Electrical "issues" while IFR (long post)
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:22 am
I have the Jasco 7555T alternator & J12M24SP voltage regulator in my
Moose with the M-14P engine.
All my flight instruments are electrical (e.g. the Attitude & Turn/Bank
Indicator in particular). Maybe you can see where this story is
going...
Leaving Denver for Iowa 10 days ago (on the way to Oshkosh), I filed IFR
to try to get above a nasty weather system grounding all VFR traffic.
About 30 min after takeoff I broke out above the clouds. All was great,
until I noticed my engine monitor reporting 1, 0, -1 then -2 amps. My
ammeter sensor is on the main current carrying wire out of the
alternator, measuring total amp output from the alternator. Within 5 to
10 minutes I got a "Low Battery" warning. Less than a minute later
(well it seemed like less than a min) everything went South...I lost all
flight & engine instruments.
I got out my handheld radio (sure glad I had it) to get back in contact
with Center. At this point I was also wishing I had my handheld GPS
with me (I left it home thinking, "Who needs it with two panel mount
GPS's in the plane?"). The clouds were rising in front of me; behind me
was solid IFR down to minimums in the Denver area. I talked to Center,
told them I could not, NOT, go into the clouds period. I climbed to 10,
then 11, 12, 14, 15...up to 16,000' trying to stay above the weather.
Center was trying to find me a hole somewhere up ahead to get down
through. Finally I reset the alternator breaker multiple times and at
least got the system running long enough to spin up the turn & bank
indicator. I decided to take a chance on flying partial panel at a
lower altitude rather than waiting to pass out from lack of oxygen up at
16,000'. Down in the clouds and about 20 minutes later I broke out
between layers. Guess I passed the partial panel IFR test on that
flight.
Center gave me vectors to the McCook Nebraska area where there was a
hole. Here's the first weird thing...about 5 minutes outside of McCook
I reset the alternator breaker (for about the 20th time) and everything
acted normal...normal amps, power, voltage, the works. When I landed at
McCook Nebraska there were cops, fire trucks and the works there. Glad
my wife wasn't with us. Maintenance folks at McCook looked at the
alternator & regulator; all seemed Ok.
Later in the evening the weather was perfect VFR, so I decided to
continue to Iowa where I could spend more time at the in-law's
troubleshooting the system. When I took off from McCook the alternator
was showing 6 amps (normal). Every 10 to 20 minutes the amps dropped by
1, eventually getting to zero. So I shut everything down and flew
pilotage to Iowa.
I talked to the Jasco folks re the alternator & voltage regulator. All
we could find was one wire that was showing a slight drop in voltage
from the regulator to the alternator. Replaced this and thought the
problem was fixed, as all was fine for 5+ hours to/from OSH from Iowa.
However, problem acted up again on way back to Colorado (maybe it's the
altitude <grin>, heat or vibration). Battery is showing that it is
maintaining it's charge, but amps drop from normal ~5 to perhaps 1, 0,
-1, -2 and all around that area. Amps start dropping perhaps 10 min
after takeoff and drop in a linear fashion every 10 or so minutes after
that.
I've downloaded the Jasco wiring diagrams and troubleshooting charts.
Has anyone every heard of a problem like this? Any ideas? The Jasco
folks hadn't heard of a system showing degrading amps like this.
As Paul Harvey says, "Now for the rest of the story." My two teenage
boys, who were with me, and I decided not to tell my wife (at least for
a while anyway). So we got to Iowa, called home and said we had an "Ok"
flight. The next day I'm working on the plane with a buddy of mine in
Iowa and I get a call on my cell phone from a # I didn't recognize. The
person introduces himself as a Delta pilot who was at 37,000' feet the
day before, heard my situation, and spotted the hole that Center
eventually routed me to. I thanked the Delta pilot profusely of course.
He then says, "I'll bet you're wondering how I got your phone number?"
He said he looked up my N # on the web, looked my name with the address
on the web and got my home #. Yep, he told my wife!
Ted
Moose N142SR
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moose with the M-14P engine.
All my flight instruments are electrical (e.g. the Attitude & Turn/Bank
Indicator in particular). Maybe you can see where this story is
going...
Leaving Denver for Iowa 10 days ago (on the way to Oshkosh), I filed IFR
to try to get above a nasty weather system grounding all VFR traffic.
About 30 min after takeoff I broke out above the clouds. All was great,
until I noticed my engine monitor reporting 1, 0, -1 then -2 amps. My
ammeter sensor is on the main current carrying wire out of the
alternator, measuring total amp output from the alternator. Within 5 to
10 minutes I got a "Low Battery" warning. Less than a minute later
(well it seemed like less than a min) everything went South...I lost all
flight & engine instruments.
I got out my handheld radio (sure glad I had it) to get back in contact
with Center. At this point I was also wishing I had my handheld GPS
with me (I left it home thinking, "Who needs it with two panel mount
GPS's in the plane?"). The clouds were rising in front of me; behind me
was solid IFR down to minimums in the Denver area. I talked to Center,
told them I could not, NOT, go into the clouds period. I climbed to 10,
then 11, 12, 14, 15...up to 16,000' trying to stay above the weather.
Center was trying to find me a hole somewhere up ahead to get down
through. Finally I reset the alternator breaker multiple times and at
least got the system running long enough to spin up the turn & bank
indicator. I decided to take a chance on flying partial panel at a
lower altitude rather than waiting to pass out from lack of oxygen up at
16,000'. Down in the clouds and about 20 minutes later I broke out
between layers. Guess I passed the partial panel IFR test on that
flight.
Center gave me vectors to the McCook Nebraska area where there was a
hole. Here's the first weird thing...about 5 minutes outside of McCook
I reset the alternator breaker (for about the 20th time) and everything
acted normal...normal amps, power, voltage, the works. When I landed at
McCook Nebraska there were cops, fire trucks and the works there. Glad
my wife wasn't with us. Maintenance folks at McCook looked at the
alternator & regulator; all seemed Ok.
Later in the evening the weather was perfect VFR, so I decided to
continue to Iowa where I could spend more time at the in-law's
troubleshooting the system. When I took off from McCook the alternator
was showing 6 amps (normal). Every 10 to 20 minutes the amps dropped by
1, eventually getting to zero. So I shut everything down and flew
pilotage to Iowa.
I talked to the Jasco folks re the alternator & voltage regulator. All
we could find was one wire that was showing a slight drop in voltage
from the regulator to the alternator. Replaced this and thought the
problem was fixed, as all was fine for 5+ hours to/from OSH from Iowa.
However, problem acted up again on way back to Colorado (maybe it's the
altitude <grin>, heat or vibration). Battery is showing that it is
maintaining it's charge, but amps drop from normal ~5 to perhaps 1, 0,
-1, -2 and all around that area. Amps start dropping perhaps 10 min
after takeoff and drop in a linear fashion every 10 or so minutes after
that.
I've downloaded the Jasco wiring diagrams and troubleshooting charts.
Has anyone every heard of a problem like this? Any ideas? The Jasco
folks hadn't heard of a system showing degrading amps like this.
As Paul Harvey says, "Now for the rest of the story." My two teenage
boys, who were with me, and I decided not to tell my wife (at least for
a while anyway). So we got to Iowa, called home and said we had an "Ok"
flight. The next day I'm working on the plane with a buddy of mine in
Iowa and I get a call on my cell phone from a # I didn't recognize. The
person introduces himself as a Delta pilot who was at 37,000' feet the
day before, heard my situation, and spotted the hole that Center
eventually routed me to. I thanked the Delta pilot profusely of course.
He then says, "I'll bet you're wondering how I got your phone number?"
He said he looked up my N # on the web, looked my name with the address
on the web and got my home #. Yep, he told my wife!
Ted
Moose N142SR
-----------------------------------------------------------------
List archives located at: https://mail.dcsol.com/login
username "rebel" password "builder"
Unsubscribe: rebel-builders-unsubscribe@dcsol.com
List administrator: mike.davis@dcsol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------