Team
I am still struggling with my regulator problem.
My original regulator (RR1) did 170 hours and then went
intermittent on me, working for a while and then failing
to charge. I tried re-soldering some of the connections
but it failed again 10 flights later :-) When it was
working my (analogue) ammeter showed a steady needle
position (which of course depended on the level of charge).
I have purchased another regulator (RR2) and this works
but exhibits another apparent problem. It charges fine but
once the engine revs get above 4600 the ammeter needle
starts to oscillate 3 - 5 times a second between 1 and 5
amps, and it continues to do so more and more violently up
to max revs. I find this very distracting, and if the
ammeter is right it means that the charging voltage is
oscillating between the normal 15 volts and maybe 17 volts.
I have tried other regulators (thank you Simon and Gavin)
and they do not exhibit this oscillation.
In addition I know of two regulators purchased from
Lockwood in the US which have the same symptoms.
SkyDrive's initial attitude was - throw away the ammeter !
However they have accepted it back and are sending me
another one. They will send it to Rotax for a proper test.
Has anyone else had this problem when they have replaced
the RR with a new one ? It would only be evident with an
analogue ammeter.
It is possible that the regulator design was changed
sometime last year, or maybe the circuit board was
redesigned with a small flaw in it. Older RR seem to be
OK, later ones not so. The ones that oscillate have been
date stamped Nov 2005 and Jan 2006.
Richard
G-OWWW High Cross
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