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avipak strobes not firing during flight

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tomhanaway

Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 111
Location: Murphy, NC

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 3:09 am Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Just did my first night flight after completing phase 1.

 

I have an Avipak box firing wing and tail strobes. If it's just on battery power on the ground, all strobes work fine.

 

Once flying, the strobes stopped firing. If I switched them off and on, I could see the wing tips flashing for one or two sequences, then nothing.

 

When I returned to ground and shut down engine, the strobes were working fine again.

 

My guess is it's somehow connected to alternator output, which would increase at cruise power. However, no issues with any other electronics.



Any suggestions appreciated.



 __________________

 Tom Hanaway

 Boynton Beach, FL

 RV-10/N518TP

 Phase I completed 6/12/2012

jesse(at)saintaviation.co
Guest

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:36 am Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Tom,



Alternator output potential increases with higher power settings (ie. cruise power), but the power itself does not necessarily increase if everything is working correctly. I usually see the highest output shortly after start for a couple of minutes for obvious reasons, but in cruise it is just putting out what the system is using if everything is working correctly. In some planes I get a whine when I first start and while taxiing because the battery needs to be charged back up, but that usually goes away before takeoff. It could have something to do with the engine running, but nothing specific comes to mind. I'd try talking to Avipak and also make sure that all wiring connections are good. It could be that vibration is causing a connection to fail.



do not archive



Jesse Saint

Saint Aviation, Inc.

jesse(at)saintaviation.com

C: 352-427-0285

F: 815-377-3694



On Jul 4, 2012, at 7:09 AM, tomhanaway wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		   

 

 Just did my first night flight after completing phase 1.

 

 I have an Avipak box firing wing and tail strobes. If it's just on battery power on the ground, all strobes work fine.

 

 Once flying, the strobes stopped firing. If I switched them off and on, I could see the wing tips flashing for one or two sequences, then nothing.

 

 When I returned to ground and shut down engine, the strobes were working fine again.

 

 My guess is it's somehow connected to alternator output, which would increase at cruise power. However, no issues with any other electronics.

 

 Any suggestions appreciated.

 

 __________________

 Tom Hanaway

 Boynton Beach, FL

 RV-10/N518TP

 Phase I completed 6/12/2012

 

 

 

 

 Read this topic online here:

 

 http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=377229#377229

rene(at)felker.com
Guest

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 5:55 am Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Bus voltage will be higher with the alternator on.  Try testing with the

engine running, but alternator field off.  



What is  the bus voltage when you are at full power?  

Rene' Felker

N423CF

801-721-6080



--

tomhanaway

Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 111
Location: Murphy, NC

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:43 pm Post subject: Re: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Latest detective work   



Thought I'd test my capacitor theory.  Turned battery on, engine off, switched strobes on.  Fired perfectly for about 4 minutes and then stopped.  Turned switch off, waited thirty seconds, turned on again and they flashed about 3 times.



Left switch and battery on and tested voltage at the Avipak box. It was getting 12VDC and not firing.



So, black box is faulty.  Unfortunately, the Avipak brand is out of business and Nova does not support them,



Whelen power pack ordered.

rv10flyer(at)verizon.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 1:54 pm Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

did you call strobes n more? they have a Avipak version strobe system.



--

tomhanaway

Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 111
Location: Murphy, NC

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Pascal,

I looked at the strobesnmore website but the flashers operated at more flashes per minute than I wanted.  I feel more comfortable with Whelen's aircraft specific strobe power.



Interestingly, Whelen mentions that power supplies that have not been used for a long period of time (the guide references earlier year models), may lose polarity in the capacitor.  Thus, when subjected to full 12VDC power, they quickly overheat.  This sounds like what was happening to mine.  It's certainly sat for a long time not being used.

The fix is to run 75% power to the unit for 10 or 15 minutes to reconfigure the capacitor.  I may try this.  I suspect a standard 9v battery may not have enough power but I can't think of any other 9v source.



Tom

rv10flyer(at)verizon.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Good to hear!

I wonder if a battery charger would work? When I was doing my panel hookup I 

used a computer power supply that was "surplus" to me and I also used a RC 

battery charger. Both were enough to power the strobes and LED position 

lights. Easy hookup with alligator clips.

The 9v battery did work for my LED's but they weren't enough for the strobe 

power supply. May be worth a try however.

Best of success with this!

Pascal



--

john.maccallum(at)bigpond
Guest

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:09 am Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Don't hook a battery charger up to the Aircraft's Busses unless there is a

battery as well!

The lack of regulation and the ripple on the battery charger's output will

do bad things to the Avionics!



A computer power supply should be ok but I would still leave a battery in

parallel just as insurance.

Cheers

John MacCallum

Builder #41016

VH-DUU



--

psychobob96(at)gmail.com
Guest

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:53 am Post subject: avipak strobes not firing during flight

Possibly try several 9 V batteries connected in parallel?   

Jason. On Jul 6, 2012 4:55 AM, "Pascal" <rv10flyer(at)verizon.net (rv10flyer(at)verizon.net)> wrote:[quote] --> RV10-List message posted by: "Pascal" <rv10flyer(at)verizon.net (rv10flyer(at)verizon.net)>

 

 Good to hear!

 I wonder if a battery charger would work? When I was doing my panel hookup I used a computer power supply that was "surplus" to me and I also used a RC battery charger. Both were enough to power the strobes and LED position lights. Easy hookup with alligator clips.

  The 9v battery did work for my LED's but they weren't enough for the strobe power supply. May be worth a try however.

 Best of success with this!

 Pascal

 

 --

Bob Turner

Joined: 03 Jan 2009
Posts: 885
Location: Castro Valley, CA

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:04 am Post subject: Re: avipak strobes not firing during flight

My whelan power supply pulls 7 amps. That takes a pretty sizeable battery.

_________________
Bob Turner
RV-10 QB

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