I love it when a plan comes together

[FloridaMan]

I left Tampa Bay to head to Phoenix early yesterday morning. When flying westward, I plan my first fuel stop somewhere near Longview. This time I did Rusk County (KRFI) because they had cheap fuel, nice facilities and a car I could use for lunch.

It seems like past planning and decision making paid off. That EDM-900 that I had installed back in March alerted me that my voltage was at 11.7 shortly after takeoff; I know with full certainty that I would have not seen this with the old instruments. I immediately turned to KGGG, called ATC and notified them of the indication and that I may go NORDO. They provided a clearance with taxi instructions and I flew in to Don Maxwell's shop.

Had I not purchased that EDM-900 and planned my fuel stop where I did, I could have likely found myself stuck somewhere I didn't want to be.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N231BN]

Ammeters are about worthless in these airplanes. I am fortunate enough to have a low voltage light but I am glad to have a voltmeter in the UBG-16. Good job recognizing the failure.

[Mooneymite]

For the CB's amongst us.

 

 

[Hank]

Hey, Gus, that has a USB port, too! But I wonder how visible it would be down under the right yoke?

[Jerry 5TJ]

Seems like your plan did NOT come together, but your improvisation and diversion to GGG went well.

The decision process sounded familiar to me -- Last week I was headed into KFFZ when the mixture control in the "C" broke (....) so I diverted to KCHD where there is a Mooney shop.  

Flew away with a nice new vernier mixture control.  

[Mooneymite]

Hey, Gus, that has a USB port, too! But I wonder how visible it would be down under the right yoke?

 

Dang, Hank!

 

You want cheap AND visible?

[bonal]

_{Lake Aero sells a lighter plug in digital VM that has a swivel for viewing its around 0.020 AMU's works great!}

[Vance Harral]

Now if I will only get into the habit of looking at it!

 

You might consider a voice annunciator.  Easy installation, signed off as a minor mod, and pretty inexpensive for an airplane toy.  The Electronics International flavor has low voltage detection built in to the annunicator itself.  You can wire up other warnings as desired: landing gear, stall warning, engine monitor, etc.  http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/av17voiceannunciator.php

[Jerry 5TJ]

Agree that monitoring the voltmeter is important, so I put the meter right above the pilot's yoke.

It is a combination clock/timer/voltmeter/OAT.  It reads 14.1 volts normally.

[Tommy]

Guess you are glass-half-full kind of guy!

[Hank]

Jerry, that's an interesting adaptation of a shotgun panel. Looks very functional.

Tommy, I'm not a "glass half full" or a "glass half empty" guy. As a mechanical engineer, I'd have to say that the glass is too large.

[rbridges]

Well don't leave us hanging. Was it an alternator or bad ground?

[Mooneymite]

Did you cycle the master switch?  (Or the ALT CB, or whatever your particular plane has.)

 

I've had my electrical system go "overvoltage" and stop charging.  Turning the master off and back on returned everything to normal.  I was IFR, so had to warn ATC that I would be momentarily NORDO and would possibly have to divert VMS to a nearby airport if the reset didn't work.