Face it. The big bore, high compression engines of today are handicapped by the simple fact that they cannot adjust their ignition timing for varying flight conditions. Magnetos just don’t do it. And because of that, our piston engines don’t always develop power efficiently. An electronic engine ignition system can, as we all know, but the options for those desiring electronic ignition for their aircraft, until recently, have been slim.Enter E-Mag, of Azle, Texas. The company has been making electronic ignitions for four-cylinder aircraft for six years, according to Brad Dement, marketing representative at AirVenture 2011. And now they’ve completed a six-cylinder version of their E-mag, and are ready to bring it to market. “We should have the first customer units for the Experimental market in two to three months,” he says. The P-200-6X works with 12 or 24 volt systems and can be customized on the fly from the cockpit with a simple rotary switch, allowing the pilot to select up to four preset spark advance ranges in flight.
The six-cylinder unit has been expanded and beefed up from its four-cylinder powering predecessor, too. “We’ve moved the electronics into the head of the unit, and augmented a built in alternator function,” he explained. Dement expects the six cylinder E-Mag, available now only for experimental aircraft engines, will be the model for a certified version, which the company hopes to market in the future. “We also intend to create an E-Mag that will replace two-in-one dual magneto packages, which are no longer supported anywhere,” says Dement.
For more information, visit www.emagair.com.
