New member from Chicago

[rewestpak]

Hi,

I just bought a PA31 short body panther conversion.  I picked it up from Mike Jones in September and have had a great time flying it around since.  I'm based on KDPA and fly around the US east of the Rockies.

I'm trying to stay on top of maintenance and along those lines, I have a couple questions.

1.  When I taxi at idle, the bus voltage drops down to 22 or so.  With a long night time taxi, it can turn over pretty slow for the next flight.  Is this normal, or do I have an issue?  Do y'all just deal with it, or do you push up the power and ride the brakes?  I have a trickle charger but haven't gotten the airframe interface installed yet, so routine top-up charging between flights won't be possible for a few more weeks.

2.  I have a little black stuff on my struts after every flight.  I tried to attach photos, but the files are too big.  Is this just the way it is or something I should worry about?

Thanks for any advice.

--Randy

[ronnie27478]

The bus voltage does drop out of the green arc on the voltmeter when at idle but I've not have any issue with it discharging the battery to a noticeable degree. However, when at my home base, I do keep a Battery Minder Aviation model float charger on continuously. I don't ever recall see any thing on my landing gear struts. Does your "little black stuff" look like rubber? Maybe pieces of O-Rings? Are the struts leaking?

[klausnw]

Welcome to the forum Randy,

The charging system doesn't like low RPM operations and could cause paralleling issues over time. The regulators try and balance the load on the alternators and low RPM just makes the regulators work harder. One problem that may come up if you're taxiing around at night is weak radio transmitting. LED lighting and modern avionics can help the situation out and reduce the load on the alternators while taxiing.

Check your aircraft log book for the last time the landing gear struts O-rings and fluid has been changed. The hydraulic fluid will get dark over time and seep out. Usually you can figure about 4000 landings between strut servicing.