Civilian mustang, why no ground power unit.

[maverick260]

Hi, after making the very hard decision between the military and civ mustang, i went for the civilian. One thing that I realised however was that the civilian one doesn't have a ground power option. Why is this? I guess it's not very usual to have a ground power unit as a civilian owner, but if anyone could tell me, because the manual has an image that does show the mini control panel with a GPU option

[DHenriques_]

Hi, after making the very hard decision between the military and civ mustang, i went for the civilian. One thing that I realised however was that the civilian one doesn't have a ground power option. Why is this? I guess it's not very usual to have a ground power unit as a civilian owner, but if anyone could tell me, because the manual has an image that does show the mini control panel with a GPU option

Although APU's were standard equipment in the military and were available at all military fields there are many airports in the civilian environment that don't have them. Many civilian operators of the Mustang simply use the battery for starting.
Since this is the case in the real world A2A decided to carry that line of thinking into the civilian version and devote resource code elsewhere where it was needed and more applicable.
Dudley Henriques

[maverick260]

Ah well, would have been useful for me since i always drain the battery during starting.

[Paughco]

I had the same thought: "Hey! How come no APU?" Especially since use of the APU is recommended in the manual. But then, I figured I'd just use the battery, and keep a supply of fully charged, spare batteries in the Maintenance hangar.

Seeya
ATB

[DHenriques_]

Ah well, would have been useful for me since i always drain the battery during starting.

The 51 can be a bit tricky on starting. Over priming is quite common and can result in extended cranking.
Outside temp and internal engine temp is a factor. VERY easy to over prime using the electric primer.
If you can post your starting technique (verbatim) I'll be happy to take a look at it for you.
DH

[maverick260]

Ah well, would have been useful for me since i always drain the battery during starting.

The 51 can be a bit tricky on starting. Over priming is quite common and can result in extended cranking.
Outside temp and internal engine temp is a factor. VERY easy to over prime using the electric primer.
If you can post your starting technique (verbatim) I'll be happy to take a look at it for you.
DH

Thanks for the offer, I follow the manual by the book on startup, but like you said, over priming is easy. Thing is, when i start i put the fuel cutoff on, tank selector in the correct position, electric fuel pump on, check for fuel pressure, once that's good engage the primer, realise it's not 20 degrees C outside and the engine isn't cold because I've flown an hour ago. At that point I've already overprimed the engine.

I just have to pay more attention to it.

[kielsf4]

Not only is there no GPU available in the CIV Mustang, there is also no way to recharge the battery in the "Maintenance Hangar". Once your battery is dead, your only option is to reload the plane...Odd decision to add neither of those options in the V4 release IMHO.

[stephan.cote.1]

Not only is there no GPU available in the CIV Mustang, there is also no way to recharge the battery in the "Maintenance Hangar". Once your battery is dead, your only option is to reload the plane...Odd decision to add neither of those options in the V4 release IMHO.

Something is not right here. Once the battery is discharged below a certain threshold , , visiting the hangar will recharge the battery automatically if I recall properly. You should see a comment on the plane status report saying: battery volatage low, charged battery. Or something along those lines ...


Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

[DHenriques_]

Ah well, would have been useful for me since i always drain the battery during starting.

The 51 can be a bit tricky on starting. Over priming is quite common and can result in extended cranking.
Outside temp and internal engine temp is a factor. VERY easy to over prime using the electric primer.
If you can post your starting technique (verbatim) I'll be happy to take a look at it for you.
DH

Thanks for the offer, I follow the manual by the book on startup, but like you said, over priming is easy. Thing is, when i start i put the fuel cutoff on, tank selector in the correct position, electric fuel pump on, check for fuel pressure, once that's good engage the primer, realise it's not 20 degrees C outside and the engine isn't cold because I've flown an hour ago. At that point I've already overprimed the engine.

I just have to pay more attention to it.

You start a Mustang in idle cutoff. Perhaps this is the problem.
DH

[A-26Invader]

Also crank the engine over and THEN tickle the primer. Don't hold it "ON" for more than a second or 2 each time you hit the primer switch. I've always found it hard to prime before turning the engine over as you can't really gauge how much fuel you are putting into the V12.

[kielsf4]

Not only is there no GPU available in the CIV Mustang, there is also no way to recharge the battery in the "Maintenance Hangar". Once your battery is dead, your only option is to reload the plane...Odd decision to add neither of those options in the V4 release IMHO.

Something is not right here. Once the battery is discharged below a certain threshold , , visiting the hangar will recharge the battery automatically if I recall properly. You should see a comment on the plane status report saying: battery volatage low, charged battery. Or something along those lines ...


Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

Only on newer A2A planes, unfortunately this hasn't been added to the Mustang.

[gulredrel]

Only on newer A2A planes, unfortunately this hasn't been added to the Mustang.

So I'm using the FSX-version, but I think this works in P3D as well.

With a drained battery, you have to shut down and leave the plane (external view, shift + 3 popup no pilot option) and than open the maintenance hangar. There you get the message with the recharged battery.
In my instance there is no battery charging up while sitting in the plane and opening the maintenance hangar popup.

Full battery


almost dead battery


recharged when outside the plane


recharging okay regarding voltmeter


Regards
Jens

edit: sorry for the bad downsizing of the images, there was something messed up with my image editor.

[mgr]

Hi,

You start a Mustang in idle cutoff. Perhaps this is the problem.
DH

What is the best procedure? mixture in idle cutoff is mentioned in the manual and checklist.
I aks, because i've also still problems starting the P-51D civil, though i knew how via the topic:
http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/v ... 94&t=64541

Yet still fail, approx 75% to start the engine from "cold and dark".

Bit frustrating because i do not want to use the "auto-start" option.

Marcel

[Alan_A]

The 51 can be a bit tricky on starting. Over priming is quite common and can result in extended cranking.

I haven't yet picked up the P3D4 Mustangs, but I've noticed that the P3D4 versions of the T-6 and the Spitfire are a LOT easier to overprime than the FSX ones were. Not sure if that's the result of an update or the way Accu-Sim interacts with P3D4, but I was struggling to start them both, until I decided to forget about the checklist recommendations and apply no more than one shot of primer, no matter what the conditions, before startup. I don't prime again until the engine is cranking. Starts are routine now, whereas before I was routinely flooding the engine. As Dudley suggests, this might be worth a look, among other factors. Hope this helps.

[EnDSchultz]

The 51 can be a bit tricky on starting. Over priming is quite common and can result in extended cranking.

I haven't yet picked up the P3D4 Mustangs, but I've noticed that the P3D4 versions of the T-6 and the Spitfire are a LOT easier to overprime than the FSX ones were. Not sure if that's the result of an update or the way Accu-Sim interacts with P3D4, but I was struggling to start them both, until I decided to forget about the checklist recommendations and apply no more than one shot of primer, no matter what the conditions, before startup. I don't prime again until the engine is cranking. Starts are routine now, whereas before I was routinely flooding the engine. As Dudley suggests, this might be worth a look, among other factors. Hope this helps.

(Edit: Just saw you're referring to P3D4, I'm running the original version so this might not be applicable)
I've also found I don't always open the throttle as much as I perhaps need to. This may be partly overpriming (needing more O2), and partly the fact my engine is a bit worn and the cylinders aren't the best. I try to replace them when they start dipping down toward 50 on the compression check because, even at that level, finding the balance of idling low enough to not speed on taxi and also not stall the engine is a chore. As this pertains to starting, I'll hear the engine repeatedly sputter during cranking like it wants to go, and then cracking the throttle a bit more will get me a positive start.