Ipad battery discharging on airplane power

[JohnB]

Ok I have a 24v cigarette lighter outlet in my Mooney (ok who ever thought smoking while flying in a Mooney was a good idea? , and would like a solution that i can run my ipad from airplane power (and in the near future my Stratus II) without draining the ipad battery. I bought a Scosche dual usb adapter (supposedly both 2.1 amp outlets)  and one other one and both when the ipad is plugged in, cellular off, using internal GPS, dimmed to the point where I can barely read everything, and the ipad battery still discharges. I read one of sporty's comments on someone else who had the same issue with the Scosche charger and they said..

 

Sporty's Response

The electrical drain of an iPad in use can be larger than the output current of any charger. This is often the case when using a newer iPad with a retina display on full brightness and bluetooth running for an external GPS. This requires more than the 2.1 amps that a charger will provide. Dial back the screen brightness, or turn the screen off when not in use to preserve battery life.

 

With all of us ipad users, and im sure some of you have 24v outlets like me, there must be a solution for this, as i also wanted to eventually add stratus and would like the convenience of not having to charge the units by AC electircal power only. I have an ipad retina display unit. Is this just the way it is with any adapter as Sporty's says? I suppose if it is, ill just have to keep turning it on and off which is an annoyaance, but Im hoping there's a solution that someone has found out there. When I add stratus and need to turn on Wi-fi, will that make this battery life issue worse? Permanent USB install in aircraft?  Any working solutions would be highly appreciated!

[Bill_Carter]

Not sure about the power fix itself, but you can turn off all of the unnecessary location services.

[JohnB]

Bill, great suggestion. Ill try it next flight and only turn on location for Foreflight.

[xftrplt]

I use the newest iPad (with a Ram mount on the right A-pillar, Brett's idea). Yes, it still discharges when plugged into the cigarette lighter, but so slowly (with the screen bright) that will outlast the plane's endurance, and mine. Further, there is no need to run the iPad the whole flight. Use it just when you need it; let it charge the rest of the time. Perfection: the enemy of good enough.

[M20F]

Go to iPad settings and turn the brightness down. Even plugged into a wall you can overpower the devices ability to recharge with full brightness and a processor heavy application like Foreflight.

[BorealOne]

Um...are you running a 24v - 12v step down converter between the cigarette plug and the USB charger? You need one. I use:

 

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/av/convert/voltageconverter.php

 

 

It gives a max of 5 amps 12VDC current - more than enough to charge my iPad and power my laptop.

[JohnB]

Boreal, Did you say 5 amps? Wow...im interested. What kind of setup do you use to go from your converter to your ipad and laptop? Im thinking the dual usb cigarette lighter adapter isnt able to put out enough power.

[JohnB]

Xftrplt, Have you figured out a way to fit a regular ipad in a mooney somewhere other than your knee? Are the details on the forum somewhere?

 

I use the newest iPad (with a Ram mount on the right A-pillar, Brett's idea). Yes, it still discharges when plugged into the cigarette lighter, but so slowly (with the screen bright) that will outlast the plane's endurance, and mine. Further, there is no need to run the iPad the whole flight. Use it just when you need it; let it charge the rest of the time. Perfection: the enemy of good enough.

[BorealOne]

I simply plug a two socket cigarette lighter adapter onto the 24v - 12v step down converter. In one, I have a Griffin Tech iPad USB plug (single socket) and in the other, a 'GPK 12v Laptop Power Adaptor' which I bought off Ebay to fit my Macbook. There appears to be plenty of capacity off the step-down converter to run or charge both the iPad and the laptop in the air.

[JohnB]

I simply plug a two socket cigarette lighter adapter onto the 24v - 12v step down converter. In one, I have a Griffin Tech iPad USB plug (single socket) and in the other, a 'GPK 12v Laptop Power Adaptor' which I bought off Ebay to fit my Macbook. There appears to be plenty of capacity off the step-down converter to run or charge both the iPad and the laptop in the air.

 

That's fantastic!! Ok just before I order the converter you suggest, just confirming that when youre running your full size retina display iPad in flight, your iPad battery doesnt discharge at all? If so, I am absolutely getting one, as if im going to use my ipad as my in flight weather display, I need a solution that I can keep on all of the time in flight otherwise, theres no point for me in getting Stratus real time weather, if i have to turn off my display to save battery in flight.  I think I even have a mount that wouldnt fit on the pilots side, but im hoping that angled on the copilot's side might work!   

 

Thanks everyone, im getting some great ideas from perusing these forums.

[BorealOne]

Its a full size iPad, but not the retina version.

[JohnB]

Great Thanks Boreal! thats close enough, im ordering it thanks! If this works ill owe you a beverage!

[JohnB]

An update. Boreal, the 24v to 12 volt converter and the Griffin USB adaptor, although my iPad discharged slower, with minimal brightness and apps turned off,  didnt work.  

 

But I thought of another solution and just tried it in my car. First,  I tried foreflight at home plugged in to the wall output and it charges even when foreflight and many apps open and full brightness. So it must be the adapter circutry itself that can handle charging with a heavy ipad load while the usb lighter adapters can't.  So I wondered if I can do this in my plane.. and yes! So I tried a power inverter that I had from long ago that I got for my car.  Ok here was my setup. Had a cigarette lighter splitter, where my iphone in one port and my power inverter in the other one which is a 12v cigarette to 110 V AC outlet, and then plugged in my regular iPad charger into the 110V outlet. Turned on my iPad retina display full bright, wifi on, (simulating stratus) and bluetooth on connected to my extenal gps. Started at 44% iPad power, drove around in my car for around around 30 minutes (It was interesting to see the hazard advisor keep flashing red when I reached 40mph)  and at the end of the short drive, it read 47%! Not only does it not discharge, it charges on full use of foreflight and other apps!

So Im returning the 24 to 12 volt converter and getting a 24 volt to 110 V power inverter.  This should work, iPad chargers only need 10 watts to operate.

 

http://www.dcacpowerinverters.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=ML400-24

 

Ill try this in my plane once I get it sent to me, If anyone is interested to know if this solution works, ill post it here, but I am convinced it has to work.

[BorealOne]

Darn. I didn't realize that the newer iPads would have such a significantly larger batteries and higher draw - it guess it makes sense given the brighter, higher resolution display (4x the number of pixels to power up). My iPad has a 25 watt-hour battery while yours has a 42 watt-hour battery - looking into it now, I've also seen specs which show that the Retina draws 7 watts, while mine only uses 2. That all adds up - but I'm still not sure why a 2.1 amp x 5v cigarette lighter adapter putting out 10 watts can't keep up with a 7 watt draw.

 

I suspect there's some smart circuit at work in the iPad itself which is regulating the draw, but glad that the DC to AV solution is working for you.

[1964-M20E]

What type of plug goes into the I-pad from the wall adapter and at what voltage?  You may be able to connect the 12V from the plane directly into this point and achive the saem as with the 120VAC inverter.  But then again it is an apple and they do not like inovative simple solutions.

[gjkirsch]

I have tried a seperate 24 volt converter from Aircraft Spruce and got too much static in the radio to use it.  I also tried a plug in adapter that was supposed to handle the voltage and it actually did charge the Ipad but got almost to hot to touch.  At the end of the day, I bought a large capacity back up battery and can charge the Ipad and Stratus a couple of times each.  It is about the size of the new stratus and was around $100. 

[JohnB]

Yikes , well I certainly hope heat or humming isn't a n issue. Any adapter I expect will get warm after a while, which is why I bought the inverter with a cooling fan, should have the 24 volt one next week, but if that hums on my radio or something, I already have a 12 v one I can use with the converter suggested by Boreal as I'm waiting to return that one.. I do have some back up batteries, but the problem with that, if I'm doing a quick turnaround flight with no time to charge my iPad, when the iPad gets low, I plug the battery in, and it just slows the rate of discharge, on any battery setting, and won't recharge while flying with batteries plugged in and turned on. I wanted to solve this issue before I invest in a stratus, as if I can't, I may just have to go with the 796 solution and pay for my weather monthly but I sure like the flight planning you can do on your iPad from a hotel room, your house or wherever and keep all sorts of manuals and very nice aviation apps on it.

[JohnB]

Woo hoo! It works! Ok.. I have my Ipad plugged into a 24v to 110V AC inverter, bluetooth on, wireless on, pretty full bright screen. and it went from 96% charge to 98% charge after 2 hours use! When I stopped for a snack and used the battery dropping it to 88%, when I used it plugged in the plane it charged again during use!. No hum, no radio noise, ipad stays usual temperature. I even checked for radio / nav interference and noted none on vor/ gps or ils approaches. Now I can get my stratus and not have to worry about my ipad battery going out.  As on the pic below, the inverter handily fits into my right side pouch.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

 

[ken66770]

Last weekend, on a three hour flight, my Garmin Aera 796 discharged its battery completely even though plugged in to the 12 Volt system using the adapter that is supplied with the Garmin unit. I'm going to try an inverter and use the AC docking unit that comes with the 796. As suggested in one of the above posts, I tried in in a car, and it does work.

 

The inverter I am using also has a 5 VDC USB charging outlet. I plan on using that for my iPad and ForeFlight as I have experienced the same charging issues with the iPad.

 

Has anyone else noticed a short battery life when using the 796?

 

--------------------------

Edit:

After posting this, I found another thread discussing voltage issues where it was suggested that a low voltage on the buss (as low as 13.6) could cause the unit not to charge. I'm thinking that an adapter reducing  24 volts to 12 might actually be too low a voltage to charge the iPad (original post) or a Garmin 796. In my case, the adjustment of the voltage regulator would be a much more elegant fix than the suggested inverter - and perhaps cheaper. For the 24 volt system of the OP, the adapter might still be in question.

[larryb]

"Edit:  After posting this, I found another thread discussing voltage issues where it was suggested that a low voltage on the buss (as low as 13.6) could cause the unit not to charge. I'm thinking that an adapter reducing  24 volts to 12 might actually be too low a voltage to charge the iPad (original post) or a Garmin 796. In my case, the adjustment of the voltage regulator would be a much more elegant fix than the suggested inverter - and perhaps cheaper. For the 24 volt system of the OP, the adapter might still be in question."

 

I find this hard to believe. The power supply that comes with the 796 is a switching supply labeled at 12v. I just measured mine, no load, and it puts out 12.22v. And the unit charges just fine on this voltage. Something else must be going on.

[JohnB]

Last weekend, on a three hour flight, my Garmin Aera 796 discharged its battery completely even though plugged in to the 12 Volt system using the adapter that is supplied with the Garmin unit. I'm going to try an inverter and use the AC docking unit that comes with the 796. As suggested in one of the above posts, I tried in in a car, and it does work.

 

The inverter I am using also has a 5 VDC USB charging outlet. I plan on using that for my iPad and ForeFlight as I have experienced the same charging issues with the iPad.

 

Has anyone else noticed a short battery life when using the 796?

 

--------------------------

Edit:

After posting this, I found another thread discussing voltage issues where it was suggested that a low voltage on the buss (as low as 13.6) could cause the unit not to charge. I'm thinking that an adapter reducing  24 volts to 12 might actually be too low a voltage to charge the iPad (original post) or a Garmin 796. In my case, the adjustment of the voltage regulator would be a much more elegant fix than the suggested inverter - and perhaps cheaper. For the 24 volt system of the OP, the adapter might still be in question.

 

Larry,

I think your first solution using an inverter will work. Having gone through several 24 volt to 12 volt adapters, 24 v adapters, 12& 24 volt adapters with usb charging ports on my iPad retina, none of them prevented battery discharge, and they all had the same rate of discharge. The inverter solution using the factory 120 volt adapter was the only one that allowed my unit to actually charge while in full use. Also I noted when using my inverter with direct AC to power supply, when I used a cheap knock-off 120v to usb adapter, it discharges. It is only when i use either the apple brand 120v AC power adapter or one thats exactly compatible. This leads me to conclude that it is something in the apple (or compatible) 120v AC power plug that will allow the unit to run full while charging and not the input voltage of the adapter.

 

John