Do those anomolies correspond with engine performance problems? In other words, if you did not have the EI Commander, would you notice any problems?...
I'll answer this for Randy.
For the most part you are correct; however, Randy purchased a used set of 114 P-mags which were never "right" from the factory.
He recently replaced the board on one P-mag board and that solved most of his issues.
One thing the EICommander can do is tell you if the ignitions are firing at the same time. When we designed the EIC, we ran into issues when the RPM dropped below 500 RPM, so thinking no one would run below ~650 RPM +/- the Timing alarms are somewhat unpredictable down below 500 and because of the airplane he is flying, he has his RPM set in the high 300 RPM range. (I had no idea a Lycoming could turn that slow.) This low RPM, coupled with the averaging routine in the EIC makes it look like he has a timing issue; however, when he powers up for flight, the ECI report correctly and his timing divergence alarms go away.
The following are some general comments regarding P-mag operations and configuration, not necessarily related to Randy's issue(s):
The EICommander is a very sensitive instrument and we have done our best to eliminate false alarms, thus there is a pretty sophisticated averaging routine in our code and it will not alarm until we know there is an issue.
Here is a short list of things we have found that can impact the P-mags but you would never know, unless you have an EIC:
1. Setting the timing in one P-mag and then the other. (Solution: blow in the tube and set both TDC marks with the same breath. Don't ask me why, but it has been an issue.)
2. Ground the P-mags to the engine case bolt, not the forest of tabs and run a second wire from the P-mag directly to the EIC, not a forest of tabs. The EIC can pick up odd signals from other electronics on the ground bus.
3. Run the tach wires from the P-mag to the EIC and a second set of wires from the P-mags to your EFIS. Although they connect at the P-mag, separate wires seem to be important.
4. Install a good pressure stabilizer in the MAP line.
5. Make sure you have good quality mag gears installed on the P-mags. (Emag used to sell gears that were not properly case hardened and have been know to wear prematurely.)
The list goes on but most things are fairly simple to do and are good building practices.
Even with #5, the only way the pilot knew there was an issue was because of the ECI's Timing Divergence Alarm function. The coil pack data display has found a number of bad plugs, bad wires, coil packs, fouled plugs, etc.
While you do not need an EIC to fly with the P-mags, we appreciate Randy's confidence in our instrument. A number of our clients now insist that they will not fly without P-mags and the EIC. Think of it this way, most will not fly without a full EMS to display the health of their engine. The EIC is an EMS for your ignition.
If any of you have questions about your set up, feel free to contact me.
As far as known issues:
I have worked with a number of people with P-mags (with and without the EICommander) and apparently have found far fewer problems than Randy has eluded to. Granted, the early 113's had problems with trigger magnets falling off (since fixed) and software issues (since fixed). And there is the occasional hardware failure issues (Heck, we have even seen that with the EICommander and strive to improve our product and resolve customer issues quickly.), but for the most part, I believe they are proving themselves more reliable than standard magnetos.
For those of you who have not followed the issues,
this thread should give you a pretty good idea of best practices with P-mags.