Ragsf15e

Some VR are not adjustable, what kind do you have? i have a Zeftronics r15300 digital one and its not adjustable.

To answer your initial question... I don’t think the battery will cause you to indicate low voltage during cruise if the VR and Alternator are working properly.

So we’ve got this other thread going with the exact same problem although my voltage is more like 13.2 consistently. I replaced the battery because it was old and failing capacity check. Replaced the alternator at annual and neither thing worked. I have a data recorder on the engine and i can see it has been a slow voltage decline for a year or two. It could be the voltage regulator or something else. I wouldn’t recommend starting to replace things until you troubleshoot. There’s a zeftronics VR troubleshooting guide and a Planepower alternator guide reference in the other thread.

Yep. Was like the 4th time solo and she had never been great about getting the heavy elevator far enough back in the flare (I watched her abuse the Cessna on her solo). Anyway landed hard on the nose wheel back at the home airport. Real hard. Went around. Flew a normal pattern. Made a good landing. Told the FBO to check the airplane thoroughly. One blade had tip damage from prop strike. Then they found the crack in the firewall above the nose gear. The airplane was already very ragged and the engine tear down was enough to total it. I was a bit miffed at her instructor but it could have ended worse.

If you even consider the possibility of the engine being remotely warm, consider it a hot start. If hot start technique doesn’t work, no harm done because no fuel was added. Let your starter cool for a minute and then if you don’t think it’s hot, prime it as normal. If you prime it on the first start, it’s very easy to flood it. Still not a big deal if you know the technique for a flooded start, but you do need to decide to transition to that technique as it’s different. Flooded start - Prime it 3-5” to make sure it’s flooded. Full throttle, mixture cutoff. Crank it. Very Slowly pull back throttle till it starts. Then throttle 1000, mixture rich. It takes 4 hands. So, if the engine may be warm, try hot start. That works 99%. If no, try normal start. If no, flooded. That works for me anyway.

It looks awesome!

The airflow in our engine compartment never ceases to amaze me. As far as flying wives... mine soloed a C-172 a few years back. And then promptly totaled it on a short cross country.

Hot starts are a common issue. Have you had the airplane long? Has it been doing this consistently or has it gotten worse? I recommend searching with Google, “Mooney Hot Start”. You will find lots of threads on this. personal technique for hot/warm/lukewarm starts... shut down with mixture cutoff and throttle set at 1,000 rpm. When you go to start, don’t touch anything! Don’t prime it. Don’t use fuel pump. Just Crank it. When it fires, be ready to increase mixture to rich. Unless you have an ignition or fuel problem making this worse, it’s purely a technique issue and easy to learn to start reliably.

I tend to think (or maybe hope) you’re right. However, I’d really like to check out the VR before replacing it. Unsure how to do that, but learning quickly!

Thank you. I do see negative amps before starting the engine and briefly when applying a big load (gear up or down), but the amp reading wasn’t really my worry. Iwas more concerned with the low voltage. I’m starting to think it’s the voltage regulator, but I have no idea how to check it. I think I’ll make a call to zeftronics...

Thanks. I have a new alternator (November 2018) and looked at the jpi download on either side of the work. Voltage appears low and variable before and after. Thanks for the info on the cig lighter wiring.

Finally got the video link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/pj3XWE2tvhQ2NXaWA

So I checked the voltage at the cigarette lighter... now I have more questions than answers. There is no voltage at the cig lighter until I turn on the Avionics Master. The JPI is obviously on without the Avionics master. The JPI and Cig lighter check match within 0.1 volt when I power on the Avionics master. 1. Is it normal that the cig lighter is through the avionics master? 2. If it's connected through the avionics master, should I still see 13.7ish - I'm still seeing around 13.2volts. 3. When I turn on everything (LED lights and pitot heat), my voltage decreased to 13.1 and my amps were relatively constant... seems wrong? (see linked video) - When I turn off everything (including the avionics master), I was at 13.9 volts and about 5 amps which seems pretty good. When I turned everything back on, I went back down on the voltage. (sorry, I'm still working on the video) So I looked through flights from the last 3 years on my JPI 930 data. See pictures. In 2016 (slide 1 picture), voltage was constant at 14. In 2018 (slide 2) it was a lot more variable, and more like 13.5. Now the third picture is from last month, 13.2 ish average. The voltage scale is the same on the pictures and it's definitely lower. Am I chasing a non-existent gremlin? Is my voltage regulator at fault? Battery and Alternator are <6 months old. Zeftronics voltage regulator.

T82 Fredericksburg has Pippen-York. I heard good things when I lived there but didn’t get the chance to use them.

That’s sounds about right for the Cirrus crowd.

Heck on a Cirrus they are just about required equipment! Who designed their tiny access for checking/filling air??

You’re not even sure the alternator is the problem yet....

I had mine extended and installed a cotter pin exactly as you described. I really hate it slipping out and ending up on my butt in front of a busy ramp. Again.

Personally, I’d just do the 345. Remote version is a nice touch to keep the panel clean. You probably have ~3 or 4 gps in your airplane every time you fly already. Yes, only 1 is certified for approaches, but if that fails, my phone, ipad, and sentry ADSB will all get me where I need to go. As far as approaches, there are plenty of ils out there to count on as a backup.

+1 on takeoff flaps and 90mph instrument approaches. Not much reason to change flap settings after I that. She lands real good with takeoff flaps.

You’re not the only one. My jpi 930 MAP fluctuates about.5” too. I’ve grown use to it. My FF fluctuates a bit as well. %HP and other readings are stable. I did contact jpi support and they want me to send in the unit for updated software to fix these issues. If that doesn’t work, they move on to the snubber solutions. I just haven’t had a good time to pull mine and send it back.

Well then you’re good!! Go fly at night in lifr, you already had your engine issue!

Tried Oreilly auto parts on the way to fly home from KBOI. No luck. Ill get one on Amazon and check it. This is what I saw on the way home (100 ROP, about 147ktas because you know you’d look).

So is there an a simple voltmeter I can put in the lighter? That would be a good check.

Thanks Yetti. Terminals should be ok since I just installed it but I’ll check. Got the battery in February and it was from October 2018, so that seemed ok. I was wondering about the JPI too... is there an easy way and place to check the actual voltage with the engine running? Jpi is only indication I have.