PMag Gotcha HOBBS 2371.5 hrs

In my last post, I mentioned that I couldn't get my PMag's to power on. I checked all of my wires and everything looked good (there is not much to this) so I was stumped. During our last airport lunch at BJC before thanksgiving, I mentioned my dilema to a fellow builder/flyer and he was surprised. He said that he installed his PMag's and it was very straightforward. He said he would stop by and help me troubleshoot it later that day. I welcomed the offer, so we set it up.

 

Before he arrived I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something simple. I went back to the PMag website and scanned through the Trouble Shooting Guide and found the section about what the LED's are telling you. My problem was, as I energized the PMag, the LED wasn't illuminating like it was supposed to.

Then I found this nugget of information, I had, indeed, missed something very simple...

To get the unit into "setup" mode, it must be "off" (grounded) during initial power up. I had wired my switch backwards and it was actually "on" (not grounded) when I thought it was off. If you don't get the PMag's into "setup" mode during initial power up, the LED will only blink briefly and then go out...easy to miss. In setup mode, the LED will remain on. Once I reconfigured my switch (just changed up the connection points), and had the PMag's grounded, it worked exactly as advertised. As they say RTFM (Read The F-ing Manual!), as this information was in the manual as well.

 

I then proceeded to time them (blowing into the MAP tube while at top center [TC]), route and finalize the MAP tubing and then do a "pull-thru test" on all 8 plugs to ensure everything was not only firing, but firing when it was supposed to.

 

Len called and asked when to stop by and I informed him I had it figured out...call off the hounds! All is good to go now. This was a nice hurdle to get past and gave me a sigh of relief. I now have SPARK!

 

By the way, this is my wiring strategy on the PMag's. I will test PMag internal power during runup by switching off the ship's power to the PMag via the VP-X control panel. If you don't have the VP-X, you should probably do a 3-position switch (Off, On w/ Ship's power, On w/o Ship's power).