Hi Terry,
I have had 2 controller failures. The first was during ground testing,
before my first flight in July. After initially working fine, the
controller started intermittently not governing, and at times showed
both the coarse and fine LEDs lit green at once, which should never
occur. At other times it governed normally. Airmaster replaced the
controller for me, and the new one operated perfectly for 40 hours. Then
in September it stopped governing completely soon after takeoff. It
operated normally on manual, but did not govern at all and this time
showed no indicator LEDs. I tried resetting the resettable internal
fuse, but either the fuse was not the problem or it would not reset.
Airmaster again replaced the controller for me, and the new one is
operating correctly. Both times, it still operated correctly on manual.
The manual describes the correct indications from the LEDs and what they
show in various failure modes, including if the controller is not
receiving a speed signal from the prop (flashing orange, as occurs with
engine stopped).
Martin at Airmaster was very helpful. You can contact him if you need to
at support@airmasterpropellers.com or the phone number is in the
manual. He could not find a fault with the first controller (perhaps
because it was intermittent) and I have not heard from him yet about the
problem with the second controller.
I was naturally quite concerned at having a second failure, and asked
Martin if it's OK to have the controller on during starting. He said
yes, and most people do, and that they have only seen 1 or 2 controller
failures before. I would be interested in what your problem turns out to
be.
Regards,
Keith Hickling,
New Zealand.
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry Seaver (terrys)
To: europa-list@matronics.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 10:03 AM
Subject: Europa-List: Airmaster prop controller problem
Hi,
For those of you who have the Airmaster prop:
I went flying yesterday for the first time in 6 weeks. During the
run-up, I normally check for ignition drop at 4000 rpm, then place the
prop in 'manual', increase pitch until rpms drop to 3500, then place the
switch back to 'auto' and make sure the rpms return to 4000. This time,
when I went back to 'auto', nothing happened (rpms remained at 3500).
Going back to 'manual', I was able to go back to fine pitch and 4000
rpm. Tried again, same thing.
I turned the circuit breaker for the prop controller off and back
on, then tried the test again and it worked this time, i.e. the prop
went back to fine and 4000 rpm when I selected 'auto'.
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
Any ideas about what the problem was/is?
Regards,
Terry Seaver
A135, XS monowheel with 912S, Airmaster prop.
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