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Another 60A alternator, internally regulated voltage regul

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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject: Another 60A alternator, internally regulated voltage regul

At 07:19 PM 1/5/2007 +0000, you wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		  Add me to the list of folks how had this happen to them.  I have about 75 

hours on this alternator.  Scott at Van's said he's heard of this 

happening before but not often. He suggested to just take the alternator 

to a repair shop and for $20 bucks get it fixed.  Well, I found no such 

place around here so far that can do that....but that's not why I'm writing.



I want to learn if I can read this problem in  advance in the future.

I did recently have a battery that got weak.


	


    What kind and how old was the battery? Did it

    get any kind of testing done since new to track

    its condition?



 	  Quote: 	
		  It put out about 11.2 volts one day out of the blue no matter how long I

charged it with my Battery Tender.  I replaced it and flew a couple of

hours on the new battery before the voltage regulator went belly up.

Now the alternator puts out about 18 to 19 volts.  If I turn on all

the lights I can get the voltage to drop to about 13 - 14 at idle.


	


    It may have been a regulation problem since day-one. Do you

    monitor voltage in the cockpit? Are you sure that an over-zealous

    IR alternator didn't cook the battery?

 	  Quote: 	
		  

Why would the battery probem eventually lead to the regulator

problem (I've heard it could) and can it be pretty much guaranteed

to do so under  certain conditions?


	


    I'm aware of no combination in the physics that suggests

    a battery can damage a regulator. Most likely, it's the

    other way around.



    The symptoms you describe mimic a shorted regulator

    the causes the alternator to run flat-out. The only reason

    the bus voltage is not climbing quickly to 100 volts or

    more is that your new battery is doing its level best

    to use up the alternator's output. Fortunately, the

    alternator is current limited and the new battery fairly

    robust . . . but the alternator will eventually win.



    The regulator is not difficult to replace but you need to

    know the make and model of your alternator to acquire the

    right replacement part.



    Bob . . .

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luckymacy(at)comcast.net
Guest

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:04 pm Post subject: Another 60A alternator, internally regulated voltage regul

It was an Odyssey pc680 and it's van's 60 amp alternator with the internal voltage regulator.  I don't know for sure the make but many say it's a nippondenso (ND).  I didn't take it off yet.

 Yes, the voltage is monitored all the time by my EIS & EFIS and there's a pretty tight voltage range which would trigger an "alarm" if it went out of range.  It never did prior to just oughtright dropping a couple of volts permanently.  But it was my original battery which I abused throughout the build process and I'm not the least bit surprised.  I got my 4 years money's worth as far as the battery goes....

 No, I didn't actively track the battery's voltage becuase I ALWAYS left it on a trickle charger while hangared at the home airport and it never gave me any grief during long trips like to Oshkosh plus  the alarm range was pretty tight on the EFIS (I guess you could say that's gross tracking to some extent).  My bus voltage once the engine is running has always been about 14.2 volts plus or minus .1

 I had heard that a "weak" battery can damage the alternator/regulator so this seamed to have validated that statement.  For sure though, from my observations, the battery appeared to go bad first then 2 hours later after a new battery was installed the regulator seems to have failed. My current battery voltage is really good, even after the voltage regulator failure stress on the battery.

 lucky

 [quote]-------------- Original message -------------- 

From: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III" <nuckollsr(at)cox.net> 

[quote] --> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III" 

 At 07:19 PM 1/5/2007 +0000, you wrote: 

 >Add me to the list of folks how had this happen to them. I have about 75 

 >hours on this alternator. Scott at Van's said he's heard of this 

 >happening before but not often. He suggested to just take the alternator 

 >to a repair shop and for $20 bucks get it fixed. Well, I found no such 

 >place around here so far that can do that....but that's not why I'm writing. 

 > 

 >I want to learn if I can read this problem in advance in the future. 

 >I did recently have a battery that got weak. 

 What kind and how ol  d was  the battery? Did it 

 get any kind of testing done since new to track 

 its condition? 

 >It put out about 11.2 volts one day out of the blue no matter how long I 

 >charged it with my Battery Tender. I replaced it and flew a couple of 

 >hours on the new battery before the voltage regulator went belly up. 

 >Now the alternator puts out about 18 to 19 volts. If I turn on all 

 >the lights I can get the voltage to drop to about 13 - 14 at idle. 

 It may have been a regulation problem since day-one. Do you 

 monitor voltage in the cockpit? Are you sure that an over-zealous 

 IR alternator didn't cook the battery? 

 > 

 >Why would the battery probem eventually lead to the regulator 

 >problem (I've heard it could) and can it be pretty much guaranteed 

 >to do so under certain conditions? 

 I'm aware of no combination in th  e phys  e many  [quote][b]

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