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Planepower

jacksel

Well Known Member
If you ever need an alternator, I strongly recommend Planepower.

They replaced mine after failure with NO charge.

It was over 2 years OUTSIDE of warranty!

Not bad
 
Your experience is quite unique, based on multiple past posts here...

I had a similar experience to jacksel - great support, and the problem was 100% mine. I hope one day I can take those PP/Hartzell guys out for a steak dinner - I owe them, and they deserve it!
 
That's great but I still say the best alternator is the one that doesn't fail in the first place and PP has a less than stellar reputation :eek:
 
That's great but I still say the best alternator is the one that doesn't fail in the first place and PP has a less than stellar reputation :eek:

Totally agree - but in my case the alternator didn't fail. I complained about something I saw in my graphs, and they said "we'll send you a new alternator to see if that changes anything." :) At their full expense. The problem was not the alternator. YMMV - just sharing my experience.
 
That's great but I still say the best alternator is the one that doesn't fail in the first place and PP has a less than stellar reputation :eek:

A good friend of mine once said: "Show me something mechanical and I'll show you something that will fail." So far I have only seen anecdotal evidence regarding the "reputation" of Plane Power.

Indeed, I maintain that you are less likely to hear about the failures that didn't happen.

-Marc
 
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So far I have only see are anecdotal evidence regarding the "reputation" of Plane Power.

-Marc

The following poll on VansAirforce was started in 2016 and after 4 years it had accumulated a massive sample base of 497 users. I don't think anyone could describe it as "anecdotal".

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=138805&highlight=alternator+poll

The poll reveals that in 2020 the accumulated data for alternator failures BEFORE 250 HOURS was as follows:

Auto alternators 18.9%
Plane Power alternators 28.9%
B&C alternators 2.6%

The numbers clearly speak for themselves.
 
The following poll…… I don't think anyone could describe it as "anecdotal".
.

Well, I would. Don’t misunderstand, I suspect B&C has a better record. But the poll is flawed, it relies on self-reporting.
1. Unhappy owners will always self-report more than happy ones, and
2. Happy owners of expensive items will self-report more than happy owners of inexpensive items (they feel the need to justify the expenditure).
 
failure

The most concerning thing to me is how it failed. Did one manufacturer have more sudden failures leaving the pilot stranded, rather than a gradual failure where the voltage started dropping or such and there was time to get home and diagnose the problem?
 
Well, I would. Don’t misunderstand, I suspect B&C has a better record. But the poll is flawed, it relies on self-reporting.
1. Unhappy owners will always self-report more than happy ones, and
2. Happy owners of expensive items will self-report more than happy owners of inexpensive items (they feel the need to justify the expenditure).

Bob, while I would agree that the reporting is less than complete I would not completely call it anecdotal. When I had the engineering design control for components and began to hear about failures of my parts, there was doubt (like exhibited here) about the reporting. I learned from our reliability and statistics group that he Weibull plots are alarmingly helpful and consistent in identifying a problem part early in its genesis with a handful of failures. There was more than enough data to make a good Weibull plot of the PP. It even showed (bifurcation) they had an early hour failure at that time (which was corrected). In following this since, it appears that they have allowed other early hour failure modes to have taken their place. This is not an accident but a systemic quality control issue. What gets monitored gets fixed. The lone PP EI60 that I disassembled, inspected and repaired was a thoughtful and solid design IMO . The report is on VAF. Without new data (hours) of at least 7 failures, we don't know what the current early hour failure rate or probability is, and that is anecdotal.
*****
I will give kudos to the marketing side of PP for stepping up and covering these failures with new parts. My PP is still on probation at 200 hrs.
 
PP Alternator

In installed my PP alternator on my IO-360 engine in 2008 with a air blast tube to the back section of the alternator. I now have 1963 Hrs on the engine with no issues with the alternator.

That's great but I still say the best alternator is the one that doesn't fail in the first place and PP has a less than stellar reputation :eek:
 
*****
I will give kudos to the marketing side of PP for stepping up and covering these failures with new parts. .

+1. I hope this is a sign that the relatively new management is taking a serious interest in quality control.
 
My PP

Installed a Plane Power altercator on our RV-6 nine years and 640 hours ago. It popped the circuit breaker on initial startup. I took a deep breath and reset it. It’s been perfect ever since.
Also recently installed a certified Plane Power on a friend’s Cessna 140 with a C-85 Continental. So far so good. I’ve been paying close attention to the woes of others and feel a bit like I somehow dodged a bullet.
It seems like Plane Power’s problems are relatively recent. When I installed ours it was considered a pretty good unit. Not as good as the B&C but much easier on the bank account.
 
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