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Thread: Dual STI build log

  1. #601
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Went out for a flight this Saturday. Had a friend send me his Lat and Long at his camping spot via satellite messenger saying there was a landing spot available. Mission was for me and my oldest son to fly out and survey the area and possibly land. The friend had a handheld walkie-talkie and would radio once I flew over. I checked where he was at and it was BLM land. I decided to fly out early Saturday morning. When I take off, I turn the garmin to the engine parameter page to monitor parameters, then switch to full screen view once on my way. About 20 min into the flight I happen to glance down and I have a "Volt" annunciator. That got my attention and I switch to the engine page and I see my volts are down to 13 volts. (13 volts is where I have my yellow annunciation set.) I do not have audio turned on for the yellow warning, but do for the red, so I am not sure how long it has been there? I feel like it has not been on long, but plan on checking my data log to see. So my first thought was my VR just went out. Seems early that I only have 150hrs and it has already gone out. So I reach under the panel to my hidden switches and switch off the breaker switch for the edge 35 amp alternator input, and switch on the breaker switch for the stock rotax alternator input which runs through the stock rotax VR. Battery volts immediately jump to 13.2 then are climbing up to 13.3...13.4.... Then I decide if I continue the flight or return home. Normal current load is around 18 amps. Knowing the stock rotax alternator is around 18 amps, or that's what I seem to remember, I decide to reduce the load and I will monitor battery and will continue on the flight. I figure its early in the morning and I won't need the heat for the trip back and I shut off the lights and heater. Amp load drops to 11 and the battery is charging fine.

    We make it to find where my friend is camping, survey the area and decide to land on the road leading into his camp. There was some fields close that looked doable but had some dead sage brush that I didn't want to risk damage from the sage brush. Made a landing on the road, but it was much more challenging than I thought because it was a down hill pretty good slope. We stopped in and said Hi right as they where making breakfast. Perfect timing! We took off, did a pass over the camp and then decided to head onto the dunes to check out how many where out this weekend. Then we returned home. Unfortunately the winds aloft had picked up already. They where not forecast until later, but looks like the front had arrived early. It got pretty bumpy on the trip back crossing the mountains and my son Cade got sick. Never lost his breakfast but was not feeling good. I bought some chew-able air sick pills that I gave him a half of one and 30 min after landing he was feeling good again.


    Well, long story short is when I landed I was bummed the VR went out because we have a lakebed camping trip planned for the next weekend. I decided to call Stol Creek Aviation in Kansas and Mike picked up. He looked in his Edge performance parts and found a extra VR that he said he can overnight me on Monday. So I decided to pull mine off and get ready to install the new one. I went to pull off my EDGE VR (ducati VR has a different part number than rotax) I found a cooked connector and cooked wires. The best I can tell is the connector that came with the VR and alternator, allowed the spade connectors inside to back out slightly, creating heat and cooking the wire and connector. Got hot enough that it melted the wire which disconnected the power feed to the VR. Glad nothing else was damaged. Should of gone with my gut when I was wiring that I didn't like how that connector had some play in it when I wired it. Decided to fix the wire on the VR, and install a better connector and hopefully it didn't damage the alternator or the VR. After wiring it up I started it up and the edge alternator and VR where both good. YEAH! Shut down and check the wire temp and the wire was cool also. We are now going to change out Corys connector.

    For some interesting stats from the Data log. When I took off the battery volts where 13.5. 3 min into the flight battery volt where at 14.1 (Fully charged battery) 8 min into the flight battery volts had dropped to 13.9 and going down (input to VR just failed) Almost 10 min later battery volts are down to 13.0 volts and I get a battery VOLTS annunciation which trigger me to look at engine page on garmin to see volts are at 13.0. (normal page volts are not displayed) Looks like it took me 50 seconds to notice the VOLT message and turn on the rotax alernator, so I am guessing VOLTS was not up to long before I noticed it. I am still going back to my setup and will turn on the Audio alert to make sure I don't miss that annunciator.










    Last edited by Shadowrider; 09-27-2020 at 08:23 PM.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  2. #602
    Senior Member bbs428's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Interesting... Could have been a lot worse. Nice write up.
    Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. — Ernie Pyle

    Brett Butler
    Flying: 1998 Model 5 Outback, 912ul Zipper 110hp, G3x avionics, ss7 upgrades

  3. #603
    Senior Member aviator79's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Those wires really cooked. Something must have shorted. Any chance vibration rubbed the wire insulation off?
    --Brian
    Flying - S7SS

  4. #604
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Brian I think one wire in the connector was not completely seated or backed out inside the connector. The connector is a plastic connector that I remember having play in it. I think the high amp draw through a bottle neck connector generated a bunch of heat, that then melted the insulation off and the wires shorted. (just changed my oil and I wonder if one wire got pulled slightly out when checking things) Both spade connectors inside the plastic housing where touching each other. I think one connector got hot and melted the plastic connector and they touched. It cooked the wire completely through at the spade connector and the wire was severed.

    My mistake was not realizing on a high amp draw wire, if you are going to have a connector make sure your connectors have no play in them. Also probably should of not assumed it was just a VR. Could of been worse for sure. Glad those wires where by themselves and not bundled with any other wires. I changed out to single wire bullet style connector with shrink wrap that has positive pressure and no play.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  5. #605
    Senior Member Dave S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    This kind of stuff is not normally due to a short; but, a high resistance point brought on by a poor crimp or inadequately sized component for the amperage or fractured wire strands.
    Dave S
    Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
    912ULS Warp Drive

    St Paul, MN

  6. #606
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Thanks Dave. Probably poor word choice by me, but I agree, I think the high resistance point was the connector not being fully seated and or poor quality connector.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  7. #607
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    IF you are running a edge performance alternator I would suggest checking your connector and change them out if you are running the older style. We have been talking with Thomas and they no loner use the supplied connectors that come with the VR. They are using a much better connector now. We checked Corys and he also has the old connector and it has also seen some heat. Lots of play in the connector. We are switching his out so we don't have and issue.

    Went out flying in my plane today to check it. Put a big load on it and then landed and checked the wiring. Wiring was cool to the touch. Practiced a few takeoff and landings. Hard to get short landings when its bumpy.



    You can also see the connectors inside are not sitting flush. One is not connecting fully and that is the one that got too hot on mine.



    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  8. #608
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Fall weather is here! Yesterday we flew to some back country airports. First time I took Cory and our friend Greg to Cedar Mountain. Greg flies a 172Xp with the 210HP conversion so I was confident he could get out of Cedar mountain. I went in first and checked the runway conditions and winds. Greg then came in and did great getting it in and stopped. Greg then jumped in with me, we left his plane, and we flew to Mexican mountain. (Trying to decide if he wants to attempt it) What an awesome area to fly. Kitfox is such a capable aircraft that you can fly into these places with ease. We then flew out of Mexican mountain back to Cedar Mountain to pickup his plane after spending some time at Mexican mountain. Cory is all finished up with his 40 hours of testing and we now have both planes insured. We have the tuning pretty spot on, on both aircraft, and they are both flying great. We have removed the O2 sensors on both and plugged them bung plug. (O2 is used for initial tuning) If we fly and are not able to run 91, then we can run avgas. It doesn't take long before avgas will ruin the O2 sensor.

    Edge Performance engines are both running strong! Here is quick clip of Cory taking off as we head south.



    Last edited by Shadowrider; 10-14-2020 at 01:00 PM.
    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

  9. #609
    Senior Member efwd's Avatar
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Holy Crap. Im jealous.
    I will counter your 7500' with my flight 70' below sea level yesterday.
    Last edited by efwd; 10-14-2020 at 12:59 PM.
    Eddie Forward
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  10. #610
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    Default Re: Dual STI build log

    Couple more photos and video clips my friend gave to me. Cory got a drone and we have a gopro. Now just to learn how to use them!





    Dustin Dickerson

    Building 7ss STI x 2
    Oratex
    29" shock monster
    EP912STI 155hp
    Garmin
    N33TF......FLYING!
    N53TF......FLYING!

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