Excellent explanation. Came across this video while troubleshooting the Wico-X magneto in my 1936 John Deere Model A. It not only educated me on the tractor application but more importantly, for the mag installed in my ‘77 C172. Thank you very much.
Currently taking Ignition and Starting Systems in A&P school. I was in class today and it just wasn't clicking. Thank you for posting this, I get it now.
Thank you! And I am. These videos are for the classes I teach for Portland Community College in the Aviation Science program. I'm glad some people are finding them useful!
Thank you thank you thank you. I just bought a case trencher with a v4 with a magneto and I’ve never touched one before and now I see everything I was doing wrong
Thank you so much currently working on my power plant FAA written test was really struggling with electrical/magneto Systems your video really help me understand and picture the questions in detail.
Hi, that's a great video. Thank you! And you mentioned on the video that some pictures are from the textbook. Could you please tell me what is the name of the book?
Good catch! It’s because you ground the mag to turn it OFF. So on the back of the switch, the left terminal (as you face forward), which is labeled “R” for the pilot, gets wired to the p-lead of the left mag. That means that the left mag is grounded to turn it off when the pilot selects R.
Yes, though to be precise it is the RATIO of the number of turns in the primary to the number of turns in the secondary (along with the strength of the magnet and how fast it is turning) that determines the final voltage. That ratio works the same way in transformers, too.
Sadly, I'm not up to speed on motorcycles, though I worked on one a bit as a kid. It was very different, at least in how it was built, but the principle is probably similar.
I'm guilty as charged of using slang there. However, "dogs" usually refer to something that engages to stop movement, and these are centrifugally (centripetally?) activated, so... I'll stand by my centrifugal dogs. Ruff.
I think this is a matter of semantics. To cause a spark, the current through the primary has to change with time. The faster it changes the larger the induced voltage, hence spark. So the current does indeed change with time (I.e., it “alters” with time).
