There at last!

Sunday evening update – I put the main wheel back on and it was nice to see MYRO back on three wheels again! Then I replaced the starter switch. Along the way the soldered joint of the main 12V supply to the switch broke away from the fused side of the main fuse holder due to a dry joint and I thought I’d have to abandon the job yet again until I could bring a soldering iron down to the field. However, Colin asked whether it would be possible to fit a crimped spade connector instead and when I checked it was. So that got round that problem.

Then the big moment came to start up and I was disapponted to find that the magneto earthing problem (ie lack of..) still remained. Bob was there and I said I thought that the problem was therefore probably at the engine end. When I got out to show Bob the wiring I realised immediately that the magneto earth cables had not been connected properly! Somehow I’d mixed them up with the smaller yellow and black cables coming out of the generator and sure enough, when I switched them around, all was well. I don’t know how this can have happened – I can only assume that when I connected the engine wiring up last year I’d done it a bit quickly and then hadn’t properly checked, and the mistake had carried forward right up until now.

My big concern, though, is whether I’ve done any damage to the generator by earthing it through the starter switch. I doubt that I have because the only times both generator cables have been earthed have been when the engine was being switched off. There seem to be no ill effects, although I won’t know for sure until I can either check the generator voltage, or find the battery goes flat because of an absence of charge from the generator.

So it could be that the work I did on the switch may not have been necessary after all, but I’m glad I did it because the the internal contacts were not in good condition. The other thing was that it led me to the dry soldered joint in the 12V line which would have failed at some time in the future if I hadn’t dealt with it now and also, when I switched the mag earth and generator connections, a crimped connector in the latter, which I’d inherited, parted. I repaired it as best I could for now but I’ve resolved that I’ll remake all of the connections involved in this afternoon’s work to save electrical problems further down the line.

So that’s it for now! All of MYRO’s systems are now working as they should and to all intents and purposes, it’s flyable! When I arrived at the field around lunchtime, Bob gave Tim the Inspector a ring and said that all being well, MYRO would be ready for Permit Inspection next Sunday. I told him not to tempt fate, but it looks as though he was right after all 🙂

I’m typing this this evening feeling a lot happier than I did previously. I’m also feeling very tired and I’ll be having a shower and an early night tonight. The last couple of week-ends and the series of problems I’ve had to cope with have taken it out of me more than I realised, but I have a feeling it will all be worth it in the long run 😉