Have you considered that the alternator was just working overtime doing double duty.  Running the plane and charging the battery.  You mentioned you had drained the battery over night.

Mike McGee, RV-4 N996RV, O320-E2G, Hillsboro, OR
13B in gestation mode


At 18:04 2004-04-20, you wrote:

Could be a bad breaker, Rusty.  But since those are fairly simple devices, I wouldn't expect it to reset if busted.  I will report what I find as always - busted alternator OR busted circuit breaker {:>)
 
Ed Anderson
RV-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
Matthews, NC

----- Original Message -----

From: Russell Duffy

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 7:13 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Back from Sun & Fun

Adding to the fuse vs Circuit break debate.  I had my alternator field coil circuit breaker pop three times during the flight home.  I reset it and it generally ran another 1 1/2 hours before popping again.  Don't know what the problem is until I dig into it, but it kelp producing 14 volts while it ran so was plenty good to get me home.  Could not have reset a fuse, so while I do use fuses or non flight critical items (such as instruments) all my flight critical systems are with circuit breakers.

 

 Can't wait to hear what you find.  Maybe a bad breaker, which will certainly add to the fuse vs breaker debate, but not in the way you expected :-)

 

Cheers,

Rusty (my brain is a fuse)