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TIL the hard way about wiring a standby alternator wrong
Had a Cessna 172 come in last Tuesday with an intermittant charging issue. Spent 4 hours chasing the wrong circuit because I assumed the field wire was hot with the master on. Anyone else trip over this sneaky pitot-static ground setup?
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wendy2058d ago
Did you end up checking the pitot-static ground before or after you realized you'd been chasing ghosts? I once spent an entire afternoon troubleshooting a standby alternator only to find out I'd wired the field backwards and it was just sitting there looking pretty. My mentor still brings it up at every shop BBQ.
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sandrap408d ago
That 200 hour inspection when I was still pretty green, maybe it's just me but I always thought the pitot-static ground was fine because the system looked clean. I mean, I spent two days swapping pitot masts and chasing pressure leaks before someone asked if I actually checked the ground path. Turned out it was a tiny bit of corrosion under the screw that made the whole thing act flaky. Now I always hit that ground first no matter what.
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