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"Tom Jackson" wrote in message news:cS8ic.10690$_L6.913327@attbi_s53...
The other day, I was flying and noticed that my ammeter guage was reading 0 (it had been reading fine for a long portion of the flight.) Also, I had been running a lap-top from the cigar lighter plug for the first time ever. I turned-off virtually all electric devices and continued to my destination. I also shut-off the alternator switch. Later in the flight, I tried recycling the alternator switch, and the guage would read full deflection, so I then would shut the alternator switch off again. Later in the day, I fired-up the plane - could tell that the battery was weak because it could hardly pull the prop through. The ammeter guage, however seemed to look ok - appeared to be charging the battery. I figured that somehow it had recycled itself, so I took off and headed home without incident (I watched the ammeter guage very closely throughout the flight, and it appeared normal throughout.) The plane is a 1974 Piper Warrior - 151. Any thoughts? Was it merely a failsafe due to too much current being drawn from the lap-top? Should I have it looked at? I can't imagine the current to run a laptop being a factor. I have had instances where the battery was so low that the alernator would charge full scale and trip the alternator breaker with the engine at high rpm. At idle it would charge less and the breaker would hold. -- Gene Seibel Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html Because I fly, I envy no one. |
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