T

tx_jayhawk

Well Known Member
I am curious what solutions others have employed for providing ground power. I'm assuming some have used the standard piper jack, but I'm guessing there may be better ways to do it. If you have used a jack, where/how has it been incorporated?

Anybody have any creative way to share? The cigarette lighter is always possible, but mine will be limited to 10 amps. I'd like to have the ground power capable of more than 10 amps.

Thanks,
Scott
7A
 
Why more than 10A? You should be able to go to about 20A with a cigarette lighter socket if that helps.

I just pulled out the Cessna-style three prong ground power plug on my RV-4. I saw it as significant weight which should never be needed. I'm going to start carrying one of those cigarette lighter-based "jump" start systems. That way, if I should leave the master on or something, I can get a jump from any passing car.

Kev
 
Great idea, cig plug on both ends. Just be sure the car supplying the juice is running. And, make sure you disconnect it before trying to crank!

It could have pigtails (normally capped) for connecting to a standard charger. Gotta make one of those.
 
AlexPeterson said:
Great idea, cig plug on both ends. Just be sure the car supplying the juice is running. And, make sure you disconnect it before trying to crank!

It could have pigtails (normally capped) for connecting to a standard charger. Gotta make one of those.
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Yep... one set up with the cigar lighter on one end and the Tender Plug on the other and I will also carry the Tender Jr., a very small $23.oo unit in the tool kit.
 
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Don't have a picture of this, but hope I can explain it. Just inside the oil door we have a standard 120v type cord socket wired directly to the battery with #10 wire. I carry a plug in the plane with #10 wires coming out of it, one red and one white. Need power, open the oil door, plug in the short cord (only about a foot long) and hook up the cables to a charger or battery. One wire is longer than the other to help keep the cable clamps apart. Weighs a couple of ounces, cost less than $10, and works every time someone sneaks in and unlocks your plane and turns your master switch on. Something like that, anyway.

Bob Kelly
 
Ground power solutions

I have a cig power plug mounted on left side sub panel where pilot can reach under and access it. That power plug has a circuit breaker mounted next to it. Plus lead from power plug goes to circuit breaker and then to plus terminal of battery. With this access to the battery, I can put a charger on the battery if I need to run my panel in the hangar, or WHEN I do have a battery issue in the future (probably due to me leaving master on).

Works for me.
 
Has anyone ever tried to jump start through a cig lighter? I wouild be very leery of passing even 10 A through such a device if you want minimal voltage drop and heating. Of course, if you are actually driving a real cig lighter, then you want it to get hot.
 
Jeff R said:
Has anyone ever tried to jump start through a cig lighter? I wouild be very leery of passing even 10 A through such a device if you want minimal voltage drop and heating. Of course, if you are actually driving a real cig lighter, then you want it to get hot.
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As stated above, you would not want to leave this the cigar lighter cord plugged in when actually cranking the engine. You will be surprised as to what 15 minutes of charge will do for the battery if has not been drained over night.
 
One thing to consider:
The master solenoid is powered up from the battery side. If the cig lighter is on the bus side and the battery is too low to close the solenoid, no charge current will reach the battery.
Now way could you crank an engine through the cig lighter. At best, you can charge up the battery and then crank off the battery. I am guessing, but cranking an engine might pull greater than 100 amps.
 
AltonD said:
One thing to consider:
The master solenoid is powered up from the battery side. If the cig lighter is on the bus side and the battery is too low to close the solenoid, no charge current will reach the battery...
Click to expand...
I have my cigarette lighter wired directly to the battery for this reason. It works well for charging the battery.
 
Ground Power


Don't have a picture of this, but hope I can explain it. Just inside the oil door we have a standard 120v type cord socket wired directly to the battery with #10 wire. I carry a plug in the plane with #10 wires coming out of it, one red and one white. Need power, open the oil door, plug in the short cord (only about a foot long) and hook up the cables to a charger or battery. One wire is longer than the other to help keep the cable clamps apart. Weighs a couple of ounces, cost less than $10, and works every time someone sneaks in and unlocks your plane and turns your master switch on. Something like that, anyway.



Any chance of someone confusing this cord for an engine heater and plugging it in to line voltage.
Not sure what will happen when 120VAC is applied to a 12-volt battery. May heat your engine real quick.http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/eek.gif
 
dpansier said:


Any chance of someone confusing this cord for an engine heater and plugging it in to line voltage.
Not sure what will happen when 120VAC is applied to a 12-volt battery. May heat your engine real quick.http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/eek.gif
Click to expand...


Don't think that is possible (although stranger things have happened.) It is the female end that is inside the oil door, so to get 120 to the battery, you would have to have a live male end, something that would cause more problems than just frying your battery! Everything is clearly marked as 12 volt also. I thought about modifying the plug/socket slightly, but figured it was more than just adequate this way. BTW, it will take 30 amps. The time I ran it down I was in another state and the FBO had to leave in about 1/2 hour. Took 15 minutes to give it a startable charge.

Bob
 
dpansier said:

Don't have a picture of this, but hope I can explain it. Just inside the oil door we have a standard 120v type cord socket wired directly to the battery with #10 wire. I carry a plug in the plane with #10 wires coming out of it, one red and one white. Need power, open the oil door, plug in the short cord (only about a foot long) and hook up the cables to a charger or battery. One wire is longer than the other to help keep the cable clamps apart. Weighs a couple of ounces, cost less than $10, and works every time someone sneaks in and unlocks your plane and turns your master switch on. Something like that, anyway.


Any chance of someone confusing this cord for an engine heater and plugging it in to line voltage.
Not sure what will happen when 120VAC is applied to a 12-volt battery. May heat your engine real quick.http://www.vansairforce.com/community/images/smilies/eek.gif
Click to expand...
Also, what would happen if that cord were to ever short out? It might be wise to put some sort of fuse or current limiter at the battery end of this cord.
 
Funny but I just needed to use my "Always Hot" Cig lighter this past weekend.

I installed two cigarette lighter plugs in my panel. The top one is wired to the always hot bus with 14 gauge wire and a 7.5 amp breaker. The bottom plug is wired to the avionics master with 18 gauge wire and a 5 amp breaker.

When I ran my battery down in the 15 degree Michigan temps I was able to clamp the charger's positive lead on the back of the plug and the negative to a plate nut on the back of the panel. This was possible because I have tip-up and located the plugs on the upper right corner of the panel.

The one mistake I made was not putting a plug with exposed ends in my tool bag. This weekend I will run to Radio Shack and buy a plug and modify it to use with a standard charger. Of course, I will paint the leads with black and red liquid electrical tape.
 
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