Help troubleshooting gen field breaker 337B

[JAG]

I would trouble shoot with the easiest first.

Disconnect the wires at both ends and check the resistance of the wire. Given that the trip seems to be time bound, it is probably not a short to ground, but could be high resistance in the wire. If resistance is low (< 0.3 ohm), then that is good. I would go ahead and crimp new connections on both anyway, eliminating any chances of corrosion or poor connection. Don't forget to check the screws are tight at all the connectors as well (breaker to switch, switch to component and component to ground).

Next step would be to change (or swap) the breakers, to see if you have a weak breaker. Easier to just replace the breaker with a new one, considering these breakers have likely done years of service.

Bill mentioned upgrading the ground wires for the electrical system - this is an excellent upgrade (I have done this as well per Dr. Dave's suggestions) that may help.

I always view a breaker popping as telling me something is hot - and the breaker pops before you let the smoke out of the wire. Wires heat up due to excess resistance (poor connections, broken strands) or excess flow of power (short to ground, incorrect wire size, too much draw). Make sure your wire is sized right for the item your are running: has the Alternator been upgraded, is the landing light the right one, etc.

Jeff

[Jhogan0101]

Thank you everyone. Also a huge thanks to Dr Dave for spending some time on the phone with me today troubleshooting.
Findings:

-#2 Voltage regulator was bad (zeftronics was ordered and will be primary it is replacing regulator installed in 1980, current 2 year old lamar will become backup)
-Wire from field gen breaker to master switch (K-PB10) needed to be replaced wire/connector became stressed from years of circuit breaker panel removal.
-5 amp field gen breaker was replaced, it was original.
-landing & taxi lights were replaced with led https://www.aero-lites.com/products

Some testing was done with a multimeter, so far everything looks good. Im going to do some more testing this weekend for voltage drops on other parts of the field gen circuit.

Hoping to fly it tomorrow, also hoping gen field breaker doesnt trip again.