This really makes me think twice about wanting to change from carburated to EFI on
an all electrical airplane. Runtime on a 20 amp-hours battery with the alternator
gone?

Finn

Once upon a time, while driving my fuel injected VW van (with eletric fuel pump) across country my alternator went out on me.  Really needing to get to Lincoln, and not get stranded in Grand Junction, I decided to continue the trip on battery power alone.

This was a 4 yr old, run down battery.  I found (the hard way) that I could go about 2 hrs before I needed to pull into a gas station to get it charged up. Listening to the tape player didn't change things much, but if I went more than 2 hours, turning on the stereo or windshield wipers would kill the engine (also discoverd the hard way).

With the dual batteries I plan in my RV, and running avionics, I figure a very conservative 2 hr. flight time for alternator loss.  Plenty of time to get to a safe landing, but I dont think I would continue my trip in my RV the same way I did in my VW.  :-)

BTW, you have never really driven across america until you have done it spending 2 hours charging a battery for every 2 hours of driving time.

And they lived happily ever after.

The End

Dave Leonard :-)

 
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