Tool Kits: LSA, Trips Away

[Thruster88]

24 minutes ago, John. said:

Easy, battery under the seat, have jump started off a Hilux. Was simple.enough on one freezing morning in the outback, this was before the battery upgrade.

I have one of those lithium jump starters that cost about $150 on ebay. It easily starts my 7l diesel cat55 tractor when it has a low battery from sitting in the shed to long. After checking the safety aspect of taking it flying with RFguy it is perfect for recharging personal devices when flying to remote camps. I must admit I always thought these things were a bit of a joke with their tiny leads, they work.

[John.]

30 minutes ago, APenNameAndThatA said:

I don't mind people hijacking threads.

Thanks, that was a good list you did, picked up a few ideas myself, cheers.

[pmccarthy]

Why two hand pumps.  High quality bicycle pump will do it. It is worth removing a wheel just to find out which keys and spanners you need and how you will prop it up.

[John.]

27 minutes ago, Thruster88 said:

I have one of those lithium jump starters that cost about $150 on ebay. It easily starts my 7l diesel cat55 tractor when it has a low battery from sitting in the shed to long. After checking the safety aspect of taking it flying with RFguy it is perfect for recharging personal devices when flying to remote camps. I must admit I always thought these things were a bit of a joke with their tiny leads, they work.

Thanks Thruster, am looking at the 'Gooloo 4000'....cheers.

[rgmwa]

Tyre pressure gauge to go with the hand pumps?

[BrendAn]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

My attitude was to always have a spot on battery in the plane but I still got caught when I didn't use it for a while. IF your plane has an alternator it won't come on line (excite) if the battery is flat. Nev

I put 2 dead flat batteries on charge today. Out of the boat .bilge pump stuck on until they were completely done. Anyway the smart charger thought they were 6 volt. I had to pump charge in from the car for a couple of minutes for charger to recognise they were 12 volt. Nothing to do with aircraft but your exciter wire comment made me think of it. I have in the past had a battery reverse polarity because it got to flat

 

[jackc]

Once a battery goes flat, you can recover it but it will lose capacity a small amount at the minimum, run it flat a few times and it’s in the bin 😞 

[onetrack]

I've recovered quite a few dead flat batteries that shows all the signs of sulphation, using my Infinitum 12V desulfator (U.S. spelling) and a simple 4A basic battery charger, charging over an extended period.

They never recover to as-new, but they recover enough to perform quite satisfactorily in the average start battery position. The Infinitum 12V desulfator also prolongs the life of good batteries, if you use it on them permanently.

[jackc]

Not so sure they work very well on AGM batteries, especially spiral plate ones? 

[facthunter]

Once an AGM battery gets hot, chuck it. It will never recover. Normal lead acid yes just keep cycling it. it's common to have to put an overvolt staring charge for some chargers to "recognise" the battery but IT's an aeroplane so if in doubt chuck it out..  Nev

[skippydiesel]

Has anyone had any experience with the pressure pack, emergency tyre inflators ?

It seems you can get the better quality ones (eg Motul ?) in different sizes, to suite (come close) to the tyre you want to do.

 

I have recently purchased one of those "pocket" battery jump starters. Yet to use it however in addition to jump starting, it comes with capacity to charge other devises such as phone & a built in torch/strobe. Ii will also drive 12 volt accessories such as  a refueling pump removing the need to access the aircrafts power supply.

 

My last aircraft was all metric (not a devil thread anywhere) unfortunately my new has a metric engine (Rotax) and american aviation spec (way worse than regular imperial) fuselage/systems, very much complicating (increasing weight)an emergency tool kit.

 

Aside from tyre repair (imperial) I will only be carrying metric tools and a very small number (to be decided) of engine spares

[jackc]

I use a soda gas bottle kit, 2 -3 bottles will blow up a BMW 1200 GS Tyre.   I carry a Gorilla Snot tyre  repair kit onboard my Vespa 300 GTS Super scooter.  1 bottle will pump up its tubeless tyre, when flat.

[Yenn]

All the above info is good, I would only add, why a plug lead. I have never had one fail unless it was visibly depressed.

Duct tape is not good stuff, but it is a well used name for many things. I would suggest either Mile a  minute tape, or Hundred MPH tape. Black,sort of fabric tape, not silver plastic.

[jackc]

Tape is must have if large animals decide to feast on your wings or tail feathers 🙂 

[facthunter]

Does that happen often to you? I wouldn't even  want them leaning on it. .  Nev

[kgwilson]

On 23/10/2022 at 9:01 AM, facthunter said:

Once an AGM battery gets hot, chuck it. It will never recover. Normal lead acid yes just keep cycling it. it's common to have to put an overvolt staring charge for some chargers to "recognise" the battery but IT's an aeroplane so if in doubt chuck it out..  Nev

I have a Motobatt MBTX20U 21 AH battery in my aircraft & has been there since 2015. I accidentally flattened it by leaving the ignition switch on about 3 or 4 years ago. I have a smart charger but it is not that smart. As it detected no voltage at all, it decided the battery was stuffed and would not charge the battery at all. I connected an old basic charger for about an hour. The battery had got quite warm in that time but then I put it back on the smart charger which went into pulse mode for a while then trickle for about 15 hours before it said the battery was fully charged. It is not as good as new but still starts my engine every time.

 

Most of my flights average an hour or so and the battery keeps well charged but it never gets to a full charge. I assume this has something to do with the regulator. The same occurs with both cars. I will put the smart charger on occasionally and it will show about 80-90% charged. It usually only takes an hour or 2 to get back to full charge.

Edited October 23, 2022 by kgwilson

[facthunter]

AGM is a "paste" battery. Bubbles form in when it overheats that don't fix themselves. Paste doesn't flow.. Nev

[onetrack]

The AGM batteries have very little liquid in them that you can't afford to lose via the vents (and yes, AGM batteries do have vents, that only release under pressure). If an AGM battery gets hot, the vents vent, and a portion of the water in the electrolyte paste is lost.

 

You can easily determine this level of loss by weighing the overheated AGM battery, and checking its current weight against a new one. If the battery weighs 20kgs new, and it now weighs only 19kg after being overheated, then you've lost a litre of water from the gel - which seriously affects the AGM batterys life and performance - and that water loss can't be replaced, unlike a standard lead acid battery.

 

For that reason, battery manufacturers insist that a dedicated AGM battery charger must be used on AGM batteries, as the dedicated AGM chargers have temperature compensation logic, which reduces the charge rate, and therefore the temperature rise in the battery, if the temperature of the battery being charged, is rising to battery-damaging levels.

 

Not everyone understands how important it also is, to watch your maximum charging voltage with lead acid batteries. Many batteries carry a warning against exceeding a certain charging voltage - over which voltage, overheating and cell damage is occurring. 

[facthunter]

High charge and discharge rates of lead acid batteries can buckle the plates and cause excess "gassing" of oxygen and hydrogen which is an explosive combination.

     OT The paste batteries I've had fail have never lost fluid which would be obvious as corrosion if it had. AGM batteries can be mounted in any  position and are less prone to vibration problems. IF any battery has been dropped it's likely to damage a plate. IF one cell varies it will do more damage  as it's the weak link. Don't fool with suss batteries. Over time they have been issues in aeroplanes of all sizes. Batteries left discharged form Lead sulphate which will short them out and before that cause a high resistance to charge. It's white in colour and insoluble without the aid of an electric flow. A good condition lead acid battery has a very low resistance at about 60% charge so will manage voltage  while it has the ability to do so.  A good test for Battery condition is how high a charge it can accept (briefly) when about 1/2 charged Nev

[spacesailor]

My Dozens of ' A ,G,M ' batteries All failed to charge ! ,

After a very hot day in my garage. ( more than one day )

Even an unused brand new one died. ( a spare ).

I started to ' paint ' the roof of the garage to try & get the interior temperature down .

But ran out of " get-up-and-go " , plust adding  ' microspheres ' made ' low pressure ' spraying harder.

Also to to spray from INSIDE , to keep the heat out.

spacesailor

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

On 22/10/2022 at 6:34 PM, pmccarthy said:

Why two hand pumps.  High quality bicycle pump will do it. It is worth removing a wheel just to find out which keys and spanners you need and how you will prop it up.

I am paranoid about the hand pumps. One will be enough, but they are only 100 g for a good quality small one. I have already removed and replaced the tyre once so I know what tools are needed. I expect I will check what is needed, which, IIRC, was two hex keys and one socket. I will then leave *all* the other Imperial sockets and hex keys behind. Any additional thoughts re this welcomed. My LAME is going to check the wheel. According to Foxbat, some of the newer wheels come with Torx rather than Allen keys (😠). The fasteners will need to be replaced because I messed them up removing them without the right tools, so I will see what I end up with. 

[APenNameAndThatA]

On 22/10/2022 at 7:07 PM, rgmwa said:

Tyre pressure gauge to go with the hand pumps?

In my flight bag, but yes. Also, I will ditch the silicon tape. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by APenNameAndThatA

[APenNameAndThatA]

On 23/10/2022 at 8:33 AM, skippydiesel said:

Has anyone had any experience with the pressure pack, emergency tyre inflators ?

It seems you can get the better quality ones (eg Motul ?) in different sizes, to suite (come close) to the tyre you want to do.

 

I have recently purchased one of those "pocket" battery jump starters. Yet to use it however in addition to jump starting, it comes with capacity to charge other devises such as phone & a built in torch/strobe. Ii will also drive 12 volt accessories such as  a refueling pump removing the need to access the aircrafts power supply.

 

My last aircraft was all metric (not a devil thread anywhere) unfortunately my new has a metric engine (Rotax) and american aviation spec (way worse than regular imperial) fuselage/systems, very much complicating (increasing weight)an emergency tool kit.

 

Aside from tyre repair (imperial) I will only be carrying metric tools and a very small number (to be decided) of engine spares

I carried *two* of the pressure pack emergency inflators. I cannot remember the brands, but they were both different. Neither of them had enough energy to put the foam/air mixture into the tyre, and one of them leaked. The leak was not where the hose screwed onto the valve, so the issue was not user error. Even if they had functioned as advertised, I don't think that they would have fixed my puncture as it was due to a ripped valve stem. I think one of them might have been Motul. I tried to get the best brands. I will not be trying to use them again. 

[APenNameAndThatA]

19 hours ago, jackc said:

Tape is must have if large animals decide to feast on your wings or tail feathers 🙂 

So I have heard. Oil of cloves keeps police sniffer dogs from following you, IIRC. I wonder if there is a smell camels and cows hate? 

[Ian]

5 minutes ago, APenNameAndThatA said:

So I have heard. Oil of cloves keeps police sniffer dogs from following you, IIRC. I wonder if there is a smell camels and cows hate? 

Lion or Tiger?