----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 11:13
AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: fuse vs CB (was
Re: Back from Sun & Fun)
Well, not simpler than a fuse, but then you can't
reset a fuse {:>).
Ah,
but I can replace the fuse, much easier than you can replace your CB :-)
Oh,
Yeah! Well, we need to have a contest to see if you can replace your fuse as
fast as I can push in my CB {:>)
As I
mentioned I am not against fuses as I use them in all of my non-critical
systems. 2000 hours of flying in military aircraft which use CBs and the
sucessful resetting of them has biased me toward CBs. Resetting does not
always or even most of the time work, but my experiences show resetting does
work on some occassions. It would make me very nervous about flying with
fuses in critical systems. Just my personal bias.
Seriously, my fuses are in easy reach, particularly
the critical ones. Unfortunately, they're under the panel where I
can't see them. Before I get far out of range of the airport, I'll make
a diagram that shows me which fuse is which, and I'll keep a couple spares
handy, perhaps in unused fuse slots. Talk about something to keep
you busy in a crisis :-)
I
admit that this isn't nearly as easy as pushing in a CB, but my fuses are all
sized well in excess of the needs of the device being powered. If it
blows, replacing it won't likely help.
I know that is the basis for the
"Fuse vs CB" debate - if it blows, then there is nothing (airborne) you
can do about it. But, I believe a CB can be tripped by a temporary
condition (had it happen too many times for it to be a fluke) which may pass
and permit you to regain use of the system.
Since you
always seem to be within gliding distance of a free
lunch <g>, you can just shut the engine off, leave the CB off,
and restart the engine to continue without the alt. If it doesn't
start... you can make one of your stealth approaches for
lunch :-)
Actually
pushing about 15 minutes of total engine out time, but am hopeful that I do
not add to that talley - even for a free lunch {:>)
Ed
Cheers,
Rusty (just
fueling the old debate)