One of my 45 items of unknowns is if I'm going to do ground power or just have a connection for a trickle charger... or both.
I've read a number of previous posts on the subject but I'm not sure I grasp it in it's entirety. It seems ground power is best used to jump start the plane and run avionics without the engine turning. If I ever need to jumpstart the plane with the battery being in the back seems easy enough to get to it without a ground power socket. However since I plan to go full glass I would like to configure and mess with the avionics without having the engine running.
Last annual I installed a battery tender and dongle on my 172 and it was really painless and is easy to use. Would like to do the same but would I still be able to run the avionics with the tender attached or would it pull power faster than charging, either damaging the battery or forcing a long recharge period before starting the plane?
Weight is a bit of a concern for me since I'm installing an AC unit back there. Would it make since to just have a dongle for the trickle charger and then buy something I can physically attach to the battery while testing or configuring Avionics?
Thanks!
I've read a number of previous posts on the subject but I'm not sure I grasp it in it's entirety. It seems ground power is best used to jump start the plane and run avionics without the engine turning. If I ever need to jumpstart the plane with the battery being in the back seems easy enough to get to it without a ground power socket. However since I plan to go full glass I would like to configure and mess with the avionics without having the engine running.
Last annual I installed a battery tender and dongle on my 172 and it was really painless and is easy to use. Would like to do the same but would I still be able to run the avionics with the tender attached or would it pull power faster than charging, either damaging the battery or forcing a long recharge period before starting the plane?
Weight is a bit of a concern for me since I'm installing an AC unit back there. Would it make since to just have a dongle for the trickle charger and then buy something I can physically attach to the battery while testing or configuring Avionics?
Thanks!