As you can see by the hours I've done very little in the last two weeks. Been away for two weekends in a row. One of them was flying though so that's okay.
Nipped across to Le Touquet in France. Perfect weather for it too - it was the best visibility that I've experienced in the UK on the return leg.
I've now got the 12 hours needed for revalidation of my license. Just need to do 1 hour with an instructor and get my license signed and I'm good for another 2 years. Hope to be flying the Twister in less than a year though.
These last two weeks it's seemed like 2 steps forward and 4 backwards.
After doing some more research into the fuel flow issue I contacted the manufacturer of the 'red cubes' and they said I needed another module to connect to the two transducers. No one would sell me this module on it's own - they all come with a red cube and the price was $350 US.
I decided to contact the UL power factory direct and ask about the output from the ECU marked - fuel consumption.
Here is what they had to say:
Hi Andy,
Indeed, ECU has 2 different output signals . Up to you to make a choice which signal you use.
Sorry, I do not know how to connect to dynon, please ask directly to dynon.
Both signals give a nearly exact fuelflow. ( we checked it with measuring cups)
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Cordialement,
Best Regards,
Patrick Denorme
ULPower Aero Engines NV
The red cubes are heavy, expensive and complicated so I've made the decision to remove them and use the ECU for fuel flow measurement.
So I've used the white and red wire which is for fuel consumption in Pulses/Liter - rather than the blue and white wire which is for Injector Pulses. This is connected directly to the yellow wire marked for fuel flow in the Dynon.
There is no info regarding the configuration with the Dynon - which wants a 'Pulses' figure inputting. I will contact Dynon and see what they say - I've already looked through their forum and can't find the information. I'll share it here when I get the figure from them.
In doing this I've had to re-do the fuel lines to remove the red cubes - the feed line is done and the return line is almost done.
It's kind of been a blessing in disguise as I've taken the opportunity to relocate the non-return valve in the return line which I put in the wrong place before.
It should be as close to the engine as possible to minimise the amount of fuel in the system that could be burnt in the event of a fire. I don't have room forward of the firewall so I've put it straight after the fitting behind the firewall.
I've also been working on the throttle connection - but before doing this I did some research. I phoned Pete and asked about his set up - which looked very complicated to me and also Mark of Galaxy Microlights - who is the UK agents for the UL Power engine.
Pete's reply to why his throttle was set up this way was - it looks more 'Aviation'. Mark's set up is much simpler - see pics below of both set ups.
I've decided to go the simple route as complexity for no reason is not a principle of good reliability.
I've had to make up a bracket which takes the throttle cable up a bit to clear the oil fitting behind - see pic. I've got a drilled bolt on order for the attachment point. Will post pics of that when it is done. It's that simple. Just make sure to leave a little movement in the lever at either end of the range so that you are certain you are getting both full power and a complete idle from the lever.
I've also made up some fuel lines for an engine run which I hope to do in the next month or so.
The weather is looking good for this weekend and I'm not going anywhere so I will most likely get going on the flap drive job again.
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| Carbon bracket I made so throttle will clear the oil line fitting behind. |
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| Fuel lines I made up for an engine run. |
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| Check valve in Return line - repositioned to reduce amount of fuel in system in event of fire. |
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| Mark's throttle set up. Simples! |
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| Pete's throttle set up - complicated for no reason. |
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