1968 PA-28R-180
Guys, as part of my scan while in cruise, I typically keep an eye on all the engine instruments (no monitor yet).
Early in the flight after reaching cruise, it looked like this:
Looking at it, it appears to be one bar width OFF of zero which indicates there's a load there. But I just couldn't remember what ZERO load (engine/battery off) looked like.
Later, I looked again and saw this:
It stayed like this for the rest of the flight.
Bear in mind, I don't have any heavy loads on the bus other than the typical:
2 com/navs,
transponder
PMA intercom
Blue tooth transmitter plugged into the aux with a USB charging it and
USB charging the Ipad.
The alternator is probably less than a year old
The power pack for the gear is similarly young.
Battery is probably a couple years old.
I HAVE heard the pump kick on during long flights a couple weeks ago. I checked and there was no fluid leak (which would possibly cause the pump to kick on?).
Today, the flight wasn't long at all (less than 1hr) and didn't hear the pump kick on (or the EMF from the pump coming through the headsets.)
After landing and shutting everything down, I confirmed that the ammeter (with everything shut off) reads like the first pic.
Any thoughts on what the (transient?) issue might be?
I am concerned that the alternator could be dying, but I didn't see ANY indications of failing alternator on the avionics.
Guys, as part of my scan while in cruise, I typically keep an eye on all the engine instruments (no monitor yet).
Early in the flight after reaching cruise, it looked like this:
Looking at it, it appears to be one bar width OFF of zero which indicates there's a load there. But I just couldn't remember what ZERO load (engine/battery off) looked like.
Later, I looked again and saw this:
It stayed like this for the rest of the flight.
Bear in mind, I don't have any heavy loads on the bus other than the typical:
2 com/navs,
transponder
PMA intercom
Blue tooth transmitter plugged into the aux with a USB charging it and
USB charging the Ipad.
The alternator is probably less than a year old
The power pack for the gear is similarly young.
Battery is probably a couple years old.
I HAVE heard the pump kick on during long flights a couple weeks ago. I checked and there was no fluid leak (which would possibly cause the pump to kick on?).
Today, the flight wasn't long at all (less than 1hr) and didn't hear the pump kick on (or the EMF from the pump coming through the headsets.)
After landing and shutting everything down, I confirmed that the ammeter (with everything shut off) reads like the first pic.
Any thoughts on what the (transient?) issue might be?
I am concerned that the alternator could be dying, but I didn't see ANY indications of failing alternator on the avionics.
