grosbeak

I have an aerobatic airplane powered by a DA-50R. A couple of weeks ago I misjudged a landing and came down just short of the threshold in the tall grass and standing water; the plane threw up a big sheet of water as it touched down, then flipped onto its back.

Immediately afterwards I was unable to start the engine. I put that down to a wet spark plug boot. However, I am still unable to start the engine. I've eliminated the receiver, ignition kill and switch from the equation by connecting the ignition battery (A123 6.6V 2200 mAh) directly to the 5.2V voltage regulator. With the plug out and in the cap I'm not getting any spark.

I would appreciate some advice on how to proceed.... thanks.

speedracerntrixie

My Feedback: (29)

How fast are you turning the hub across the sensor? DA ignitions require a minimum RPM to activate. I don't recall what it is but it will not spark at a slow rotation like the chinese ignitions will.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

200rpm

If that water got into it you can try some WD40 but you're probably going to end up replacing the igniton

grosbeak

I went down to my workshop to try a few tests. Now, according to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I, however smart, am no Einstein, so I started by repeating the spark test I did at the field yesterday. In my defense it is darker in the shop with the lights off, so it wasn't like I was doing the EXACT same thing over and over again.

It sparked! It sparked with the plug against the block, it sparked with the plug not against the block, and it sparked when I reconnected the physical switch and the ignition kill. And when I took it outside, trying not to raise my hopes too high, it started!

I'm happy and have visions of dollar bills floating back into my wallet, but I'm also a little confused. Of course, this isn't the first time I've used the ol' take-it-apart and put-it-back-together approach to something that wouldn't go, and it's not the first time that approach has worked. But I welcome your theories as to why it works now and didn't work yesterday.

Scar

My Feedback: (3)

It works because you didn't let the smoke out.

It didn't work before, because the water (heh...) dampened it's enthusiasm. Temporarily.



Dave Olson