>
> That is why I prefer electronic ignition and fuel injection. Being the
> new guy, I just didn't want to stir up a lot of hooey (yet!) :) Time
> and practicality have shown that mags fail a LOT more often than
> electonic ignition.
>
> David M.
I'll agree that mags fail more often than the electronic ignition in your car.
But In aviation, you don't fly with the complete harness as installed in a car.
No matter how simple the electronic ignition, they do have issues as well,
whether fouling sensors from burning leaded fuels, amatuer wiring issues, wear
of moving parts or other installation issues.
My experience has been that while magnetos require proper care and feeding to
keep running properly, I have only experienced one complete failure of a
magneto in 3000 hours of flight. With a dual ignition system, that was a
non-event. My experience with electronic ignition in aviation is that I saw my
first failure in less than 100 hrs due to the failure of an edge connector on
the electronic ignition module. As an A&P that works on primarily Experimental
Aircraft, I have worked on a number of aircraft with nearly every type of
elecronic ignition sold for the experimental aircraft market. (EMag,
LightSpeed, EFII) They ALL have issues, and not a single one of them has been
a 100% trouble free, install it and forget it installation like what we all
enjoy in our cars. Thanks to the mass volume of production, the auto
manufacturers have most of the bugs worked out. By comparison, the units being
sold for aviation still have a lot of issues, as will any "one off" custom
installation.
Having said that, I do run E-mags on my KR, and will eventually convert my
SuperCub over to the same. If it was financially palatable, I'd love to
convert over the fuel injection as well. But I don't see that happening in the
near future.
I believe the blanket statement that the electronic ignition is more reliable
in aircraft vs a magneto fired ignition is patently false if you are comparing
aircraft installations rather than factory auto installations vs magnetos.
Jeff Scott
Los Alamos, NM
