Nick G Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 Howdy, new Bravo owner. 1995 model. Trying to find out if it’s user error - trying to turn on interior lights and baggage light with no luck. I think they’re inop. I’ve tried turning nav light on first. I made sure power switch on pilot side was on. No joy. Battery and avionics were both on. Am I missing something? Is there anything I can try that may solve all the lights not coming on. Thx in advance!
TangoTango Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 My J has a glass barrel fuse in the tailcone just inside the access panel. The previous owner pulled the fuse to prevent the battery from running down - the overhead interior lights bypass the master switch, so it's easy for them to be left on unnoticed. I would assume a Bravo has a similar fuse in the same place By the way, on mine the panel clock operates off the same fuse. Is your clock also inop?
Fritz1 Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 Interior lights and baggage compartment light are wired directly to one of the batteries, check the bulbs first, baggage compartment light is on a timer, switch is on left side of baggage compartment door, if bulbs good locate the fuse(s) in the avionics compartment, if interior lights and baggage compartment light are on the same fuse and that fuse is blown, you found the cause for the entire outage. The timer for the baggage compartment light timer has been known to die, I bought a replacement from BAS salvage, Don Muncie makes a replacement timer if memory serves. The usual failure mode for the timer is, however, to stay on and not go out which kills an expensive battery, the bulb in the baggage light may simply have been removed to prevent that from happening. Welcome aboard! 1
Nick G Posted July 30 Author Report Posted July 30 Ok thx all. I’ll take a look. My clock is also not working.
IvanP Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Nick G said: Where is the fuse panel? I do not think it is a panel fuse. Look for in-line fuse housing on one of the wires running from #1 battery. That is how it is on my Bravo (1990) in the tail compartment. Edited July 30 by IvanP 1
Fritz1 Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 Think clock has AA battery, you get to it when you remove the glare shield, do not think the Bravo has a fuse panel in the tail cone, trace the wires directly from the #1 battery which is the left battery, you will find the in line fuses somewhere in the wiring in the tail cone
Nick G Posted July 30 Author Report Posted July 30 Found it. Replaced it. Clock works now too! Thx all! I’m assuming the clock won’t run down my battery right?
IvanP Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 6 minutes ago, Nick G said: Found it. Replaced it. Clock works now too! Thx all! I’m assuming the clock won’t run down my battery right? If the plane will sit long enough without being flown or plugged into a battery minder it will. Athough it only takes very little current, it is not zero. One surefire way of draining your battery, at least on the older Bravos, is to accidentally bump the cabin light switch on the overhead console during daytime and leaving the plane for couple of days. You cannot see that the lights are on during the day and it will drain the battery becasue this circuit is always hot even with the master off. Maybe the newer Bravos have a timer circuit on these lights but mine does not.
TangoTango Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 If just the clock drains your battery, that's the plane's way of telling you it needs flown more 3
Fritz1 Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 clock in my 2000 Bravo runs on a AA battery, as stated before leaving any of the interior lights on kills the #1 battery, watch out, think the last Concord that I bought six months ago was $800
Nick G Posted July 30 Author Report Posted July 30 Thx all. Already loving this group. Need to troubleshoot my ice light next. Switch won’t stay on. Either it’s a short or bad switch.
IvanP Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 Older Bravos have a clock that was also used in Porsche 944. Found this out when looking for replacement backlight bulb which is a PITA to get to. I think that there has been a post on MS where somene described a failure of this clock in a way that it created siginficant parasitic drain leading to premature discharge of battery over relatively short time.
LANCECASPER Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 33 minutes ago, Nick G said: Thx all. Already loving this group. Need to troubleshoot my ice light next. Switch won’t stay on. Either it’s a short or bad switch. Your switch is also a circuit breaker. Sounds like a short. The light is a pain to get to. If it was me I would only want to ever go in there once to inspect it or replace it. If you value your time and the skin on your knuckles, there's an LED version on Aircraft Spruce. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/aeroledsstarlight_11-16661.php?clickkey=89295
EricJ Posted July 30 Report Posted July 30 The overhead dome light can be replaced with an LED that draws much less current than a bulb, so if it gets left on it won't drain the battery as much. 1
IvanP Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 If I recall correctly, Bravos have 10 bulbs in the cabin lights with Hi/Lo setting via resistor. LED replacement may not be able to maintain the two output levels??
Nick G Posted July 31 Author Report Posted July 31 I can see the baggage light maybe. . . But th overhead are two positions/intensities. I’ll look at a LED. The lens is pretty yellow and should probably be replaced. Thanks all! I
EricJ Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 1 hour ago, IvanP said: If I recall correctly, Bravos have 10 bulbs in the cabin lights with Hi/Lo setting via resistor. LED replacement may not be able to maintain the two output levels?? If it's dimmable it should be okay. Even many of the smaller bulb replacements are dimmable these days. 1
PT20J Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 15 hours ago, EricJ said: If it's dimmable it should be okay. Even many of the smaller bulb replacements are dimmable these days. It's just a series resistor so it may not drop enough voltage to dim a lot with the lower current draw from the LED. You could always change the resistor if necessary. The resistor is on the back of the switch so it may be possible to remove the switch from the outside without removing the headliner plastic.
IvanP Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 1 hour ago, PT20J said: It's just a series resistor so it may not drop enough voltage to dim a lot with the lower current draw from the LED. You could always change the resistor if necessary. The resistor is on the back of the switch so it may be possible to remove the switch from the outside without removing the headliner plastic. I do not know about the newer Barvo headliners, but on my 90 it is impossible to get to the cabin light switches and resistors without removing the headliner (at least partially). I have been through this exercise recently and it is definitely not a fun job. 1
Nick G Posted July 31 Author Report Posted July 31 Call me OCD, but has anyone used one of the headlight restoration kits to get the yellow discoloration off of their ice light??
Fly Boomer Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 4 minutes ago, Nick G said: Call me OCD, but has anyone used one of the headlight restoration kits to get the yellow discoloration off of their ice light?? https://mooneyspace.com/topic/42213-plexiglassplastic-cover-for-ice-light/
Nick G Posted July 31 Author Report Posted July 31 4 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said: https://mooneyspace.com/topic/42213-plexiglassplastic-cover-for-ice-light/ That is for replacement it seems. I was just wanting to clean it.
IvanP Posted July 31 Report Posted July 31 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Nick G said: Call me OCD, but has anyone used one of the headlight restoration kits to get the yellow discoloration off of their ice light?? The yellowing may not be limited to the surface layer. You can try any acrylic polishing kit, but by the time you add the time you spend on this, it may be easier to replace the lens with a new piece of polycarbonate material. Edited July 31 by IvanP
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