rcarsey
Well Known Member
This happened in flight yesterday. About an hour into a 2 hour flight, I noticed that my voltage was starting to fluctuate between 14 and 12 volts. At first, it was very quick blips -- enough to make the electronic FADEC system toss up some warnings. Then after another 10-15 minutes, the alternator was more often offline than online. Reducing the RPM seemed to bring it back online. Since I was close to a larger airport, I decided to shut the alternator down, land and investigate.
On taxi to a maintenance shop, i turned the alt field back on to see what I'd get. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the alt was working OK. Just for fun, I took the engine up to 2000 rpm -- the alt went offline. I thought maybe the field current terminal wasnt getting voltage (maybe a loose wire, etc).. checked it with a volt meter while running at 2000 rpm.. the field current terminal never lost power (no loose wires or switches)... even though the alternator was offline.
Is this alternator dead? (its got 1200 hours - from a suzuki samuri.. yea that one). I've never heard of an alt failing like this before. Should I get a new one from Vans? or replace it with the same part? Is there any other wiring that I should check before splurging?
On taxi to a maintenance shop, i turned the alt field back on to see what I'd get. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the alt was working OK. Just for fun, I took the engine up to 2000 rpm -- the alt went offline. I thought maybe the field current terminal wasnt getting voltage (maybe a loose wire, etc).. checked it with a volt meter while running at 2000 rpm.. the field current terminal never lost power (no loose wires or switches)... even though the alternator was offline.
Is this alternator dead? (its got 1200 hours - from a suzuki samuri.. yea that one). I've never heard of an alt failing like this before. Should I get a new one from Vans? or replace it with the same part? Is there any other wiring that I should check before splurging?