Battery Quick Charge Pig tails

[Randy Johnson]

Anyone aware of a quick charge battery pigtail system for Comanche?

Probably requires an STC but it's time consuming to open the rear access door, remove the safety wire on the battery box, remove the the wing nuts on the box and access the battery terminals, then put it all back together again.

I'm finding in real cold weather a trickle charger with auto shut off is almost a requirement.

Any thoughts?

[Charles Schefer]

Randy,

Years ago I looked at this same subject with my IA and even talked to the Washington FSDO about it. I know some folks at the FSDO well and they were brainstorming with me for possible ways. I can't remember all the details at this point but I do recall coming to the conclusion that it was either not possible or just not worth pursuing.

All the above said, this past October I was at the CPPP hosted in Leesburg, VA. One of the participants was Dr. Mike Schloss who is not only a Comanche owner but he is also a Cardiologist, was the head of Cardiovascular disease prevention for NYU and to top all that he's an A&P / IA and works on all his own planes. Did I mention he also flies a Cessna 414 and used to own and fly a Douglass A-1 Skyraider!!! Anyway he's an impressive guy. This topic (battery tie-in) came up and he insisted it could be done. After the class he emailed me the following info. I haven't pursued it but I am passing it on in case it is helpful to you...

From Dr. Mike Schloss, A&P / IA:

Below is the log book entry necessary to for your mechanic to do the log book entry on your Comanche so that you can have a permanent hook up for your battery minder.

"Fabricated and installed wire battery charger connection harness using MIL-W-22759/16 wire and 10A inline circuit protection fuse. Attached to battery with ring terminals. Terminated opposite end with Anderson SB50 plug. . All work in accordance with AC 43.13/1B. Verified continuity, polarity and tested charger for proper aircraft electrical system operation, no defects noted."

You can obtain the Sb50 connector kit for $4.42 from Batterywerx.com, you will need two of them to do the job, some 14 gage wire and ring connectors. One wire from anderson connector (+) will be attached to the battery solenoid hot side with a ring connector or to the positive lug of your battery with a 10amp fuse in the line and the other wire (negative or ground) to a suitable ground or the negative side of your battery. I would suggest cutting off the alligator clips provided with the battery minder and putting an anderson connector in their place so that you can connect that to the anderson connector previously described (which is permanently attached to the aircraft) and that connector is removable and the battery minder will hook into the other end of it when you want to use it.

Above cut and past from Mike Schloss

Hope this helps,

- Charles

[Ed Asmus]

Hi Randy,

I am certainly no expert but I will share my experience on this topic. Hopefully others will offer some insight.

In the last year I have kept Battery Minders on both airplanes I regularly fly. One of them is a 1959 PA24-250. Since going with the Battery Minder, the difference is very apparent, especially on the Comanche. Starting is very easy. Keeping the battery "topped off" is a good practice for easy starts and battery longevity.

The Battery Minder folks use to offer the "pigtail" you speak of but then stopped and changed their opinion on the matter. The reason I know this is because a buddy of mine and I purchased identical units at the same time and mine came with the "pigtail" and his did not. His operating manual was also an updated version with the amendment to the operating procedures. I can only guess what caused this change. More on that in a moment.

I understand your mindset on accessing your battery. After my research, I decided the "conservative" procedure was to get good at accessing the battery on the Comanche and attach the Battery Minder directly to the battery. The reason I say "conservative" is because accessing the battery directly offers the most ventilation to the battery during charging mode and maintenance mode. This is what the Battery Minder folks amended their manual on. I can only guess that someone had a bad experience using the pigtail and did not have good ventilation to the battery and something bad happened.

If you end up using a pigtail on your Comanche, your battery will likely not have good ventilation while in use. Your battery during flight has good ventilation assuming your battery box is set up correctly but sitting still, little or no air gets through the battery box.

Having said this, my buddy on his airplane has worse access to the battery then we do on our Comanches and he decided to use the pigtail. His battery has poor ventilation while not in flight but he has had no issues whatsoever. In other words, I'm not really sure how big of a deal the ventilation issue is.

If you practice accessing your battery on your Comanche, you will get good at it. I'm not gonna lie, it is a minor annoyance but worth the results I'm seeing. I don't bother safetying the wing nuts on the battery box lid which is the biggest issue with accessing the battery. I'm not sure what the very knowledgeable folks would say about not safetying the lid but I have had no issues in the year that I have been doing this. The battery never goes more then one or two flights without being inspected by myself and the wing nuts have never moved.

Hope this helps.

Ed

[Randy Johnson]

Awesome and very usable remarks. Thanks gents, I appreciate it!

[Matt Bogard]

I have a Battery Minder with the pigtails. I have the Bogert battery box mod. the pigtails are run alongside the battery cables and attached to the battery posts. My battery is sealed so venting is a non-event. The end of the pigtail lives in the cargo area. At the end of a flight, I open the cargo door and plug in the Battery Minder which then lays on the ground beside the plane. Works great, battery is always happy, and in two annuals from two shops this was never flagged as an issue.

STC, fabrication, mil-spec, blah blah blah; at the end of the day common sense seems to dictate a well-charged battery is essential for safety of flight.

[SLIMDREDGER]

At OSH I talked to the Concorde Battery people about leaving a battery minder on full time in the hangar. Their representative was firm on advising that only the Battery Minders made in the US (not the Orient!) should be left attached unattended to their battery. I have a very sharp electrical engineer friend who advised the same for reasons that I won't attempt to explain. Mine was bought before I learned this and I have followed their advice and only charge the battery when I am around to watch the lights that show what is going on in the charging process. I have a pigtail that came with the charger and it works fine. My last Concorde battery was chanaged out when it working but seemed weak and it was 8 years old at the time.

Al Powers N88AP