CDI, anyone?

[MarkWebber]

Has anyone else gone cdi and how's it working out for you?

[MarkWebber]

Flying my EB again, today. Thought I'd switch plugs now that I'm done with breakin. All I could find was a Champion(spare):roll: Should work till I can get a NGK tomorrow, right?

Glitching in the collective right from the start. AP2000i glitch counter was pegged at 99. Plugged in the tester to the CDI with engine off, low and behold...Glitches. Tossed the Champion and put the 'cruddy' NHK back in...no glitches. Off to fly we went! Two tanks later it was still good.:thumbup:

Would have been fun trying to track down that glitch with the engine off without that test module.

[ClayK]

Cdi?

[MarkWebber]

Capacitor Discharge Ignition=CDI. Basically, electronic ignition for our heli. No more magneto nonsence. Maybe I'm just lucky but I had problems with 2 primary coils before I switched. No more problems and weight savings to boot.:thumbup:

[ClayK]

Got a link with some info?

[MarkWebber]

Sure, this is where I got mine. Great guys.

http://www.cncengines.com/

[ClayK]

I've had problems with arcing with my coil. I'll take a look, thanks.

Are you using a gov? If so, what type?

[MarkWebber]

No gov on mine. Strictly for AP on my Bergen so it's not needed.

Here's a pic of my engine after they got the flywheel replaced and the hall sensor installed.

[rbort]

Clay: The arcing thing is probably because you installed that braided wire over the spark plug wire...see that before with other folks I don't know why people don't just use the setup stock instead of fiddling with something to make it "better" and in turn it ends up worse due to improper installation. I know its not your fault just following the manual but really the engine in stock format works absolutely fine -- I've used mine like that for 2 years / 375 flights now with no issues.

-=>Raja.

[MarkWebber]

I tried the stock format to begin with. After replacing two primary coils, I'd had enough. CDI has been in use for a very long time to provide more reliable ignition vs. magneto driven coils. Anymore, only the cheapy engines are fired this way.

I didn't want to fiddle with my engine but for AP purposes, I need it to fire each time. Not starting on the shoot is not acceptable. Plus, you don't need to pull so fast to start it. Sometimes, I thought I was going to yank it right off the camera mount.;)

And I do agree that the shielding should be removed first if that is a potential cause of his problems.

[PaulH]

I wonder if Zenoah's new G26ei would work on our helis?

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdId=ZENE26AEI

[MarkWebber]

When I was first looking for CDI, I saw that Zenoah had one. I thought I found somewhere that indicated there was a change to the crank? That's why I ended up going with the guys that made mine. They've been putting 'em on planks and boats for some time, though mine was their first heli.

[PaulH]

The G23, G231, and G26 all use the same crank. The difference is that the non-pull start engines have a nut screwed on the end of the crank shaft where the pull-start version has a pulley screwed on.

The Zenoah manuals are not updated yet to include the G26ei so I can't say for certain if the crank is still the same one.

[MarkWebber]

yep, it was the CDI version that I thought I saw mentioned was changed.

[PaulH]

Could be. Interesting stuff! :)