aspen running on battery

[hucbr600]

Some further help please.

I selected the 14v power option for the Aspen panel but it still runs on battery then shuts down after approx 20 mins. I checked the voltage of my simulator plane (Commander 114 payware) and it states 12v. I'm assuming therefore that the Aspen is still seeing insufficient power and therefore reverting to battery mode.

I can't see anywhere in the Aspen panel (or sub instruments) that gives me a 12v option (only 14 or 28), and also can't find anyway of accessing the code in the Sim Aircraft or Aspen to change this to 14v.

Any help appreciated.

(P.S. - I fly a Rockwell Commander 114B in real life with the Aspen, and would prefer my simulator version to have this also - but as a simulator, it seems a bit daft to have this voltage / battery issue in the first place).

Many thanks.

Hi

Welcome to the forum.
We are going to need a lot more information to assist.

1) What simulator. (P3D V4)
2) What version of Air Manager. (3.7.10 - Home Use)
3) What instrument are you referring to. There are a few aspens in the store. Is it the payware or one of the others. (Its the Payware 10 Euros, however before I upgraded to the Payware panel, the free panel did not shutdown due to low voltage, but the free Aspen panel has limited functionality, hence the reason I upgraded to the Payware panel)
4) What commander 114 payware. Who is the air-frame developer. (The Commander 114 Payware is the Carenado AC11 for FSX/P3D)
5) Is the aspen installed in the air-frame you are using. - (No - its in a Air Manager Panel Only)
6) Does the aspen in the 2D or 3D panel work correctly your in your air-frame. - (if I understand the question (sorry),irts not fitted at all in the Carenado Air-Frame, just as part of a standalone Air Manager panel)

As you can see there are many things needed to assist.

Not to worry if there is a solution you will get it here.

Keith

Hi Keith,

Answers above in (..) - thanks for your interest and offer to help.

Hugh

[hucbr600]

Hi,

The 14v and 28v options refer to the aircraft voltage. There will never be a 12v option. If you are a real world pilot you should know that a 14v aircraft will have a 12v ship battery. Like wise a 28v aircraft will have a 24v battery. When the alternator/generator is offline the electrical system will read the battery voltage. If a real instrument has its own internal battery it will not use this until the ships power is either off or low. The simulated ones should work the same.

What does the Commander 114 read when the alternator/generator is running?

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

In the real world, my Commander 114B is a 28v bus, with a 24v battery and with the alternator on, returns 28.7 volts (to meet the load of the aircraft and maintain the battery in good working order). I'm aware of the aircraft electrical systems and how these work etc.

The problem I have (I think) is that the Simulator AC114 is an AC114A with a 14v system, but when the 'simulator' aircraft bus voltage is checked, it only shows 12v, i.e as if the alternator has not been switched on. However there is no 'low voltage' warning light on the sim panel.

I'm guessing therefore that the payware Aspen is looking for 14v (in this case I selected the 14v from the user variables) and only seeing 12v as reported by the sim aircraft, and therefore the reason for the Sim Aspen going into battery reversion mode. I cannot find any code in either the Sim Aspen or Sim AC114A to rectify the mismatch in voltage (either up the Sim AC114A to 14v, or drop the Sim Aspen requirements to 12v).

Hugh

[Ralph]

If it is in X-Plane then I think you can change the bus voltage in Plane Maker. Or you can try to ask the developer to fix it.
There was a similar issue in the REP Baron 58, it had a bus voltage of 5 Volts

[Keith Baxter]

@Ralph @hucbr600

Ralph, Hugh posted the following details.

1) He is using P3D
2) AM 3.7.10
3) The premium Aspen panel
4) the airframe is (The Commander 114 Payware is the Carenado AC11 for FSX/P3D)
5) the airframe has no native Aspen avionics.

Hugh,

Unfortunately the community cannot help much with premium instruments as the code is protected. Your only hope is going to come from Ralph.

Carenado often use custom datarefs/events. To assist Ralph to maybe help you, you are going to have to provide him with the details of what datarefs they use.

Sorry I cannot help but Ralph is a very helpful guy and if there is a way he will advise.


Keith

[Sling]

Guys,

There seems to be a couple of problems here.

Yes if the sim is only reporting 12v with the engine running and alternator on then it needs fixing.

However the Aspen should not be on its internal battery with a bus voltage of 12v. It needs to be lower than that. The manual may give an indication but it will certainly be lower than 12v for a 14v electrical system. I tend to use 10V unless I find information to the contrary.

Tony

[Ralph]

I'll check what the limit is in the script. It was taken directly from their documentation.

[Ralph]

It's 12.5 in the script, the real unit uses 12.3.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pdf/11-16466.pdf (page 43)
Still a little above 12.
I guess I can add a user property that lets you turn off the battery message, but that will be in Air Manager 4. Or you can try to get the bus voltage to the correct value. This is the first aircraft in many years that has this problem...

[hucbr600]

It's 12.5 in the script, the real unit uses 12.3.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pdf/11-16466.pdf (page 43)
Still a little above 12.
I guess I can add a user property that lets you turn off the battery message, but that will be in Air Manager 4. Or you can try to get the bus voltage to the correct value. This is the first aircraft in many years that has this problem...

Hi Ralph, et al,

Many thanks for looking at my issue, and it would be great if we could resolve the low battery issue with either the Commander 114A script or the Payware Aspen in release 4 of Air Manager, (as a new Air Manager subscriber, I think I remember reading that I qualify for a free upgrade to V4 when it's ready).

In the meantime, the quick fix I use is to hide, then show again the panel before the Aspen shuts down. This re-sets the battery to 99%; it only takes a few seconds to do, but last night I forgot, and I lost the Aspen on finals !!

Thanks again.

Hugh

[Sling]

The 12.3 is odd. None of the other electronic standbys I’ve come across switch to internal battery at that high a voltage. This means every time you switch on the aircraft the Aspen is depleting its battery until you get the engine running. I don’t remember it being like this with the Aspen’s i’ve come across but it’s been a while.

The aircraft has to have its voltage fixed. Out of interest what does it read without the alternator online. If you can’t manage this in Planemaker you should contact the developer and report a bug.