Generator Failure, but no GEN warning light.

[EnDSchultz]

Just what it says on the tin. Ran my generator in the "yellow" state for a long while until it finally gave up the ghost. But I found out about this not through the warning light, but through my avionics quitting mid-flight. Confirmed in the maintenance hangar the generator is now failed: red. What exactly does the warning light looks for, and is there a way your ability to generate power could fail without triggering the light?

[Roadburner426]

I brought this up before. I usually fly with the voltage up on the little gauge on the left hand side of the instrument panel. I track temps till I am at altitude, and then I flip it over to the voltage. So I know I have lost battery power when I go from 26ish volts to 23-24 volts and it is steadily dropping. I will tell you if you turn off the fuel pump (as long as you are at lower altitudes of course), and have the landing lights and such off the batteries can last for a fairly decent amount of time with just the avionics running. This is my thread: http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtop ... 94&t=35513 .

I will take his word for it since they actually tested/flown P-51's. All I can go off is my experience with the H-60 in that if you lose gen power you get a caution light. The light on the P-51 model seems tied to the engine being above 1600ish RPM. On a more complex aircraft the Generator Control Units will turn on the Gen Caution Light if you are under voltage, the spline shaft has sheared, or you have the switch in the OFF position. Hope this helps though. On a side note also generators seem to last between 40-60ish hours based on my experience. My suggestion is just to fly with the voltage up on that little gauge though as you can tell as soon as it stops reading 26 volts that you have a generator failure.