Lean Mixture

[jf1981]

Hi,

I made similar observations. This deserves some tests (I may do & post back in this thread later). I prefer from far the soft (or should I say lean) Redroach to the coarse one so to say.

Regards

[Ze-Jamz]

Originally Posted by Redroach

sorry if I've expressed myself wrongly, but that wasn't the point of my question(s). Viper's got the point, though (I think).

So it seems that for the RAF, there are close to zero useful 'lean mixtures'. What about the Luftwaffe? Does anyone know or does anybody fly a lean mix at altitude; i.e. a non-forced one?

edit: Oh, @ze-jamz: When you were adjusting your mix to blue-ish exhaust flames, did that make your engine/plane shake or vibrate? Which plane did you fly anyways?

Hi Red sry mate just seen that post..

No it didnt make any difference to the performance etc nor did it make the plane shake which is strange...anyway it was boht the Hurri and SpitIa

[RE77ACTION]

I think the mixture thing isn't worked out very well in this game. My real world experiences with changing mixtures are the following and I don't see it represented in CloD:

Lean mixture should give less power but more RPM. It also should run a lot hotter because of various reasons.

Rich mixture should give more power in lower RPM but lacks the ability give as much RPM as with a lean mixture. Rich mixture should also spill some fuel to the exhaust system.

I hope they will take care of it in future updates.

[Skoshi Tiger]

Originally Posted by RE77ACTION

I think the mixture thing isn't worked out very well in this game. My real world experiences with changing mixtures are the following and I don't see it represented in CloD:

Lean mixture should give less power but more RPM. It also should run a lot hotter because of various reasons.

Rich mixture should give more power in lower RPM but lacks the ability give as much RPM as with a lean mixture. Rich mixture should also spill some fuel to the exhaust system.

I hope they will take care of it in future updates.

I also think that there are issues with the mixture system in the game. From my flying days (It's beenmany moons since I actually got in the left hand seat of a plane) Most of the time you want the mixture in the rich position.

When you are flying with a rich mixture you have excess fuel in your fuel air mix. As you lean out your mixture, lets say for a cruise, your reducing the ammount of fuel in the mix.

The closer you get to a chemically perfect mixture the more efficient the combustion process is and you will find that your RPM, combustion chamber temperature and power increases. This is good except that as you get closer to the chemically correct ratio of fuel and air the chance of pre-ignition and detonation also increases.

Pre-ignition is when the fuel air mix spontainiously ignites befor the spark plug fires and leads to rough running. Detonation being when the fuel air mix in the combustion chamber explodes instead of burns in a controlled manner. Detonation causes rough running and can damage the engine.

When leaning for the cruise in the cessna the procedure (if I remember correctly) was to lean the mixture until you find your maximum RPM (close to the chemically correct ratio) and then push the mixture in a bit to give a richer but safer mixture. Nearly all the other checks I remember were to put the mixture in the rich position (less efficient but less chance of damaging the engine)

In the Spitfires in COD we only have a two settings, Rich and Weak. Unless your flying for maxium range the manual tells us to make sure the mixture is in the Rich (rear) position.

I guess this is for safety. In COD I haven't had a mission that I've had to worry too much about fuel yet. This is probably a major issue for the boys in the 109's trying to get a few extra minutes over London.

I think I'm safe in saying we all want the mixture system in the game to be working in an historically correct and accurate fashion for all aircaft modeled in the game.

Cheers!

[Blackdog_kt]

Generally speaking, lean is used to save fuel during cruise at lower boost/RPM.

Even in late war hotrods like the P47, pilots are advised to run auto-rich in combat to help the engine take the higher manifold pressure and RPM values with less chance of overheating and all the other problems mentioned by previous posters.

Also, there are cases when chopping the throttle might lead to fuel starvation, which is why the mixture lever is backwards in the RAF planes to make it compatible with the inter-locking pins: you chop the throttle and it pulls the mixture lever back into rich so you don't have to think about it.

Long story short, lean is for fuel economy when moving along at a leisurely pace, not for use during combat

The luftie birds usually don't have mixture controls, definitely not the 109/110 and if i'm not mistaken, the 88,Stuka and 111 also lack them, so i guess they are all automatic.

[TomcatViP]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

The luftie birds usually don't have mixture controls, definitely not the 109/110 and if i'm not mistaken, the 88,Stuka and 111 also lack them, so i guess they are all automatic.

They are indeed. Thx to the integrated dev system they bring in when they had to rebuilt their aircraft industry.

Full automation in eng ctrl came indeed first with the 190 so let's say 1941/42. A FADEC alike but with no Digital and Electronics inside