulling my hair out were electrical issues

Alt. Field

Hi all, Thought I'd reach out to the forum before I call the shop in the morning. I was 15 mins out from home base this afternoon and the Aspen PFD starts running off battery and the Low Voltage light is flickering. Ammeter was showing a very small discharge. The only other odd behavior is that all of the CHTs on the EDM 700 was showing zero. I didn't have a lot of time to diagnose: power cycled the Aspen, would run fine for a minute and then would start running off battery again and low voltage light would flicker again. Pulled the alternator circuit breaker, recycled after a minute, same symptoms, same after pulling Aspen breaker. When the low voltage light went out the temps started rising on the JPI, and then back to zero when the low voltage light came back on. This all happened at cruise power settings. I'm guessing it's the alternator or voltage regulator, but I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Main battery was replaced a couple of weeks ago.

My first Mooney was an E -- great airplane and I'd occasionally do 1,000 miles in a day (San Diego to Portland / Seattle); it was a fantastic economical cross country machine but also perfect for $100 burger runs. But when I got my instrument ticket I found that I couldn't really fly IFR due to the ancient avionics and to extract more utility out of the plane would mean spending serious $$$ on upgrades. My second Mooney was an early J (which I currently own), which has much greater utility due to modern (ish) avionics. The advice to buy the most Mooney you can afford, and to buy the airplane that best suits your mission, is really good advice. Always cheeper to buy once. (That said, I see an Ovation in my future... maybe 10 years down the road... if I reach my retirement goals...)

I've been considering the upgrade and have just had some dialog with Aspen the last couple of days. $3k sounds like a no brainer to me especially considering that my warranty extension ($800) is due this year for my legacy Aspen, so that's a new $10k PFD for about $2.2k exchange, which also comes with a 2 year warranty. My flying is very conservative these days, but the risk of losing AHRS with a pitot blockage has always bugged me with the first gen product. Aspen says about half day labor to install (including wiring up audible alerts to the audio panel), which if accurate seems very reasonable. So for shooting approaches the audible alerts adds another layer of safety as does the lack of dependence on pitot static when IMC. I forgot to ask what labor is required to install a second MFD, but I think I'll go that route as well at some point. And then remove the vacuum system as it's only driving a backup AI right now, but I digress...

$100k should get you into an IFR-equipped J with mid time engine and coupled autopilot (unless the market has changed dramatically in the year since I bought mine). Also I would suggest you don’t restrict your search to the usual places (Controller, Trade-a-Plane, etc): I found mine the The Mooney Flyer, and MAPA Log has a few Mooney’s that appear to be competitively priced. Useful Load on mine is 987 lb, by the way.

Very helpful perspective from everyone -- thanks very much. I'm replacing the windshield in a few weeks, and a new interior is also on the upgrade list, and replacing the rest of the glass, so I have some budget constraints. IFD440 (and replacing the GTX335 for a 345 with the savings) would do the job for the least amount of $$$ I guess. The money-is-no-option alternatives don't make financial sense unless I'm going to keep the plane forever, which was my original plan but when we get to retirement our flying needs will likely change (longer trips), so that's adding to the decision paralysis. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here...

Thanks all for the feedback, this is really helpful.

Hi all, I'm looking into replacement options for my non-WAAS GNS 430. It currently feeds a KFC200 and an Aspen PFD. I'm persuaded that a WAAS GPS will help me extract more utility from my J, while also improving safety. I'm looking to get an idea of how much labor is involved in going this route. Also, will I have to install a WAAS antenna or can I use the WAAS antenna from my GTX 335? Presumably Flightstream 510 would be a must-have too (I use Foreflight)? Local avionics shops are pretty backed up right now, presumably due to the 202 mandate, so I'm planning a year out right now. The GTN 650 does GPSS right out of the box, yes? Anything else obvious that I need? Bonus question: IFD 440 alternative route: I know this is a slide-in replacement, but would it save significant $$ on installation costs? Would I just have to have the shop install the WAAS antenna?

I finally got one of those boxes from JPI and pulled the engine data for the last 6 months. These are the most recent two flights: I need to replace the CHT probe on cylinder 2, yes? Anything else I should check first? Bad ground, cable? Airplane needs to go into the shop soon anyway to address a couple of other minor squawks, but I thought I'd reach out here first, as I like an excuse to pull the cowling off and poke around. I did notice in the logbooks that the previous owner had replaced a CHT probe recently and I think it was for the same cylinder (I need to double check), which is why I'm thinking possible grounding or other issue.

Thanks for the heads-up. I just checked eligibility and it turns out that Savvy breakdown assistance is included in my existing policy. Good timing too as I'm off on a trip in a few days...

Hi there, I'm in a similar situation: I also didn't fly for 12 - 13 years and started flying again last year. I got my BFR and went shopping for a J model. Prior to my hiatus I used to own an E model. Great performance for the $$, but limited utility once I got my instrument ticket due to the outdated panel. Usual advice about what your flying mission is obviously applies (that was my first airplane purchase and I didn't know what I was doing). By the way, if shopping for an older model if you find one with an alternator conversion that's a bonus. I was left stranded once when the generator failed. The E had about 1,400 hours on the engine when I got it and I was only able to put 280 hours on it before it needed an overhaul. Mike Busch has a persuasive argument for buying an airplane with a run-out engine vs mid time / high time; I'd recommend looking it up on Youtube. One other thing I learned with airplane purchase no. 3, is the tremendous value in being able to 'interview' the seller, which helped put me in a comfort zone with the purchase. Anyway, best of luck with your search!

I'd take my friend's Malibu over any of the heavier light twins I've flown (402's, P-Navajos, etc). But I wouldn't fly it solo at night over the Rockies, but then I wouldn't fly a twin solo at night over the Rockies either if the terrain is higher than the single engine service ceiling. A really good resource:

Alas, I had to sell mine. The wife wouldn't let me have a Mooney and a Lotus. I always compared my Elise to a Vans RV. Sitting in either is like sitting in the bath with the water drained out. This was my 3rd (and last) Lotus. Like Mooney, Lotus was constantly looming from one financial disaster to another.

I just got through my first annual, and as there were no nasty surprises I'm planning on getting the windshield replaced sometime next year. Can anyone recommend a shop, preferably in the Southwest? It looks like a big job and I'd rather have someone who has done this job before perform the work.

This is really good advice. It wasn't until I purchased my third airplane that I came up with a similar list. Sales taxes, ferry costs, etc. in addition to above though. I read somewhere that 95% of GA airplane owners can't afford to own an airplane. Or to put it another way: many people can afford to buy an airplane but often grossly underestimate the cost of owning and operating it.

Thanks all for the feedback. I did recently purchase Mike Busch's book on Engines, and although I'm fairly inept mechanically I did find the book very persuasive, especially in regard to on-condition maintenance philosophy (so much so that I'm currently working my way through his webinars on YouTube).