Ground Power Unit (commercial or DIY)

In that case I say the battery was overdue anyway. Again, there must have been quite a few flights with dead generators, relying on magneto for ignition plus battery energy for operating instruments. I guess you could achieve half an hour on battery normal operation of avionics or longer if you choose to switch off some instruments. So what is different if you use two 12 V batteries on the ground plus extending capacities by hooking up a charger ? Vic

Today i tested my Christmas present (which i got from myself ;-))

I bought an RBPS25 (25 Amps) to be able to run the Avionics for a longer period of tine without draining the battery. The unit seems to be built very well, feels like milspec to me. No toy. All cables, plugs, siwtches, all very solid. A big fan for cooling, over voltage and over amp protection. There’s a 40 Amps version too, but completely unnecessary for what I do with it, and much more expensive.

Price was 670 pound or 890 Euros incl. shipping. Very expensive, I would say, but i think the quality is great.

Connected it to the outlet, switched it on, switched on ALT 1 and Avionics. Complete Avidyne panel with autopilot, satellite weather, traffic, stormscope etc. draws only 8-9 Amps (I switched off the XPDR).

The first ten minutes I had it only on 14 V, so i drained the battery a bit …. then switched it to 28 V and ten minuets later the battery was recharged again. But should not be used for charginbg the battery.

I am looking for a not too pricey ground power unit, to perform work on the avionics and inspections during the annual in the best conditions.

I’ve seen this:
http://m.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/powersupply/portPowerCharger24ces.php

Which is significantly cheaper than STARTPAC products, and allow charging and maintenance of the battery.

Do you have an opinion or advice about such an entry level product ?

PS: 20A is largely enough for what I need.

At the same time, I would be glad to have your opinion on this combined product from Battery Minder (different price category)

http://www.batteryminders.com/28-volt-aviation-power-supply-charger-maintainer-desulfator-world-wide-usage/

Barely more pricey than StartPac, but fully competent to charge and maintain battery.

I bought this in 2010 and it does the job
https://www.accubat.fr/achat-chargeur-batterie-ctek-multi-xt-14000-24-volts-1135.htm

Thanks Jean
Do you charge / maintain your battery often ? I guess it needs to be removed to do so ?

Besides, this is a charger and it does not allow to power the avionics from DC (Ground Power).

I bought this in 2010 and it does the job
https://www.accubat.fr/achat-chargeur-batterie-ctek-multi-xt-14000-24-volts-1135.htm

D´accord with Jean: using this kind of trickle charger since 2015 still works well, maintaining my 24V Gill battery anno 2013, used the reconditioning function only once a year and service/check the batttery for sufficient fluid level. Using the charger unattented, would require Peters recommendation (most sense) to use a fused wire. However I haven´t found a ready made appropriate wire or fuse solution for that, yet.

Hi,

I would like some feedback from aircraft owners, if and what ground power do you use while in the hanger. I have a client who needs a power supply for his Tecnam which is 24v based and I need some models which maybe are not rather so expensive, as what I found until now cost alot!

Appreciate your input…

Why does he need it? Is it for engine starting or being able to power the avionics without running the engine?
Two 12v or one 24v car battery(ies) should work fine if you give them some charge every now and then(or all the time you are not using them).

We have a battery minder and if we want to run the avionics in the hangar for 15 minutes once in a while we just do it on the normal battery as the battery minder will then recharge it very fast. Beware of those 230V power supplies many do not provide proper 28V DC causing strange behaviour of the intercom etc.