Last post I mentioned that the propeller pitch needed adjustment so this weekend I took the cowling off and redid the pitch. The blades were set to 16 degrees, measured 6″ from the tip, and now they are 14 degrees.
Last time we adjusted these, Scott and I made our best guess at how to safety wire the bolts together but this time I called on the internet and YouTube obliged with some how to videos. Other than the top one (which strangely was the last one I did) I think I got it spot on.
While the cowling was off I pulled on hoses and wires, looked for leaks etc and found nothing. The oil can was still (over) full and the coolant was full to the brim as well. Looks like no fluids lost from that first flight, well none other than maybe mine!
On Sunday I went out to the plane and found a low battery warning on the panel, showing 11.5V which is empty for a lithium battery. So I hooked it up to the charger for a few hours of juicing. So this makes me wonder if the engine is properly charging the battery although I didn’t see this warning on Saturday when I was messing a little with the panel. But I also don’t think I left anything on…… so something to keep an eye on, and I won’t leave the immediate area until I’m confident it is working properly.
It does seem that I have my two warning lamps wired incorrectly. Recall that I have two lamps – one for battery faults and one for rectifier charging. In the former case I would have expected that to be illuminated when the battery was low, and in the latter I am told by friend Michel in Switzerland that the lamp should come on with the master switch but be off when the engine is running (to indicate it is working).
I fear I may have hooked both lamps up to ground rather than a 12V source, and I will take a look this weekend. I don’t have either lamp written down on my list of power panel sources, and I don’t have any pictures so I will have to physically inspect them. This isn’t easy and I spent most of the night trying to work out how to do it without major deconstruction (windshield off, panel skin unriveted and removed….). I think I can easily inspect the lamps through the ELT control hole (it should be easy to remove) but if I find that I do need to route a power source to the lamps, that is going to be a problem.
Well, I’m told this building lark is never truly over.