bigpapa

with the thor 200/walboro I got ~4.5 lt/hour yesterday. Gentle flying. 120kg pilot (so ~155kg all up) on 30m paraglider wing. I think this is still running a little rich generally. Could do with being a little leaner generally, but slightly richer at full power. Starts easily from cold. Not much experience of hot starting. Still running in.

I'd be interested to see where the inaccuracies come from. It would expect it is related to the sample rate of the electronics. If the sample rate were 10 x max rpm (~2000Hz) then it should capture the pulse at sufficient resolution to accurately get the fuel flow. I expect it is much lower than this. Does anyone know? Where does the 10% inaccuracy figure come from, as no one seems to have one!? Which probably means that the 10% is speculation?

I like the idea of one of these gauges, but this one looks a bit bulky/amateurish and some of the wires look a bit vulnerable. Mirrors are okay, but I would prefer a more scientific approach with instantaneous consumption and time to empty.

I like the image stabilisation. Looks much smoother than other cameras.

Nice Vid. Looks like a nice area to fly. Can't wait to get my Zenith!

With a conventional pull start you just spin the engine. With this arrangement you spin the engine for the full pull. With the flash starter you pull the cord which winds up a spring. At the end of the pull the spring energy is released which spins the engine quickly for a short period, allowing it to start. If you wanted a shorter pull you would have to sacrifice the easy pull for a stiffer pull as you have to put the same amount of energy in over a shorted pull. Not sure if the above is correct, but its my best guess, makes sense, and is how I would do it! I hope to get my Zenith Polini Thor 200 soon so I can try thte flash starter for my self. They seem to be having engine delivery issues though. I've been waiting 7 weeks now.

I guess the shape of the cone reflects the range of the 'powerband'. The cone reflects the pressure wave progressively so the pulse returns to the exhaust port at the correct time to keep the fuel mix in the head. A shallow cone would give a wider but weaker powerband. A steep/flat cone would give a very good return pulse, but because it is so narrow it will only work for a small rpm range.

For capacitors equivalent to a 50Ah battery at 48V it would need a rating of 3750Farads. The big ones seen in knobs cars are typically 1-2 farads. Also, Unlike Lipos which are pretty good at holding their voltage, capacitors voltage drops over time, so your power will drop over time, so you would need more capacity to compensate for this. Capacitors aren't good for storing power. They are only good for releasing their stored power very quickly (over a few seconds). They would make a good EMP when you have a dodgy landing. Your generator: 1kw @ 240v = 4.16Amps. 1kw = 1.35hp. If you used a transformer or different generator coil config to get this to 50v you would get 20Amps, still 1kw (1.35hp). Power out always equals power in minus inefficiencies. The best working hybrid is the Lotus Evora 414E. It uses a 1.2l 48hp engine to top up the batteries. extending the range from 30 to 300miles. This engine is developed to work efficiently at a fixed rpm. Even so this still works out at 40mpg. not great. The range extender in the Vaxhall Ampera is a 1.4l engine. So to get the range extenders to work in the real world they need to be nearly equivalent capacity to the normal engine you would expect anyway. http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26527

For a 20hp Electric Motor you will need to generate 20hp worth of electricity. Which will require a 20hp petrol motor. Assuming 100% efficiency. So as a straight replacement for the battery it wont work. Although it could supplement a battery setup: 20hp = 15KW at 48v this will have a current draw of 300Amps. Assuming a 15kg LiPo Pack, giving roughly 50 Amp Hours (real world). Assuming an average power requirement of 10hp (7.5kW : 150Amps) = 20minutes flight time You could use a smaller engine/generator as range extender in conjunction with a battery pack. But 20cc will only give about 2hp, giving a 20% range extension (5 minutes). This will be less (maybe negative) considering the weight penalty. 50cc? say 7hp? 70% extra. 14 minutes. It would be a heavy setup though.

Go Pros fish eye is too much for me. Everything's distorted, which for me makes it un-watchable. Plus their c**p to mount. You have to have a silly big box on your head. The bullet style ones which can mount on the side of your helmet are far better. I use contour cameras and they seem a good compromise between quality and usability. It has a similar FOV to the go pro but doesn't have the extreme fish eye. Just my view.

I have the mirror on the ski pass thingy... I was looking for something a bit more scientific. I like the idea of the time to empty and instantaneous consumption.

Hi. I'm thinking about a fuel gauge for my paramotor. Has anyone got any experience with these fuel gauges? They look like a neat solution, but not sure how accurate it would be. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310452117491 What other solutions have people tried? what's best? Also, wheres the best place to get a tiny tach? Are there any better/cheaper alternatives? Cheers. Geoff.

Its a pretty old engine. Reliable but thirsty. Probably a bit heavy for the power by todays standards too. Never had any issues with mine (apart from self inflicted ones!).

I've recently had this problem too. I had a small air leak. When doing spirals the pump has to pull fuel harder, which resulted in more air being sucked in at the leak and therefore engine loosing power. Under normal flying the leak was small/non-existent so it was very hard to find.

Great App! By far and away the best I have seen for para-motoring!