Thanks for the comment. I do have a hobbico expanded scale voltmeter, but I really thought the volt meter would be better for checking the batteries.

Ken

Unfortunately, the volt meter by itself will only give you the surface voltage of the battery. It will not place a load upon it which may indicate a problem if the reading drops substantially after a full charge. I've had batteries that tested over 5 volts after a full charge, but under load they dropped faster than you could keep up with. Down to below 4.7 within a minute or two. One of them caused me a bunch of ignition woe until I found the problem and replaced the battery.

Ken,
I don't know how old your motor is but mine was just under a year and had problems staying running after the first start of the day. I would get about 3 mins in the air and have to dead stick everytime I flew when motor was warmed up. After calling Bill, he mentioned that CH ignitions were having a recall on their ignitions. For some reason when they got hot, they would kill the engine. Sending the ignition back under warranty, they fixed it for no charge. To say the least, the motor hasn't missed a beat after flying back to back to back.
I know its different indications but hope this will help you.

TJ

I got my engine May of last year. The ignition has been replaced once and that may be the problem again. I have a new plug and my ignition battery is fully charged so I will see if that fixes the problem...If not then it's the ignition again.

Ken

Well guys, I will try again tomorrow with the new plug and the battery fully charged. Will let you know the results later tomorrow.

Ken

Ralph,

The plug was wet and black and both low and high needles were set around 1 1/4. What do you think....too rich.

Ken

Meeksman,

CH ignition had a post on one of the forums that mentioned a date stamp on the case of the ignition box that would indicate if your ignition falls within their recall period. You may want to give CH a call and see if the ignition module that you have falls into the period of bad ones. If I new where the post was located I'd pass it along, but it's been awhile.

Thanks for the info...I am calling CH in the morning.

Ken

Here are pics of the plug.

Ken

Too rich...the problem was the syncro spark module would get warm and malfunction...The problem was fixed by the manufacturer, who recalled all the bad ones and replaced them at no cost....

Will send it to CH tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

Ken

Ken

You did not mention if the battery was tested. Or how about trying another "GOOD" battery just to see what happens.

The problem with heat and the module is just that, you have to build heat for the problem to be apparent to the best of my knowledge. It's unlikely you'll see the heat required to present a problem until you've ran the engine for some time. You mentioned the problem occurred right after you started and warmed it up. I'm still thinking battery....

In any event theres nothing wrong with sending the ignition off for a check-up...

Now that you have that new plug in it, try to fire it up.....If it starts running like it did before, start leaning the needles out......

I will be testing both a new battery and the current one this morning. Will let you know the results.

Ken

Here is the latest......Started the engine this morning with new plug....SAME RESULTS......old battery and NEW Battery.....SAME RESULTS.....Called CH Ignition and let me say that they are VERY helpful....They walked me through the process of checking the ignition......everything checked out EXCEPT the sensor.....New sensor on the way to me now....will let everyone know what happens.

Ken

The pulse switch/sensor or Hall Effect transistor to the best of my knowledge either works or not. Very interesting diagnosis. How did you ascertain this was the problem? Is the sensor physically damaged?

I have no idea how much current the ignition drains, but most AA size cells can handle up to 6-8A some up to 10A but those are more 'rare'.

I don't think this has been mentioned yet, but if you have ANY engine that backfires, make sure you check your prop bolts!

Backfiring will loosen the bolts quicker than anything except a wrench. I've seen first hand a prop kick completely off an engine, off the ground, and smacked the guy in the cheek. Luckily it had lost most of it's momentum before hitting him.

Just a word of warning, especially with this big of an engine.

It works or it doesn't, unless there is an intermittent wire somewhere...If you turn the ignition off and on and get a spark, and rotate the crank and get no spark, it's the sensor...Or if it's too far from or not centered over the magnet..

Testing the ignition is not very difficult, but since I didn't know what to do it was very difficult for me. First, with the igintion switch off, place a paper clip in the female end of the deans plug in the black and white lead. turn on ignition and with the plug grounded against the engine pull the paper clip out and the plug should spark. If it sparks then the ignition is good. Another way is to put the clip in the white lead and rub it against the engine...The plug should get a spark. Igintion good. Then hook up the sensor and turn the prop over and the plug should spark....MINE DID NOT SPARK......so CH ignition determined that the sensor was bad......By the way,,,,,I purchased a ignition testor from CH ignition.....Now that I know how to check the ignition and sensor,,,,if this problem comes up again I will know what to do.... I hope I have explained it correctly....

Ken

"MINE DID NOT SPARK"

I thought the engine ran, but ran poorly???

Hopefully you've solved the problem. Perhaps you have a bad wire connection. Or I once saw a sensor that was damaged by the timing ring due to air gap being to tight. If you looked closely you could see a wear pattern on the sensor.

The engine did run but was missing especially when I moved the throtle up to mid point. I hope this is the fix and I really think it is. I really appreciate all the comments and help.

Ken

I'm with Mr. Glavin and RCIGN1 on this one. The sensor really doesn't sound like the problem.

90% of the time this is correct, its that 10% that drives you nuts. Think of it as a slow hollywood death scene. Within 15 to 30 mins it will be totally dead.


[/quote]
The pulse switch/sensor or Hall Effect transistor to the best of my knowledge either works or not. Very interesting diagnosis. How did you ascertain this was the problem? Is the sensor physically damaged?
[/quote]

If it's not the sensor,,,then what do you think is causing the problem

Ken