Dugaru
Well Known Member
[reposted from general discussion]:
For once, I have a relevant data point to add in an electrical discussion! Although I wish I could have skipped the whole thing...
Apologies in advance for my ignorance, since I'm not the builder and know very little about electrical systems. Although I'm learning more.
Last week, on a night flight on an IFR plan, fortunately in gorgeous VMC, I smelled a brief plastic-y burning smell and then everything on my avionics bus went dark. Except for my battery powered G5, for which I developed an even greater appreciation at that moment.
I later determined that I had blown the 15 amp fuse upstream of my diode.
When this happened, I flipped the ebus switch. Everything came back up, which made me happy, and then... everything on the avionics bus promptly died again.
Because I had now blown the 15 amp fuse upstream of the ebus switch.
I've rooted around under the panel since then, and everything is now working with the fuses replaced. I'm planning my next moves to keep this from happening again. But already I have some key lessons:
1. If installing a G5, pay the extra $ for the battery backup.
2. ATC is good at diagnosing electrical failures. Apparently losing comms and transponder simultaneously is a clear sign.....
3. Check the battery on your handheld before flying. Note that even if you do so, and even if the battery indicator is at "half," that handheld, which you have carried FOR YEARS for JUST SUCH AN EMERGENCY, might still go dead when you push the transmit button.
4. The principal problem with losing all comms at night is that it's hard to turn on the lights at airports. This never occurred to me during instrument training regarding lost comms.
5. Airports are extremely dark at night without runway lights. The green/white beacon can be readily identified but doesn't give you enough light to see.
6. ATC can turn on the lights for you, even at a non-towered field with pilot-controlled lighting! I somehow never realized this. Or at least they could at W96, maybe it has to be close to a big transmitter (which W96 presumably is). Can't tell you how grateful I was for that assistance.
7. ATC, for its part, is very grateful when you call PROMPTLY after ending a no-radio IFR flight. Proud to say that I managed to check that box.
8. An RV-9 can of course be readily landed with no flaps, even when it's still trimmed for 150 knots....
9. If instrument rated, always file an instrument flight plan for night flight, even in VMC. That way, if you lose comms, somebody will know that you need the lights turned on.
10. Flying and navigating in an RV at night with just a G5, and an iPad with Foreflight, is no major problem. Did I mention that the battery backup option for the G5 is a good value?
For once, I have a relevant data point to add in an electrical discussion! Although I wish I could have skipped the whole thing...
Apologies in advance for my ignorance, since I'm not the builder and know very little about electrical systems. Although I'm learning more.
Last week, on a night flight on an IFR plan, fortunately in gorgeous VMC, I smelled a brief plastic-y burning smell and then everything on my avionics bus went dark. Except for my battery powered G5, for which I developed an even greater appreciation at that moment.
I later determined that I had blown the 15 amp fuse upstream of my diode.
When this happened, I flipped the ebus switch. Everything came back up, which made me happy, and then... everything on the avionics bus promptly died again.
Because I had now blown the 15 amp fuse upstream of the ebus switch.
I've rooted around under the panel since then, and everything is now working with the fuses replaced. I'm planning my next moves to keep this from happening again. But already I have some key lessons:
1. If installing a G5, pay the extra $ for the battery backup.
2. ATC is good at diagnosing electrical failures. Apparently losing comms and transponder simultaneously is a clear sign.....
3. Check the battery on your handheld before flying. Note that even if you do so, and even if the battery indicator is at "half," that handheld, which you have carried FOR YEARS for JUST SUCH AN EMERGENCY, might still go dead when you push the transmit button.
4. The principal problem with losing all comms at night is that it's hard to turn on the lights at airports. This never occurred to me during instrument training regarding lost comms.
5. Airports are extremely dark at night without runway lights. The green/white beacon can be readily identified but doesn't give you enough light to see.
6. ATC can turn on the lights for you, even at a non-towered field with pilot-controlled lighting! I somehow never realized this. Or at least they could at W96, maybe it has to be close to a big transmitter (which W96 presumably is). Can't tell you how grateful I was for that assistance.
7. ATC, for its part, is very grateful when you call PROMPTLY after ending a no-radio IFR flight. Proud to say that I managed to check that box.
8. An RV-9 can of course be readily landed with no flaps, even when it's still trimmed for 150 knots....
9. If instrument rated, always file an instrument flight plan for night flight, even in VMC. That way, if you lose comms, somebody will know that you need the lights turned on.
10. Flying and navigating in an RV at night with just a G5, and an iPad with Foreflight, is no major problem. Did I mention that the battery backup option for the G5 is a good value?