I hate batteries.

poadeleted21

poadeleted21

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Messages
12,332
Went to pick up 18P from the Avionics shop this morning with a panel full of new TV screens and navigational equipment. My FF subscription had expired, didn't bother with the iPad. 10 minutes after gear up. Alternator ain't working. :mad2: I cycle it a few times. No Joy. Drop the gear. shut off the master. I have an AV8OR on the yoke, Just fire it up right? Nope. Battery dead. At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead. Then, to add insult to injury, The battereies in my headset died.

Didn't even get to play with my new toys.
 
bartmc said:
Went to pick up 18P from the Avionics shop this morning with a panel full of new TV screens and navigational equipment. My FF subscription had expired, didn't bother with the iPad. 10 minutes after gear up. Alternator ain't working. :mad2: I cycle it a few times. No Joy. Drop the gear. shut off the master. I have an AV8OR on the yoke, Just fire it up right? Nope. Battery dead. At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead. Then, to add insult to injury, The battereies in my headset died.

Didn't even get to play with my new toys.
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Excellent planning. :D
 
Norman said:
Excellent planning. :D
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It was severe VFR and I could fly the route with my eyes closed.... wasn't too worried about getting lost and the chance that anyone else would be around my airport is very very very low.
 
bartmc said:
Went to pick up 18P from the Avionics shop this morning with a panel full of new TV screens and navigational equipment. My FF subscription had expired, didn't bother with the iPad. 10 minutes after gear up. Alternator ain't working. :mad2: I cycle it a few times. No Joy. Drop the gear. shut off the master. I have an AV8OR on the yoke, Just fire it up right? Nope. Battery dead. At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead. Then, to add insult to injury, The battereies in my headset died.

Didn't even get to play with my new toys.
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that's consistency. good thing you don't use a pacemaker....
 
My AV8OR only had 1 hour of battery life back when it was new. Probably has 15 minutes now, if that. Leaving it on "Sleep" instead of "Power Off" depletes the battery in a day, the poorly named "Power Off" lets it live of two days maybe. As a result it never has battery charge when I turn it on.
 
Time to put a twelve volt plug in the panel. Murphy's law.
 
What fun is flying without a challenge :lol: (debatable if it should be self inflicted .) :confused:

I found with my hand held (Sportys SP-400) the battery will always go flat in a few weeks without use, so I started putting a red plastic post it book tab in between the contacts on the battery case and main radio. This way it sticks out the back and I just pull it before I use the radio. Like when you buy something new and the battery is pre-installed.

Works like a charm, I have not had a problem with the batteries draining pre-maturely since.

I also carry one of those backup battery packs that has a USB plug on it and keep it charging next to my flight bag. But usually it is for the Kids on a flight when they forget to charge their Ipads.
 
zaitcev said:
My AV8OR only had 1 hour of battery life back when it was new. Probably has 15 minutes now, if that. Leaving it on "Sleep" instead of "Power Off" depletes the battery in a day, the poorly named "Power Off" lets it live of two days maybe. As a result it never has battery charge when I turn it on.
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It's been sitting tied to the yoke for a month at the avionics shop.

Already have a 12V plug in the plane that the AV8OR stays plugged into, it must have gone dead sitting there.

THe IC-A6 handheld.... Yeah, don't remember the last time I charged that.

I did have a spare set of batteries for the Headset though.
 
Crap, don't show MAKG this, it will only further solidify him in the "paper backups 4 life" group.

Anyway, that sucks, make sure you have at least one working device when you leave next time.
 
bartmc said:
Went to pick up 18P from the Avionics shop this morning with a panel full of new TV screens and navigational equipment. My FF subscription had expired, didn't bother with the iPad. 10 minutes after gear up. Alternator ain't working. :mad2: I cycle it a few times. No Joy. Drop the gear. shut off the master. I have an AV8OR on the yoke, Just fire it up right? Nope. Battery dead. At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead. Then, to add insult to injury, The battereies in my headset died.

Didn't even get to play with my new toys.
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I call shenanigans. Ron said that never happens in another thread.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68843
 
I think it's important to stress the difference between thinking you have a backup and actually having a backup.

When most people fly they have a working aircraft panel and a working ipad, tablet, phone, paper chart, handheld GPS, or [other device/source of info here]. If one fails it's quite unlikely that the other will fail unless the failure was caused by the same source.

Just because something isn't battery powered does not mean it's not able to "fail" like the OP's problem. If you takeoff without verifying that your charts are in your flight bag and then your panel dies you'll be in the same situation. Or, what if it's out of date and you don't have accurate information. That's almost worse in my mind.

Checking to see if your ipad has battery power is probably something you'll do just turning it on while on the ground, if it's dead then you must evaluate wither you can continue without this device. If it dies in flight then you revert back to your actual aircraft equipment (you know, the required stuff). The OP took off effectively without a backup to his panel and when that failed he checked to see if he had any backups available, which he had none.

So, yes, batteries can all be dead if you don't check them and think you can rely on them. This is a flight planning issue, not a problem with relying on electronics alone. Yes, paper charts are harder to "fail" but that doesn't mean that you can't effectively utilize them with a simple check of the battery.

Now, it's worth noting that I fly with paper charts because I only fly local and I only have my smartphone. If I'm not flying in the G1000 Cessna then the smartphone is my primary and thus I keep the up to date charts for my backup. I verify that both are available before I go flying. If I wanted to ditch charts and get a tablet along with my phone then I see no reason I couldn't do that.
 
EdFred said:
I call shenanigans. Ron said that never happens in another thread.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68843
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Well, I recall charging my handheld 2 hangars ago Which was at best June 2013. I was surprised to find the AV8OR dead since it stays permanently plugged into the cigarette lighter. But I guess a month of sitting at the avionics shop zapped it. I grabbed a hand full of AAs on my way out this AM because I knew my headset batteries were getting tired. I had my iPhone with me, but my FF subscription was expired. Yeah, it happens. I would have been a little more diligent if it weren't a 30 minute flight that I've made a few dozen times.
 
tehmightypirate said:
Crap, don't show MAKG this, it will only further solidify him in the "paper backups 4 life" group.

Anyway, that sucks, make sure you have at least one working device when you leave next time.
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EdFred said:
I call shenanigans. Ron said that never happens in another thread.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68843
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:D:D

I carry (and use) paper for this very reason. Backups. Oh, and for handheld radios I have AA alkaline battery packs. Plural. And I check them before leaving on a flight. Paranoid? Hey, Edsel Murphy is the patron saint of my profession. :D
 
Ghery said:
:D:D

I carry (and use) paper for this very reason. Backups. Oh, and for handheld radios I have AA alkaline battery packs. Plural. And I check them before leaving on a flight. Paranoid? Hey, Edsel Murphy is the patron saint of my profession. :D
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We don't give Murphy sainthood, just his own cabin, chair, etc., to remind us that he exists...and when we let the magic smoke out of one of ours it's generally rather exciting for a lot of people.
 
bartmc said:
Yeah, it happens. I would have been a little more diligent if it weren't a 30 minute flight that I've made a few dozen times.
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I think we all understand this, if I was doing a 30 minute hop where I had all the runways and frequencies memorized I wouldn't worry that much either.
 
Best backup battery is the one in the plane itself. A portable like the AV80R or others will operate for over 20 hours when connected to the cigarette lighter jack. When this happens again just turn off non-esential equipment or avionics master off but leave the master on for engine gauges and cigarette lighter. I have my Aera 560 directly connected to the master bus. The aircraft battery power will outlast the fuel onboard.

José
 
bartmc said:
At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead.
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That's why I have a Sporty's that runs on AAs with an extra pack of fresh AAs in the glove box. I don't like rechargeable packs for handhelds because they tend not to be when you need them most.

Every year at annual time I:

* buy a new pack of AAs to keep in the glovebox.
* install the batteries that have been riding in the glovebox for a year into the handheld and two mini-mags that I keep in the airplane.
* throw about eight of the "used" batteries into a ziplock and keep them in the plane for headsets.
* take the rest of the "used" batteries home for use in cordless mice and keyboards.

Duracells and only Duracells in my airplane.
 
Dang man that blows! Its like when I want to go fishing I pull the boat out only to realize the battery is dead. So I put it back. UGH!!!
 
bartmc said:
Went to pick up 18P from the Avionics shop this morning with a panel full of new TV screens and navigational equipment. My FF subscription had expired, didn't bother with the iPad. 10 minutes after gear up. Alternator ain't working. :mad2: I cycle it a few times. No Joy. Drop the gear. shut off the master. I have an AV8OR on the yoke, Just fire it up right? Nope. Battery dead. At least I have my handheld radio... Nope. Battery dead. Then, to add insult to injury, The battereies in my headset died.

Didn't even get to play with my new toys.
Click to expand...

Nice pre-flight
 
A flight plan must not have been filed.

Now that you got the $1000 transferred, here goes another $500. Glad you and 18P made it back safely.

No, hopefully it is just an alt field wire got knocked loose during panel work.
 
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bartmc said:
What would you have done differently Tom?

Alternator was fine on the ground.
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checked the batteries in the portable stuff more often?? Wouldn't it be nice to know they work prior to launching?

alternator, not much you can do there, that's why you need to know your back up works
 
I keep a spare alternator with me at all times. Conveniently, it is also attached to my spare engine.
 
Tom-D said:
checked the batteries in the portable stuff more often?? Wouldn't it be nice to know they work prior to launching?

alternator, not much you can do there, that's why you need to know your back up works
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Portable GPS and portable comm required for severe VFR class E operations from airports 60 miles apart?
 
bartmc said:
Portable GPS and portable comm required for severe VFR class E operations from airports 60 miles apart?
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Portable GPS or charts, maybe but probably not. Comm, no but what's the use of carrying it if it's not charged religiously?
 
bartmc said:
Portable GPS and portable comm required for severe VFR class E operations from airports 60 miles apart?
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Would we have a thread if you had replaced the batteries in your portable stuff?
 
just a suggestion, no reason to drop the gear early and beat up your gear doors the whole way. It's easy to crank down by hand in your ride.
 
Tom-D said:
checked the batteries in the portable stuff more often?? Wouldn't it be nice to know they work prior to launching?

alternator, not much you can do there, that's why you need to know your back up works
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Oh please! SO you would have cancelled the flight after finding some dead non-essential batteries? :no:
bartmc said:
I didn't need it.
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exactly.

Too bad you didn't get to play with all your new goodies.
 
I was looking at a C172M on Tuesday and I noticed something that is probably illegal as all get out, but I'm seriously thinking of doing it myself.
Mounted directly under the "sky lights" in the top of the wing and in the rear window he had solar cells. When the plane is flying or parked in the sun he keeps all his portable unit batteries charged, and they will keep the aircraft battery topped off. In event of alternator failure it extends his safety margin by an hour. Even more if he operates on handhelds only.
 
Geico266 said:
I carry spare batteries for everything in the plane, except the main battery. :dunno:
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Same here - my flight bag with the handheld radio and handheld GPS also has a 20-pack of Duracell AA's in it. I recycle them into the house for our various gadgets about once a year and replace the 20-pack with a new one to keep them fresh.

You *DO* keep fresh batteries in your smoke alarms too, right? ;)
 
Shepherd said:
I was looking at a C172M on Tuesday and I noticed something that is probably illegal as all get out, but I'm seriously thinking of doing it myself.
Mounted directly under the "sky lights" in the top of the wing and in the rear window he had solar cells. When the plane is flying or parked in the sun he keeps all his portable unit batteries charged, and they will keep the aircraft battery topped off. In event of alternator failure it extends his safety margin by an hour. Even more if he operates on handhelds only.
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As long as they are removable and not hard-wired into the electrical system, it's kosher.
 
airguy said:
Same here - my flight bag with the handheld radio and handheld GPS also has a 20-pack of Duracell AA's in it. I recycle them into the house for our various gadgets about once a year and replace the 20-pack with a new one to keep them fresh.

You *DO* keep fresh batteries in your smoke alarms too, right? ;)
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Funny, I woke up this morning to my smoke alarm doing the "I'm dying" beep. Think I'm going to stay away from battery operated devices for the next few days.
 
bartmc said:
Funny, I woke up this morning to my smoke alarm doing the "I'm dying" beep. Think I'm going to stay away from battery operated devices for the next few days.
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Well there ya go, I see a trend. :)
 
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