BJohnson
Well Known Member
I was at altitude settled into cruise for the 4 hr leg from Auburn WA to Logan UT to pick up my son from school, and talking to Chinook Approach for flight following. About an hour into the flight, I take a drink of water, and put the bottle back into the gear leg weldment, and poof - all electrical power goes off. The Dynon alarm says "aircraft power lost". The radio and transponder are off. No power from the plane power alternator, and no voltage from the battery. I thought for sure I had lost the alternator, or the alternator belt, but the battery was offline too. I started a slow descent to Hermiston Oregon since I was 9500 ft above them and there are builders on the airport that could help.
Trouble shooting began. I switched on the ebus and power came back to the transponder. I looked at the Cessna type split master and that seemed correct. But a second glance conformed that both battery and alternator were both off. Being careful to turn on the battery first (thanks Vansairforce for that previous discussion!), and then the alternator, everything came back on center was calling my N number since I had disappeared from the the radar.
It turns out, the the location for my master alternator/battery switches are in the perfect alignment with the arc of the water bottle path when I finish drinking and go to place it in the the gear weldment. The glancing blow was perfect enough to flip both switches, but not enough to feel any impact through the bottle. I was able to continue and it make to Oshkosh the next day in time for the deluge.
A couple of takeways:
- my switches are on the left corner of the panel can readily be accidentally turned off by a water bottle or anything else I may be placing down to my lower left.
- I need to install a switch guard or relocate the switches (any one know of a good switch guard for this?)
- I have the switches labeled "battery" and "alternator", but not on or off. I am surprised how easily I mistook the position of the switches at the first glance. Labeling On/Off positions might have helped not missing this the first time.
- It was reassuring to know that when using VFR flight following, they are there to help if an actual emergency comes up.
Trouble shooting began. I switched on the ebus and power came back to the transponder. I looked at the Cessna type split master and that seemed correct. But a second glance conformed that both battery and alternator were both off. Being careful to turn on the battery first (thanks Vansairforce for that previous discussion!), and then the alternator, everything came back on center was calling my N number since I had disappeared from the the radar.
It turns out, the the location for my master alternator/battery switches are in the perfect alignment with the arc of the water bottle path when I finish drinking and go to place it in the the gear weldment. The glancing blow was perfect enough to flip both switches, but not enough to feel any impact through the bottle. I was able to continue and it make to Oshkosh the next day in time for the deluge.
A couple of takeways:
- my switches are on the left corner of the panel can readily be accidentally turned off by a water bottle or anything else I may be placing down to my lower left.
- I need to install a switch guard or relocate the switches (any one know of a good switch guard for this?)
- I have the switches labeled "battery" and "alternator", but not on or off. I am surprised how easily I mistook the position of the switches at the first glance. Labeling On/Off positions might have helped not missing this the first time.
- It was reassuring to know that when using VFR flight following, they are there to help if an actual emergency comes up.