Aeromomentum engines

[lakespookie]

My thoughts on the 7in as essentially as a fall back screen in case i lose the 10" but good to know that it really does not compare. As far as the openings I am currently planing on the HP version and it would be nice to have the 147 HP option at the higher RPM but i don't intend on flying it at those power levels. I feel the 130 is more than enough for what my mission is although since i do want to go with the HP version i want the option available mostly for short duration high density altitude flying i.e. flying out of the Rockies etc. Not something i plan to be doing all the time or even frequently for precisely the reasons you stated. My mission for the airplane is to fly throughout the western half of the united states with an occasional cross country trip thrown in here or there weather permitting. I guess i wasn't to clear in my explanation i intend to use the factory designed layout for the AM15 with the bottom mount radiator, but since i do want to go the HP version at least for now. The intention is to use the second air entrance for the required oil cooler. I plan to still do the cutout for the low mount radiator. Of course your progress and performance will probably have a big impact on which engine i end up choosing.

Also that 70 inch looks dangerously close to that shop floor and its not even in a flying attitude yet.

[pappas]

Hmmm. How many of us would?
1. Start an aircraft engine "inside" a hangar?
2. While standing beside it reaching in?
3. Bring the revs up?
4. Be anywhere near that propeller that is spinning, 2-3 inches off the floor, with the A/C in a 3-point stance, and then someday bring the tail up during a take-off roll, or wheel land it?
Perhaps it is tied down..... let's hope.
I'm probably just missing something.

[n307tw]

Hey Lou,

I was wondering the same thing. I would certainly hope that it is tied down. Not a risk I would necessarily take but an insightful video nonetheless. I know the gentleman Maurice who installed this application is on this thread, but has not been active here for some time. I have many questions about his setup.

-Tim

[lakespookie]

Any updates on the project Tim?

[n307tw]

I have made some decent progress since my last post.

Things completed on engine install:
1. Was able to install the modified Aerovee mount and got the engine mated to it.
2. Just finished up running new wire and mounting and wiring all the sensors needed for the Garmin EFIS on the firewall side (as of today there’s no way for the AeroMomentum’s ECU to speak with Garmin’s proprietary CANBUS).
These sensors included:
MAP, Oil temp, oil pressure, fuel flow supply, fuel flow return, fuel pressure, coolant temperature, gear oil temp, alternator shunt (ammeter), battery shunt, and tachometer integration. Also modified the harness for a relay for the coils/fuel injectors.
3. Was able to successfully mount the throttle cable and removed the two firewall fittings used for the Aerovee throttle and mixture.
4. Fabricated and installed new 4ga wiring for starter/alternator/battery contactor.
5. Fabricated and installed 2ga ground wire to engine block.


Things to do to complete engine install:
1. Terminate sensors into the Garmin GEA-24 (engine monitor).
2. Terminate ECU power supply and fuel pumps into existing switches on panel.
3. Change switch cover plate.
4. Mount ECU in cabin.
4a. Tidy up wiring with wire loom, zip ties and tape.
5. Mount fuel pumps on firewall as well as fuel line supply and filter.
6. Install fuel return line into tank.
7. Install and fill radiator.
8. Install exhaust header.
9. Patch old holes in firewall with stainless sheet metal.

Here are some pictures below.

The three wires hanging are for the fuel pumps.



Modified the harness for the sensors, removed unnecessary wiring for AeroMomentum’s proprietary gauges. Wire loomed everything and made it look neater as well. The coiled wire on the right is the O2 sensor used to help lean out the engine.

Throttle completed and yeah I had to put the K&N sticker on.

I’ll update as more is done. Hoping for first start-up by the end of the month but don’t want to jinx the progress.

-Tim


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lakespookie]

That bad boy is looking great, I will say I def perfer the front facing throttle body of the AM-15. are you going to use mil spec plugs for the pass through or just a wire bundle?

I also have a question regarding the Garmin Interface. Do you know if mark has access to the garmin protocol? There are several can bus interfaces that can be developed with micro controllers, My original thought was to write my own translator/datalogger but unfortunately i dont have access to the garmin protocol so that i can translate the messages and they will not provide it. I am assuming they probably charge a premium to the engine manufactures in order to support interfacing with a fadec system but given its a standardized messaging protocol if anyone had access to the actual message definitions it would be fairly easy to translate the existing can messages into garmin messages.

[lakespookie]

Also do you know what kind of O2 sensor it uses i feel like alot of us who use this engine will end up in the rich mode as 02 sensors and 100LL do not play well together most O2 sensors dont last longer than 25 to 50 hours unfortunatly due to lead depositing. I also dont think decalin would do much to help as from what i have read it tends to just push the deposits out of the engine and into the exaust where you guessed it that 02 sensor lives.

[GordonTurner]

My understanding is that a carefully place O2 sensor will live a pretty long time in the lead. Not carefully placed, not very long. I think correct is 10 or 12” downstream of the exhaust valve and clocked just a little off the vertical (near the top of the exhaust point at the point where it is installed).

[n307tw]

Thanks for the compliment. It really is a very clean looking setup.

I will say I def perfer the front facing throttle body of the AM-15. are you going to use mil spec plugs for the pass through or just a wire bundle?

I wasn't given a preference on where the throttle body was mounted but I think it works very well there. Maybe it is different for the AM15HP, mine is just the AM15h. I may do a NACA scoop from the cowling to provide fresh air for the intake when I get to that point. I have all of my wiring going through a 1" stainless steel passthrough that will be covered with an insulator and coated in 3M fire barrier caulking. The ECU harness will be through a grommet and covered with a small stainless plate and also covered in 3M fire barrier caulking. The complexity for mil-spec pass throughs for my application is cost prohibitive at this point plus any extensive wiring harness modifications including cutting and splicing on the connectors will undoubtedly void their harness warranty (it's questionable the minor modifications I made void the wiring warranty as well).

Remember simplicity with wiring is best practice. Any additional connection is another potential failure point in my humble opinion. Additionally, Garmin is implicit that the majority of their sensors and accessories use shielded wiring. Breaking that shielding to go through a firewall connector could introduce unwanted interference into the system (although probably unlikely). I prefer straight runs from the LRUs to the sensors and I follow the Garmin manual to the letter on their wiring specifications and techniques.

I also have a question regarding the Garmin Interface. Do you know if mark has access to the garmin protocol?

Mark does not have access and like you stated Garmin will not give it up that easy if at all. It is possible that if there is enough interest in AeroMomentum and Garmin together in the experimental community Garmin may work to integrate the MicroSquirt ECU CANbus on their secondary bus like they did for Rotax. They will not allow a non-Garmin device such as the ECU on their primary CANbus used for all the LRUs for fear of network corruption and collapse. The decision to pursue secondary integration would be entirely up to Garmin and not Mark.

If we are speaking honestly though, the ECU Mark uses literally only monitors coolant temperature, tachometer (crank sensor), and the O2 sensor...that's it! There is the option to add more sensors into the ECU but that's only to utilize AeroMomentum's proprietary engine monitor (AeroGraph) and has nothing to do with engine function. I am not using their monitor and the hassle of trying to integrate the ECU into the Garmin is not worth it. At the end of the day, two of the three data points I can get readily with existing wiring (and you don't even have a way of visualizing the O2 sensor on the Garmin). The ECU gives wires for the data on coolant temperature and the tachometer (2 pulses per revolution) to integrate with any EFIS. I ended up having a lot of the sensors from my previous Aerovee setup, but I am monitoring far more than even Mark offers. This includes Manifold Pressure, Gear Oil Temp, Coolant Temp, Engine Oil Pressure, Engine Oil Temp, Fuel Flow Supply & Return, Fuel Pressure, and Amperage for both the alternator and battery load. It took a while to wire all this stuff up, but I'd rather have too much information on the screen than not enough.

Also do you know what kind of O2 sensor it uses

Its a generic. The number on it is 0258005345. Click here for one on AliExpress. I'll be running 93 MoGas so I won't have the fouling problem, Mark says it runs fine with 100LL if that's your choice.

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

-Tim

[lakespookie]

Thanks for that data dump Tim, unfortunately based on my mission for the plane I will be taking longer trips so I have to kind of live and die by 100LL, I was also under the impression that the can bus provided more information that being said I would be interested in seeing your wiring schematic if you have it handy especially with the added sensors for gear oil temp etc. I wonder if it would be feasable to also add some kind of warning light for low gear oil granted you would never expect it to be empty but if it was empty it would be good to know lol, Then Again that just introduces another failure point into the gearbox.