Starter question

"A Lieberma" wrote in message
. 18...
A Lieberma wrote in
. 18:

...
Now, all of this raises a couple of question. Exactly what is the
ammeter for if I wasn't showing any sign of discharge on a battery not
running full tilt?


The ammeter tells you what is going in or out of the battery. It tells you
if the alternator is working - it tells you nothing about the condition of
the battery. If the battery were to fall out of the bottom of the aircraft
during flight, the ammeter would register 0 - nothing going in, nothing
going out.


When I put the master on, it was exactly where it is everytime I started
the plane, with no sign if discharge. I know the meter works, as when I
put my landing light on, it will swing to the left. When I fire the
engine, the needle swings slightly right and settles back in the middle.

So the battery was still connected and could still put out something.


When the battery does go belly up, does the starter click like a car when
a bad battery is the problem?

It can.

--
Geoff
The Sea Hawk at Wow Way d0t Com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
When immigration is outlawed, only outlaws will immigrate.

"Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea Hawk at wow way d0t com writes:

Now, all of this raises a couple of question. Exactly what is the
ammeter for if I wasn't showing any sign of discharge on a battery not
running full tilt?

The [zero-center style] ammeter tells you what is going in or out
of the battery. It tells you if the alternator is working - it tells
you nothing [directly] about the condition of the battery.

[added]

But you can infer battery condition by observing trends.

Normally, at initial idle, the ammeter will show a loss; the alternator
is making less than needed and the battery is helping.

At runup, the ammeter will show a charge. This will hold true at taxi,
etc.

Eventually, the charge expended by starting/idle will be recouped
and the ammeter will center near zero. BUT exactly when happens
that, be it one min. after TO, or 10 or 100, is a function of many
things including other loads, how long it took to crank, age of the
battery, etc. But it's your bird, and it should act about the
same in the same circumstances.

1) If the battery is run down, say because you are a slacker and
did NOT go flying last week; there's more charging needed.

2) If the battery is barely run down at all, because you stopped for
fuel & the restart was warm & easy; it may recharge during that long
taxi.

3) When the battery gets really whipped, it won't take a charge;
i.e. it appears to recharge in far less time.

The "no crank" you experienced means insufficent voltage at the
starter innards. Its cause could be: discharged/bad battery [low
source voltage] or bad connections -- be they at the battery terminals,
the starter cables, the solonoid, or inside the starter.

I always suspect the grounds first, but YMMV.





--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher wrote in news:epoqih$kks$1
@reader2.panix.com:

The "no crank" you experienced means insufficent voltage at the
starter innards. Its cause could be: discharged/bad battery [low
source voltage] or bad connections -- be they at the battery terminals,
the starter cables, the solonoid, or inside the starter.

One thing for sure David,

New battery, I am sure my A&P cleaned the battery connections and I am
pretty sure he would have inspected the connections so that will be ruling
out any further issues should I have any.

He has been extremely thorough in the five years I have been doing business
with him.

Allen

A Lieberma writes:

David Lesher wrote in news:epoqih$kks$1
:

The "no crank" you experienced means insufficient voltage at the
starter innards. Its cause could be: discharged/bad battery [low
source voltage] or bad connections -- be they at the battery terminals,
the starter cables, the solenoid, or inside the starter.

One thing for sure David,

New battery, I am sure my A&P cleaned the battery connections and I am
pretty sure he would have inspected the connections so that will be ruling
out any further issues should I have any.

Then further troubleshooting is needed. Another poster suggested that
contactors may be the culprit. It's a good suspect.

(There are two basic approaches to troubleshooting. One is to
methodically go step by step, testing as you go...until you find
the anomaly. The other is jumping to a specific villain, and testing
it first.

An expert is the guy who knows how to balance these two. He may try
the second, and then go back to the first when stuck.)



--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

David Lesher wrote in
:

(There are two basic approaches to troubleshooting. One is to
methodically go step by step, testing as you go...until you find
the anomaly. The other is jumping to a specific villain, and testing
it first.

An expert is the guy who knows how to balance these two. He may try
the second, and then go back to the first when stuck.)

Manowar do I agree with the second paragraph 'specially when it's
electrical in nature and intermittent.

I flew today, no problems whatsoever noted. Not so say a problem doesn't
exist, but engine ran smooth, started on one swing of the prop.

Couldn't even go to the practice area, but that wasn't a mechanical issue,
icing at 2000 feet was the problem.

Allen