I recently bought an RV10 with Lightspeed Ignition and slick mag. I am torn between Surefly and Pmag. I like both, however rummor is that you can have radio noise with the unshielded ign wires with Pmag but not so much with Surefly with reg wires and plugs. I will keep the slick on LH side regardless what goes in the RH side. Just currious if anyone had any trouble with radio noise?
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Vans RV10 Surefly or Pmag?
- Thread starter Andrei100
- Start date
The only time I have had radio noise with a P-Mag was when I had a set of BR8-ES spark plugs with screw-on instead of solid tips. The screw-on tips get a little loose and you get arcing. Always buy the ones with the solid tips and this problem goes away.
akschu
Well Known Member
Curious your thought process? Why replace the lightspeed at all? Why not another mag? Do you know what timing/advance the p-mag or surefly use?
One thing to keep in mind, the 6-cylinder has 1.5:1 mag to crank timing, so either of those options will have an internal gear train to get back to 1:1, thus from a gears/bearings/harmonics perspective you could argue both are mechanically more complex than mags.
One thing to keep in mind, the 6-cylinder has 1.5:1 mag to crank timing, so either of those options will have an internal gear train to get back to 1:1, thus from a gears/bearings/harmonics perspective you could argue both are mechanically more complex than mags.
I just bought the airplane and is running hot, I don't think the light speed is running right. I may be getting too much advance and This airplane already has 9.5:1 pistons. Also my lightspeed creates a lot of noise in the radio. I just want something simple and reliable. I like the Pmag idea of generating it's own power but some people say because uses non shielded ign wires , it may create noise, I wish Pmag had the option for reg ign wires and plugs. On the other hand Surefly uses the regular aviation plugs and ign wires. Pmag is readily available, where Surefly is 2 months out, no one has one in stock, so that's my dilemma.
I’m guessing there are 1000+ on the forum flying with PMags ( raising hand ).
If noise were a common problem, you would be finding lots of documentation on the forum.
Anecdotal , I have 2 , no complaints
If noise were a common problem, you would be finding lots of documentation on the forum.
Anecdotal , I have 2 , no complaints
akschu
Well Known Member
Makes sense. I'd read all of the pmag threads before you purchase. Some people have good luck with them, others have had to mail them back frequently because of bearing issues or updates.
I'm in the camp of not bolting electronics to the engine, and I think p-mags have all of the mechanical complexity of mags (or more with gears in the 6-cyl) with the added electrical complexity that is forced to live in an environment that is trying to kill it.
Whatever you decide, I think you are wise to get something with less timing. One way you could check is to turn off the lightspeed on climbout, do your CHT's cool? If so the very next question is if the p-mag has more or less timing than the lightspeed.
To OP:
I have the exact same set up as yours except for the 9.5:1 compression ratio.
I have no issues with either the mag or lighstspeed and the engine runs cool.
In the absolute worst heat condition my cylinders may reach F400 but ordinarily they stay below F360 and closer to 300 in
cruise.
Can't speak for Pmag or Surefly but trouble shooting your current system might be a whole lot easier and much less expensive than installing a
new system with "new problems".
Is your Slick with impulse coupling? and if so, have you checked the timing on it? Even a little too much advance will increase your cyl head temps
and the mag will fire ahead of the LSE. Easy to check and free of charge. Like the above poster mentioned, climb out on on your LSE only to observe temperature movement and do the same on the mag only. You will quickly see if the mag or the LSE is firing early, my guess is the mag. You'll need at least 5 minutes to get a stabilized cyl. head temp. Needless to mention do this at a safe altitude and preferably within gliding distance of a safe landing area.
How many hours on your system?
I have the exact same set up as yours except for the 9.5:1 compression ratio.
I have no issues with either the mag or lighstspeed and the engine runs cool.
In the absolute worst heat condition my cylinders may reach F400 but ordinarily they stay below F360 and closer to 300 in
cruise.
Can't speak for Pmag or Surefly but trouble shooting your current system might be a whole lot easier and much less expensive than installing a
new system with "new problems".
Is your Slick with impulse coupling? and if so, have you checked the timing on it? Even a little too much advance will increase your cyl head temps
and the mag will fire ahead of the LSE. Easy to check and free of charge. Like the above poster mentioned, climb out on on your LSE only to observe temperature movement and do the same on the mag only. You will quickly see if the mag or the LSE is firing early, my guess is the mag. You'll need at least 5 minutes to get a stabilized cyl. head temp. Needless to mention do this at a safe altitude and preferably within gliding distance of a safe landing area.
How many hours on your system?
You don’t get much simpler than a LSE.
I’d 100% just check the timing all round before you did anything. Then investigate the noise. Thousands of LSEs also in the field with no issues.
You really want to make sure you have a good handle on ignition timing and advance if you are running 9.5:1.
Changing to a Surefly or a PMag won’t absolve you of doing this. You’ll be brave to use the canned curves on either of those two out of the box.
Edit: I run 9:1 540 with one mag and 1 surefly.
