I have a 1974 Bellanca Citabira 7ECA, I have a cronic charging problem. After flying for an hour or so I lose charge and after landing to get fuel for instance there is not enough charge to restart the engine. I have replaced the battery, the starter, the voltage regulator, the battery cables, rebuilt the magnetos and this problem still persists, any ideas out there?
Citabria keeps going dead! Any ideas?
- Thread starter spurr2780
- Start date
bookmaker
New member
The magnetos would have nothing to do with it, but the alternator/ generator (whichever you have) does. You did not indicate you checked that.
Do you have a volt meter or ammeter in the panel? If so, when the motor is running, you should see the voltage of about 14.5 on a voltmeter and a positive reading (or, if fully charged 0 reading) on an ammeter. If you don't see good voltage, or see a negative amp draw, your generator/ alternator is not putting out.
If it is, you have a serious voltage drain somewhere.
On the way home from purchasing my plane, the generator gave up. I upgraded with an alternator.
By the way, on a good battery charge, you should be able to start several times and run basic electrics for a couple of flights without a generator or alternator working at all.
Dale
Do you have a volt meter or ammeter in the panel? If so, when the motor is running, you should see the voltage of about 14.5 on a voltmeter and a positive reading (or, if fully charged 0 reading) on an ammeter. If you don't see good voltage, or see a negative amp draw, your generator/ alternator is not putting out.
If it is, you have a serious voltage drain somewhere.
On the way home from purchasing my plane, the generator gave up. I upgraded with an alternator.
By the way, on a good battery charge, you should be able to start several times and run basic electrics for a couple of flights without a generator or alternator working at all.
Dale
High percentage of probability for the following possibilities, could be a hundred other things, but usually it's some form of electrical ground or connection problem with those pinky finger sized wires when the buss is reading the correct charging or battery voltage. Try these - Battery leads tight? Battery negative lead well grounded to airframe? - (unbolt it and look for rust/corrosion - your battery in the back?...there's dumpster dive over the rear seat in your future). Starter lead tight? - (double check the ring terminal/wire connection). Starter and Battery relay wiring secure/tight? Bonding jumper between the engine case and engine mount in place and well connected? Check the security of the wire ring terminals on all of the above - (are they loose on the wire?). Also, starting to see starter relay high amperage contacts burned on older aircraft - you'll have to replace the starter relay to fix that one - (check voltage drop across the big terminals - disconnect the starter before attempting this one). Turn on all the lighting - landing lights - kinda' dim? Take a look at the battery relay (have also replaced several of those in the past year - burned contacts).......ought to give you something to work with...Sorry, nothing's easy. Good luck.