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Battery charging.

NYTOM

Well Known Member
Has anyone come up with a nifty way to plug in a battery tender without removing the cowl? Thinking about mounting a plug just inside the oil door but wondered if someone has done something better. We have some pretty creative folks here.:)
 
battery charging

I made up a line from the battery side of the battery tender chord and ran it from the battery to the inside of the front baggage compartment on my 8. Works great for low voltage charging. Open the baggage door and the charging line is laying on the ledge of the baggage door.
 
I glassed in a used oil door from a Cessna 150 on the bottom of the cowl near the battery. I have a piper style charge receptacle suspended from the motor mount right above the door. The oil door included the hidden hinge and door trim.

No picture available at this time.

Bevan
 
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Has anyone come up with a nifty way to plug in a battery tender without removing the cowl? Thinking about mounting a plug just inside the oil door but wondered if someone has done something better. We have some pretty creative folks here.:)

I have the plug mounted along the engine mount just inside the oil door... It has been a perfect spot for 4 years with no problems at all... close to the battery and very easy to access.

Good luck,

Victor
 
When I bought my battery tender charger about 6 years ago, it came with a nice round plug/harness that is mounted near the battery and close to the oil door on the top cowl. I simply plug the charger thru the oil door each time the RV is in the hanger. I have looked on internet and have not found this setup offered any more but it is a very nice and easy setup to plug in the charger. Incidentally, I have not had any issues plugging my battery to the charger, six years on and still cranking as strong.
 
I guess I'm on a popular track. Just need to find a cool polarized plug set up. The modified electrical extension cord method is economical but I'd rather do something a little more substantial . Thanks for the feed back.
 
I used a Piper receptacle mounted to the engine mount with adel clamps, just inside the oil door. I used heavy cables for the short run to the battery. I then fitted a piper plug to my charger. Now I can jump start a dead battery or charge it from the same point. Both ways have been tested and work!
Just about every FBO around has a start cart with a Piper plug.
 
I installed one 12V cigarette lighter receptacle in the panel that is directly connected to the battery (through a 10A fuse). Easy to plug a battery tender in, and never any question about polarity.
 
I have the plug mounted along the engine mount just inside the oil door... It has been a perfect spot ... with no problems at all... close to the battery and very easy to access.

Victor

Me too. I used a BMW motorcycle accessory socket that's wired right to the battery terminals, copying Dave Burden's installation. I bought a short adapter cord that has a battery minder plug on one end and the BMW plug on the other. It's foolproof and trouble free. :D
 
EAAer Jack Dueck has an extension cord idea in this video that should also work.
http://bcove.me/qj7rkurv

I recall this got quite a few negative comments here a while back, due to the use of "connectors" with a form factor for 120V AC current and the possibility of somehow, somewhere, someone perhaps mistaking it for a way to plug in to AC current from a wall outlet.
 
Me too. I used a BMW motorcycle accessory socket that's wired right to the battery terminals, copying Dave Burden's installation. I bought a short adapter cord that has a battery minder plug on one end and the BMW plug on the other. It's foolproof and trouble free. :D

Same here...Powerlet plug w/ SAE connector for the battery charger on the other end. Powerlet socket inside the oil door.
 
I have two 12 V receptacles: one wired directly to the battery (with 5A in line fuse) for the battery tender, and the other receptacle to the main bus (also through a fuse). I plug in a Radio Shack 13.8 V power supply into that one when working with my panel, etc. This system has worked very well for me.
 
charge plug

I bought the genius charger from van,s. 3.5 amp for the oddessey, it comes with an extra charge cord with inline fuse.
Ran the plug near the oil door. done!
 
I have two 12 V receptacles: one wired directly to the battery (with 5A in line fuse) for the battery tender, and the other receptacle to the main bus (also through a fuse). I plug in a Radio Shack 13.8 V power supply into that one when working with my panel, etc. This system has worked very well for me.

I'm doing a similar thing, too. I'm installing two 12 V receptacles in my panel. One is switched on through the VP-X when the panel is powered up, the other one is direct-wired to the battery with an in-line fuse. I will be able to plug a charger in right at the panel.
 
My cowl attaches at the bottom with plate nuts. I have a anti splat oil separator mounted near the oil door and it is already crowded in there trying to insert and remove the hinge pins. I am thinking of permanently installing a heavy duty 1/4" female phone plug in the aluminum lip and then cut a small slot in the bottom cowl to allow for the phone plug. I will wire it in to the hot side of the master contact solenoid just above. Probably add a inline fuse by the solenoid. Ground would already be taken care of. Build a small pigtail with the male end of the phone plug and two clips to hook up to the power source and carry it in the plane. Of coarse this set up would not provide jump start capability, just charging.
 
I put a small jack in my fuselage at the wing root, wired direct to the battery through a 10-amp fuse. This is standard 1/4" mono audio jack and will suffice to pass single-digit amps of current for ground ops and slow charging of the battery. I located it such that it is covered by the flaps when they are up, and exposed when they are down. Since we usually park our RV's with flaps down to discourage people from putting weight on the flaps, the charging jack will be exposed when you show up at the hangar and find your battery is low.

Edit - the reason I put mine here is that my battery is behind the baggage bulkhead - if your battery is in the standard firewall position, Mike's solution might work better for you.

IMG_0617_zps669aa778.jpg
 
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Yes.

After years of a big six in a Cessna a shore power plug was wanted in an RV. We use it for charging the onboard batteries, jumping the aircraft if needed, and we can plug it into a ground power battery just to set in the aircraft and turn every thing on and hangar fly. You make a bracket that will hold a Cessna type plug and mount to the upper right side engine mount, just behind the oil fill door. Make it with an angle of approx. 35-45% slanting foreword and all you have to do is open the door and plug it in. The wiring is easy, just run a #2 from the plus lug on the shore power socket to the battery side of the starter contactor. Then run a #2 off the negative lug to an engine or motor mount ground site. If you put it in this location you don't have to modify the cowling and it can be used any time to power up without draining your onboard battery's. Sorry, I am not good at putting up JPG's on this site.. Hope this helps. Yours as always. R.E.A. III #80888
 
I mounted a Powerdrive RPPD150 Inverter from Sears, cut the DC plug off and wired it directly to the battery via a 10A fuse. I connected the cut DC plug with a long cable to a set of battery jumper cable alligator clips. If I need to charge the battery I just clip on to an available car battery, insert the DC plug into the existing 12vDC port on the inverter and since this port is always hot it charges the battery.

41sIGNnrzQL._SX355_.jpg


In addition to easily charging my battery if needed I can power things requiring 120vAC, 5v USB or 12vDC while in flight. My wife loves is since she can plug her laptop in (120vAC) and watch in flight movies on long trips.

It works well for me.

:cool:
 
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