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B&C regulator repair

isosceles

Active Member
I burned my b&c which came with the SD-8 alternator... I'm sure there is $1 chip inside which can be replaced. Does anybody know what they have inside?
 
Why not just send it back to Bill's son Nathan, and have them repair it?
 
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Why not just send it back to Bill's son Nathan, and have them repair it?

THIS makes the most sense. B&C is a small, family-run business that is dedicated to excellence. Their customer support is even better than their products, and their products are the best in the business, so that's saying something!
 
Likely either a part has died and/or the board has been damaged. Hard to tell which without taking a look. If the board has been burned (possibly due to a part failure) it should be replaced and only B&C would be able to do that.
 
If you’d like to experiment (this is experimental aviation, isn’t it), search ebay or amazon for yanmar voltage regulaor. Genuine yanmar voltage regulator will be a quality product, most likely compatible with your alternator. Or you can search for a tractor voltage regulator and will get even more results. You will see that these regulators/rectifiers look exactly like what you burnt out and quite a bit less expensive than the B&C offering.
 
Thanks for the heads up guys. It's just easier to buy a new one ($75) rather than mess around with shipping and repairs. It was a matter of principle to fix it myself :) In fact, a quality tractor reg can easily exceed the price of the B&C "permannet magnet" regulator
 
I guess it depend upon what features of the B&C linear regulator are important to you. In addition to the field-adjustable voltage regulation, the LR-2 and LR-3 also provide instantaneous "crowbar" high voltage overprotection by taking the alternator offline, and lastly provide low voltage monitoring with a visual annunciator. The LR-3 model also employs a battery temperature sensor that shapes the charging curve and voltage taper.

I bought my LR-2 more than 30 years ago when I needed really clean linear regulated power due to the sensitivity of Loran avionics (predecessor of GPS). The LR-2 continues to operate flawlessly, as do the three LR-3 regulators I've installed in my later homebuilts. I have well over 6,000 aggregate hours on my own B&C LR regulators - and never a failure. As noted above, B&C's stellar customer service continues through Nathan Bainbridge in the manner instilled in him by his father Bill.

This is experimental aviation, and I like innovation and saving money as much as the next guy, BUT..when I can retire risk by selecting equipment that might keep me from having a **very bad day** while flying night, IFR, over water.... I'll make the choice every time.
 
Bad voltage regulator

Had my B&C LR3 voltage regulator die on the way to Oshkosh last year. Nathan helped me field troubleshoot the issue and narrow it down from the alternator to the voltage regulator. Then he had one FedEx?d to Oshkosh so I could swap it out before heading home. All of this well past the warranty period and at zero charge. Needless to say, I highly recommend B&C products. No word on why it failed with only 270 hours, but it was an easy swap out.
 
Ilya,

Email me if you want me to take a look at it. No assurances. I've never looked at one before, but how complicated can it be?
 
I have not removed it yet... Flying on the battery only for now. Planning on removing it in a coupe of weeks and have a look.
 
Gents, the subject of this topic is the SD-8 alternator voltage regulator — a totally different beast than the L2\3 regulators mentioned in some of the posts. It has no built in OV protection, etc. The permanent magnet voltage regulator is not compatible with a field controllled alternator and vice versa. And I am pretty sure there is no aircraft-proprietary magic in that regulator. It looks, smells, works exactly the same as any other permanent magnet alternator voltage regulator. The SD-8 alternator itself in its core has a regular $40-80 tractor alternator. What makes it a $600 aircraft alternator is that is simply how high of a price the market can bear in the absence of competition — nothing wrong with that if you believe in freedom. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with educating yourself, applying yourself, experimenting, etc.

Regarding failures, i hear the permanent magnet alt voltage regulators can get very hot and need good cooling (more so than the field controlling variety). Mounting it on the cold side of the firewall on a surface that provides good heat sink and good airflow helps with their longetivity.
 
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Kalibr beat me to it but he is right- the the PM regulator/ rectifier does not contain crowbar OV protection like the LR-3 does. It is cheaply and easily added via parts available from B&C, and highly recommended.

A couple of years ago Nathan told me that they had a "new and improved" PM R/R in the works. You might check with him on that, but even a brand new old one is not terribly expensive.
 
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