EGBM
9th Jun 2015, 20:42
After landing (a C150) at the weekend I noticed the low voltage light illuminated - a quick check revealed the alternator circuit breaker had tripped. It had not tripped during the flight.
Whilst taxying in (radios, transponder, beacon all still on) I pushed the circuit breaker back in, but it immediately popped out again - not good, I thought.
I decided to do some fault finding while on the ground - I cycled the radio and transponder, breaker wouldn't stay in. However, after I turned the beacon off, and pushed the circuit breaker in again, it remained in. I finished taxying, and decided to turn the beacon on again to replicate the fault so I could present a decent prognosis to the maintainer. However, this time the circuit breaker remained in. Typical.
The only theory I have is there is an intermittent fault in the beacon wiring (would this plausibly cause the alternator circuit breaker to pop?), which seems to occur whilst the aircraft is subject to shock/movement (chafed wire perhaps?). Is this a reasonable theory? Secondly, as our maintainer isn't on-site, is the aircraft safe to fly to them as long as we don't use the beacon?
Thanks all
Whilst taxying in (radios, transponder, beacon all still on) I pushed the circuit breaker back in, but it immediately popped out again - not good, I thought.
I decided to do some fault finding while on the ground - I cycled the radio and transponder, breaker wouldn't stay in. However, after I turned the beacon off, and pushed the circuit breaker in again, it remained in. I finished taxying, and decided to turn the beacon on again to replicate the fault so I could present a decent prognosis to the maintainer. However, this time the circuit breaker remained in. Typical.
The only theory I have is there is an intermittent fault in the beacon wiring (would this plausibly cause the alternator circuit breaker to pop?), which seems to occur whilst the aircraft is subject to shock/movement (chafed wire perhaps?). Is this a reasonable theory? Secondly, as our maintainer isn't on-site, is the aircraft safe to fly to them as long as we don't use the beacon?
Thanks all