Pitot heat fault

[rcparris]

I currently have the heated pitot with controller in conjunction with Skyview.

Over the last couple of weeks I noticed the pitot heat fault light occasionally coming on then going out.

Now when switching pitot heat on, it does not work at all . (not getting any warmth and fault light staying on)

I've done some initial fault finding checks as follows:-

Fuse OK
+12.6 v input to Heater Contoller OK
GND connection good OK
White controller wire checked ie when GND = Fault on Skyview , when Open = GREEN on skyview

Blue wire measures 1.2 v ??
Orange wire measures 1.2 v ??
Black wire measures GND

I have not yet applied a direct power supply to the pitot wires to see if the pitot heats up (orange or blue +ve ??)

My initial questions are :-

1.2 v output . Is that correct?
To test for pitot heating can I apply power to orange or blue
Any other checks to help identify if fault is with heater controller or pitot probe

Kind regards

Rich

 

[DBRV10]

I have only ever seen one failure, and it was the crimped power connector. Take a really close look at that. You might find that is the most likely point of failure.

 

[rcparris]

Thank you for your suggestion.
I inspected crimps and cleaned molex connector..... working now!

I'll see how it goes for now.... If it re-occurs I'll change the molex connector for gold contacts.

Many thanks

 

[DBRV10]

It is usually the pink spades that give you the trouble, not the tiny molex. The power connector carries a few amps (8-13A) so it is most critical. The fault signal is not normally a problem (as much as I hate molex connectors).