Well, all you Evolution Engine owners can thank my buddy and his 3 nearly lost fingers for the new warning addendum that Evolution is including with their new and "improved" ignition units that fire off a spark as soon as the ignition is turned on to "clean off the spark plug". He had sent the engine in for like the third time for various manufacturer defects, including blown out plug threads and, on the last time he sent it in, they sent him back a newfangled ignition with all sorts of useless features. They simply told him it was a improved design and that's it - no instructions. The first thing he found out is that it will not run for more than a few minutes on a 4-cell nicad/nimh - turns out they changed the minimum voltage to like 5.5 to 6 volts. Not having any instructions, how was he to know?
Then, while fiddling with the plane at his house, he turned the transmitter and plane on and then reached back to turn on the ignition...as he retracted his hand, the engine FIRED UP BACKWARDS and caught three of his fingers!!!!!!!
A trip to the emergency room and dozens of stitches and painkillers later, he contacted Horizon to ask why his engine fired as soon as he turned on the ignition and took out his fingers. First replies were something like a deer staring into headlights. Obviously, he informed them that they were about to have a major problem on their hands and better find out what is going on! He finally got an answer from someone that might have actually seen an engine before and they told him, "oh, yeah, those new ignitions spark as soon as you turn them on to, uh, clean off any gunk that might be on them so that the engine fires easier and quicker". My buddy's response was something to the effect of "well, it did more than that for me - my engine fired up and nearly severed three of my fingers!" Nowhere in the instructions (of which he had to get off their website because it wasn't included with his ignition) does it warn you of such a possibilty of the engine firing spontaniously. And, really, is it really necessary to have an unprovoked firing of the ignition just to clean the plug? No. At the very best, all that would do is make you have to flip the prop one less time before it fires, or in my buddy's case, not have to flip the prop at all!
Granted, his piston was just before TDC when he turned the ignition on, but he hadn't attempted to choke the engine or anything yet. He is also new to gassers, although he had a couple gallons through this engine and has been flying for several years, and probably hadn't thought to make sure his piston wasn't on the combustion stroke when he initially turned on the ignition, but really, no one can honestly say they do that as a regular practice when first turning on their plane. Sure, we tend to make a habbit of it when we are trying to start the engine and have just pulled fresh fuel through and are about to turn on the ignition and try to start the engine, at least I do. But I never thought about it when first turning a plane on.
Anyway, if you currently have one of these ignitions and did not receive the warning, you have it now...and you can thank my buddy who, incidentally has not filed a lawsuit, although I wouldn't blame him if he did, so it's free info!