Toobuilder
Well Known Member
Here's a new one on me:
Took off this AM for a quick flight around the neighborhood. Within a few minutes of takeoff I feel a sharp pinch on my bare leg - like a bee sting. A search of the cockpit does not reveal any critters, and my leg looks unscathed. I'm about to write it off as nothing when I catch sight of a pinhead sized metallic object drop out from behind the panel and land right on my leg, with the same painful results as before. I quickly figure out that it's molten solder, leaking out of my instrument panel. OK, time to land and figure this one out. Ammeter shows nothing abnormal, but a careful hand survey of my strobe light switch reveals that the wire is loose and too hot to touch. All lights off and uneventful landing ensued.
Inspection revealed that the screw securing the soldered and crimped ring terminal to the output lug on the switch/breaker was slightly loose, causing enough localized arcing to generate considerable heat. Enough to melt solder. And yes, the breaker is functional.
So the takeaway for me is that you can have a very high localized heat condition that won't show up on the ammeter, pop a breaker, create any radio noise, or show up at all until stuff starts to smoke. I was fortunate in a sense that the builder of my Rocket used soldered connections that gave me an "early warning".
I have a new focus area on my future inspections - just thought I'd share the experience.
Took off this AM for a quick flight around the neighborhood. Within a few minutes of takeoff I feel a sharp pinch on my bare leg - like a bee sting. A search of the cockpit does not reveal any critters, and my leg looks unscathed. I'm about to write it off as nothing when I catch sight of a pinhead sized metallic object drop out from behind the panel and land right on my leg, with the same painful results as before. I quickly figure out that it's molten solder, leaking out of my instrument panel. OK, time to land and figure this one out. Ammeter shows nothing abnormal, but a careful hand survey of my strobe light switch reveals that the wire is loose and too hot to touch. All lights off and uneventful landing ensued.
Inspection revealed that the screw securing the soldered and crimped ring terminal to the output lug on the switch/breaker was slightly loose, causing enough localized arcing to generate considerable heat. Enough to melt solder. And yes, the breaker is functional.
So the takeaway for me is that you can have a very high localized heat condition that won't show up on the ammeter, pop a breaker, create any radio noise, or show up at all until stuff starts to smoke. I was fortunate in a sense that the builder of my Rocket used soldered connections that gave me an "early warning".
I have a new focus area on my future inspections - just thought I'd share the experience.