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HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly General Di...iFly General Di...portable power supply portable power supply
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6/2/2012 2:31 PM
 

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a portable battery pack that will run the i fly 700 and the sky radar receiver?

 
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6/2/2012 4:44 PM
 

It's pretty easy to run the iFly...it's pretty tolerant of low voltages. I have used this gizmo with good results, even with only 7 or 8 batteries installed (though you won't get much run time in that config, and the batteries better be fully charged to start with).

The SkyRadar is another matter. It wants solid 12V power, and it's not tolerant of much lower than that. I could get the SkyRadar to work with the Battpak if I had 10 fully-charged batteries in there, but within a pretty short time (~15-30 min) it would start acting flaky on me.

 
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6/25/2012 3:22 AM
 

Bought a rechargeable Li-ion battery and adapted it for the power input of the iFly 700. The 12 VDC 4500mah lasts 3.8 hours of continuous inflight use. There is a 9800mah version that should last over 7 hours continuous. I tested this in actual flying and it works great. It recharges in less than 2 hours. Also, the cord I converted allows a plug into a power source and the battery simultaneously. This means the airplane powers my iFly 700 with the battery as backup (and charging too). I got this at eBay for about $24 total with shipping.

A similar one is shown here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-4500mAh-12V-Super-Rechargeable-Li-ion-Lithium-Battery-For-CCTV-Cam-PACK-/261049712981?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item3cc7c68155

 
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6/25/2012 9:20 AM
 
Twingines wrote:

Bought a rechargeable Li-ion battery and adapted it for the power input of the iFly 700. The 12 VDC 4500mah lasts 3.8 hours of continuous inflight use. There is a 9800mah version that should last over 7 hours continuous. I tested this in actual flying and it works great. It recharges in less than 2 hours. Also, the cord I converted allows a plug into a power source and the battery simultaneously. This means the airplane powers my iFly 700 with the battery as backup (and charging too). I got this at eBay for about $24 total with shipping.

A similar one is shown here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-4500mAh-12V-Super-Rechargeable-Li-ion-Lithium-Battery-For-CCTV-Cam-PACK-/261049712981?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item3cc7c68155

Twingines, please reconsider this approach. I strongly discourage the use of cheap Li-ion technology. An iFly owner was using a $28 made-in-China battery in his beautiful Comanche 250; a few hours after landing at a destination (Pueblo, CO), someone told him an airplane was burning on the ramp. It was his Comanche! It seems his cheap battery spontaneously caught fire causing massive damage. This man was blessed by God that it happened on the ramp and not in flight.

There are safe Li-ion batteries, but they require a more expensive manufacture process and additional voltage and overheat protection circuitry; this is why the iFly battery isn't cheap - we selected a high quality solution.

Thanks,
Walter


Walter Boyd
President, Adventure Pilot
 
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6/26/2012 7:47 PM
 

Good advice. I had suspicions as to the battery quality, reliability, and safety. After extensively testing on my bench in my shop to verify the battery was within specifications to safely power the iFly 700, I ran it off the battery at home on the ground to full discharge several times. There was no indication of heating during use or recharge, which was my biggest concern. The internal circuitry has a battery charging auto-stop, which I'm keeping an eye on, as circuitry can fail.

I have less concerns about in flight ops, since I use the iFly power source adapter to use airplane power, with the battery unplugged in standby as my backup. Actually, I've probably used the battery on the ground for the most part for data transfers and preflight programming, with no adverse results thus far.

Also, I think due to the low 4500mah size, there is less chance for a catastrophic failure from the battery, as the "pack" is really just a pack of rechargeable cells. If a problem crops up while I continue testing and watching it in use, I'll be sure to place an alert in these forums.

 
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