OK brand new Fuji BT-64 just arrived, along with great planes kill switch. after having a G-62 a while ago i thought this would be easy but the manual just says hook kill switch to the crankcase and the eis module. On the module i have a battery connector wire, a spark plug wire and magnetic pick up wire. no other connection available to connect anything like a kill switch too. can someone please help a very confused person who is new to electronic ignition.


Jim

You have to use a radio-type switch harness and connect it between the battery pack and the EI unit.

Thanks Mr Baxter came to that conclusion after doing a lot of research in the forums here.

Jim

I too am having difficulty with the same switch ona BT-43 EIS.

Can you give some more insight into this? This is my first "gas" plane. I have put a continuity tester on the leads and am confused. With the slide switch turned on current flows despite the position of the lever switch. When the lever switch is pushed, the switch is closed allowing current to flow despite the position of the slide switch.

How does this safety thing work!? I thought the slide switch has to be on with the lever switch off to work. Then either slide the switch or depressing the lever kills the ignition.

Can one of you please shed some light?

Please be as specific as you can with where to solder/splice. JJrcflyer, how does your setup work. Does it work correctly? Do you have a picture?

Bax...help....I am new to gassers and am confused. Will a gas engine still run with the throttle closed all of the way? I know on glows you can just chut the throttle all the way and the engine days. I assume these gassers don't work the same.

If you have the switches connected properly, they are in SERIES with the battery pack and EI unit. The manual switch opens or closes a connection on one of the wires. The radio-operated switch will open or close a connection on the SAME WIRE. If you can turn one switch on and off without affecting the ignition of the engine, then the switches are wired incorretly.

For engines with the magneto, you have only one wire that connects the ignition unit to ground. You would put your two switches in that wire, again in series.

So the positive lead of the battery hooks to the negative of the harness, then the positive of the harness goes into the positive of the EIS? Or the other way?

Hooked in series to the power wire of the EIS, right? Nothing get soldered to the tabs on the switches. Only the leads?

NO, NO, NO!

You NEVER connect a positive lead to a negative lead in this type of wiring. With the EI system, you would have the red wire of the battery pack connect to the red wire of the switch harness, which then connects to the red wire of the EI unit. You then have your switches wired in series so that when you open the switches, current cannot flow.

Series means that the switches are all in ONE wire...either one is OK. The red is switched or the black is switched.

Yeah, I understand wiring. I wrote that wrong above. Sorry!

It took me some time to realize this switch was not designed for EIS and therefore could not be simply wired using the two leads it comes with.

I all ready sorted it out. I took the lever switch out of the harness and then just wired it into a Hobbico Heavy Duty flight pack/receiver battery switch. Essentially works them same but is now more aesthetically pleasing and has a heavier switch, charge lead to charge the pack, and Futaba leads for a cleaner install. Now I plug the battery into this new harness, the harness into the voltage regulator (using a Fromeco 2-cell Lithium for ignition battery), and then into the EIS. Much cleaner installation.

Last night I basically just sat down with an old Speed 400 motor to "pretend" it was the EIS. I fiddled with the original harness to figure out the inputs so everything worked correctly, and then made the new one.

With the voltage regulator, what should I set the voltage at. I know the system is for 4.8V, but a 4 cell NiMH pack nominally runs higher than that when charged. Should I set it around 5V?

NiCd (or NiMH) cells can be as high as 1.5V per cell when fully-charged. For a 4-cell pack, that means as high a 6V for a short time. The EI unit is designed to allow for that. Setting a regulator (that's not at all needed) to 5V should be fine.