Another learning experience

[rringgold]

I taxied away from the self serve pumps at KMKY, 1200 miles from home and noticed my alternator wasn’t charging!
On a Saturday no less, no mechanic around until Monday! Yikes! Now what? I’ve never had this happen in 7 years of ownership.
Before I shut it down I increased the RPM’s and watched the alternator output drop to zero. After shut down I had cycled the circuit breaker which apparently reset the alternator. After texting the owner of the local maintenance shop he suggested I speak with Andreas at his hangar. Andreas suggested that I start the plane and shut down the alternator side of the master switch which hopefully will reset the alternator. If not, well then more maintenance would be required on Monday. So much for leaving when the weather looks good!
We’ll, it appears that my cycling the circuit breaker did the trick, because when I restarted the engine, it was charging. We recycled the alt side of the master anyway. So we’re back on track to leave Sunday morning, what a relief!
Someone is testing my patience.
I’ve owned a couple of cars that required the rpm’s to get up into the 1400 range before the alternator would activate, but never had an airplane do this.
Live and learn!

 

[gmascelli]

Rolf,

Have a safe flight home!

 

[brhoad]

my old (85) Ferrari 308 used the alternator lamp to "excite" the alternator.
It took a lot of troubleshooting to figure out the problem was that the little bulb had burned out and hence would not signal the alternator to "turn on".

 

[wiguy]

I had a problem in KY a few years ago, flying to Statesville, NC. I couldn’t get the starter to crank after fueling, I think along the lines of a solenoid issue. I tried a few things, couldn’t get the engine to turn over.

Within reason, I’m a little bit of a sucker for cheap fuel, which this airport had. There were zero maintenance facilities on the field, just a 1 person FBO desk. I ended up paying the mechanic from 30 miles away to drive up. He got me going, just a little later than planned to Statesville, but not bad.

 

[mrcshbs]

Rolf, I've had that happen to me once and the reset on the rocket switch did the trick, just like you did. I turned off the alt side and raised the RPM to 1500 and pushed it back in and it showed a charge. I was at the run-up area by the way. Never happened again since. It's been a few years. I checked everything with my A&P once I got home and everything was normal. It was just one of those fluke things that just happens.