Jay Campbell wrote on 12/2/2020 10:19 PM:
On Friday, November 27, 2020 at 11:01:36 AM UTC-5, Mark Mocho wrote:
I've rewired and/or replumbed my panel three or four times over the years as new equipment is added and old things are removed. Upgrading flight computers, displays, radios, transponders and the like have greatly enhanced the cockpit environment. One thing I have found invaluable is John DeRosa's series of helpful tips on glider maintenance. (http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations/) The "Aviation Electrical Best Practices" presentation shows the "right" way to go about wiring a cockpit. If you have any electrical skills, whether in industrial or home wiring, you will find the particular requirements for aviation are different. This guide steers you in the right direction. Thanks to "OHM" for these guides.
As to "rewire the rat's nest": I have never purchased a "new" glider, only a "used" one. In every case, there have been tubing and wiring issues and in each case I undertook to re-wire and re-tube everything I could get at. In every case, I have discovered something that was at least puzzling if not down-right scary. You don't have to be a wizard to discover problems and correct them. Just take it one thing at a time, get everything neat, and you will have a lot more fun come spring than if you don't.

Yes, I have been using his advice for a while now. Good stuff. I have 9 AH LA batteries and have always tested them this time of year by putting a 10 ohm 25 watt resistor across the output and taken voltage readings each hour down to 9 VDC or so. If the battery doesn't go 4-5 hours, I replace it. So how does one "check" a LiPo? Anyone done it?

As a side note, I was informed in the owner's literature never to put two of their LiPo's in parallel, as you can with the LA type. Read the manual if you have any parallel circuits in your ship before deploying in this manner.

SLA battery capacity at low to moderate currents (like you are doing) is usually measured down
to 11.0 volts for a "100% discharge". Going lower than that causes unnecessary damage that
shortens the life of the batter.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1