Electrical Issue Fixed

While 9WC was getting its annual done, we took off the main alternator and shipped it off to Aircraft Systems and had them conduct an IRAN (Inspect and Repair As Necessary).    As it turns out I had a bad rectifier that had some connections that came unsodered.  Aircraft Systems also did some upgrades to it and sent it back.  TJ at Aircraft Systems said that they see a lot of alternators off of Cirrus that have this issue.  It is the same alternator that is also used on Beechcraft as well, but they don't see as many as they do the Cirrus.  He believes that the damage is caused by two things on a Cirrus.  The first issue is that most Cirrus come with a very light weight propeller that cause more vibrations around the engine area and the second issue is that the cowling on a Cirrus are pretty tight to aid in aerodynamics.  This tightness doesn't allow the alternator to get enough air over it, so when a plane is on the ground, the alternator can overheat.  Once the plane is airborne it isn't an issue, so TJ recommends that people not put a huge load on the systems while on the ground under idle.  Since the annual is done I took the plane up for a test flight and all is back to normal.  No more annunciator lights or low volt warnings.  I'm glad that fixed the problem, because the next steps in trying to solve the issue would have gotten fairly expensive.