bravo hard starting

[philiplane]

2 hours ago, toomany said:

got the bravo back today after the surefly was installed.  starts right up w/ less than 3 seconds of prime.  orbitted lns at 10,000 and held 1300-1500 fpm on way up - da and oat were low thoigh. cht's and egt's seemed a little cooler but won't know until i get it settled in at altitude for an hr or two.  its times like these that you reslize we've been kept in the dark ages by the faa, lycoming and continental - we're in 2024 and get excited about electronic ignition.   please spare any comments on how reliable 1930's magnetos are - they are absolute junk in my opinion w too many moving parts to be considered a reliable form of ignition in this day amd age - especially when we have electronic ignition/fadec systems that draw on the order of miiliamps 

the electronic ignition systems draws way more than milliamps. 

The six cylinder unit draws 1.1 amps at 2700 RPM.

[toomany]

Yes - the surefly does draw more, not sure if its 11a as the inline fuse for its dc power is a 10a. i'd imagine it pulls 3-8a under normal ops.
re milliamp draws - i was thinking of, but disn't mention, electronic mgt systems found in automobiles and many racing/performance applications.


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[JohnB]

I used to have that issue years ago, but I too had the slick start booster installed and its essentially completely gone away as it gives you starting energy even if your air fuel mixture is not ideal.

 

I've also recently started using a technique where after fully priming for a cold start (7+ seconds+), throttle slightly forward, mixture full cutoff and I bring in the mixture as the engine catches. Same with hot starts but less prime. Usually always starts on first or at most second try which I am hoping might help save battery life. With my Bravo, I get about 3 good tries to start with each battery, after that, voltage is MUCH less, so starting on the first or second try I find helpful. 

[toomany]

thanks John - so far w the surefly starts are immediate w only 2-3 seconds of prime. i havent had the chance to really run it at cruise power in the mid teens, but once i do ill update here on any differences in temps./fuel flow.


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[toomany]

small update after surefly installation - flew 5-6 hrs this week w 5 starts (cold,hot, lukewarm, cold). all starts were as i would expect them to be, especially given that we're not living in the 40's anymore. every start was within 3 turns of a blade and most without priming. a couple stone cold starts were done with a couple of blades and feeding fuel after a stumble. if 3-6 seconds of prime is given starts are guaranteed smooth and w/o incident. what i would give to see v-8's w/ fadec in GA.
egt's and cht's seem to be running cooler too. hottest (cylinders 5&6) would normally run 360's to high 370's, but are now 340-350's on cht. egt's seem to be about 10° cooler overall. engine seems smoother in cruise, but it will take more than an electronic ignition to get me comfortable with an oversize wwII era volkswagen engine pulling me through the air.


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