On 09/06/2010 10:34 PM, William Daniell wrote:
> 1. Has anyone installed a larger battery with the 914 on the basis
> that you might need to run the fuel pumps off it if the alternator
> gives up?
It takes less weight to install a secondary alternator (ACS has nice
ones that fit on the vacuum pump pad) so you never have to use the
batteries during flight and hence the batteries can be very light. You
can use the secondary alternator to power the second fuel pump, or you
can create a completely dual electrical system, and spread the load over
both buses and create redundancy for nav, com, and other essential
equipment. I have done the latter. I use an 8 Ah Odyssey battery and
this is more than sufficient for starting. Talk about weight savings! ;-)
Also, there is a mechanical fuel pump available for the 914. Bob Borger
can tell you more about it. In this case the engine no longer depends on
the electrical system.
Installing a larger battery is the heaviest solution, and as you can
never know how much capacity the battery has (due to aging, or
incomplete charging) it is not a reliable solution and leaves you
guessing how long it will be able to keep the engine running.
Frans
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