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bnelson79
Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Posts: 4
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 Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:37 pm Post subject: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem |
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I am having a similar problem to the one Hugh McKay had a few years ago. My problem though is simply that the battery is not being charged. The voltmeter show 12 volts at startup and slowly drains down from there (faster if I turn accessories on). Noticed this while flying yesterday when the voltmeter was pegged on the high end. Landed and suddenly started getting a lot of static in headset. Turned off heater and static disappeared, but voltmeter dropped to zero. Noticed landing light had been accidentally turned on - turned off and volt needle swung to high side again. As I turned switches off the needle would swing from high to low. Finally shut down. But when I tried to restart volt meter read only around 9 volts and engine wouldn't turn over at all. Recharged battery today and engine started with 12 volts showing and none of the other switching problems. But juice continued to dribble away.
Any suggestions??? Bad ground??? Bad regulator???
Bill Nelson
Prosser, WA
N6576E
[quote="hgmckay"]
Quote:
I have a Rotax 912 UL engine on an Allegro 2000 LSA. Recently I have had to replace my battery (12V 18Ah) because of it's inability to crank the engine. Prior to replacing the battery I noticed my combination Volt/Amp meter showed only 12 volts while flying. Usually the voltmeter shows about 13.5 volts at start-up while the engine is running on the ground and while flying. After replacing the battery, and starting the engine the voltmeter returned to 13.5 volts. However, when I began to close certain circuit breakers engaging the front landing light, the two wing tip landing lights, the two wing tip strobes, and the nav. lights I noticed the volt meter dropping back each time I engaged one of the breakers until finally the volt meter again was indicating only about 12 volts just as before. I have a "no charge" red light in the battery charging circuit that comes on if the battery is not being charged while the engine is running. This light normally does not come on unless the engine is at very low rpm ( aprx.1400 rpm). This is not normal for my engine for my idle speed is set at 1800 rpm.
I do not know why the voltage is dropping each time I close the breaker for lights described above, or what may be causing the voltage drop. I know I have a good battery, but I don't know if my regulator is going bad, or if there may be aground some where, or somthing else. Can anyone shed any light on what may be causing this? The engine has only 255 hours on it and I have not had any other problems with the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hugh G. McKay III
Allegro 2000
Rotax 912 UL
N661WW
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joeing701(at)simnet.is
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| Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 11:56 pm Post subject: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem |
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Hello Rotax owners Bill and Hugh.
One question about the connection of the Regulator/rectifier.
Do you have the C wire connected directly to the battery? If so, it will drain the battery. Connect it to the battery relay.
Best regards,
Johann G.
Rotax 912 UL
Zenith 701
----- Upprunalegt skeyti -----
Frá: "bnelson79" <bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com>
Til: rotaxengines-list(at)matronics.com
Sent: Sunnudagur, 20. mars, 2011 01:37:06 GMT +00:00 Monrovia
Efni: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem
I am having a similar problem to the one Hugh McKay had a few years ago. My problem though is simply that the battery is not being charged. The voltmeter show 12 volts at startup and slowly drains down from there (faster if I turn accessories on). Noticed this while flying yesterday when the voltmeter was pegged on the high end. Landed and suddenly started getting a lot of static in headset. Turned off heater and static disappeared, but voltmeter dropped to zero. Noticed landing light had been accidentally turned on - turned off and volt needle swung to high side again. As I turned switches off the needle would swing from high to low. Finally shut down. But when I tried to restart volt meter read only around 9 volts and engine wouldn't turn over at all. Recharged battery today and engine started with 12 volts showing and none of the other switching problems. But juice continued to dribble away.
Any suggestions??? Bad ground??? Bad regulator???
Bill Nelson
Prosser, WA
N6576E
[quote="hgmckay"]
Quote:
I have a Rotax 912 UL engine on an Allegro 2000 LSA. Recently I have had to replace my battery (12V 18Ah) because of it's inability to crank the engine. Prior to replacing the battery I noticed my combination Volt/Amp meter showed only 12 volts while flying. Usually the voltmeter shows about 13.5 volts at start-up while the engine is running on the ground and while flying. After replacing the battery, and starting the engine the voltmeter returned to 13.5 volts. However, when I began to close certain circuit breakers engaging the front landing light, the two wing tip landing lights, the two wing tip strobes, and the nav. lights I noticed the volt meter dropping back each time I engaged one of the breakers until finally the volt meter again was indicating only about 12 volts just as before. I have a "no charge" red light in the battery charging circuit that comes on if the battery is not being charged while the engine is running. This light normally does not come on unless th!
e engine is at very low rpm ( aprx.1400 rpm). This is not normal for my engine for my idle speed is set at 1800 rpm.
I do not know why the voltage is dropping each time I close the breaker for lights described above, or what may be causing the voltage drop. I know I have a good battery, but I don't know if my regulator is going bad, or if there may be aground some where, or somthing else. Can anyone shed any light on what may be causing this? The engine has only 255 hours on it and I have not had any other problems with the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hugh G. McKay III
Allegro 2000
Rotax 912 UL
N661WW
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=334471#334471
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BARRY CHECK 6
Joined: 15 Mar 2011
Posts: 738
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| Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:55 am Post subject: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem |
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Bill & Hugh:
You both identified your problem... One same problem.
The charging circuit is NOT working.
Why is it not working?
Well there you will have to pull out the VOM and start taking readings... Voltage and Resistance.
1 - Start with removing and cleaning ALL connections in the circuit... Battery, Voltage Regulator (VR), Circuit Breakers , etc.
2 - REPLACE all lock washers.
3 - CHARGE the battery off a battery charger to verify the battery is:
a> Good
b> Can hold a charge
c> Has power to excite the VR - No Excite No charge.
4 - If you have one of those solid magnetic alternators... SORRY! But check for loose & broken magnetics.
For a battery to charge you NEED 13.8 to 14.2 VDC. Any less than that and you will CONSTANTLY be draining from the battery until... YOU HAVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOW!
Barry
On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 9:37 PM, bnelson79 <bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com (bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com)> wrote:
[quote] --> RotaxEngines-List message posted by: "bnelson79" <bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com (bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com)>
I am having a similar problem to the one Hugh McKay had a few years ago. My problem though is simply that the battery is not being charged. The voltmeter show 12 volts at startup and slowly drains down from there (faster if I turn accessories on). Noticed this while flying yesterday when the voltmeter was pegged on the high end. Landed and suddenly started getting a lot of static in headset. Turned off heater and static disappeared, but voltmeter dropped to zero. Noticed landing light had been accidentally turned on - turned off and volt needle swung to high side again. As I turned switches off the needle would swing from high to low. Finally shut down. But when I tried to restart volt meter read only around 9 volts and engine wouldn't turn over at all. Recharged battery today and engine started with 12 volts showing and none of the other switching problems. But juice continued to dribble away.
Any suggestions??? Bad ground??? Bad regulator???
Bill Nelson
Prosser, WA
N6576E
[quote="hgmckay"]
Quote:
I have a Rotax 912 UL engine on an Allegro 2000 LSA. Recently I have had to replace my battery (12V 18Ah) because of it's inability to crank the engine. Prior to replacing the battery I noticed my combination Volt/Amp meter showed only 12 volts while flying. Usually the voltmeter shows about 13.5 volts at start-up while the engine is running on the ground and while flying. After replacing the battery, and starting the engine the voltmeter returned to 13.5 volts. However, when I began to close certain circuit breakers engaging the front landing light, the two wing tip landing lights, the two wing tip strobes, and the nav. lights I noticed the volt meter dropping back each time I engaged one of the breakers until finally the volt meter again was indicating only about 12 volts just as before. I have a "no charge" red light in the battery charging circuit that comes on if the battery is not being charged while the engine is running. This light normally does not come on unless th!
e engine is at very low rpm ( aprx.1400 rpm). This is not normal for my engine for my idle speed is set at 1800 rpm.
I do not know why the voltage is dropping each time I close the breaker for lights described above, or what may be causing the voltage drop. I know I have a good battery, but I don't know if my regulator is going bad, or if there may be aground some where, or somthing else. Can anyone shed any light on what may be causing this? The engine has only 255 hours on it and I have not had any other problems with the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hugh G. McKay III
Allegro 2000
Rotax 912 UL
N661WW
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=334471#334471
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Dick Maddux
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 516
Location: Milton, Fl
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| Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:38 am Post subject: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem |
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Bill,
I had a similar problem a while back. It ended up being corrosion on the regulator terminals. It wasn't obvious.
Try removing and cleaning the terminals. I used Scotchbrite and some electrical terminal cleaner.
It worked
Dick Maddux
Milton,Fl
[quote][b]
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Float Flyr
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 2704
Location: Campbellton, Newfoundland
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| Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:55 am Post subject: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem |
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All good advice but I’d add one small point. Make sure to clean all the connections, ground or hot, when replacing the lock washers.
One other thing to check is the case of the voltage regulator. Many solid state regulators use the back of the case as a ground. This is a perfect place for corrosion to occur and fool up your charging circuit. You may want to remove the regulator from the firewall and clean both the back of the regulator and the fire wall where it contacts the regulator before reinstalling the regulator. If your regulator has a plug in type connector make sure all the wires are solid in their crimps.
The fact that you did get some charging with the landing lights makes me expect that the coils in your generator/alternator is ok but as Barry said there are no guarantees. If a coil is open expect to spend money.
From: owner-rotaxengines-list-server(at)matronics.com [mailto:owner-rotaxengines-list-server(at)matronics.com] On Behalf Of FLYaDIVE
Sent: March 20, 2011 9:23 AM
To: rotaxengines-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: Re: Rotax 912 Battery Discharging Problem
Bill & Hugh:
You both identified your problem... One same problem.
The charging circuit is NOT working.
Why is it not working?
Well there you will have to pull out the VOM and start taking readings... Voltage and Resistance.
1 - Start with removing and cleaning ALL connections in the circuit... Battery, Voltage Regulator (VR), Circuit Breakers , etc.
2 - REPLACE all lock washers.
3 - CHARGE the battery off a battery charger to verify the battery is:
a> Good
b> Can hold a charge
c> Has power to excite the VR - No Excite No charge.
4 - If you have one of those solid magnetic alternators... SORRY! But check for loose & broken magnetics.
For a battery to charge you NEED 13.8 to 14.2 VDC. Any less than that and you will CONSTANTLY be draining from the battery until... YOU HAVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOW!
Barry
On Sat, Mar 19, 2011 at 9:37 PM, bnelson79 <bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com (bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com)> wrote:
--> RotaxEngines-List message posted by: "bnelson79" <bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com (bnelson79(at)embarqmail.com)>
I am having a similar problem to the one Hugh McKay had a few years ago. My problem though is simply that the battery is not being charged. The voltmeter show 12 volts at startup and slowly drains down from there (faster if I turn accessories on). Noticed this while flying yesterday when the voltmeter was pegged on the high end. Landed and suddenly started getting a lot of static in headset. Turned off heater and static disappeared, but voltmeter dropped to zero. Noticed landing light had been accidentally turned on - turned off and volt needle swung to high side again. As I turned switches off the needle would swing from high to low. Finally shut down. But when I tried to restart volt meter read only around 9 volts and engine wouldn't turn over at all. Recharged battery today and engine started with 12 volts showing and none of the other switching problems. But juice continued to dribble away.
Any suggestions??? Bad ground??? Bad regulator???
Bill Nelson
Prosser, WA
N6576E
[quote="hgmckay"]
Quote:
I have a Rotax 912 UL engine on an Allegro 2000 LSA. Recently I have had to replace my battery (12V 18Ah) because of it's inability to crank the engine. Prior to replacing the battery I noticed my combination Volt/Amp meter showed only 12 volts while flying. Usually the voltmeter shows about 13.5 volts at start-up while the engine is running on the ground and while flying. After replacing the battery, and starting the engine the voltmeter returned to 13.5 volts. However, when I began to close certain circuit breakers engaging the front landing light, the two wing tip landing lights, the two wing tip strobes, and the nav. lights I noticed the volt meter dropping back each time I engaged one of the breakers until finally the volt meter again was indicating only about 12 volts just as before. I have a "no charge" red light in the battery charging circuit that comes on if the battery is not being charged while the engine is running. This light normally does not come on unless th!
e engine is at very low rpm ( aprx.1400 rpm). This is not normal for my engine for my idle speed is set at 1800 rpm.
I do not know why the voltage is dropping each time I close the breaker for lights described above, or what may be causing the voltage drop. I know I have a good battery, but I don't know if my regulator is going bad, or if there may be aground some where, or somthing else. Can anyone shed any light on what may be causing this? The engine has only 255 hours on it and I have not had any other problems with the engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hugh G. McKay III
Allegro 2000
Rotax 912 UL
N661WW
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=334471#334471
===========
-List" target="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?RotaxEngines-List
===========
http://forums.matronics.com
===========
le, List Admin.
="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/contribution
===========
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