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Gary,
I agree.  The alternator is becoming the most critical power device aboard.
We'll have the standby alt and one Concord RG 24-11 recombinant battery, 27
amp hrs I believe.  No vacuum.
You know, that Cessna 172 came to our fleet at Pacific Aviation after a
fresh annual which got the ship back into license after a two year hiatus on
the ground.  The sticker was not visible on inspection and there was no
paperwork on the alternator to suggest it was not an aircraft unit.
A C-172 isn't a high altitude aircraft, especially in a training fleet as we
had at that time.  It was one of six nearly identical C-172N's.  When the
alternator failed it just quit.  I removed it myself and saw the tractor co.
sticker.  It was real obvious it had automotive brushes by the dust and time
in service... less than 300 hrs.
Moral of the story to me is auto brushes won't last long on any aircraft,
even a lowly C-172 which usually plods along below 8,000 ft.  I suspect on a
high altitude airplane the brushes might go away much faster.  With higher
loads that would only speed up.

Walter Dodson   IV-P  40%

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