Re: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Alternator Warning Light

Great story Bill and thanks for sharing.  Great lessons for all of us to learn or reinforce what we know but need refreshed.  Besides being able to turn off the alternator and still have a battery, the dual switch allows the pilot to check the alternator prior to flight.  Turning it off will result in a drop in the ammeter while the battery carries the load, and turning it on will result in a sudden jump, demonstrating the alternator is working.  Obviously a pretty important check if flying IFR.  VFR, it's just an inconvenience and a small embarrassment. 

 

Jim

 

From: Bill Hobson

Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 9:42 PM

To: Sport_Aircraft@yahoogroups.co m

Subject: Re: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Alternator Warning Light

 

It's a Lycoming O-235. Actually, it's not a Light Sport airplane, but I figured if anybody had found such a device it would be the Light Sport group. The plane has an Alternator switch and a Field switch that I inadvertently forgot to turn on after starting the engine. (I skipped the item on the checklist.)  (I'm not even real sure WHY it even has these switches because I can't figure out WHY anybody wouldn't want their alternator working at ALL times, but now at least I know what they are for.) I ran my battery down to dead in 25 minutes (a brand new battery, I might add) and the first I knew of the problem was when the GPS went dead, followed by the radios (about 10 seconds later) then the transponder and audio panel in another 10 seconds. Obviously, a gradually declining voltmeter didn't help me a bit and I started wondering why there wasn't something more obvious available. I suppose the first indication of an alternator (or alternator belt) failure would be a similar abrupt loss of avionics (who stares at their volt meter?). Had I had some kind of alerting system I could have at least reduced the load while I figured out what was happening. As it happened I didn't spot the switch problem until after I landed. I'm not likely to repeat this particular mistake in this particular plane (I'll find a way to make other mistakes, I'm sure) but a warning light seems like it would be worth the investment to me.

----- Original Message -----

From: Bob Comperini

To: Sport_Aircraft@yahoogr oups.com

Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 7:10 PM

Subject: RE: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Alternator Warning Light

 

What engine? There is a warning light circuit built in to the 912's regulator.
--
Bob Comperini
e-mail: bob@fly-ul.com
WWW: http://www.fly-ul.com

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