Alt. question

sky bob wrote:

I am building a Long EZ and am the stage where I am ready to start the
engine installation and have a couple questions for the group. The
Alt. that I have is a small single wire 60 amp alt W/ a built in
regulator that I will be putting on a Lyc. 0-235 my quastions are as
follows. 1. Is there a way of turning the alt. off if the regulator
were to stick and continue to charge the batt. even though it were
fully charged? I have heard of this happeningand almost blowing up the
batt. I've also heard that even if I were to shut the voltage (12V)
off to the atl that it could still send a charge to the batt as long
as the engine is turning the pulley. 2. What size wire would be
recommended to carry the voltage from the alt. to the batt. that is
located in the nose of the plane (maybe 10-12').

Thanks for your suggestions.

Sky Bob
Brunswick, GA

The response to check the aeroelectric site for information on alternator
installation was a good one. We used one of their over voltage protection
circuits on an externally regulated alternator. I do not have any experience
with an internal regulator. If you use their (Aeroelectric) over voltage
protector and an inline fuse to the alternator that would probably work. The
idea behind the over voltage protector is that it will create a short circuit
when the voltage exceeds a given design voltage. That short circuit will then
cause the current to rise in the supply wire until the fuse rating of the supply
wire fuse is exceeded and it melts, opening the circuit and removing the supply
voltage to the alternator.

Per your second question, you will need to calculate the total load that the
alternator is going to be supplying. From that and a wire sizing table you can
calculate the size wire needed. At a guess I would say that a 10 AWG should be
more than adequate for your application. The 10 AWG is good for 30 amperes and
will supply that load with a 2% drop over the 10 feet.