Rotax Voltage Regulator issues Again

[tomkk]

What charge voltage do you see with this regulator?

[Dave12]

Originally Posted by ramrod25

Would recommed NAPA Part# SME 7068102

About $100 bucks

Mount on cockpit side of firewall with a 12V computer fan blowing on regulator.

My fan is about 5" diameter wired to master switch.

Have been flying with this regulator for 18 months with no issues after my ducatti burned out.

Heat is the enemy of these regulators.

Regards
Ramrod25

Did the same thing a year ago/150 hrs. . I used a 30$ amazon clone and a two inch cooling fan that cost about 4$. The power come right off the hot terminal on the regulator. Switched by the master. Charge rate is typically 14.2 volts. Very satisfied so far.

[ramrod25]

Mine runs 14.7 volts at cruise rpm.

Rodney

[bruceflys]

My wife's RV-12 ELSA originally had an under-the-panel $180 Ducati voltage regulator that lasted 120 hrs, followed by a JD $20 replacement that failed yesterday after 150 hrs.

Five minutes after takeoff I smelled hot electrical insulation, the EFIS lady screamed "warning," the voltage digital readout flashed red 29.9 volts, and I instinctively grabbed and removed the 30A generator fuse while wisps of smoke flowed from the center panel.

A friend flying from the left seat turned off the master switch and controlled the airplane while I tried to figure where to aim the fire extinguisher. Simultaneously I pondered why the light smoke continued with everything but the Dynon backup battery deactivated. Then I realized the generator fuse probably disconnected downstream of the VR, meaning the generator was still feeding it. Yanking the wires off the VR killed the smoke. We restored the master and flew home using the ship's battery.

Fortunately when I bought the JD unit, I bought a spare too. Also I installed nutplates to mount it. Putting in the spare, working only from under the panel took ten minutes. During a flight today, the new JD produced 14.1 vdc.

The first JD unit was a bit flakey during its life as the buss voltage varied from 14.0 to 14.4 vdc regardless of load. Its temperature also varied from warm to hot, but usually showed 140F on a non-contact thermometer. So when the voltage began to work higher over the last few flights, I thought that it was normal variation for this VR. Finally it settled at 14.7, which is the top of the charging range acceptable to Odyssey.

Now I realize that the rising output was warning of coming failure. When I see that again, I will prophylactically put in the new spare that I just ordered from Amazon.

[tomkk]

I always thought heat was the biggest problem those V.R.s had (the heat they dissipated doing their job, not ambient temp they live in). Every V.R. I've tried, two Ducattis and, I think, three different J.D.s, have run too hot to touch. What I'm trying now is to mount a small computer cooling fan I had lying about directly to the V.R. I actually tie-wrapped it directly to the cooling fins, blowing air up into the fins. So far, the two V.R.s I've tried that both ran really cool. I guess we'll see how well the J.D. I have in now lasts.

[Skunkworks]

Made one change to fix this problem.
Cut a spoon shaped scoop on the end of the blast tube and made it stick out into the air stream.

[MacPara]

Originally Posted by bob1393

Good morning everyone. Our Ducati VR on our RV12 failed after only 223 hours of service. Now the second one has failed after 109 hours!! Both of them lasted about 10 months each.

I spoke to Van's technical dept. this morning and they are aware of the short life of this VR. Vans has discussed this with Rotax but there doesn't seem to be any action taken to correct the issue.

Other than the John Deere VR I've seen mentioned here on this forum, is there any other VR that someone would recommend that works well on the Rotax? Any info somebody has would be appreciated.

Thanks guys for your help.

Bob1393

Seems I'm a bit late to the party. If you're still looking for a replacement for the Duc VR:
http://torstensrv-12.blogspot.com/20...regulator.html

There's the whole story of my installation of the F4112 Silent Hektik VR. I am very happy with it. The Odyssey seems to like the higher Voltage of 14.7V in cruise and I haven't had any glitch ever since I put it in (~140 hours ago)

[tomkk]

One of the problems with the SH VR, though, seems to be how to get one here in the States. Last I knew they didn't ship here.

[MacPara]

Originally Posted by tomkk

One of the problems with the SH VR, though, seems to be how to get one here in the States. Last I knew they didn't ship here.

When the topic was hot a while ago in a different thread, I remember posting some links of shops that ship to the US. One was in the UK, I think. The search tool should be able to find this information.
Yup, found it. It wasn't me posting it but it was in the UK:
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...28&postcount=3
Apparently, you can also find them on ebay from motorcycle shops.

[RFSchaller]

My first Ducati lasted 300 Hours on the engine side of the firewall. I have 370 Hours on the second in the same spot and it’s still going strong. I put temp strips on them and they blackened up to the 180F marker. Don’t ask me how, but they seem to hang in there even in the Phoenix heat. I guess you guys just haven’t made the right blood sacrifice to the Ducati gods!😜