Re: REFLECTOR: Alternator?

[Becky <hoffman3@erols.com>]

R. Wayne Owens wrote:
> 
> john@allied-computer.com wrote:
> 
> > I know that Velocity recommends an AC Delco, but I've heard of problems
> > with them.  I've also heard of a lighter higher-output (60-65 amp?) from
> > Mazda or somewhere...  Any recommendations?  How about mounting
> > brackets?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > John Rourke
> 
>   John,
>  An author of a recent Contact Magazine article recommended Mitsubishi
> alternators over Nippodenso and had pictures of the small modification
> necessary to add an overvoltage crowbar circuit to the internal regulator.

Last Saturday I went to a junk yard looking for alternators. I was shown
shown a room full of alternators. I found a nice little one with a
conventional V-belt sheave. It was a Mitsubishi 45 amp one off of an '86
Dodge D-50 pickup with a 2.0 Misubishi engine. I paid $30 bucks for it
and left. On Sunday I went to Pep Boys to price a rebuilt. $43 plus $13
core charge. I'll keep the old one it's only worth $13. I'll buy the
rebuilt one later. In the mean time, I'll fit it to the Franklin which
PZL said they were hoping to ship by tomorrow.

> On one vacation trip out west my alternator died (on a previous trip I had a
> day's  delay and a $700 rip-off for a replacement alternator) so I borrowed
> a loaner car and  carried my dead cessna style alternator off my Grumman to
> a little town in Oklahoma.
> My point is: if you aren't worried about having a "blessed" alternator you
> should be able to find one at an auto electric shop with plenty of current
> capability  that will fit and be physically smaller (lighter) than the stone
> age stuff the FAA approves.
> Wayne Owens

About two years ago the flying club was having problems with what we
thought was a dying battery on a '65 Mooney. The mechanic couldn't find
anything wrong. On the flight back to Potomac Airport, MD (VKX) the
radios slowly died. I was just 10 miles out, and going into a
non-controlled airport in Class G airspace with a 1500 foot ceiling.
On downwind, I wondered about not having a transponder when I saw Air
Force One departing Andrews Air Force Base about 7 NM away.

For about the fifth time we got the mechanic. This time after an hour
and a half, he figured out the problem. The generator's voltage
regulator was failing after it warmed up. At engine run up, everything
okay.

Bottom line. It cost almost $1000 to replace it with an FAA approved
one. Replace it with an approved A.C. Alternator system? Forget it!

Carl Hoffman