Service difficulty report · Circuit Breaker · Piper PA31

Difficulty date
December 8, 2004
Submitted
March 3, 2005
Operation
General aviation
Make and model
Piper PA31
Aircraft serial
7400992
Aircraft time
9,953 hours
Engine
Lyc TIO540A2C
Propeller
Hartzl HCE3YR2A
Part
Circuit Breaker
Part number
5AMP
Condition
Damaged
Location
Electrical
Stage of operation
CR
How discovered
O
Nature of condition
B, H
Precautionary procedure
A

As reported to the FAA. Reports are unverified, and codes are left as the FAA publishes them.

What was found

(CAN) AC WAS RETURNING WHEN RT ALT WENT OFF-LINE, 5 MIN LATER LT ALT SYS WENT OFF-LINE. BATTERY, LT ALT, BOTH VOLT REG, LT OVER-VOLT RELAY, LT VOLT REG CB WERE REPLACED. NO TEST FOR OVER-VOLT RELAY SPECIFIED IN MM, IN ELEC SYS OF MM A 500 HOUR OVER-VOLT RELAY OPS CHECK IS RECOMMENDED, HAS BEEN ADDED TO AC`S TBO SHEET. LT 5 AMP FIELD (VOLTAGE REG) CB. WHEN IT WAS MEASURED AFTERWARDS A VOLTAGE DROP/RESISTANCE WAS NOTED ACROSS IT. WOULD CAUSE VOLT REG TO THINK BUSS VOLTAGE WAS LWR THAN IT ACTUALLY WAS. IN THIS CASE 28.2V WAS MEASURED AT FIELD TERMINAL ON VOLT REG WHILE 30.5V WAS MEASURED AT BUSS. THIS WOULD CAUSE RT ALT SYS TO GO OFF-LINE DUE TO IMBALANCE. LT ALT SYS WOULD CONTINUE IN THIS MANNER.

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