Monticello Flying Club Posted August 7, 2015 Report Posted August 7, 2015 From time to time, upon landing, our Garim 430 reboots. We have been able to recreate it at the ramp by reducing power to idle. Battery always has enough charge. The aircraft has a generator and fairly new voltage regulator. Our guess is that some how the voltage regulator is not picking up the drop off of the generator when the RPM's are reduced. Any other thoughts? Any way to test the regulator without replacing it and seeing if the issue goes away?
Piloto Posted August 7, 2015 Report Posted August 7, 2015 Generators on planes are poor at generating voltage at idle, specially at night with landing light on. Best solution is to replace the generator with an alternator. José 1
philiplane Posted August 7, 2015 Report Posted August 7, 2015 The Garmin will automatically shut down when low voltage is detected. It is about 11.5 -11.8 volts if I recall.
carusoam Posted August 7, 2015 Report Posted August 7, 2015 Which VR got installed? The newer ones have some nice diagnostic LEDs that can be helpful. Getting the LED output to the cabin would be even more helpful. Realistically, the output of the generator is zero at anywhere near idle. Do you have a digital voltage gauge that you can use? Try to get a feeling for rpm and voltage output. It may take 1700 rpm(?) to have the generator supply any voltage. Try to get a feeling for the strength of the battery under various conditions like OAT and long taxis. An alternator is capable of supplying voltage at much lower rpm. Unfortunately, this rpm may still be too fast for comfortable taxi speeds... It helps to have a large battery capacity and/or a second battery. This can be a serious challenge for IFR flight. Long taxis at large airports can lead to departures with low battery reserves, low voltage and your navigator re-setting. You really want to know the generator is online before proceeding into IMC... What other electric items are running while taxiing? Thoughts of a PP, -a-
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