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regulator failure mode?

dbhill916

Well Known Member
hi all,

I had a great and otherwise uneventful flight the other day. On taxiing back to the hangar I had a complete loss of charging current. RPM's were > 2000, Amps ~ -12 A and voltage dropped to ~ 11.5 V. I shed some load and got the voltage up above 12 but current was still very negative. I ran up to around 3000 RPM and suddenly got good voltage and positive amps.

Is this a sign of impending regulator failure? Given their nature, I have already ordered a replacement. Should I install the replacement upon receipt, or put it into my spare parts kit?

Thanks in advance,
-dbh
 
If you haven't already done so, consider removing the regulator wires from the black connector and installing them individually on the VR pins. There can be loose connections with the black plug and you can't easily feel that. Installing the wires without the black connector lets you feel how tight the connection is and also they go fully onto the pins which is not the case using the black connector.
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Consider adding a dedicated ground wire from the VR mounting screw to the battery negative.

If you have the VR under the panel, consider nut plates and stand-offs to make changing the VR quick and easy.
 
EA-XB100-1 ?

Jim, Sorry I didn't reply to your question last year.

I assume I had (note use of past tense) a Ducati regulator since it was what came with the kit many years ago. I did order a replacement and had it on the shelf when the original VR finally did fail last week. Took 15 min to swap it out and all is working again.

Since I now have another failure prone Ducati in my plane, I'm looking at being proactive and getting its replacement ordered for the inevitable day when it fails. Van's is currently (sorry about the pun!) selling an EA-XB100-1 for $325 or so. Any feedback on performance and/or reliability?

Thanks,
 
With Mogas over $5/gal, buy John Deere 12V Voltage Regulator AM101406 for $21.99 and fly rest of summer for free...
 
With Mogas over $5/gal, buy John Deere 12V Voltage Regulator AM101406 for $21.99 and fly rest of summer for free...

That's what I installed and it works great.
Heads up, I wound up buying 3 of these. The first one I ordered regulated the voltage to 16+ volts so I threw it in the garbage and ordered two more. Not from the same place. Of those 2, 1 makes 14.5 volts and 1 makes 13.6 volts. I installed the 14.5 and kept the other for an emergency spare. I soldered wires to the blades and added connectors for easy R&R. I also moved it under copilot instrument panel.
 
I also pinch the blade connectors to make sure of a good contact, I previously had a VR (Ducoti) fail and one of the yellow connectors was burned, I also re installed the VR inside the cockpit with stand offs for air circulation and put a piece of thermal tape on it. It has hit 170f ...I've had it in place now for almost 300 hours with no problem but I do keep a spare in my fly away kit.
 
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