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3 vs 5 blade E-Prop experience


okent

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I am at Riverside in Tulsa (KRVS) and right down the row from Rex and Jeremiah Johnson and a couple rows over from Airtime Aviation so I feel really fortunate to have a ton of resources to keep my plane maintained.

Jeremiah just got in some of the E-Props and has been trying them out on my bird.  The 3 blade added about 4 knots to my WOT speed.  The 5 blade has about a 2 knot penalty but climb rate was a solid 800fpm up to 6500 feet.

Overall I am very happy with the 5 blade and will plan on keeping that on the plane, a 2013 CTLSi.

If you want max forward speed then the 3 blade is the way to go.

 

 

3 blade.jpg

 

5 blade ground.jpg

 

 

Vy Climb.  Crazy head/cross wind but very stable air so wasn't fighting turbulence.

5 blade climb.jpg

 

 

4.7 gph is my normal cruise setting, any more and the rpm goes to wot.  Airspeed fluctuated between 123 and 125 knots.

5 blade cruise.jpg

 

 

WOT.  RPM would fluctuate between 5550 and 5580.  Airspeed was between 125 and 127 knots.

5 blade wot.jpg

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Yes, the break point for switching from economy to max power fuel flow used to be around 5300 rpm.  With this new prop and pitch setting I can get up to 5400 rpm and still stay in economy at 4.7 gph.  Max power does bump up to around 6 gph but the speed gains aren't nearly as much compared to the old neuform prop.

I don't know what the engine electronics look at to make that decision to go max fuel flow but I'm guessing MAP or something other than rpm.

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17 hours ago, okent said:

Yes, the break point for switching from economy to max power fuel flow used to be around 5300 rpm.  With this new prop and pitch setting I can get up to 5400 rpm and still stay in economy at 4.7 gph.  Max power does bump up to around 6 gph but the speed gains aren't nearly as much compared to the old neuform prop.

I don't know what the engine electronics look at to make that decision to go max fuel flow but I'm guessing MAP or something other than rpm.

Interesting!  Thanks.

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