luv2flypilot
Well Known Member
I am 2 hours away from the 40 hour mark and entering phase II and I have recently started experiencing low voltage problems with the 60 amp breaker in line with the alternator tripping intermittantly. I have a Vertical Power VP-200 which monitors every piece of my electronics equipment and have had no problem with any of the circuit breakers tripping within the VP unit as well as can individually monitor each device and its load. Some things I have checked that seem a little out of the norm to me are are the following:
1) With the engine stopped I turn on the VP-200 unit and the activate the switch to the Field and get a 4.0 amp draw. This circuit breaker is rated at 5 amps and this seems a bit high to me since typically you would have a breaker that is rated 125% of the load. Could this be because of something wrong with the alternator creating a higher load internally?
2) With the engine stopped and the field turned on, I get almost 1 volt difference between voltage metered on the field input and alternator output. I was getting around 12.8 V on the alternator output with about 11.7 V on the alternator Field input.
I have a Plane Power AL12-EI160 60 amp internal regulated alternator and speaking with them on Friday, they said that to try and do the test with reading the voltage at the field input and alternator output and there should be no more than a .2 V difference. They said that if it is higher, then it could be something wrong or a short on my field circuit. I have traced and metered the circuit from the alternator field input to the VP box and have no shorts, chaffing, etc. I can monitor the entire current load of the panel from the VP-200 screen and the max I have ever seen is around 33 amps at take off with landing lights, strobes, boost, at everything running. Seems strange that this 60 amp breaker is intermitantly tripping. Maybe I have a bad breaker? Not sure what the chance of that could be? I also want to note that I have checked my Odyssey PC680 battery and spoken with them as well and do not think I have a battery issue. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
1) With the engine stopped I turn on the VP-200 unit and the activate the switch to the Field and get a 4.0 amp draw. This circuit breaker is rated at 5 amps and this seems a bit high to me since typically you would have a breaker that is rated 125% of the load. Could this be because of something wrong with the alternator creating a higher load internally?
2) With the engine stopped and the field turned on, I get almost 1 volt difference between voltage metered on the field input and alternator output. I was getting around 12.8 V on the alternator output with about 11.7 V on the alternator Field input.
I have a Plane Power AL12-EI160 60 amp internal regulated alternator and speaking with them on Friday, they said that to try and do the test with reading the voltage at the field input and alternator output and there should be no more than a .2 V difference. They said that if it is higher, then it could be something wrong or a short on my field circuit. I have traced and metered the circuit from the alternator field input to the VP box and have no shorts, chaffing, etc. I can monitor the entire current load of the panel from the VP-200 screen and the max I have ever seen is around 33 amps at take off with landing lights, strobes, boost, at everything running. Seems strange that this 60 amp breaker is intermitantly tripping. Maybe I have a bad breaker? Not sure what the chance of that could be? I also want to note that I have checked my Odyssey PC680 battery and spoken with them as well and do not think I have a battery issue. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited: