arkvet
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- Sep 15, 2014
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I'm just getting to know my new 1980 Saratoga (normally aspirated) and have found an electrical issue. When I picked it up Wednesday am the battery had been charged during the annual that had just been completed. The plane had sat for the last 12 months with only 1 hour use. The battery was a brand new Gill that was installed at the beginning of that dry spell. It was hangared the whole time.
The 45 minute flight home was uneventful and I hangared it for the night. I was so excited the next am to take my first "lesson flight" in the new bird. At 7am I pulled it out and went through the checklist... Turned the key and barely a click. The battery was stone cold dead. I put it back in the hangar and hooked up my trickle charger for about 4 hours and then pulled the battery to take and be tested. Auto zone tested the battery and said it was fine showing just over 400 CCA, but about half discharged. I put the battery back on the plane and hooked the trickle charger back up for the rest of the afternoon.
I will mention that later that afternoon the battery still showed to be charging on the trickle charger and the charger was pretty hot... I figured this was normal since I was asking a trickle charger to charge a battery from dead to full all day long.
So later that same afternoon (yesterday) I pulled out the plane and it started up just fine. No problems at all. The Load Meter on the panel showed everything to be fine but after about 30-40 minutes of flight I could sense the battery was getting weak. It was dusk and I could tell my wing lights were getting dimmer. When I turned them on and off my panel lights would change intensity. The electric back-up attitude indicator began misbehaving (I'm guessing that was associated but maybe not?)
I landed and taxi'd back. Upon shutdown I tried to restart and the battery was weak, barely a wiggle of the prop.
This am the alternator and voltage regulator were both tested and found to be normal. My AI is scratching his head a little at this point. He is still questioning the condition of the battery despite the "normal test".
I'm also having some other minor electrical issues but I can't really tie them with this issue??? The other issues are the PTT switches (both yokes) on the #1 Com (Garmin 530) do not work. The work fine with the #2 king radio. That 340 was swapped out with another unit and that didn't change anything. The other issue is the primary master avionics switch doesn't work. There is a backup master avionics switch that can be armed by reaching under the panel and that works fine.
I am wondering if anyone else has any ideas or thoughts regarding the issue. I am planning to do a battery swap with another plane soon and see if it has the same issue. I just can't imagine a battery that will take a charge from my trickle charger and then start the plane without and trouble would simply go dead during a half hour of flying???
The 45 minute flight home was uneventful and I hangared it for the night. I was so excited the next am to take my first "lesson flight" in the new bird. At 7am I pulled it out and went through the checklist... Turned the key and barely a click. The battery was stone cold dead. I put it back in the hangar and hooked up my trickle charger for about 4 hours and then pulled the battery to take and be tested. Auto zone tested the battery and said it was fine showing just over 400 CCA, but about half discharged. I put the battery back on the plane and hooked the trickle charger back up for the rest of the afternoon.
I will mention that later that afternoon the battery still showed to be charging on the trickle charger and the charger was pretty hot... I figured this was normal since I was asking a trickle charger to charge a battery from dead to full all day long.
So later that same afternoon (yesterday) I pulled out the plane and it started up just fine. No problems at all. The Load Meter on the panel showed everything to be fine but after about 30-40 minutes of flight I could sense the battery was getting weak. It was dusk and I could tell my wing lights were getting dimmer. When I turned them on and off my panel lights would change intensity. The electric back-up attitude indicator began misbehaving (I'm guessing that was associated but maybe not?)
I landed and taxi'd back. Upon shutdown I tried to restart and the battery was weak, barely a wiggle of the prop.
This am the alternator and voltage regulator were both tested and found to be normal. My AI is scratching his head a little at this point. He is still questioning the condition of the battery despite the "normal test".
I'm also having some other minor electrical issues but I can't really tie them with this issue??? The other issues are the PTT switches (both yokes) on the #1 Com (Garmin 530) do not work. The work fine with the #2 king radio. That 340 was swapped out with another unit and that didn't change anything. The other issue is the primary master avionics switch doesn't work. There is a backup master avionics switch that can be armed by reaching under the panel and that works fine.
I am wondering if anyone else has any ideas or thoughts regarding the issue. I am planning to do a battery swap with another plane soon and see if it has the same issue. I just can't imagine a battery that will take a charge from my trickle charger and then start the plane without and trouble would simply go dead during a half hour of flying???
