---------------------------------------------------------- AeroElectric-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 06/30/26: 6 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 10:33 AM - I think I'm back . . . (Robert L. Nuckolls, III) 2. 10:58 AM - Re: I think I'm back . . . (Jim Hausch) 3. 04:59 PM - Re: I think I'm back . . . (Eric Page) 4. 05:48 PM - Re: I think I'm back . . . (Sebastien) 5. 05:59 PM - Re: I think I'm back . . . (Eric Page) 6. 07:53 PM - Re: I think I'm back . . . (user9253) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 10:33:05 AM PST US From: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III" Subject: AeroElectric-List: I think I'm back . . . I owe you guys an apology for my absence . . . Our household experienced an extra ordinary constellation of family matters that kinda took all the fun out of my fun-stuff. I won't burden you all with the soap opera. Suffice it to say that major issues are mitigated and only a few minor issues remain. Dr. Dee is retired as of April 1. We've got a list of fix-up projects around the house that's about a mile long but they're all little things that can be picked off one at a time. I've not been completely 'disconnected' from technical matters. There are a number of things to share in due course. I put the crowbar ovm project back on the bench along with a sort-of next-generation alternative. The original 'crow-bar' version forced a breaker open served it's purpose grandly for about 30 years! That technology is still being manufactured on a constellation of products for TC aircraft. The problem I perceive now is that our favorite miniature circuit breaker has become more expensive than the ov module itself! The rational for the crowbar architecture was based on the fact that the circuit breaker already existed in virtually every TC aircraft . . . the ov module was a stand-alone add-on. I sincerely hope that the majority of our builders are using fuse blocks . . . the legacy circuit breaker panel is expensive, labor intensive, and a poor use of panel space given that 99.9+ percent of all breakers installed in airplanes go to the bone-yard never having been called upon to keep a wire from catching fire. So this begs the question, is there now a practical way to corral an runaway alternator by OPENING the field supply without deliberately forcing a breaker open? I.e. can the breaker be replaced with a fuse setting along side other fusess in the block? The answer is yes. We can discus that in detail in due course. I've also acquired some sodium ion cells to put through their paces on the battery bench. You're probably all aware of Matt's move from Oregon to Washington state which generated an outage on the aeroelectric website and email services. We've had some teething pains with the move that had the 'Connection's business activities in a tizzy. I think those issues are now resolved. In the mean time, bring me up to date. Is the List still intact if somewhat diminished? Anyone have issues I could ponder? Thank you for your patience . . . Bob . . . //// (o o) ===========o00o=(_)=o00o======== < Go ahead, make my day . . . > < show me where I'm wrong. > ================================ In the interest of creative evolution for the-best-we-know-how-to-do based on physics and repeatable experiment. ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 10:58:06 AM PST US From: Jim Hausch Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: I think I'm back . . . Hi Bob Great to see a message from you. Glad to hear the home honey-do list isn't anything major. As this heat dome settles over the land and since you asked for thoughts on projects.... I've always wondered how light of a portable air-conditioning unit could be built if you ran it off its own, dedicated pad-mounted alternator. The idea being that since this is an isolated system, could one make the operating voltage much higher and conductors/motors smaller....perhaps even make it Alternating Current? I do wonder what rpm limitations might be, since we'd want it to work at idle speeds on the ground. I also wonder if some sort of super-cap or other power storage device could be tapped for compressor starts. No immediate project at hand, just curiosity. -Jim On Tue, Jun 30, 2026, 12:37=AFPM Robert L. Nuckolls, III < nuckolls.bob@aeroelectric.com> wrote: > I owe you guys an apology for my absence . . . Our > household experienced an extra ordinary constellation > of family matters that kinda took all the fun > out of my fun-stuff. I won't burden you all with > the soap opera. Suffice it to say that major issues > are mitigated and only a few minor issues remain. > > Dr. Dee is retired as of April 1. We've got a list > of fix-up projects around the house that's about > a mile long but they're all little things that > can be picked off one at a time. > > I've not been completely 'disconnected' from technical > matters. There are a number of things to share in due > course. > > I put the crowbar ovm project back on the > bench along with a sort-of next-generation > alternative. The original 'crow-bar' version > forced a breaker open served it's purpose > grandly for about 30 years! That technology > is still being manufactured on a constellation > of products for TC aircraft. > > The problem I perceive now is that our > favorite miniature circuit breaker has become > more expensive than the ov module itself! The > rational for the crowbar architecture was > based on the fact that the circuit breaker > already existed in virtually every TC > aircraft . . . the ov module was a stand-alone > add-on. > > I sincerely hope that the majority of our > builders are using fuse blocks . . . the legacy > circuit breaker panel is expensive, labor intensive, > and a poor use of panel space given that 99.9+ > percent of all breakers installed in airplanes > go to the bone-yard never having been called upon > to keep a wire from catching fire. > > So this begs the question, is there now a > practical way to corral an runaway alternator > by OPENING the field supply without deliberately > forcing a breaker open? I.e. can the breaker > be replaced with a fuse setting along side other > fusess in the block? The answer is yes. > We can discus that in detail in due course. > > I've also acquired some sodium ion cells to > put through their paces on the battery bench. > > You're probably all aware of Matt's move from > Oregon to Washington state which generated > an outage on the aeroelectric website and email > services. We've had some teething pains with > the move that had the 'Connection's business > activities in a tizzy. I think those issues > are now resolved. > > In the mean time, bring me up to date. Is the > List still intact if somewhat diminished? Anyone > have issues I could ponder? > > Thank you for your patience . . . > > Bob . . . > > //// > (o o) > ===========o00o=(_)=o00o====== == > < Go ahead, make my day . . . > > < show me where I'm wrong. > > ======================= ========= > > In the interest of creative evolution > for the-best-we-know-how-to-do based > on physics and repeatable experiment. > ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 04:59:43 PM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: I think I'm back . . . From: "Eric Page" Bob! It's great to see you posting here again. I'm sure I speak for many here when I say that I was worried about you. I'm very glad to see that you're back in the saddle. Re the Matronics move, I was happy to learn that Matt and his bride are now my neighbors; they're two doors up the street from me! Due to my work schedule and general laziness, we have yet to meet face-to-face, but I look forward to fixing that. The neighbor between us tells me that they're wonderful people. ----- It may interest you to look at a few threads that rolled by in your absence. I very much hope that I haven't stepped on any toes... 1. I took the liberty of working on your OVM-14 Mk III design while you were away. I drew a schematic and circuit board design, built some prototypes, tweaked some resistor values experimentally and posted the results here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=515351&sid=2c07cec97e78d88c2157d6d0d419c306#513215 2. The topic of low voltage monitoring came up at some point and I recalled seeing one of your schematics that addressed the problem. I dug it up from your archive, turned it into a circuit board, tested it and posted that as well: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?t=16783530&sid=2c07cec97e78d88c2157d6d0d419c306 3. I adapted the OVM-14 Mk III design to suit my specific application (controlling the 3-phase stator feed from a Rotax 9-series engine). I added some features that I wanted and documented the results here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?t=16783524&sid=2c07cec97e78d88c2157d6d0d419c306 ----- I have fully built prototypes for the OVM-14 Mk III and for my adaptation of it. I don't have any of the Low Voltage Monitor prototypes left, but I do have a bare circuit board available. If you'd like one or all of these for your own testing, just let me know; I'd be happy to provide them. Cheers, and welcome back! Eric Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=517202#517202 ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 05:48:22 PM PST US From: Sebastien Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: I think I'm back . . . Hello Bob, good to read you again. I've been busy with other priorities myself but always happy to keep up to date on the latest state of the art for amateur built electrical systems. One topic of interest, last year on AOPA's Ask the A&Ps podcast I questioned the validity of needing to have avionics off for startup because of "voltage spikes" and all three experts were sincere in their insistence that these spikes could damage avionics despite thousands of recorded starts never showing a single "spike". They said the one second sample rate was too long an interval to record the spike. Has anyone recorded an engine startup with oscilloscope quality voltage data? Do we know what these starts in fact look like voltage wise? Regards, Sebastien On Tue, Jun 30, 2026 at 10:37=AFAM Robert L. Nuckolls, III < nuckolls.bob@aeroelectric.com> wrote: > I owe you guys an apology for my absence . . . Our > household experienced an extra ordinary constellation > of family matters that kinda took all the fun > out of my fun-stuff. I won't burden you all with > the soap opera. Suffice it to say that major issues > are mitigated and only a few minor issues remain. > > Dr. Dee is retired as of April 1. We've got a list > of fix-up projects around the house that's about > a mile long but they're all little things that > can be picked off one at a time. > > I've not been completely 'disconnected' from technical > matters. There are a number of things to share in due > course. > > I put the crowbar ovm project back on the > bench along with a sort-of next-generation > alternative. The original 'crow-bar' version > forced a breaker open served it's purpose > grandly for about 30 years! That technology > is still being manufactured on a constellation > of products for TC aircraft. > > The problem I perceive now is that our > favorite miniature circuit breaker has become > more expensive than the ov module itself! The > rational for the crowbar architecture was > based on the fact that the circuit breaker > already existed in virtually every TC > aircraft . . . the ov module was a stand-alone > add-on. > > I sincerely hope that the majority of our > builders are using fuse blocks . . . the legacy > circuit breaker panel is expensive, labor intensive, > and a poor use of panel space given that 99.9+ > percent of all breakers installed in airplanes > go to the bone-yard never having been called upon > to keep a wire from catching fire. > > So this begs the question, is there now a > practical way to corral an runaway alternator > by OPENING the field supply without deliberately > forcing a breaker open? I.e. can the breaker > be replaced with a fuse setting along side other > fusess in the block? The answer is yes. > We can discus that in detail in due course. > > I've also acquired some sodium ion cells to > put through their paces on the battery bench. > > You're probably all aware of Matt's move from > Oregon to Washington state which generated > an outage on the aeroelectric website and email > services. We've had some teething pains with > the move that had the 'Connection's business > activities in a tizzy. I think those issues > are now resolved. > > In the mean time, bring me up to date. Is the > List still intact if somewhat diminished? Anyone > have issues I could ponder? > > Thank you for your patience . . . > > Bob . . . > > //// > (o o) > ===========o00o=(_)=o00o====== == > < Go ahead, make my day . . . > > < show me where I'm wrong. > > ======================= ========= > > In the interest of creative evolution > for the-best-we-know-how-to-do based > on physics and repeatable experiment. > ________________________________ Message 5 _____________________________________ Time: 05:59:34 PM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: I think I'm back . . . From: "Eric Page" cluros(at)gmail.com wrote: > Has anyone recorded an engine startup with oscilloscopequality voltage data? Do we know what these starts in fact look like voltage wise? I haven't done so in an airplane, but I did sample an engine start in my car using a high-sample-rate data acquisition module. There were no spikes of any kind. Just the voltage dip you would expect during cranking, then a small rise when the alternator went to work. The car was a 4-cylinder 1998 Honda Accord. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=517204#517204 Attachments: http://forums.matronics.com//files/engine_start_151.png ________________________________ Message 6 _____________________________________ Time: 07:53:13 PM PST US Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: I think I'm back . . . From: "user9253" Welcome back Bob. Like others, I suspected that health issues kept you away. It is great to hear that you are alright. As for an alternative to crowbar over voltage protection, you might want to talk to Brian Decker from Georgetown Texas. He is very knowledgeable about alternator construction and repair. If you are interested, I could try to get his contact information. -------- Joe Gores Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=517205#517205 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message aeroelectric-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/AeroElectric-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/aeroelectric-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/aeroelectric-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.