One more bad Voltage Regulator

[WingedFrog]

Failed at 95 hours. Typical symptoms, positive amperage kicking in later and later on start-up, even higher RPMs did not help much at the end. Gave me the feeling it was temperature related as once it had kicked in it worked well in flight. I Have started the tedious work of opening the case to see what component may be involved. I have removed the packing stuff from the bottom, it did not look like overheated. The circuit board may be tricky to extract from the case any hint to do that?
Although I have reservations about the relocation inside the cockpit I will probably do it at my next annual. This regulator cost me about to $2/flight hour... Well, it could be worse, I could fly on Avgas!

[WingedFrog]

I found a bad solder on the board,

Here is a photo of the area involved:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzX...ew?usp=sharing

Here is a blow-up of the bad solder, the pin has been straighten and the place where it was just stuck is visible:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzX...ew?usp=sharing

I find this way to connect a component quite weird.

[Ex Bonanza Bucko]

Mine failed at 67 hours TTSN. Moved it to the starboard knee well IAW Van's drawings.
EBB

[funflying]

Will you use the same type of regulator? And I hope you will post your decision to just replace or replace and relocate.

I am in the middle of annual and had recently checked the carb sync and noted only 1 to 0 amps during this operation. I started trying to check my voltage regulator functionality based on some prior posts and was interested in a different type and the relocation done now. Also only 61 hours.

[Ex Bonanza Bucko]

I got a new copy of the original voltage regulator and put it in the starboard knee well. I think the failure was due to heat....in my factory bird the VR was about 6 inches from the exhaust manifold with a blast tube and plenum around it. Not good.

I think is a list of design flaws in the RV12 and that they will bite us in the butt increasingly as time goes on. The latest SBs are and example. I have another one--the port side canopy strut broke at the upper end while on a trip. The rod ends are made of plastic and if you look you will discover that the canopy moves side to side very easily thus producing a long lever arm on the struts that will eventually make them break.
EBB

[WingedFrog]

You guys who had to replace your Voltage Regulator, I would be interested to find out if you had the same problem and I would not be surprised if you did. The way to connect a component by having one pin going through the PC board and bending to dip on the circuit side into a big glob of solder is something I have never seen during my career in telecommunications. If you still have the failed unit, just cut the soft rubber-like filler at the bottom all around with a cutter and then pull the filler with pliers. There are two layers, one 1/4" thick and one 1/8" thick. You need to be patient!
Too many people experienced the same symptoms of failure that I explained above. It might all revolve around this weird connection which would be clearly a quality issue and should be covered by Rotax/Ducati whatever the age of the unit. US car manufacturers had to face million $ recalls for lesser things. This could also make the relocation of the Voltage Regulator unnecessary by explaining the high rate of failure.

Correction: the layers are 1/8th and 1/16th inch thick

[AZLeeJay]

Mine's going out too!
Just under 130hrs
Just ordered the replacement.
I'd be curious about the relocation and plans for such. Are they available from Van's?

[todehnal]

Originally Posted by WingedFrog

You guys who had to replace your Voltage Regulator, I would be interested to find out if you had the same problem and I would not be surprised if you did. The way to connect a component by having one pin going through the PC board and bending to dip on the circuit side into a big glob of solder is something I have never seen during my career in telecommunications. If you still have the failed unit, just cut the soft rubber-like filler at the bottom all around with a cutter and then pull the filler with pliers. There are two layers, one 1/4" thick and one 1/8" thick. You need to be patient!
Too many people experienced the same symptoms of failure that I explained above. It might all revolve around this weird connection which would be clearly a quality issue and should be covered by Rotax/Ducati whatever the age of the unit. US car manufacturers had to face million $ recalls for lesser things. This could also make the relocation of the Voltage Regulator unnecessary by explaining the high rate of failure.

Any idea what component is associated with the charred area of the circuit board? Also, do you see a fix for this issue? Maybe we should be proactive in a preventive fix, other than relocating the regulator, or waiting for a failure.

Tom

[funflying]

When yours went out what was it doing or not doing?

Your replacement...was it the same type of VR you had?

[WingedFrog]

Originally Posted by todehnal

Any idea what component is associated with the charred area of the circuit board? Also, do you see a fix for this issue? Maybe we should be proactive in a preventive fix, other than relocating the regulator, or waiting for a failure.

Tom

There is no charred area, what you see is some rubber sticking to the board after removing most of it. The fix is easy in this case: just redo the solder with a soldering iron. The only problem is replacing the rubber or at least sealing the bottom to prevent humidity to come in. I don't know what component is on the other side and it does not matter as the failure was likely due to this bad contact. I will know for sure after doing the repair and re-installed the box which is not my priority as I just installed a brand new one. No need to be pro-active, the sign of failure is unmistakable, the amp meter goes negative in the -2 to -4 amp range depending on your equipment in use. With a battery in good shape this leaves you some time to land before you lose your SkyView.