Airport Power

I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an early-morning
flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle charger if I've let
the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

The problem is that my T-hangar doesn't have power. One of the other hangar
renters had electrical service pulled to his hangar, and sublets 15A
breakers for $15/month = $180/year, which is a bit much for me, considering
my needs are for a dollar or so of electricity a year.

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB

Kyle Boatright wrote:
I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an early-morning
flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle charger if I've let
the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

The problem is that my T-hangar doesn't have power. One of the other hangar
renters had electrical service pulled to his hangar, and sublets 15A
breakers for $15/month = $180/year, which is a bit much for me, considering
my needs are for a dollar or so of electricity a year.

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB


Put a static inverter in your car.

--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com

"Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum." - When you have
their full attention in your grip, their hearts and minds will follow.

"JKimmel" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:
I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an
early-morning flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle
charger if I've let the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

The problem is that my T-hangar doesn't have power. One of the other
hangar renters had electrical service pulled to his hangar, and sublets
15A breakers for $15/month = $180/year, which is a bit much for me,
considering my needs are for a dollar or so of electricity a year.

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB
Put a static inverter in your car.

--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com

Typically, I need power when I'm *not* at the airport. The preheater, for
instance, needs 3-4 hours to heat the engine a reasonable amount. Go by the
airport the night before, set the timer to turn on the preheater at 5AM, and
when I get to the airport the next morning, the engine is nice and toasty.
The trickle charger is worse, it probably needs power for 12 continuous
hours to do a whole lot of good.

I could install a piper style power receptacle on the airplane for cold
starting, but I'd prefer to have a cheap trickle of 120v power..

KB

Kyle Boatright wrote:

"JKimmel" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:
I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an
early-morning flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle
charger if I've let the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

The problem is that my T-hangar doesn't have power. One of the other
hangar renters had electrical service pulled to his hangar, and sublets
15A breakers for $15/month = $180/year, which is a bit much for me,
considering my needs are for a dollar or so of electricity a year.

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB
Put a static inverter in your car.

--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com

Typically, I need power when I'm *not* at the airport. The preheater, for
instance, needs 3-4 hours to heat the engine a reasonable amount. Go by the
airport the night before, set the timer to turn on the preheater at 5AM, and
when I get to the airport the next morning, the engine is nice and toasty.
The trickle charger is worse, it probably needs power for 12 continuous
hours to do a whole lot of good.

I could install a piper style power receptacle on the airplane for cold
starting, but I'd prefer to have a cheap trickle of 120v power..

KB

A 125 watts isn't a trickle.

The battery you could take care of with a solar charger for RVs and
other seldom drive vehicles for about $20.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB

Tell the "power guy" to stick it.. I'm sure the airport manager and the
power company would be interested in his selling of power at a premium. I'm
sure the drop cord you ran for an hour, you had the permission of that
hanger renter. I'm sure all of his connections from the 15amp service board
to all the other hangers are up to code?
BT

"Kyle Boatright" writes:

I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an early-morning
flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle charger if I've let
the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

Well, you can handle the trickle with a solar array of some kind.
The preheater, not quite.


Engineering out loud:

125W @ 8H = 1KWH
At 13.8 VDC; 72 Ah-H w/100% efficiency.
Say 150 Ah-H at real world inverter levels.

If only you had a 13vdc preheater, a deep cycle battery could
do the trick.

Hmm, you could use Qnty 9-10 13.8v batteries in series; 4 Ah-H
Gel-Cells are not all that pricy. Looks to be ~~$15 each for 5Ah-H.
Then a kludge to parallel them when charging off the array.

This assumes the preheater is unswitched; a regular AC thermostat
may not break DC correctly...


--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

This 45 watt solar panel kit:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90599
Plus a GOOD charge controller (not the one that comes with the kit) plus two
T105 golf cart batteries, plus an inverter will turn the trick. You would only
use the inverter for preheat, charging your battery directly. The kit even
includes 12V. lights for your hanger. Of course, for that money you could pay
the "electricity guy" for two or three years.

Vaughn

Kyle Boatright wrote:

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

Solar?

wrote:
Kyle Boatright wrote:


"JKimmel" wrote in message
...

Kyle Boatright wrote:

I need a trickle of electrical power about a dozen times a year in my
hangar. I need it for my 125 watt preheater if I'm taking an
early-morning flight in the winter, and will use it for a .25A trickle
charger if I've let the aircraft sit for more than a week or two.

The problem is that my T-hangar doesn't have power. One of the other
hangar renters had electrical service pulled to his hangar, and sublets
15A breakers for $15/month = $180/year, which is a bit much for me,
considering my needs are for a dollar or so of electricity a year.

Any suggestions other than either buying a small generator or paying the
$15/month?

I'm asking because the "power guy" complained last week when I ran a
dropcord to a neighboring hangar for an hour last week to run the trickle
charger...

KB

Put a static inverter in your car.

--
J Kimmel

www.metalinnovations.com


Typically, I need power when I'm *not* at the airport. The preheater, for
instance, needs 3-4 hours to heat the engine a reasonable amount. Go by the
airport the night before, set the timer to turn on the preheater at 5AM, and
when I get to the airport the next morning, the engine is nice and toasty.
The trickle charger is worse, it probably needs power for 12 continuous
hours to do a whole lot of good.


I could install a piper style power receptacle on the airplane for cold
starting, but I'd prefer to have a cheap trickle of 120v power..


KB


A 125 watts isn't a trickle.

The battery you could take care of with a solar charger for RVs and
other seldom drive vehicles for about $20.


It is interesting that you are worried about your battery for just a
couple of weeks. That thing should maintain a charge for a month or
more. But a solar panel would work. There is a large up from investment,
but you could go with solar panels, inverters, and deep cycle batteries.
It does work, but the materials are expensive depending on the watts you
are wanting. I think my pre heater is 250 watts. One probe in each
cylinder and one in the oil pan. But, my hangar is wired.


--
Regards,

Ross
C-172F 180 hp
KSWI

A deep cycle lead acid battery (typically used in marine applications) could
probably provide 125 W (10 amps from a 12 V battery) for 6 hours or so. Use
a 12 V heater or a 125 VAC heater through an inverter. You would charge the
battery at home between uses.

As other have suggested, a solar panel might work for trickle charging.


-Elliott Drucker