Embraer EMB-120 Turbo Props

[scottb613]

All,

Ok - one more question for today - well one topic anyway - LOL... Anyone else familiar with Eric's EMB-120 with the panel by Marcus Gama ??? Man - what a combination - quality work all around...

Anyway - flying properly questions...

1) With that EEC engine control instrument - what's the proper usage ??? If set it to each phase of flight "TO" "CL" or "CR" - would normal practice just be to firewall the throttle and let the engine control adjust for proper levels ??? If not - what typical values should I employ for each phase of flight ???

2) Conditioner - what settings should I use on this lever to match prototypical values for each phase of flight ???

3) APU - when starting a turbo prop - I would assume you start the APU first - if so equipped... Once the APU generator is turned on - shouldn't it support the electrical load for the entire plane ??? I still have my battery go dead after several minutes with the APU running... Is this operator error on my part - an issue with the panel - or - a gross conceptual error ???

4) Does external power work on this panel ??? I modded this panel with ISGsim FMC - and - I need to power the panel prior to push back to get ready for the flight... Looking for a way to do this while still at the dock... You wouldn't do a main engine start until pushback - right ???

Again - great plane - great panel... Really wish whatever payware company started this project would have finished it...


Regards,
Scott

My panel MODS: ISGsim, Reality XP FL-T, Reality XP FL-N:

[collotty]

u r right, great plane and great panel, i have used it quite a bit and i love it, however i have not used it in a few months so i will need to refresh my memory on it. as far as the EEC though, i do believe it said to firewall the throttles and the EEC would keep the engines from going over a certain % based on what you had the EEC set at. If no one else responds to your post, later today i will fire up my fs9 and check out this plane again and see if i can respond to your other questions.

[scottb613]

Hi Bernard,

Thanks - did you happen to see the night view of this panel ???
It's a work of art...

Regards,
Scott

[collotty]

yea, it really is a work of art. and so is the plane. whenever i decide to do a commuter run somewhere it is usually in this bird with either a continental or united texture. awesome looking plane and panel.

[Jim Robinson]

You're both right about the combo (Cantu/Gama) being a nice piece of work, however it was too deep for me so I went back to the aliased Kingair panel with an "I'll come back and figure that one out later" attitude. I still have it installed though, maybe I'll have a look at it tonight.

The only thing I could think of to make your battery last under APU or External power would be to open up the aircraft.cfg and find electric_always_available=0 and change it to electric_always_available=1. It makes it so you can't ever power the acft down though by turning off the battery switch which isn't realistic.

Another option would be a registered version of FSUIPC, with which you can set "unlimited battery life" or something like that. I've never messed with it, I think you can make the setting aircraft specific and I don't know if it interferes with normal master switch operation or not. I'll test it out when I get home this eve.

That sounds like an impressive combo you've got there with the FMC and Reality XP stuff. I may have to give that a try myself. Currently my "love of the week" is the AFG Kingair using the Friendly Panels Kingair panel and TSS soundset. I'm in the process of merging the friendly panels gauges into the AFG virtual cockpit which is requiring a complete re-do of the VC panel textures. I hope to upload a "conversion kit" to the library when I get finished. Maybe when I get done with that I'll go back the the EMB120.

Have fun with that beast,
Jim

[scottb613]

Hi Jim,

Thanks - I'd give it another try - it is a really nice panel and there is some documentation included... I'll send you my panel.cfg when I get a chance - as I've modified it quite a bit... One thing I almost always do is remove the center post from panels... In flight sim - my visibility is already restricted enough compared to the real world - so I edit them out... I also resized and moved just about everything around to make it more conducive to actual flying... Zoom is changed to .80, panel is reduced in height, and the view out the front is tilted down to make seeing the runway possible on approach... If you have the T, N, and ISGsim packs loaded this panel.cfg could save you some time...

The author spent a huge effort on this - so I'm just trying to iron out the correct procedures... I really could be doing something wrong with the power...

The AFG King Air is another work of art... Was any update to the FDE ever issued ??? If I recall correctly it was rather touchy in the pitch department...

You also mentioned using the TSS Soundpack - I purchased the 4 bladed TSS ATR soundpack to use with the EMB-120... Whenever I get up to altitude and set cruise power - the prop noise is absolutely silent - nothing at all... The only thing I can here is wind noise - inside the plane or out... I set my sound variables as recommended with TSS and still nothing... Strangest thing... Haven't figured this one out either...

Keep the shiny side up and thanks for responding...

Regards,
Scott

[clint605]

As for the real world ops...

1) The EEC control in most if not all EMB120's is left in the "TO" mode. The other modes were never fully developed is how I understand it. You still cannot firewall the engines. Takeoff settings are usually 100 % Torque (depending on temperature). Climb power is 84 % Torque, and cruise is determined by torqure and temp (top gauges). 730 on the temp and still 84% on the torque.

2) The condition levers remain full forward (100 % Prop RPM - Middle engine gauges), back to 90 % Prop RPM passing 12,000 MSL, and 85 % Prop RPM for cruise.

I cannont remember if these settings work well with the Cantu model or not. Hope this helps.

[scottb613]

Hi Clint,

Sure does - thanks for the info...

I had noticed that with the throttle firewalled - the torque did exceed 100%...

I'll give your settings a try...

Regards,
Scott

[Jim Robinson]

The AFG King Air is another work of art... Was any update to the FDE ever issued ??? If I recall correctly it was rather touchy in the pitch department...

You also mentioned using the TSS Soundpack - I purchased the 4 bladed TSS ATR soundpack to use with the EMB-120... Whenever I get up to altitude and set cruise power - the prop noise is absolutely silent - nothing at all... The only thing I can here is wind noise - inside the plane or out... I set my sound variables as recommended with TSS and still nothing... Strangest thing... Haven't figured this one out either...

Maybe there was an FDE update, it doesn't seem overly sensitive to me, in fact last night I was just noticing how nice it seems to hand fly. It's easy to really "grease it on" in a landing. I've got my sensitivities cranked up pretty high too for use with some of the big Posky birds. The only thing I don't like about it is the nosewheel steering but if I "drive" from VC view it doesn't give me too much trouble. Spot view is what I usually use while taxiing, but I tend to overcontrol a lot with this bird. I don't care though, slew works fine if necessary and they didn't call it "Taxi Simulator" anyway .

This is actually my first experience with TSS soundpacks and I've been really happy with the Kingair package. It has a pleasant sound throughout all flight regimes, external sounds could be a little "raspier" but after while that gets annoying so it's probably best just the way it is. It has a nice drone in cockpit at cruise which puts me to sleep if I don't do flights that keep me relatively busy navigating and such . I had actually just copied the default Caravan soundset over for use with the EMB120, and then I adjusted volumes in the sound.cfg to quiet things down a bit (so I could hear my mp3s over the engine sounds).

I'm not up on my RealityXP, what are "T" and "N" actually? Are these specific gauge packages available from them? Lemme finish what I'm doing on the AFG Kingair and when I get done with that I'd be very interested in your panel.cfg mods for the EMB120. Maybe we can arrange a swap .

Have fun,
Jim

[collotty]

scott, i noticed in your screenshot that your panel is just a bit different from mine, maybe it is because of the mods you said you have done to yours. i just noticed that i have version 1.2 of this panel. i only see a version 1.1 available here on flightsim. do you know what version you have. anyway, i have had my e120 at the gate with just the apu running for over 30 minutes and i still have radios and all other elect systems. version 1.2 is avail on avsim. if you have 1.2 then i have no clue why your apu doesn't appear to be supplying power. when you batts go dead does your apu continue to run? p.s. when i shut down apu, my batt are not dead, but they don't power my avionics anymore, just things like the green lights for the gear down. hope you get it figured out.