Standby Alternator & Controller for the Piper PA32, Cherokee Six, Lance and Saratoga (STC-PMA)

Owners of Piper PA32, Cherokee Six, Lance and Saratoga aircraft (14 or 28 volt) can now enjoy the peace-of-mind of an STC-PMA standby electrical system, also—all with superior reliability and ease-of-use. 

The B&C Specialty Products Standby Alternator system for Piper aircraft follows our proven systems used on the Beech/Raytheon Bonanzas, Mooney Ovation, and Cessna 210s. In operation, the system functions in the “background” until needed, constantly monitoring your aircraft's electrical system voltage. If the primary alternator fails in flight, the controller will sense the drop in system voltage and automatically energize the Standby Alternator, providing 20 amps of power to support continued flight.

For PA32's equipped with O-540-E4B5, IO-540-K1A5, or IO-540-K1G5 engines, a Lycoming hydraulic pump drive adapter must be purchased separately and installed on the accessory case. The vacuum pump is moved to this new location to allow the Standby Alternator to be installed on the vacuum pump accessory pad. On IO-540-K1A5D and IO-540-K1G5D engines, the accessory case must be removed and an accessory drive gear installed in the existing machined accessory drive pad. The Standby Alternator is installed in this location and the vacuum pump need not be moved.  Panel mounted equipment includes a "STBY-ALT ON" annunciator and two standard pull type circuit breakers (1amp and 5amp).  The "STBY ALT" master switch is purchased separately from Piper to match the existing rocker type switches.  Appropriate placards are provided for each panel mounted device. 

The standby system provides 20 amps of power to support continued flight in the event of primary alternator failure. It operates automatically, annunciating its operation to the pilot through a panel mounted annunciator which doubles as a standby alternator load monitor.  If the primary alternator fails in flight, the standby regulator will sense the drop in system voltage and automatically activate the standby alternator. If the current requirement is over 20 amps when the standby alternator is activated, the annunciator will flash. Reducing the current usage to 20 amps or less will cause the annunciator to cease flashing and light steadily. The pilot may choose which equipment he needs for the given flight conditions by simply keeping the total load below the flashing point of the annunciator. This will reserve battery energy for transient loads (gear, flaps, landing lights, etc.) during approach. Loads may be beyond the flashing point of the annunciator for up to 5 minutes without damaging the standby alternator.

The B&C Model alternator requires no recurrent maintenance during its service life of 1700 Hours. It is recommended that at 1700 hours or less time in service or during engine overhaul the alternator be returned to B&C Specialty Products for factory overhaul. At each Annual or 100 hour inspection required by the FAA, check the alternator externally for security of mounting and wiring and perform the before takeoff test described under the "Normal Procedures" section of the Airplane Flight Manual Supplement;. Alternately, the final test described in the installation drawing may be used for this test. Failure due to broken wires or damaged connectors may be corrected in the field using repair procedures complying with the latest revision of AC43.13-xx. All other repairs are by replacement only.