What I meant is – if you wish to achieve a push-button type carlike start, you need to have the EI behind the button.
You obviously can have the button panel without the EI but that in and of itself will not improve the start quality…
Peter wrote:
Does make it easier to steal the plane though
Not that much easier! When we lost my wife’s plane’s keys in Boulder a few years ago, we went into the FBO where they gave us a huge box of random keys to try. The third key we tried opened both the canopy and turned the ignition switch. It wasn’t even a Grumman key (the aircraft was a Tiger)
Honestly, a suitably bent paperclip will unlock most plane’s key locks.
My OEM canopy handle/lock is a modified engine cover item, as fitted to 1952 and earlier VW cars. I had no key. After some failures and frustrations I went to the best locksmith in town and walked in, handle in hand. The woman at the counter said “VW?” and I knew I was in the right place. They made a key without issue but I don’t think there are many such keys floating around airports 
The mag switch is a standard issue 1970s US part, but they’d have to break the canopy to get to it.
Is there a certified full electronic ignition retrofit for Lyco/Conti, both mags replaced, and autonomous (doesn’t need main battery or the alternator)?
The ignition used on the (certified) IO390-D3B6 is in the process of getting certified for retrofits. It is moving as everything else does in corona times – much slower. It is not autonomous but at 1A draw that did not pose a problem to the FAA.
TCM at the moment is watching from the sidelines as most money goes to the diesel line.
So on a dual install, if you loose electrics, you loose the engine ?
I assume on a dual install the ignition is protected by load shedding & dedicated emergency bus, very much much like on the iE2 and the diesels.
protected by load shedding & dedicated emergency bus
How does that work when the source of electricity has failed?
It’s like the TB20 with its four avionics buses, 1 alternator and 1 battery. You can shed all the loads you want but when the power goes, the power is … gone!
What I don’t understand is why these products don’t have built-in generation. They have a drive shaft which has practically unlimited power available, and a few k rpm. It might actually enable something to be certified; currently it looks like nothing will be, in the foreseable future.
I guess power generation might involve some “engineering”, which is a lot more work.
Post 737MAX things won’t get easier, too. The FAA is not buying any more “assurances” and complicated arguments in favour of something which, when the power fails, makes the plane go down.
and the diesels.
The engine stops and the plane goes down.
The DA42 has two alternators, which is better.
Peter, if the alternator fails on your plane, do you still get current from the battery via the ess bus or no?
To put it another way – if you have one 16Ah battery and you shut off all electrical consumers bar the ignition, how long before the battery is drained at 1Ah?
How does it work – same as for the IFR certification which requires a certain current level to be maintained for a certain period in case of alternator failure?
I would assume the FAA has looked at the numbers of diesel engine IFSD due to complete electrical loss (alternator and battery) and was happy with what they found, but substantiated contradictory data is always welcome.
With regards to future certification, in one corner we have Lycoming who has already done it, and in the other we have “i have a secret email from a friend”.
Sure; the battery has to run down, but if you are in the middle of the Alps, or even better a load of water like the Channel, and have the 30 mins left before the engine stops, that’s not good.
The market will eventually decide. I doubt many DA40TDi owners even know that aspect of the system. Not many DA42 owners did, until that well publicised accident. And the electronic ignition / ECU mfgs know which way the market is deciding even if they don’t admit it, so they don’t proceed with some products, and blaming it on certification is always a good tactic, and one which is commonly applied in GA.
Even the D3000 single shaft dual mags, which would appear to be a license for generating wreckage, very rarely fail. It looks like most of the (very few) failures were caused by the retaining bolts coming off / the base getting cracked, and an electronic version would have the same weakness. So one is trading mostly the replacement of the contact points and the gears against the impossible-to-predict reliability of hundreds of electronic components.
As with most Lyco/Conti SEPs, if the power fails, my engine will keep running until the fuel runs out.
Actually I now have a backup alternator but that’s unusual for a SEP and even more so for a TB20.
