Yes. Mine fried (in flight, nice burnt plastic smell in cockpit) after probably less than 10 hours. Fortunately the voltage only went to about 16V or so, then settled back down to 14. We had just taken off a couple of minutes earlier, so I returned to the airport and landed.Has anyone had any failures after installing the John Deer regulator?
This is an experiment and if it does not work I am relocating it under the cowling, possibly near the open hole in the cowling.
My advice? Carry a spare. I recently had a failure 500 miles from home and had it fixed in 15 minutes.
Thank you very much, Sir.Here is the link to report these voltage regulator failures to Rotax. I sent one in a couple days ago.
http://www.rotax-owner.com/en/component/rsform/form/3-customer-service-information-report-csir
And how about a spare inner tube when away? What other spares to carry on boardI have built two 12's, one with the vr under the cowl and my current one has it in the cockpit. The first vr on my early 12 lasted 200 hrs and when I sold it at 330 hrs. It was on it's 2nd vr.
The first vr on my current 12 (mounted in cockpit) lasted 150 hours. I subsequently installed a jd and it lasted 60 hours. It doesn't appear that the new location is an improvement. I am currently using another jd, but I have a small cooling fan blowing on the fins. This is an experiment and if it does not work I am relocating it under the cowling, possibly near the open hole in the cowling.
My advice? Carry a spare. I recently had a failure 500 miles from home and had it fixed in 15 minutes.
Spark plug(s), aux fuel pump (with electrical connectors and perhaps, pre-installed AN fittings), rectifier/regulator, pair of floats and carb bowl gasket, tire tube (on long trips into the vast unknown regions), etc.[/QU
With my limited out of town experience, I understand: tire tube, rectifier, fuel pump, but what about the carb floats, how do they fail...?
I have had three pairs of floats fail the SB test over my 420+ operating hours (the pairs weighed more than the SB spec). My first clue as to their sinking condition was a very slight odor of fuel while in flight (likely the result of a bit of carb bowl overflow thru the carb vents) - I noted no unusual engine performance. So as not to be stranded somewhere with a similar condition, I carry a spare pair of floats in my RV-12 (they're small and light ).
I've thought about carrying one of those little lithium 12-volt battery packs, but I don't have any real world knowledge as to whether or not they would be useful starting up a 912.
Instead, I carry in my emergency repair kit an 18-inch long piece of battery cable with a battery terminal-sized ring connector swaged on one end and and inch of bare wire strands exposed on the other end. If faced with a dead battery while on a trip, my plan is to attach this cable to my positive battery terminal, extend the bare end out through the open oil access door, hook-up a jumper battery and start the engine. Once started, I will run the engine until it is warmed-up, shut the engine down and, hopefully, the aircraft battery will have a sufficient charge to restart the engine on its own. Alternatively, I might keep the engine running, disconnect the jumper battery, insulate the bare end of the installed cable with a heavy-duty "acorn" and secure the cable inside the engine compartment -- with great caution I might add! Anyways, that's my "plan".
I also carry a small assortment of AN nuts and bolts as well as a few feet of lock wire.
Spark plug(s), aux fuel pump (with electrical connectors and perhaps, pre-installed AN fittings), rectifier/regulator, pair of floats and carb bowl gasket, tire tube (on long trips into the vast unknown regions), etc.