Sorry to remember you all that my Woodcomp prop nearly took my life.
I hate to repeat my words, but memories seem to be short.
The propeller i had was equipped with microswitches, which were and
,after a change, still are not designed for outside use.
Nethertheless these switches are mounted on the backplate, open for
weather.
These switches are designed for AC 240 V, not for DC 12 V, and the Amp
rating is way below the current going through them.
The cross-over diodes are specified for less then half the current drawn.
Even when activated only occasionally, it's a design flaw.
Know to me are 3 incidents with short circuiting micro-switches, both
other pilots could land their plane without damage to their plane or
themselves. An incident with a loose gear, causing one of the blades at
a totally diffent angle then the others was reported to me, and never
made it to this forum. This seems to be the happy family show, which i
am now spoiling. :-(
It may well be that there are others, or people never fly in rain. or
are just very lucky.
In my case, to the best of my knowledge, a microswitch short circuited,
taking the prop to a feather situation, shortly after take-off. I had
been flying in heavy rain for hours the other day.
Unless thing have changed is Jyrki the only one who understands English,
if he's not available you are on your own.
After my incident Woodcomp banned the Smart Avionic controller. What
that means is unclear to me. As far as i know, they never got there own
controller working decently.
As for the figures, i've had trouble to keep up with a 912 with a fixed
prop and i was flying with a 914 and a Woodcomp 3000. The only good
figure seems to be the price.
So in short: Save a few, risk your plane and life.
The choice is yours....
Regards,
Jos Okhuijsen
(enjoying his second life :-)
. 26.6.2011 19:16, Frans Veldman kirjoitti:
> --> Europa-List message posted by: Frans Veldman<frans@privatepilots.nl>
>
> On 06/26/2011 04:02 PM, Paul McAllister wrote:
>> I was very impressed with the results that David Joyce got with his SR
>> 3000W propeller from Woodcomp. I would like to some feedback from the
>> forum about there after sales experience from Woodcomp. Please give me
>> the 'good, the bad and the ugly'
> I got excellent support and advice when I was ordering the propeller
> from Woodcomp directly and delivery was prompt. After that I had no
> reason to contact them again as the prop works flawlessly and performs
> better than expected. Had to service it at 50 hours and did that at a
> local Woodcomp dealer. Found that one spinner screw was missing and got
> a complete new spinner fastening set free of charge. Ordered spare
> brushes, but at the 100 hour check I discovered that the brushes were
> almost like new and it looks like it is going to take a long while
> before I have to replace them.
>
> Have now 100+ hours but have had no issues with the prop.
> A few notes though:
> 1) I'm using the controller from Smart Avionics which is very
> configurable and able to match the prop exactly to the engine/airframe
> characteristics.
> 2) I have a prop with feather capability (to anticipate a potential
> future use of the glider wings). The props with feather capability have
> a stronger and faster motor. Maybe this is the reason why the Woodcomp
> prop behaves like a hydraulic prop and reacts so fast that it never
> allows the RPM to surge off its target.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Frans
>
>
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