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G5 battery.

Freakshow108

Well Known Member
I received my G5 back up battery and it is not charged. I’m in the middle of the avionics install on my 7A. Can someone enlighten me on how the battery can be charged without running the engine, I am a few months from that milestone. Thanks in advance.
 
You can hook the G5 directly up to a 12V supply and turn it on.

Or if you have a panel hooked up to the battery, turn on the switches so the G5 connects to the battery. It's a good idea to have a battery charger hooked up while you are doing this kind of testing.
 
I have run my panel by connecting a battery charger to the ship battery and turned the master on. Then reduced loads as much as possible by turning switches off and pulling breakers/fuses. Depending on your stage in wiring you might just put 12v on the power ang ground lines to the G5. Marty
 
Been said many times, not a good idea to run your avionics off a 'battery charger'. Run the avionics then charge the battery when you are done.
 
Power Supply

What about running the avionics off of a Power Supply? If ok, what are people using? I don't mean to hijack the thread though.....
 
Been said many times, not a good idea to run your avionics off a 'battery charger'. Run the avionics then charge the battery when you are done.

I definitely do not run with the charger on. I too have read that is a bad idea with the glass avionics. Thanks for the responses. I will try letting the avionics stay on for an extended time but not enough to drain the ship battery down too low.
 
Swap Meet

I found an lab power supply, made by HP, for $25 at a electronics swap meet. Works great, has 20A output at 12V (or whatever i set it to). I am adding a diode and fuse to my panel's electrical schematic as an input for this power supply. So I leave master off, ;leave alt switch off, and fire up the power supply.
 
G5 battery and external power supply

Continuing on the hijack - Eventually you will need/benefit from having an external power supply to run your avionics etc., be it for testing stuff, doing software updates in the hanger, learning how to use avionics features, sitting there making believe you are flying, etc. So, might as well get one sooner than later...

I installed a connector at the bottom of my panel where I plug in my external power supply. Mine is 20A/12V, a switching power supply that is super efficient and small and economical, a Meanwell SP-240-12. They run about $77. At 20A you can probably run all of your avionics, cycle flaps, turn on lights, etc.

These are available many places, but from DigiKey, its is on this page:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products...QRLhJUkAtngYQgDueFhYAASsxN18fTjlrKxYAng4zOJAA
 
Around the internet, there is no shortage of recommendations as to how to run avionics on the ground. Unfortunately, there's no consensus on the best way to do that...I see recommendations all over the board. Using a 12-volt power supply seems to have the edge on recommendations. The question as to whether or not running avionics while on a float charger is very confusing. I suspect that if one method or the other represented a universal no-no...that would be widely reported.

In my airplane, I run two Odyssey PC-680 batteries in parallel, keep them on an Odyssey BC6-A charger all the time when not flying, including avionics work. Previous owner used a plain old 2 amp float charger.
 
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Continuing on the hijack - Eventually you will need/benefit from having an external power supply to run your avionics etc., be it for testing stuff, doing software updates in the hanger, learning how to use avionics features, sitting there making believe you are flying, etc. So, might as well get one sooner than later...

I installed a connector at the bottom of my panel where I plug in my external power supply. Mine is 20A/12V, a switching power supply that is super efficient and small and economical, a Meanwell SP-240-12. They run about $77. At 20A you can probably run all of your avionics, cycle flaps, turn on lights, etc.

These are available many places, but from DigiKey, its is on this page:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products...QRLhJUkAtngYQgDueFhYAASsxN18fTjlrKxYAng4zOJAA
Good to know. Thanks for the info!!
 
Continuing on the hijack - Eventually you will need/benefit from having an external power supply to run your avionics etc., be it for testing stuff, doing software updates in the hanger, learning how to use avionics features, sitting there making believe you are flying, etc. So, might as well get one sooner than later...

I installed a connector at the bottom of my panel where I plug in my external power supply. Mine is 20A/12V, a switching power supply that is super efficient and small and economical, a Meanwell SP-240-12. They run about $77. At 20A you can probably run all of your avionics, cycle flaps, turn on lights, etc.

These are available many places, but from DigiKey, its is on this page:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products...QRLhJUkAtngYQgDueFhYAASsxN18fTjlrKxYAng4zOJAA

I like this idea. Thanks for the input!
 
Most batteries run around 12.5v or a bit more, using a true 12v source will actually have the battery powering the charger (not usually a good thing).
You really need a supply that can provide 13-14 volts assuming you are using this with ships battery installed/master on scenario.
 
Most batteries run around 12.5v or a bit more, using a true 12v source will actually have the battery powering the charger (not usually a good thing).
You really need a supply that can provide 13-14 volts assuming you are using this with ships battery installed/master on scenario.

Thanks Walt for that info. I will make sure to purchase the proper power supply.
 
G5 battery and external power supply

Most batteries run around 12.5v or a bit more, using a true 12v source will actually have the battery powering the charger (not usually a good thing).
You really need a supply that can provide 13-14 volts assuming you are using this with ships battery installed/master on scenario.

Yes, a well charged battery will float around 12.5V, and typically is charged 14.1-14.4 V or so. So, if you need/want to CHARGE your battery, use a battery charger, and preferably with the charger connected just to the battery, master not engaged.

The power supplies I suggested are meant to run your avionics and electrical on the ground for testing, learning your avionics, loading data or software, etc. WITHOUT running your battery down in the process. So, for these externally powered situations, you provide a connector that goes on your avionics bus, and you don't engage the master, so the battery is not connected to/seeing this external power source, and for this 12V is just fine. You can also make the connection on the plane side of the master solenoid, which will allow you to run any of the electrical, in addition to the avionics. Also, most of these supplies have some adjustment and you can turn them up to 12.5V or so if that makes you feel any better, but it's not necessary. Finally, if you were to engage the master, the battery will generally NOT back drive the power supply. The power supply will simply stop supplying the power to whatever is turned on and the battery will take over.
 
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