Jack Russell

Re the throttle lock. Yes, legally speaking you should put one on if you park your plane, but I don’t know anyone who uses one. Flying schools usually insist their clients fit and remove them as part of their procedures. It’s a very silly idea that came in after 9/11. It’s easy to make one. Just bend a piece of thin sheet steel that fits around your throttle control spindle in a U shape. Drill a hole through both sides of the U and put a cheap pad lock though. Otherwise most pilot shops have them. I have a couple of them and would be happy to let you have one. They won’t stop anyone of course. An even sillier post 9/11 idea might cause you some grief at some airports in Australia is the ASIC card. I guess since you’ve been here before you may have already dealt with this? If you don’t have one and want to get back into places like Canberra, they won’t allow you in. They’re expensive, almost impossible for foreign visitors to get and take ages for the security checks etc. The way around that is to go with someone who has one. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of friends who have them and would be happy to meet you from forums like this and especially AMPA, who are a great friendly social bunch..

Yes, it went well over 500 hours with no problems, until it became a bit slow to start charging after start up. The second one destroyed itself and potentially did serious engine damage after about 10 hours. Waddington Effect? In fairness, the component did need replacing but whether the act of maintaining or the materials used was the cause is yet to be determined. However, whatever happened to the manufacturers failure mode and effects analysis in approving such a vulnerable design?

Thankyou very much for this…. I think I might have a very red face. The interior lighting system is completely mad and has probably caught me out big time. 5 lights and 6 switches in various places around the aircraft, some apparently going through the battery master switch, some directly connected to No1 battery without going through the battery master. The result being that it’s possible to leave a light on, discharging battery No 1, with the battery master off. I think this may well be what happened initially. The problem then is, as per the POH, the battery must be removed and recharged properly because it will not recharge from the alternator. The POH is a little vague on that but that seems to be the case)?) I think that may well be why I saw large charging currents from the alternator but without realising No 1 battery was probably not charging but then I stupidly concluded something else had discharged it. The advice I was getting was that the battery had probably failed or it might be the relay stuck. Well, I got a new battery but I found that went flat too (I’m guessing I hadn’t noticed a light still on, so it would have done exactly the same discharge.) and a Mooneyspacer very kindly got me an unobtainium relay and shipped it to me. Meanwhile I started to think about the posts here on the interior lights… so I played around with the switches, making sure everything was off, took the bulbs out to make sure and found the luggage area has a separate light with a strange hidden switch I didn’t even know about. I got the the original battery No1 recharged and tested on a proper approved aircraft battery charger, refitted it and needless the say, it’s all been fine since. (So far) Thanks very much for all of the advice and especially the incredibly kind member who obtained and sent me the relay. I guess the lesson learned is think about the simple things first. At least I now have a spare battery I’m almost bound to need sooner or later and an unobtainium relay!

Both batteries were replace two years ago with new Concorde. Australia.

Yes, it was down to 6.9 volts. I think problem might be elsewhere. I hope I have not cooked a new battery as well.

Thanks Everyone… very helpful. The only thing I’ll add is that battery 1 discharges rapidly in flight whilst on No2. (?) (No 1 checked out fully charged before flight)

Have Ovation 3GX. Battery 1 seems to be rapidly discharging when using battery 2? Story: Battery 1 found completely discharged after a flight. Was fine when checked prior. Used Battery 2 during flight. We recharged battery 1 and all good for next couple of flights. On subsequent start up battery 1 would not turn engine. So presumed battery dead and replaced with new Concorde unit. All good on next flight and charging normally. On next flight new battery 1 checked out OK and was charging normally but I switched to battery 2 for the flight. Everything still seemed normal. However on arrival new battery 1 found completely dead. Any ideas?