Generator CB tripping - Solution

Hi guys, good news.

I’ve been flying the Anton quite a bit lately because I am converting a campaign to it.

I managed to find a solution. What I can figure out of it is that the generator is simulated as quite weak. Let me tell what’s been working to me so far. I am sorry if this is old for any of you.

Make the cockpit preparation as usual. Do not arm any gun at this point, but you may close CBs P80, P1 and P2.

Perform the engine start;

Remember to turn on the PITOT and to maintain at lease 1.200rpm

Set flaps for takeoff and open the gear cover.

Perform the takeoff.

Once with airborne and positive climb, command Gear up. Maintain speed bellow 250km/h. (Up to 300km/h, although wrong, it will retract, but reduce the engine!)

Observe the gear lights from green to red. Red means it’s locked up. Check wing gear indications pins retracted as well.

Once you see Undercarriage red lights, command flap up.

Once you see zero on the wing you may accelerate above 250km/h.

Once stablished on a safe climb, command Gun Safety Switch 1 (the top one for the cowling guns) to ON (up position). Now WAIT!!

Wait for at least 4 gun red lights to come on, indicating they are ready. Eventually all 6 will turn ON.

Once you see at least 4 gun red lights, command Gun Safety Switch II (wing cannons) to ON (up position).

Now command the stick safety switch to open.

Keep an eye on the PITOT light. If it goes out, GENERATOR CB tripped. Put it back in.

If you reduce too much power, GEN CB trip out as well.

Since I started doing it I only had the GEN CB tripped twice (in many many flights).

Edit: Here goes a video to demonstrate it.

I wish you good luck. Soon I will publish a campaign with 10 missions for the 190 A-8.

All the best,

Sydy

Thanks in advance ! :thumbup:

Thanks in advance ! :thumbup:

You’re welcome. The trick is be aggressive on speed control and keep bellow 250km/h.

I will make a movie and post it on youtube today.

Good luck,

Sydy

Hi guys,

Just made a movie to demonstrate what I meant above. I hope it helps you.

All the best,

Sydy

...The trick is be aggressive on speed control and keep bellow 250km/h.

Sydy

keeping below 250 km/h is not all. You have to fly on a very steady path with minimum vertical G-forces.

And the problem is not the "weak generator". It's the super-sensitive CB's. Kurt Tank would have fired (or sent to the Ostfront?) any engineer who put in CB's with the characteristics of fast fuses.

A DC generator is just a mass of copper and iron and it warms up very slowly in an overload situation. Therefore there is no need for fast fuses.

It's nice that you documented a work-around so people can use the Anton, but that's not a solution to the underlying problem.

keeping below 250 km/h is not all. You have to fly on a very steady path with minimum vertical G-forces.

And the problem is not the "weak generator". It's the super-sensitive CB's. Kurt Tank would have fired (or sent to the Ostfront?) any engineer who put in CB's with the characteristics of fast fuses.

A DC generator is just a mass of copper and iron and it warms up very slowly in an overload situation. Therefore there is no need for fast fuses.

It's nice that you documented a work-around so people can use the Anton, but that's not a solution to the underlying problem.

LeCuvier,

I agree that of the two one is bad: the original design was poor and it is simulated pretty well or the simulation is exaggerated.

Anyway, planes have limitations and in all of the RL planes I fly (except the very small ones) I have speed limitations for the landing gear. Most of the time it is because of the doors and not for the motor (all of them use hydraulics). VLO and VLE is there most of the time and I don’t dare to burst 1kt overspeeding it.

Another thing, it is not a rare event to have a “Generator Off Bus” in nowadays planes. I had some in my career and, of course, the first step on the procedure is try to reset it.

Well, if ED says they will not fix because it is not a bug, we will have to use this “work-around” as Anton SOP.

All the best,

Sydy

LeCuvier,

Well, if ED says they will not fix because it is not a bug, we will have to use this “work-around” as Anton SOP.

Sydy

Very true. No problem for me, I have learned to work around the problems but tough for new pilots. And the question still bugs me: why is it so different from the Dora? In real life, the two were very similar.

And I find this Anton's CB topic is like the "new" engine temps management that concerns the mustang. At first it was a headache, pushing full throttle when temps not on green zone giving engine break, forcing you to always keep an eye on gauges, respecting ratios pressure/rpm/duration … (edit : manually managing radiators)

Now I find it's part of the charm. I would miss it.

I think the only need is a matter of adjustements. Principle feels good.

...

Once stablished on a safe climb, command Gun Safety Switch 1 (the top one for the cowling guns) to ON (up position). Now WAIT!!

Wait for at least 4 gun red lights to come on, indicating they are ready. Eventually all 6 will turn ON.

As long as you don´t switch on the second switch you will never see 6 lights

Once you see at least 4 gun red lights, command Gun Safety Switch II (wing cannons) to ON (up position).

 

 

If you reduce too much power, GEN CB trip out as well.

That never happened to me. Can you reproduce it?

...

 

Sydy

My current solution for the landinggear is: It has to be retracted below 250km/h. And dont pull the stick during this phase.

If you take off with full throttle, you normally accelerate too fast.

I set the prop-pitch gov to manual and pitch to 12o´clock. That gives me enough time to retract the gear before 250km/h is reached.

Contrary to your procedure Sydy, I always arm my guns before engine start. So I hear the arming and can then switch on the outer guns for arming. After that I just switch off the Master-arming. Works every time and is according to the real manual of the FW-190.

You just have to keep in mind that bursts with all weapons at once currently trigger the CBs to pop off after a few seconds.

I don´t know if this is correct behaviour. ED still didn´t say a word about it. Its about time for a response.

Very true. No problem for me, I have learned to work around the problems but tough for new pilots. And the question still bugs me: why is it so different from the Dora? In real life, the two were very similar.

Many possibilities:

1: They were not as similar as one might think. e.g. look at the numbers of CBs the planes have. Inverter is activated manually after engine start in the Anton, not so in the Dora.

2: Maybe the DCS Dora is not so deeply simulated regarding its systems as the Anton.

3: They used stronger CBs in the Dora

Btw. you can retract the Doras landinggear even at 500+km/h. Only If you pull some Gs during retraction it will halt the process. But once you ease off the Gs, the gear continues to retract.

Fox

IFR,

Good info! One problem, many solutions!

Take care,

Sydy

At what RPM do you find the CB to be tripping? I had it trip and refuse to come back on while cruising.

At what RPM do you find the CB to be tripping? I had it trip and refuse to come back on while cruising.

It was in idle, but happened only once.

I can confirm that these techniques work. I did a by-the-book startup, armed both gun systems on the ground and turned master arm off, took off at full throttle with manual propeller pitch set at 12:00, successfully raised the gear below 250 km/h keeping the stick steady, raised the flaps, and engaged the governor automation. I believe the generator CB popped out once, either during my takeoff and climb or after I re-engaged master arm on the way to the target, but after I pushed it back in, everything pretty much worked fine otherwise.

I have a feeling this is going to be a really great module when it is more complete and bug-free. It's already a lot of fun. The virtual cockpit and exterior model are marvelous (excessive green windscreen tint notwithstanding) and it looks like it will be a pretty deep simulation of the aircraft when developed further.

...or not, at least regarding dealing with the generator CB. I just repeated the same SP mission, being even more by-the-book, and it would just not stay in. I had to press it 10 or 20 times, and the engine failed as I approached the airfield.

There seems to be instability built in by the programmer. The work-around works most of the time but not always. Maybe the programmer simulated a plane that was sabotaged :) (which was actually a real problem which cost many pilots' lives).

The other thing is that sometimes the CB for the Gear Drive (Fahrwerksantrieb) pops out and sometimes I had to push it back in multiple times. I've actually bound the CB's for battery, generator and gear drive to switches on my game controllers to get them back in without jerky movements.

the only cb´s im leaving off on start up are panel lights and nav lights. after running at 1200 rpm i can switch everything else on (before mentioned and the weapons, one after the other).

no problems with any cb popping afterwoods.

i like that the gear retraction is more sensitiv.