dfurst

M20R was 4 hours physical install and 3 hours for avionics guy to hook to intercom. In hind sight I would have just gone to avionics shop and had them do whole thing. Total would have been less.

So, more data. Took it for a test flight with the avionics guy. Pulled every single circuit breaker, one a at a time. The only time the noise went away is when we pulled the intercom CB, which makes sense, because you can't hear anything if the intercom is off. BTW, side note, it is a good exercise to try this with another pilot with you. I leaned a lot about what happens when various CBs pop, and what it takes to really shut down a 650. I am now much more comfortable with what will happen if I ever have to pull a CB on purpoase. A couple of things that struck the avionics guy as odd 1) Gear warning horn came through intercom 2) AP disconnect (very loud) came through intercom 3) Stall warning horn came through intercom In his opinion none of those sounds come through the intercom in a stock Mooney. Can someone confirm that is the case? I did some quick Googling and from what I see, he is right. All 3 of those are actual aural warnings, outside the intercom. The reason this is important is someone most have modified some systems or added a third party device to route these sounds via the intercom. If this is the case, he wants to find that device and make sure it is not causing the problem, or remove it and rever these sounds back to their normal hardware.

It is the Eltroair EIS-61000-1M. I assume this is the on one you are referring to as the "other one". I compared the systems and I liked some of the features of the Eltroair over others. I may be paying the price for that, but so far, noise aside, it has been good. Starts are easy, engine runs smoother. Don't know if I have any performance improvement as I have not had a chance to collect any data. I am torn. if this was an Electroair problem, it would be happening all the time, not just with the gear in motion and up. Now, that being said, if they cannot figure it out I will be forced to go with another option. As you said, "Odd that the landing gear has anything to do with the sound caused by a mag" Really has me stumped. Now that Avionics shop has confirmed the EIS grounds are good, they are checking the rest of the grounds. Also ordered a replacement

One data point I left out. When I was flying and lowered the power low enough for the gear warning horn to go off, the noise went away.

Thought about putting it on jacks but noise only happens with engine running. Not sure how safe it is to start an airplane engine while on jacks?

I should have been more specific on who is testing the grounding. First pass the mechanic rechecked all the grounds. Since then I have taken it to an avionics shop. The avionics guys would agree with you about mechanics and grounding. The 2nd review of the grounding was by the avionics shop and they confirmed the ignition is properly grounded. Nice thought on engine grounding. Will suggest it.

Good idea on pulling CB for landing gear. Will try. Thanks. Yes, I know the new ignition is the source. The question is why only with gear in motion or up.

No, didn't try the squelch in the intercom. Will do. Thanks! I have turned the intercom off and the noise does go away. Told avionics shop this and they say the intercom will amplify any noise, this does not mean the intercom is bad. Avionics shop is looking at this too. Thanks!

Nice thought. I do wonder if there is a problem with the signal from the landing gear. If there was a problem with the motor wouldn't that problem have been there all along? And why would that noise stop when you turn the Digital Ignition off?

I recently installed a digital ignition. Works great, easier starts, smoother engine. Don't have enough data yet to tell if I am getting better performance. One strange annoyance is there is now a loud noise in my headset. The noise does not start until I start raising my gear, then stays once the gear is up. When I lower the gear, the noise stays until down and locked, then the noise goes away. Trouble shooting so far - Flying straight and level, noise is there - - Turn off digital ignition. Noise goes away. Turn it back on. Noise comes back. We know the source, but not the route. -- Turn of remaining mag, noise stays. -- Turn off com 2. noise stays. -- Not sure how to turn off GTN650? I guess I could have pulled the CB. Next time. -- Lower gear. Noise stays until down and locked, then quiet. Digital ignition company said check all the grounds. The shop has double checked all the grounds on the new ignition. They have confirmed it is grounded to the frame and not grounded on the same ground as any avionics or intercom. The next step is to swap out components of the digital ignition, but we doubt that is going to do anything as the noise is not there when gear is down and locked. Any ideas? Advice? Thanks!!

On my Ovation, tight wing (closer to intercom) trailing edge panel, closest to the body. Short run. Nothing critical in the way.

Looking forward to the Ovation guide.

I talked to the manufacturer. This is some padding in the cloth for added passive protection and to hold the earcups securely against the head.

Good points. I think that because it is a full headset wrapped around the dogs head, it should hold the ear pieces snuggly, and it should offer some passive protection as well. I know that is a lot of "shoulds" in that sentance. Also, it is controlled by an app my phone so I will know how if it is on, off, or needs a charge.

That is one of their primary selling points, fireworks.

I did a search of Moonespace and found a lot of Dog discussions and a lot about Mutt Muffs for hearing protection. What I couldn't find was if anyone had tried https://pawnix.com/. They make a noise canceling headset for dogs. They promote it as good for helping with loud noises. The best example they give is dogs who are afraid of thunderstorms, who sleep through them with the headset. They are a few mentions of flying but it is not clear if they mean commercial or GA. So, has anyone tried them? Any PIREP? Thanks, Doug

Got the invoice. 9 hours to install. Most time consuming was routing wire from wing, through body to back of panel. Second most time consuming was getting it to work with intercom. They had to call in their traveling avionics guy and he spent 2 hours getting it to work. They quoted me 2 days, or 16 hours, so they came in under budge. Not cheap but $990 plus the cost of the device, still OK in my book.

@Microkit Thank you! I had mine installed during annual. Still waiting for the bill to see how much it cost. Will post when I get it. Let me say the LHS is fantastic. I did not fly for 2 months (simple annual, no problems!! but that is another story) so I was a little nervous when I went out for my first flight yesterday. A little background. This is my third Mooney. Started with a C model which I could land on a dime. Moved to a K model. By the end of the first year I could put it down anywhere. A year ago I bought an Ovation. Given my schedule I only put 50 hours on it. I had a lot of trouble with the landings. Never could get that last few feet right. Flare to low, flying it on the runway. Flare too high, dropping it. Never pretty. I was getting better the summer before annual. Back to yesterday. It was a little windy, but within my normal limits. I almost cancelled anyway given that it had been 2 months but I pressed on. My home airport runway is 2,440' x 40' with trees at one end and a 20 foot drop to a highway at the other end. Needless to say, coming with an Ovation, you must be on your numbers and down in first third of runway. I decided to fly to another nearby airport with 4,470' x 75' runway to practice. My first landing was high and hot but when the LHS started talking at 200' and asked for a gear check, I was able to calm things down. The countdown was great. I was on speed, on target, hearing the numbers drop. When I got to 20, I had the right sight out the window and started the flare. by 10' I was in a great position and pulled the power back. At 5' I was in the perfect attitude and had one of my best landings ever in my Ovation. Let me say that again, after 2 months of not flying, I had a near perfect landing. The LHS made that possible. It also had a calming effect. I felt I had more time to get the speed and power just right in the flare and take my time getting it on the ground. Was this a fluke? I did 2 more patterns at this airport. Now, I almost never do touch and go's in the Ovation. First of all we are not allowed to at our home airport, so I don't do too many. Second of all, even on a 4,000' runway, I find by the time I am down, reconfigured and ready to go I have eaten up a lot of runway. Not this time. On both approaches I came in on the numbers, touched down in the first 500' and had plenty of runway left. Moved flaps to takeoff position, adjusted trim, and firewalled it (slowly). Took off and did another touch and go. After 3 landings it was time to head home for the real test. Approach was good, it was a bit windy on short final. Coming in over the trees always does strange things to wind but I was focused on the approach end of the runway. There is a little valley after the trees, before the runway so the LHS was a little confused. It called out 50 over the trees then 70 then dropped to 30 right before the runway. I expected this. Again, the final countdown to 5 was great, and calming. One of my best landings and home airport ever. I was off with minimal braking well before the other end. Sorry for the long post but this tool can really make a difference. What I wasn't expecting is the calming effect. It basically makes you feel like you have more time from the approach to the round out to the flare. For comparison sake, I have just over 1,000 hours, 600+ in Mooneys but only 55 in the Ovation. Thank you! To anyone not sure if this is worth it, if you are happy with your landings most of the time, it is a nice to have. If your landings are all over the place, this is a must have. Given what we spend on our airplanes, it is a small price to pay (well, let me see what the shop charged to install it). Picture below installed under right wing, between gear and fuselage

Will it be safe to setup outside? No hanger, just on a post in all the elements? Or do I get something like this: https://tinyurl.com/SOCKiTBOX? Maybe run external antenna?

I do the same with my Tanis. Turning on a space heater remotely makes me nervous. Aren't you worried about it falling over? Getting too hot? Melting something, or worse, starting a fire?

Too much of a tech geek. Already ordered a new one. My logic is they don't update them too often so grab one while you can. The difference between the 5 and 6 is significant. I will let you know if it was worth it from a pure pilot point of view. Rumors were Apple was going to cancel the Mini. If that ever happens I will buy a 2nd.

Downloaded and uploaded to makexyz.com. $31. Came in the mail today. Can't wait to try them out!

My avionics shop quoted me one day. I will let you know how it goes.

This is all interesting. I am having the exact opposite experience. Working with Darrell from Smooth Power LLC, local? regional? Electroair distributor has been great. During the research process he answered all my emails quickly and in deep detail. Keep in mind up to this point he didn't know if I was going to spend any money or not. Once I decided to go ahead we had a few phone calls to answer some more questions I had. He was great on the phone. Waiting for shop to install next month so I guess things could still go south, but, so far, my experience has been great. I don't foresee any major problems but I have confidence that my emails and calls will be answered promptly. Darrell has given his contact info to the shop and told them to call him any time if they have any questions. I will report back once it is done. Hopefully with good news.

I have had a '62 C, '80 K and now on to a '94 R. I second what @kortopates said. If you need the turbo and plan to fly above 12K most of the time get the K. What is most? More then 30%? 40%? up to you. I live on the east coast and fly IFR. Besides an early flight to 14K just because I could, I only had one flight in 10 years over 11K for weather. Family didn't like wearing masks. Oxygen tanks mysteriously ran empty 3 or 4 years in to ownership and I never bothered filling them again. My choice. The previous owner overhauled the turbo charger at 800 hours. It lasted me past TBO when I sold the plane. Overall maintenance was a little higher with 6 cylinders but nothing from the turbo except normal maintenance in 10 years. I took very good care of the Turbo. Kept it cool, did a cool down after every flight. The biggest challenge was keeping it under 40" on take off. The early K's would let you over boost. I learned to hold brakes on take off until 38", let go of the brakes and it would get to 40" by halfway down runway. Keep in mind home airport is a short runway so I need max performance every take off. Bigger runways I would take off at 36" and back off pretty quick. Ran it LOP most of the time, keeping cylinders and turbo cool. Some hot days I couldn't get the temp low enough to make me comfortable so I would go ROP and burn extra fuel to get turbo and cylinders in right temp range. IMHO if you are going to fly >12K a significant amount of time, the K is great. For me I specifically didn't want the Turbo in my new plane and I am very happy without it. Now, if I move West I may change my mind. I also now have an extra 90hp so that helps < 10K. One thing to keep in mind is landing, the K is nose heavy. Learn how not to drop the nose when landing.