A safety matter!
 

Reading the very interesting article about fuel pumps in the latest RC Jet International, made me aware of this "NOTAM".
Feb/march 06 page 60.

Quoting:
"During our visit Peter brought to my attention a courious matter. While testing pumps at night Peter discovered a surprising phenomenon.
He noticed sparks jumping from the fuel lines.
He also found that the plastic fuel lines would move when a powerful magnet was brought near them.
This points to some electromagnetic activity arising from the flow of fuel in the fuel lines.
Convinced that this could be the cause of spurious radio "gltching" when flying his Panther.
Peter has screened all his fuel lines and bonded the screening to the tailpipe, engine case and ECU power supply"

Scary stuff:(
For your information, JET A1 contains additives to reduce this as much as possible, but safety routins such as earthing the aircraft before fueling, never can be left out, because this still is a significant precaution.

But sparks on the fuel lines was really hair-rising[X(]
This must be several thousand volts!
Not strange a glitch can occour now and then....
Think about those jets without a inlet duct, as the friction between the elements and the fuel lines causes the static electrisity, so even the air will add some to it.. (!)
It`s not without a reason most fullsize jets has static dischargers on the trailing edge and fin..

I`ll definately copy Peter Hausl`s screening of all the fuel lines.

RE: A safety matter!
 

Yes, this is scary. There is a considerable amount of fuel flowing thru a non conductive fuel line
and then the triboelectric effect could create sparks and a weak magnetic field... fortunately most modelers route the servo leads and the antenna away from the fuel pump and fuel lines, so this
problem don´t affect most planes. However, I don´t have any doubt that more than one plane
was lost by this problem, specially if it was equipped with a PCM receiver.

RE: A safety matter!
 

Rub any true electrical insulator and charges build up.
Grounding of model airplane parts is not a high priorty if it increases sales.

RE: A safety matter!
 

Could this explain the "glitches" in turbine powered planes while glow and E jets have very few??

RE: A safety matter!
 

Dean, I think you just said it..

I have just finished the screening, using thin alu tape, very well suited for the purpose. A wire connected to the screen, is connected to the negative on the ECU battery. This wire is screened as well, as it will act like a aerial full of unwanted stuff. The negative on the battery, has a drain effect to the screen/shield. This must be connected to the ECU power, NOT the receiver battery!! However, if this wire is connected to the positive, the drain effect will be exactly the opposite, meaning the screen/shield has no effect at all!!

This is done on my Boomerang XL.

RE: A safety matter!
 

Not a problem in Hawaii, Our fuel lines are screened in humidity and salt air -an excellent conductor:D
We just have to worry about our landing gear parts rusting away.

Current Conditions
Humidity: 69%
Dew Point: 65 °F / 18 °C
Wind: 12 mph / 18 km/h from the NNW
Pressure: 29.85 in / 1011 hPa (Rising)
Visibility: 7.0 miles / 11.3 kilometers
UV: 1 out of 16
Clouds: Few 3000 ft / 914 m
Few 3800 ft / 1158 m
(Above Ground

RE: A safety matter!
 

Hi Mike, you can send some of that weather over for us.
Today has just got above freezing and we have seen some sunshine.
We have been freezing our b***** off. hope soon it will pick up.
All the best.

Rgds Martin.

RE: A safety matter!
 

No send it my way....we woke up to -12 here, 10 below the record!!. God, I could use some Maui weather right now!!