TL Aircraft Owners Association

Did not remove the spring, just let the adhesive Velcro do its thing

Did you just remove the spring?

Gear Electrical Relay Failure in Flight

This abnormal happened in cruise flight.  There is no abnormal/emergency checklist in the electrical or gear section of the POH for the Stream (and probably not for the Sparker) provided by TL.  The Stream and the Sparker currently share the same landing gear and flap system.
The indication was a continuous draw of 35 amps in the yellow on the amp meter .  I was VMC so I load- shed down to 33 amps back into the green.  Normal load is 11 amps
The gear pump draws around 23 amps and the flaps 20 amps when active.
I did not know at the time what was causing the high draw.  Thinking worst case, if I added 23 more amps to lower the gear, I might totally fry the electrical system, loose the engine and become a glider and have to pump the gear down for a no flap landing.  I positioned myself 5,000’ above a nice long runway and lowered the gear normally.  As soon as the gear switch was in the down position the amp load returned to normal.  Later investigation would confirm that this was a failure of the electrical gear relay. On longer flights the gear pump will cycle on to maintain system pressure to keep the gear fully retracted, apparently this occurred and the switch failed in the on position.
Lesson Learned. 
For a continuous high amp reading I will pull the gear and flap CB’s  to determine if one of the relays has failed.  If it is a failed flap relay, no big deal, do a no flap landing.  If it is a failed gear relay, use your best judgement as to lower the gear switch and pump the gear down or push the CB back in to lower the gear.
My checklist calls for the gear switch to be down to manually pump the gear down.  While the plane was on jack during the trouble shooting phase I raised the gear normally, left the switch in the up position, depowered the system and pumped the gear down successfully (63 pumps for three green).  I think of the manual pump as an independent system hard wired to the down position.
Luckily in the Stream these relays are easily accessible in the front cargo/avionics compartment and can be changed with normal tools. They are mounted side by side and are not labeled as to which is which, so I now carry a pair of spare relays on board (I failed to identify which was which when I was duplicating the problem).  The flap and gear relays are the same.  They are made in China and ship from there, it took about 3 weeks to get here.
Might consider adding this scenario to your Electrical Abnormal/Emergency Checklist. 
Hope this helps,
-Steve B
[ Guests cannot view attachments ] [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Think of this as the community bulletin board. This board shows the latest conversations from all areas. You can post short updates, trip reports, welcome notes from new owners, or anything timely that you would like other TL Aircraft Owners Association members to see.

This board is for caring for your airplane. You can talk about airframe maintenance (the body and structure), engine maintenance, and any special techniques you use. It is also the place to share inspection results, questions from annuals or 100-hour checks, and anything “other” that relates to keeping the airplane in good shape.