That was my first action. Nothing made any difference. My gut says it's the ignition, but.....

Changing the ignition module is about the easiest thing you can do. I have been using CH's since 1995 with great results. Dan

http://www.ch-ignitions.com/

I figure even if it's not the problem, if it looks old, it probably is. And I'd like to replace it any way. So I will, and hopefully it solves the problem for good. If not, I guess I'll take it from there.

I've seen older servo and battery connectors go sporadic before. They seem to look and feel fine, but get a coating of corrosion on the connector pins that makes an unsure connection. "Corrosion X" is a good product for dealing with the problem, though as an old mechanic friend of mine always used to say, "You know, there's nothing like a new piece!".

AV8TOR

So I stick a brand new ignition on it, and to my surprise, only part of the problem seemed to go away. The servos stopped doing what they were doing, but it was really running like crap. The only way I could get it to full throttle was by popping my hand on and off the v stack. So I unplug the brand new ultra ibec, and it runs great. It's certainly the happiest it's sounded yet. I guess I'll go back to sepperate batteries. I like it better that way any how. Only thing I liked about the ibec was the kill switch. So, I haven't had it in the air yet, but I'm pretty confident that the problem is solved. Thanks again.

Steve, the best installation is always the simplest but that does not stop the guys from loading up their planes with every gimmick they can get their hands on. Thanks for posting your results. Dan.

What voltage did you have the IBEC set at? What kind of new ignition did you install? Just curious.

Yeah, me 2! The Tech Aero Ultra IBEC has adjustable output voltage. Of course I am assuming that's what he used.

If the volts out are set wrong for the CDI in question, problems will likely happen with ignition.

I have read to many problems with a IBEC. Not for me...just more to go wrong.

I was a hard sell but after trying one, all my planes now use the Tech Aero IBEC. Frankly, I read of very few problems with this unit. Other brands have had problems so maybe that's what you base your opinion on. The Tech Aero unit costs less than a quality battery and switch it replaces and installation is certainly easier. So far a win, win for me.

Ya know, now that you ask, and I start thinking, I think I probably ruined the old one. I never looked into the voltage range, and assumed( like a bonehead) that it was like most of the other ignitions I've had and would be fine. The IBEC is a Tech Aero, and was set at 6V. I NOW see that that is too high for that ignition. Oops. Learn something every day, hind sight is always...yada yada. I replaced it with an Rc Excel from Milton at RCXP.

Truck, you’re not going to be a happy camper when that IBEC fails or it couples RFI down that line that plugs into the ignition module right in to the receiver. But, it’s good news that you and the other guys have used them successfully so far. A much more reliable setup would be another $30 battery and $10 switch. Dan.

So much more to think of with gasser installations. I'm sticking to Dans method. Simple, and less to go wrong.

I agree,KISS.the less gadgets you have wired in the better.

I did enjoy the kill switch, but throttle cut works just as well.

Dan you know that I respect your opinions and experience but on this one we will just have to agree to disagree.

Like you and after seeing the complete failure some of the early IBEC units were, I said I would never use an IBEC in anything! Then the Tech Aero one came along. I researched it fully, read all I could read about it and bought one. I tested it, scoped the supply lines, etc. I couldn't find anything not to like about the unit. So in short, I now own quite a few of them and like so many things in this hobby, will report back in about 10 years how well the experiment worked out.

An additional (unnecessary) battery on board is not simpler in my world. 1 battery, 2 switches (redundancy/extra amperage), and an optical switch. Now that's simple.

With the more recent track record they've had in the last year or 2, fear of an optical switch failure is bordering on paranoia. You have about the same chance of that happening on any other electrical device on board, with equal or less chance of one of those failures bringing a plane down. I can think of a hundred different scenarios that might bring a plane down - but I fly anyway. I loose a plane now and then, but 99.99% of the reason for that is my flying style - NOT because of ANY electrical or electronic event (including RF).

To sit there and evoke potential for anything otherwise is misleading people that might otherwise be out enjoying themselves FLYING. Sure, I'm all for explaining the potential (when detail is requested or pertinent to the conversation), but it needs to be put into proper perspective..... using TODAY'S standards!

Well stated ahicks. When I was still working, a major part of my work was analyzing possible failure modes of communications equipment and links. I try to apply the same logic to my airplane hobby. IBEC use, reliability and potential failure modes are not even close to the top of my list of concerns.

I'm with you guys. After using the Tech Aero unit I will not be setting up a gasser any other way. To get equal performance the old school way you would have to run an additional battery, switch and optical switch. Three things replacing one. My math tells me the IBEC is the more reliable way to go. There are far more things to worry about then the possibility of RF through the Tech Aero unit. Range checks tell all, I get exactly the same range either engine on or engine off. That is something I had never seen previously. Granted that could be contributed to other things as well. Being that my Extra is flown in IMAC competition there are at times in the sequence that the airplane is quite far away. All flights have been rock solid to this point.

I look back over 40 years of flying, thousands of flights and about a hundred airframes, all of equipment failures i have had. And a lot of this flying was done on am transmitters with converted/homebuilt gas motors and non-resistor spark plugs.. The first ten years was done on a homebuilt blue max kit radio, next 20 on various futaba am and fm transmitters, then to 2.4 jr about 10 years ago.

A couple of batteries fail open circuit- total loss of planes
a switch fail inflight after hundreds of flights- total loss of plane
A nearly new jr hd switch fail on the ground- whew..
a new receiver with a defective solder joint, glitched like heck inflight no loss thankfully.
An ignition fail and ruin a receiver by the spark jumping across to the radio switch. 1 inch of separation between the switches. Happened on the ground for the final straw but the motor started running erratically a few flights before it went pop. High voltage can do a lot of weird things..
An intermittent open circuit in a battery that i caught while recharging- one battery took zero and the other took several hundred mah..

With this in mind i try to use two batteries, two switches, and i don't mix/ get anything control wise near the ignition system..

Ed and I tested range of his IBEC design with more than 15 radios of various ages, all the potential modulations, on all frequency bands including the old ham freq (1 radio as I recall). AM modulation was about the only type that might be a problem.

All radios on 72MHz-FM, 72MHz-PCM and Freq Hop 2.4 lost practically no range. Ed designed in noise filters for that specific reason.

There will always be naysayers and that's fine with me. I simply choose to test first and see for myself. Heck that's what I did with gas engines too since so little info was trustworthy.

The CH ignition unit itself is probably ok. Check the plug boot. I have had CH ignitions that were 25 years old and worked like new.

Same here. The problem I see is, you and I have the confidence and experience to trust our test results and proceed. Somebody just getting their feet wet, might not have the same degree of confidence or experience, thus may not be able to bring themselves to proceed. They freeze, like a deer in your headlights?

Here's how I look at the use of an IBEC on gas powered planes.
If I do have 2 batteries in any plane I fly, those 2 batteries will be in parallel to the receiver through individual switches for redundancy. With 2 batteries where one is dedicated to the receiver/servos and the other ignition, you have no redundancy. You also have a safety issue, where if the receiver pack or switch harness fails open, you WILL crash at whatever the throttle setting was at the moment power was lost. In contrast, in a single batter IBEC setup as I use in my small (15-20cc) models, if the battery fails and power is lost to the receiver, power is also lost to the ignition. A safer situation in my book, keeping in mind that with no power to the receiver no radio failsafe settings will kill the engine.
On my 30cc plane (biggest I fly) I feel that the two A123 packs through 2 switches to the receiver and an IBEC provide an increased level of redundancy without the need for three batteries. As far as the IBEC itself failing, well if it fails open in flight you're gonna be calling out deadstick, and if it fails to turn off the ignition, you'll probably find out when you go to kill the engine after landing, in which case you'll have to use the throttle kill, I do use both
A happy Tech-Areo user!
Pete

Pete, Well said my friend. The only thing that I will add is that on gassers I will not use a switch that flows current. Granted at the present time I only own 1 gasser but I will always use a soft switch through some type of regulator. This is one of those times where the intended goal of the airplane can dictate the equipment selected. One, switches will only handle a certain amount of current. On a large IMAC type airplane we really don't know exactly how much so the safe thing to do is err on the safe side. Mechanical switches are prone to failure as well. Now regulators. Most would consider regulators a failure point and I can't argue that. That's why my system runs redundant regulators. More important to me is that my RX and servos see the same exact voltage all the time. That means that my first snap roll of a contest is going to have the same servo speed and power as my last snap roll of the contest. Very important for an aerobatic competition airplane. Now to get soft switches, regulators and such it was just a no brainer for me to go to a power distribution box. Are they required on every gas powered airplane? Certainly not, my point is that several methods will work, do your homework and choose what fits your need and budget best.