Just need a little sanity check from you guys, please:
Today I managed to fly for about an hour with the alternator switch off; when the voltage warning chimed, I immediately realized what I did and flipped the switch on. Amp draw jumped up to 52 amps, presumably as the battery drew current to charge.
Within a minute or so, the 25a 'essential tie' breaker popped. Looking at the diagram, this seems to make sense: the path from the alternator to the battery is through the tie switch.
Sound right? Just seems like a heck of a lot of charging current for a battery that was reading 23.2v.
I left the plane on the external power overnight, with the battery breaker pulled; of course, looking at the diagram now sitting in my living room, I realize that without the battery switch on, the grounds aren't connected, so it's not charging. I'll have one of the line guys turn the battery switch on tomorrow for a few hours before giving it another shot tomorrow.
Essential Tie Breaker
Moderators: Rick, Lance Murray
- LTek1
- 3 Diamonds Member
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:14 pm
- First Name: Lee
- Aircraft Type: DA40
- Airports: KFCI
- Has thanked: 25 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
Essential Tie Breaker
Lee Dickinson
N282DS, 2003 DA40 at KOFP
Avidyne Entegra (!), Dual GNS430, KAP140
N282DS, 2003 DA40 at KOFP
Avidyne Entegra (!), Dual GNS430, KAP140
- Steve
- 5 Diamonds Member
- Posts: 1953
- Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:23 am
- First Name: Steve
- Aircraft Type: DA40
- Aircraft Registration: N432SC
- Airports: 1T7
- Has thanked: 81 times
- Been thanked: 493 times
Re: Essential Tie Breaker
Lee:
I'm surprised your voltage warning took so long. Mine goes off if the bus voltage goes down below about 26 volts. At 23.2 volts, your battery was mostly discharged.
To answer your question, yes, I would expect the Essential Tie breaker to pop under those conditions. On those occasions when my battery was run down (say from several unsuccessful starting attempts) I kept the RPM down when initially charging, to limit the current supplied by the alternator to the bus, thus preventing the Essential Tie breaker from popping.
In flight, obviously you can't decrease the alternator output, so all you can do is decrease the (non-charging) draw by powering off everything you can, until the charging current draw from the battery decreases. In my aircraft this is pretty easy, since I just turn off selected radios, the DME, lights, etc. Not sure about the G1000 models.
Steve
I'm surprised your voltage warning took so long. Mine goes off if the bus voltage goes down below about 26 volts. At 23.2 volts, your battery was mostly discharged.
To answer your question, yes, I would expect the Essential Tie breaker to pop under those conditions. On those occasions when my battery was run down (say from several unsuccessful starting attempts) I kept the RPM down when initially charging, to limit the current supplied by the alternator to the bus, thus preventing the Essential Tie breaker from popping.
In flight, obviously you can't decrease the alternator output, so all you can do is decrease the (non-charging) draw by powering off everything you can, until the charging current draw from the battery decreases. In my aircraft this is pretty easy, since I just turn off selected radios, the DME, lights, etc. Not sure about the G1000 models.
Steve
- LTek1
- 3 Diamonds Member
- Posts: 133
- Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:14 pm
- First Name: Lee
- Aircraft Type: DA40
- Airports: KFCI
- Has thanked: 25 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
Re: Essential Tie Breaker
Thanks, Steve.
I don't remember exactly where the alert went off; it was 23.2 by the time I landed.
Makes perfect sense, though, having had a minute to look at the diagram while not also flying.
I don't remember exactly where the alert went off; it was 23.2 by the time I landed.
Makes perfect sense, though, having had a minute to look at the diagram while not also flying.
Lee Dickinson
N282DS, 2003 DA40 at KOFP
Avidyne Entegra (!), Dual GNS430, KAP140
N282DS, 2003 DA40 at KOFP
Avidyne Entegra (!), Dual GNS430, KAP140
- Joey
- 4 Diamonds Member
- Posts: 263
- Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2010 2:31 am
- First Name: Joey
- Aircraft Type: DA40
- Aircraft Registration: N633DC
- Airports: KJGG
- Has thanked: 11 times
- Been thanked: 17 times
Re: Essential Tie Breaker
I had a similar situation happen when we first bought the airplane. You cannot really do anything about it airborne w a g1000. The fix was to simply run the engine on the ground at low rpm to keep the charging current low so as to not pop the breaker. If you have a trickle charger hooked up that would work too.
Joey Ritchie
DA40 XLS 40.940
JGG Williamsburg VA
DA40 XLS 40.940
JGG Williamsburg VA
- Sandy
- 4 Diamonds Member
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:30 pm
- First Name: Sanford
- Aircraft Type: DA40
- Aircraft Registration: N159PS
- Airports: KPDK
- Has thanked: 11 times
- Been thanked: 48 times
Re: Essential Tie Breaker
I just had a similar issue with my ESS Tie breaker popping due to a low voltage condition only a few weeks after I had a new battery installed, as set forth in this thread viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5091&p=69788#p69788.