Rodeo John Posted January 28, 2020 Report Posted January 28, 2020 Hello Wall I have a 1966 M 20E. And I just had to G5’s installed in my plane the vacuum system is gone I need to know what The bellows and hardware Weight ! So if anyone has a weight and balance and equipment list I would be very appreciative I cannot find the Bellows or any of that in my POH thanking everybody in advance John Quote
Skates97 Posted January 28, 2020 Report Posted January 28, 2020 I replaced mine at annual with the electric step from @takair. I'm not sure what the weight of the bellows and bracket were that came out but I was surprised at how light it was. Between removing that and putting in Rob's conversion my AP/IA and I just noted a negligible weight difference. Quote
rbridges Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 7 hours ago, Skates97 said: I replaced mine at annual with the electric step from @takair. I'm not sure what the weight of the bellows and bracket were that came out but I was surprised at how light it was. Between removing that and putting in Rob's conversion my AP/IA and I just noted a negligible weight difference. What's your pirep on the electric step? Any regrets? Quote
carusoam Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 The electric step has gotten mostly good reviews... 98% good... The two or so troubled installs got immediate attention from Rob. Installing hardware into a 50 year old plane must come with a bunch of variations... Rob posted an update on how many there are in the field... You won’t feel like you are the first to do it... when you decide to pull the trigger... For people going all electric... the step is one of the remaining things keeping the vac pump busy... Some people also have vac speed brakes to contend with... @takair got a solution for swapping out the vac servo for speed brakes? There are a couple of MSers that have vacuum driven speed brakes. It gets in the way of going all electric... Paul/ @gsxrpilot had mentioned this the other day... I’m not sure of the size of the TAM. (Marketing speak for total addressable market). Best regards, -a- 1 Quote
MoonFlyer68 Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 Last annual I had my shop install the electric step kit. It works great and you can test it on the ground by turning on your beacon light. Now during my start up when I hit the beacon I listen for the electric step moving. I think it is a great set up and when I finally pull the trigger on my panel I will be able to remove the vacuum system and standby vacuum system. Who knows how much weight that will save!!! Quote
Skates97 Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 23 minutes ago, rbridges said: What's your pirep on the electric step? Any regrets? Like @MilitaryAV8R above, I love it. Install was straight forward and easy. I chose to put it on its own switch. I have a strobe that requires turning off the strobe in clouds so I wanted to be able to have the step stay up even if the strobe is turned off. It moves slowly, but by the time I shut down and people are getting out it is already down. I'm just waiting on the AV-30's the I pre-ordered about a year ago to get certified and then the vacuum system is coming out. 3 Quote
mooniacX Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 I also have the electric step. Awesome set up. Easy install and works great! 1 Quote
jamesm Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 What's with the 2% ( yes I am Mooney space shaming them) 8 hours ago, carusoam said: The electric step has gotten mostly good reviews... 98% good... Rob has done an outstanding job with step design and well thought out on installation. Rob is extremely helpful and prompt answering questions that I had. It is a great value. I was kind of skeptical at first of connecting the step to the beacon switch being the best option? I pondered all kind of ideas of making it all automatic for quite a while. I had all kinds of ideas i.e. connecting it to an oil pressure switch so it would automatically retract. But in the end having KISS principle incorporated into the design made my choice simple. In my humble opinion having it on the beacon switcth is the best option. It falls right inline with Al and Art Mooney's design philosophy of eloquent simplicity. I.e. everybody knows that the manual gear design is better than the electric gear design The only issue that I see on having the step connected to the beacon switch is that I always leave the beacon switch on ( as a reminder to turn off the master switch ) when I go to work on the electrical system. the step starts to go up !!! Annoying!!!! However this is totally operator error on my part (doh). If turn off the beacon switch before working on the electrical system problem solved. James '67C 2 Quote
takair Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 8 hours ago, carusoam said: The electric step has gotten mostly good reviews... 98% good... The two or so troubled installs got immediate attention from Rob. Installing hardware into a 50 year old plane must come with a bunch of variations... Rob posted an update on how many there are in the field... You won’t feel like you are the first to do it... when you decide to pull the trigger... For people going all electric... the step is one of the remaining things keeping the vac pump busy... Some people also have vac speed brakes to contend with... @takair got a solution for swapping out the vac servo for speed brakes? There are a couple of MSers that have vacuum driven speed brakes. It gets in the way of going all electric... Paul/ @gsxrpilot had mentioned this the other day... I’m not sure of the size of the TAM. (Marketing speak for total addressable market). Best regards, -a- The difficulty with the speed brake would be the speed of actuation. I have thought about the problem, but would really need to look at an equipped airplane to look for a solution. Any takers in New England? Thanks for the kind words on the step kit. With any issues, we update an installation addendum for future customers. Feedback is always appreciated. 2 Quote
jamesm Posted January 29, 2020 Report Posted January 29, 2020 My phone crashed before finishing my original post. So the original was a quite cryptic. I think you did great on the step. The only couple of mods that I did was since I didn't want to drill out the rivets. I used the existing vacuum actuator bracket put a short piece of an aluminum angle mounted the electric actuator to that. This made the aluminum support longer something like 12" long. the alignment of the electric actuator support bracket to the step. I used a straight edge to find the optimum position for support bracket. I was quite surprised to that I was able to drill hole baggage compartment back wall for the support bracket. Then I was able to install the bracket and stand off and other hardware without assistance from another person. 2 Quote
Shiny moose Posted January 31, 2020 Report Posted January 31, 2020 I put this electric step on my F in preparation for removal of vac system, It is a simple install, works great. Anyone that has a airbag step and planning to go all electric needs this upgrade 1 Quote
Tim Jodice Posted January 31, 2020 Report Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/29/2020 at 6:52 AM, takair said: The difficulty with the speed brake would be the speed of actuation. I have thought about the problem, but would really need to look at an equipped airplane to look for a solution. Any takers in New England? I will. 508-221-7253 Tim Quote
takair Posted February 1, 2020 Report Posted February 1, 2020 7 hours ago, airtim said: I will. 508-221-7253 Tim Thanks Tim I found some material on-line. I realized that this is a third party STC and that it would be pretty difficult to certify another STC on top of theirs...even if it was technically feasible. I assume yours is an STC and not a Mooney install? The STC holder has an electric version, perhaps they have a retrofit? Looked up your reg. #. I was based out of PSM and MHT a few years back. Man, you really do get some use out of your plane...even this time of year! That is really awesome. Rob Quote
Tim Jodice Posted February 1, 2020 Report Posted February 1, 2020 11 hours ago, takair said: I assume yours is an STC and not a Mooney install? The STC holder has an electric version, perhaps they have a retrofit? That is correct, it was installed after it was built. Talking to a repair shop about swapping vacuum for electric and it is not that hard in their opinion. Told me that it bolts in with out sheet metal work. Parts costs $6500. I plan to make my airplane all electric next year. Quote
Tim Jodice Posted February 1, 2020 Report Posted February 1, 2020 11 hours ago, takair said: Looked up your reg. #. I was based out of PSM and MHT a few years back. Man, you really do get some use out of your plane...even this time of year! That is really awesome. Rob Many people commute 1-1.5 hours (I used to) to Boston from New Hampshire. I commute from New Hampshire to Nantucket. As expected business is slow this time a year but I still go there 3-4 days a week. Summer is 5 sometimes 6 days. This is the reason I bought this airplane. 2 Quote
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