How to connect a battery tender

[bishopw]

My PA24-180 does not have the optional Piper external power connector. I had a dead battery this spring, after a long winter of infrequent flying. Battery was 3 years old, but was a Concorde RG35-AXC that seemed fine in the fall and should have lasted longer. I am told that a battery tender would have kept it alive, but I have no easy way to make the connection on a routine basis. I don't want to have to dig into the tail through the aft bulkhead every time I park it. Does anyone know where I can get the parts for the previously available external power kit? I've looked online, and have seen only some very beat-up and corroded-looking salvage parts. Any other suggestions?
Warren Bishop

[Michael Bryant]

We just replaced the battery in our 1960 PA24-180 with a Concorde and bought a BatteryMinder to prevent it from draining down and getting damaged.

We keep our plane in a hanger, so we are able open up the baggage compartment and tail to connect it. Our mechanic's plan was/is to cut a hole from the tail to the baggage compartment large enough so the BatteryMinder connector can fit through (our mechanic didn't want to cut the hole without us approving the location) and install a grommet to protect the wire/connector. We will still have to open the baggage compartment to connect the BatteryMinder to the connector on the wire attached to the battery.

We still plan on having the hole cut (with a 337), but I travel a lot and haven't been able to set up a time to coordinate with our mechanic.

Michael

[bishopw]

Thanks, Michael. Unfortunately, that is exactly what I have been hoping to avoid. It would be nice to have a hardwired solution, even if the connector is in the baggage compartment. It would be tempting to run a wire directly from the battery terminals into a connector plug in the baggage compartment, but I am quite sure that it would not be a good idea! The Piper external connector is protected by a solenoid relay that closes only when the outside circuit is energized, preventing shorts at the connector.
Warren.

[bernard nowlen]

the battery minder has 2 fuses to protect the airplane battery system and the charger. One is in the unit and the other is an in line fuse from the positive terminal of the battery to he battery minder. It's a simple and safe system and i have been using it for the last 10 years on both 12/24 volt systems.

[Matt Bogard]

I just have the BatteryMinder hardwired to my battery with the pigtail coming into the baggage compartment under the access panel. When I'm done flying, I open the baggage door and the cord is right there to plug the BatteryMinder in to. It's not as simple as having a plug on the outside of the aircraft, but it works pretty well.

[Michael Bryant]

Matt,

Any chance you could post a photo?

Michael

[Brad Davis]

Matt...

Which Battery Minder do you use??

Brad Davis

[Don Ostergard]

I live in Western Canada and have an unheated hangar. Out here, winter comes around every year. We operate a farm that that has something in excess of 75 batteries on the place in machines varying from garden equipment to Caterpillar tractors. Many of our farm machines sit unused (or used only very occasionally) through the winter months. We do not have any heated machinery storage except for my wife's car and my pickup truck. Some of our machinery sits outside all winter. (It's a DRY cold.)Obviously, equipping all these batteries with battery minders is as impractical as finding a place to store all these batteries in our heated shop. So this is what we do:

When putting machines into winter storage, be sure that battery electrolyte levels are full, that the battery is fully charged, that terminals are clean and that the ENTIRE BATTERY IS CLEAN AND DRY.

Disconnect at least one battery cable if there is ANY chance whatever of any parasitic current draw (clock, on-board computer, etc.). (Also reduces the fire hazard.) Since the airplane has a master disconnect switch, this is taken care of automatically.

We try to check our batteries every couple of months. (It's something that tends to be put off so I'm embarrassed to admit we sometimes only get around to doing it maybe once during the winter.) There is no such thing as a perfect insulator so any battery case will permit a tiny bit of current to migrate between the posts. If a battery's voltage is down we'll put a charger on it for a while.

Yes, sometimes we'll discover in the spring that the "Battery Fairy" has cast an evil spell on a battery during the winter but that battery was probably ready to fail anyway. The fact is, we don't buy any more batteries in April than we do in August, nor in January than we do in July.

I normally change out my airplane battery after four or five years and put the old one on something like a garden tractor or other machine that uses a small engine.

I don't care if my airplane battery is built by Gill or Concord. If one of them wasn't any good they would not have remained in business all these many years.

It is my carefully considered opinion that if a battery is taken care of properly a battery minder is unnecessary.

Don Ostergard
Drumheller AB
c-flhv@magtech.ca

[N3322G]

Don - may the off-topic troll roar in displeasure ... always enjoy your humor. Battery fairy - LOL. The fairy must have a friend we call the snow snake. Snow snakes live on ski mountains and frequently grab the tips/edges of skis so that the skier becomes unbalanced and tries to fall.

[Charles Schefer]

I've been debating this same issue (the best way to connect a bat-tender). I recently bought one of these -> http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/e ... r12pip.php chargers mostly to use a a GPU when updating avionics databases, and running avionics on the ground and not wanting to drain the ship's battery.

Unfortunately my bird for all it's upgrades, still has generators. I'm planning to do the Plane Power alternator conversion as the generators don't put out much below 1,400RPM... OK sorry I am not trying to hijack this tread... anyway for now I just bought a new Bogurt Aviation battery box with better cables and Concorde battery adapters so I can put in a Concord RG-35AXC. I would much rather have a VRLA / AGM battery than a spillable battery. I was also thinking that given my taxi back to the hangar is basically on battery (because of generators) - that or drag the brakes... it would be good to have a tender...

Ideally I would love to have a set of leads wired into the battery inside the battery box and then have the leads come out somewhere that I could connect a Battery Minder or perhaps my Schauer which will trickle feed the battery with a low amp charge. The problem (and my real reason for posting on this thread) is I cannot find a legally approved way of doing this. Technically wiring in to the battery means the leads would be live all the time. Perhaps a switch could be integrated but still... my IA and I discussed this idea and neither of us can see a way of doing this sort of think in a way that would be legal in the eyes of the FAA. Any thoughts or feedback on that aspect appreciated...

- Charles

[kenhill]

I have seen on Automobiles where people have aftermarket Hi intensity headlights or sound system amps, there is a fuse right at the battery terminal.