Marty_d

Thanks, Guy. Which model EarthX did you get?

Thanks guys - I'm in the checkout at Element 14 now - while I have free delivery (the mounting bracket tipped it over $50) - is there anything else I should be getting at this point in time?

This one? https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/indicators/0209119/ Thanks Bob.

Hi Sav owners, I'm installing the Sav wiring harness and instruments on my 701. Noticed that the wiring plans show the fuel header warning light and test switch installed on the far right side of the panel. Seems to me that if I have a warning light telling me I have 18 minutes of fuel left, I want that bugger right in front of me. Have any of you changed the position of this? Or is it noticeable enough where they position it? Thanks, Marty

Hi all, While the weather is too cold for painting and fibreglass finishing, thought I'd get stuck into the electrics. What is the best battery option for the 912? I think placement is going to be in the engine bay - the Zenith build pics show it behind the passenger seat but given mine is a 701/Sav hybrid, that's where the header tank is going. Some folks are apparently using EarthX Lithium batteries, which according to their website http://www.earthxmotorsports.com.au/ are often recommended by Rotax and recreational aircraft companies like Sonex and Kitfox. Apparently they have battery management systems to stop them exploding. Anyone using those? Any and all comments appreciated on pros and cons - cost, weight, safety, cranking power (I believe 25 amps is recommended - is that right?) etc etc. Thanks! Cheers, Marty

It worked in that movie with Denzel Washington. But that was a movie.

What a craftsman! Love his workshop too.

People love talking about their stuff Spacey. Just tell them you're interested in electric cars and they'll chew your ear off for hours.

Done any 701's yet Mark? (Very similar to early Sav I guess).

It's early days of EV. Hats off to the early adopters, but at the moment the price is too high for my wife and I. She wants to get an EV after her 2009 Hyundai i30, but I reckon she'll have to wait for about 4 or 5 years, when the price is equal or lower than petrol/diesel. So yes, right now you'll get some range problems, you'll get a few people going back to petrol, you'll have a lack of infrastructure, etc. But it is the leading edge of the change so at the moment only the richer or truly committed will go for the pricey EV's. In a few years the wave will roll on and new IC vehicles will be the exception rather than the rule - that's when we'll jump in. Just like when TV's went to flat screen - I first saw a big plasma TV in Myers with a price tag of $40,000. Who's going to buy that? Fast forward to today and you can pick up a bigger, better resolution LCD TV for about $600.

It'd have to be a deaf and blind bird who couldn't get out of the way of that thing. Seriously though I reckon the software would be set up to recognise the uncommanded loss of an engine and compensate with the other 7.

Just one more thing to say - Alabama: very Republican, heavy Trump support Vermont: Democrat.

I guess the problem is accessibility - if the switch is on the firewall for example then there's either the chance of hitting it with your foot or not being able to reach it in an emergency. Where did you mount it? Would be interested in the details of your isolator.

Don't people put a battery isolation switch in their aircraft? I was in Repco today looking at this - https://www.repco.com.au/en/globes-batteries-electrical/electrical-accessories/switches/narva-rotary-battery-master-isolator-switch-with-removeable-keyed-knob-contacts-rated-100a-12v-61036bl/p/A9758517 Would like to hear from the electrically qualified here, would it be a good idea to have that going straight from the battery before going anywhere else?

@Flightrite - sorry if I misunderstood you - but if you have a read of what you said, it's easy to do. Kind of like "The boy helped his uncle, Jack, off a horse" vs "The boy helped his uncle Jack off a horse".

Well mate, I'm sorry if you took what I said as a personal attack, but your post immediately prior called people who got the vaccination "lunatics" - so you did kind of throw the first stone. And while you're enduring lockdown, consider this - the government's mistake was not organising bulk purchase of Pfizer when they had the chance, because you don't put all your eggs in one basket. But the only way you're NOT going to get lockdowns is when you get a certain percentage (probably 85-90) of the population vaccinated.

Yes, but the intelligent person who had the jab will live. But never mind that, better to die free and stupid huh?

I've heard an urban legend about a penny-pinching pilot at Cambridge airport (Hobart) who would turn the engine off after touch down if it looked like the Hobbs meter was about to click over. Guess he would have got some exercise pulling the 172 back to the apron.

I think they're talking about the other little prick...

Duncan, I'm using chrome moly steel tube for the struts on my 701. One idea I'm considering is simply to fold 0.016" aluminium into an airfoil shape and rivet to the tube. Because the distances are so small and the curvature gives strength, I can probably get away with either no ribs at all or maybe one top and bottom. Have you considered that as an option?

Great parking job!

Mark, please don't feel I'm downplaying your concerns about the political parties, I'm not. In fact I share them, probably from a different perspective to you, but certainly agree that the mob in power are pretty useless and Labor hasn't distinguished themselves greatly (mainly because they went to the last election with a pretty good set of policies and an ineffective opposition, and still lost). My point is that when we decide to sweep the existing democratic process away and go for any kind of dictator, we get a Trump, Bolsonaro, Duterte or some other useless turd who fouls up anything important, like protecting their people from a pandemic for instance. What would change politics enough to get good action on the climate? Getting rid of the reactionaries that hold both political parties back. Labor and the Greens should be hammering electorates that currently have National Party members sitting. They should be fielding their best people and putting the most effort into seats with the furthest right-leaning Liberal members. Talking about proper electioneering here - lots of volunteers, lots of talking to people, lots of visiting people, organising groups. Intelligent use of big data. Take a ticket from Obama's election run, which was groundbreaking in its grass-roots activism. If the parties see enough noise about climate change and are put under enough scrutiny as to who is funding them, plus their big business mates actually start moving green, then they will be dragged kicking and screaming into a position of doing what they're supposed to and actually developing policies. Hey who knows, maybe one day they'll actually start competing to be more green than the other lot instead of what they do now.

Yep - we'll need whale oil forever - copper wires will always be needed for telecommunications - we can't get by without ivory - horses will always be essential... The list of things that would "always" be critical has found itself changing drastically. The internal combustion motor in small transport vehicles is just one more. Fact is that as citizens of Australia we have 2 choices. We can accept that a major change in engine technology is happening worldwide, that the kind of cars we used to buy new are no longer going to be available, and we can get in front of the curve and invest now in the infrastructure, manufacturing and planning that's going to be necessary to actually use and charge these cars. (As @kgwilson says, Norway has hydro, Australia has sun.) Lots and lots of sun. Lots of rare earths. Lots of education. Lots of ideas. Lots of manufacturing potential. Bugger-all government leadership. The other choice is to fight against it, stick with the old technology, build new coal-fired power stations, manufacture our own Commodore utes and put that middle finger up to the rest of the world. Be the polluted beacon of conservatism and small-mindedness we have the absolute potential to be. Hey, it worked a treat for South Africa in the apartheid era, didn't it? ...and that's exactly what Trump said too. Be careful of alternatives!

High wing, T tail, looks a bit like a BAe146? Could be an Avro RJ85 airtanker. https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/nafc-arena-help/2018+National+Fleet+Poster+A3.pdf

I'll leave the Rotax on this one. The Spitfire, now....