larryb

The other side is no fun. I think it was somewhere over Arizona my IAS started dropping. When it got down to 95 I took action and added full throttle. It took full throttle just to maintain altitude for about 5 minutes. This was at 15,000 feet. There was a good tailwind though.

For the mission of LA, Salt Lake, Phoenix and Tahoe it seems to me that you would want a turbo airplane. Especially if you are going to do this on a schedule for business. An E can certainly do this, but speed and altitude are certainly going to be nice on that LA to Salt Lake run.

I had a GoPro on the tail tie down on my J. I never had the lens get cloudy in a 1.5 hour flight. I burned about 1 qt in 6 hours typical. A bit more if doing approaches.

I knew when I posted the suggestion to get Cellular somebody would come along and say you don't need it, use a Stratus or something, and use your phone as a hotspot. And of course that is 100% possible. But the thing is, it is all about Convenience. It is convenient when the GPS just always works. It is inconvenient to pair your iPad to your phone hotspot to file the flightplan away from home. For $130 + $10/month to add it to your family share data plan you can make your life a lot simpler and more convenient. And consider the non-aviation uses where it is convenient for the internet to just always work. No looking for a wifi hotspot. No wasted time. Here is next piece of controversial advice: Buy the maximum memory version. The memory is soldered to the board, so you cannot upgrade it later. Memory needs always grow, so what you need today will not be what you need tomorrow. This could even save money if it allows the device to have a longer lifetime. Compared to the cost of aviation, these devices and their monthly service are so cheap as to not even move the needle. Larry

Get the cellular option. Without cellular you don’t get a GPS chip. You don’t have to activate cellular, although I recommended that too.

I have two. Happy to let one go. Pm me.

Finally finished it. It was a lot more work than I expected going in. Here is a pic of the regulator mounted, detail on the 3-D printed part and how the module is mounted. The aluminum plate mounted behind the LED module is the heat sink. It is designed to touch the aluminum wing rib. A layer of thermal grease enhances heat transfer. The LED module generates quite a bit of heat and needs a good heat sink. The existing dropping resistor proved useless. Mooney wired it into the ground leg of the original circuit. Because the regulator is grounded to the aluminum the resistor is effectively bypassed. Fortunately the wing provides a sufficient heat sink for the regulator even without the resistor. I had to use ABS for the 3-D printed part to handle the heat. I still have the incandescent nav light, and that gets pretty hot too. The original Royalite shroud is also ABS, so my part should have heat resistance comparable to the original. I had to build an enclosure for my 3-D printer in order to get a good quality ABS print. Without the enclosure, it was warped and cracked easily. With the enclosure, it came out perfect. At least I can now print in ABS...

You need a new battery. I would not waste a minute on trying to fix an old battery. Who wants to scrub a flight when the plane won’t start? Who wants to get stuck away from home? If you have a continental engine the starter adapter can be damaged by a weak battery.

Nope. It will only talk to non certified units.

I use about a square foot of this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZZJJ1H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also have a piece in the trunk of each car to keep things from sliding around in the back.

The planned hole is the little hole directly above where the 2 wires are grounded. 4-40 hardware. I think the rib will be enough of of a heat sink, but to be sure I plan to add this one as well. The regulator and heat sink arrive today. I'll probably work on it Friday or Saturday, and will post more pics when complete. If you look closely, you can see the Mooney resistor mounted to the fiberglass wingtip rib with a tiny piece of aluminum as a heat sink. In my opinion, that solution is inadequate. https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/511-L78S10CV https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/984-ATS-PCBT1083

But.... When I bought my J 8 years ago and on my first transition training flight I did indeed have an asymmetrical flap situation. Don didn’t believe it, but looking out the window there it was. The skin on one of the flaps had lifted and was catching on the airframe and torquing the whole system. It is possible.

Different engine, but hear me out. When I bought my Encore I received some transition training from a well known name on these pages. He recommended dialing back from the Encore MP of 39” to 252 MP of 36 after takeoff. I tried that for a while but it did not work out. CHT increased. If I just kept the full MP then fuel flow was higher and temps cooler. So consider just leaving it at full MP for the climb.

No, I decided on a 10V linear regulator. I wanted precisely 10V at the LED for max light and minimum heat. I also wanted to mount everything in existing holes. There is a nice existing hole in the aluminum rib that I can mount the regulator to. It should have enough metal to dissipate the heat. I'll leave the existing resistor in place for three reasons. First, I can't get it out... I could cut the wires but removing the actual resistor is pretty impossible. It must have been assembled to the wingtip before the tip was riveted to the end of the wing. Second, It'll drop 3.5V and take some of the heat away from the linear regulator. And third, I don't want to modify anything on the airplane. Speaking of the existing resistor, Mooney mounted it to a very tiny heat sink, about 2 sq-in of aluminum and that is mounted inside the fiberglass wingtip. 34 Watts of heat sunk directly into the fiberglass. The whole project is designed to be 100% removable. It'll plug into the existing plug. No Mooney parts will get modified, and if I need to the whole original setup can be re-installed in 5 minutes per side.

Trial fitting of Wheelen LR11 in 3D printed mount and shroud.

Well if you are not in a big hurry I have one. I would have to spend a little time looking. But I’m away from home at the moment and won’t be back for a week or two.

With the inner wire removed try to blow compressed air into the casing from both ends. Then spray tri flow into the empty casing from both ends. Then as you feed the wire spray some tri flow on it every foot. Verify the tank valve moves easily. There is no retainer for the wire at the knob end.

How much resistance is there? My knob moves easily, not nearly enough pressure to unwind the loop.

My Mooney has a 950 lb useful load. My mission is 2 people with frequent trips San Jose, CA to Truckee, and then long trips. I have never had more than two people total in my plane, so the rear seats are removed and that gives me an extra 25 lb + tons of space. With full fuel and 2 people that gives me about 225 lb for baggage and gear. So while UL is not an issue, I am often within 100lb of full gross weight when we are on a long trip. It is interesting to note that all the rest of the gear that I take on a trip weighs a significant amount. Cover + tool kit + survival kit + spare parts kit + oil + cleaning supplies comes in at around 75lb. It adds up quick. You wouldn't need any of this for day trips, but when flying cross-USA 3 week trips I want all of it. And I've used it all, except for the survival kit. I also have FIKI TKS. I keep the tank full, even in the summer. I have encountered un-expected ice just as much in the summer as the winter. It's always below freezing at 17,000'. Yes, I could go lower, but there are sometimes mountains. For fuel, I typically fill to 60 gallons unless planning a long trip. Then I squeeze in the full 75 gallons. We often do 5 hour legs on long trips. I would much rather do one 5 hour leg vs. two 3 hour legs with an hour fuel stop.

Are these pics of airplanes that sit outside?

I wrapped my cable around a nail clamped in a vise. I did it pretty tight, and it's tight enough that it took a pair of pliers to snap it on the knob. I have not had a problem with it coming off. I did have problems with keeping the gears meshing and had to stake the rivet that holds the gears to the backplate to tighten it up. Somebody here made a nifty clamp, but I don't have the appropriate tooling for that. The good news is now that you've taken it apart once it'll go twice as fast next time. Larry

When I bought my J I thought it was the last plane I would buy. But just 5 years after I wanted more performance and capability and fewer flights cancelled due to the threat of icing. So now I have a FIKI Encore. Now is the time to really think about what you want and not compromise. I almost bought a non FIKI Bravo. I don’t use the TKS much at all but I really like having it there.

I change oil and filter at 25 hours. But I have done a few cross-USA trips where I do 40 hours in 3 weeks. And on those extended intervals my oil analysis is always good. On the question of the filter I always do it in my K. It has an upside down mount and holds a quart of dirty oil. But on the lycoming io360 the oil drains out of the filter so if you change it a day after flying there is no dirty oil left over. So a few times I did skip the filter with that engine if I was busy and needed a quick change. This question really depends on which motor you are discussing.

I have replaced donuts on both my J and then a few years later on my Encore. It makes a big difference in taxiing. I think most owners don’t realize it because the deterioration is so gradual. Both of these were at my request and not because the shop told me it was time.