Jump Start Receptacle

[BillL]

Originally Posted by rv8gibbo

I'm going to run a jump start receptacle about 4-5 feet from my battery on the firewall, would 6AWG be enough to carry the starter AMPS? I can do it in 4AWG but I'd like to make it as light as possible.

Many Thanks

I have an Anderson connector and 6AWG, but my run is only 8 inches, and the ground is #4. It is accessible via the oil door on my -7.

It has limited usage and if the engine is hard to start and battery completely dead it would only be used after several minutes of charging.

I consider it helping a weak battery to get a good spin, not for extended cranking, maybe 100A for 15 sec.

Actual usage is certainly problematic, and extreme caution advised.

[jcarne]

Originally Posted by BillL

I have an Anderson connector and 6AWG, but my run is only 8 inches, and the ground is #4. It is accessible via the oil door on my -7.

It has limited usage and if the engine is hard to start and battery completely dead it would only be used after several minutes of charging.

I consider it helping a weak battery to get a good spin, not for extended cranking, maybe 100A for 15 sec.

Actual usage is certainly problematic, and extreme caution advised.

Bill you wouldn't happen to have any pictures of your setup would you? Any motive/rational for wire size?

I have really been thinking about this mod a lot lately. Mainly to avoid a pissed off wife when my plane can't start multiple hours drive from home.

[12vaitor]

+1 on the Anderson connector. I installed mine under the panel shelf on the passenger side with the external power contactor just above it. On/Off Switch and Ext Pwr light are on the panel. I used #6 wire as it was not really intended for starting an aircraft with two dead batteries.

Primary use is plugging in a Ground Power Unit to run the avionics for service work. I do fly with a 12V EarthX Jump Pack that can be plugged in if needed to run the ECU, Fuel Injectors and Fuel Pumps in the event both batteries and the alternator die in flight before I find a place to land.

I purchased the Jump Pack's EC5 connectors on Amazon to make an EC5 to Anderson SB cable. IIRC, the Jump Pack cables are #10 silicon wire, so there is no point in to going to a much larger wire size.

John Salak
RV12 N896HS

[HFS]

A built-in, polarized plug/socket combination. Wired both for trickle charging/maintenance & jump starting.

Mounted on the right side, aft fuselage, adjacent to the battery. Easily accessible without compromising safety when using in jump start mode.

The plug, from AW Direct, is a GL-9A; and, the socket is a GL-101.

Both of these items are much smaller than conventional AC battery plugs - a little more in keeping with the size of our aircraft.

YMMV - and probably will.

HFS

[Drum]

I have a trickle charger for Concorde SLA RG25XC aft placement in addition to a Piper style Ground Power receptacle I got from ACS.

The trickle charger probably shouldn’t be used with avionics because of the pulsing nature of its operation. So the trickle charger is used for keeping the battery topped off and the GP setup is used for working on avionics with an external power supply and external start, if necessary.

I used a Bob Nuckols design which has a push to test power light when power is available, circuit breaker which switches external power to the battery through the ground power contactor and also an over voltage fuse which trips the breaker open in case too high external voltage is applied.

Here is the Bob Nuckols description and a pix of my setup. I didn’t want to cut a hole in the side of my plane so put it in rear baggage.

[1001001]

I'm putting a standard 3-pin ground power socket (AN-2552 / MS3506) in my RV-10. There's one in my Mooney and I use it with a Schauer charger/power supply to power the airplane on the ground and charge the battery. In the unlikely event I would need to jump start or charge at a remote airport, it will make it easy to do--most FBOs have a cart that can plug into an AN2552.

I did have to use mine once for jump-starting--a car. After a week-plus trip, we got back to the hangar to find my girlfriend's car battery was dead, so we hooked the car up to the airplane and jump-started it. Very handy.

[Northernliving]

I also added the same Anderson type plug to my RV8 when I did my engine/prop upgrade this past year. I feared the learning curve of a FI engine and wanted a way to start the engine if I killed the battery. I installed this on the back of the lower luggage compartment on the right side in front of the gear tower with #6 wire. I'm using it with a cable I made for the Hulkman Alpha85 lion jump pack. Any good jump pack will work, but you need one that will work with a totally dead battery like the Hulkman or the NOCO brand packs (I'm sure there are others). Testing works fine, but by installing it will surely guarantee I'll never actually *need* it! .

[BillL]

Originally Posted by jcarne

Bill you wouldn't happen to have any pictures of your setup would you? Any motive/rational for wire size?

I have really been thinking about this mod a lot lately. Mainly to avoid a pissed off wife when my plane can't start multiple hours drive from home.

Sorry, the only photos found were mock ups for location and no final. I have been moving to a different hangar the last 2 weeks, I'll get you a picture on my next visit, it should be soon, more organization to be done :-).

Regarding wire, I figured that the use at high amps will be rare, and that it should be helping a weak, not dead battery. #6 is good for ~100 amps at ~100C so I "decided" it should be adequate for the rare case. If worried, then some charging prior to crank would be in order.

[jcarne]

Originally Posted by BillL

Sorry, the only photos found were mock ups for location and no final. I have been moving to a different hangar the last 2 weeks, I'll get you a picture on my next visit, it should be soon, more organization to be done :-).

Regarding wire, I figured that the use at high amps will be rare, and that it should be helping a weak, not dead battery. #6 is good for ~100 amps at ~100C so I "decided" it should be adequate for the rare case. If worried, then some charging prior to crank would be in order.

No worries, thanks Bill. I think I have a connector sourced. Just need to decide on wire size now. I'm thinking of just using 4awg (or 2 since I have it) and calling it good. Will only be about a foot long.

[rv8gibbo]

Thanks everyone for there feedback and suggestions.