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I fly sport planes and the battery in the iPad I use to augment the cockpit has a 5 hour life. I definitely have the "charged iPad" on the checklist, I don't ma
by AdrianB1 7y ago
I fly sport planes and the battery in the iPad I use to augment the cockpit has a 5 hour life. I definitely have the "charged iPad" on the checklist, I don't make assumptions and I make sure to charge it before flight. I use it for GPS altitude only as I have 2 baro altimeters and an old Garmin GPS, but the iPad's GPS is usually more precise to indicate current height above ground.
A 12 day battery life for a smartwatch I would only wear when flying is more than enough. I would not wear the smart watch on the ground, my regular watch is running without any maintenance for 21 years (Citizen EcoDrive).
- billziss 7y agoI think this likely has to do more with individual habits rather than anything else. But I find that watches that I do not use all the time are more likely not to be ready to be used when I need them. For example, I have an old Suunto Ambit watch that I used for outdoor activities and/or exercise. I found that because I was not wearing it all the time, it was not charged most of the time that I needed it.
- loeg 7y agoI put my GPS watch on the charger and forget about it when I'm not using it.
- onion2k 7y agoProbably a silly question, but why can't you charge the iPad in flight? Surely planes have some sort of socket like cars?
- ryanlol 7y ago>Surely planes have some sort of socket like cars? Unfortunately no, and often it’s not trivial to legally install one.
- andromeduck 7y agoIf you can install an iPad surely it wouldn't be too difficult to also install a battery pack to boost the battery life if nothing else.
- ryanlol 7y agoThat's fair, but you'll still need to keep the battery pack charged :)
- dzhiurgis 7y agoCan you put a little solar panel instead? :D
- ryanlol 7y agoPretty sure you can, but you’ll have to use tape and not screws to hold it in place so it won’t be a permanent installation :) But yeah, go experimental and then you never have to worry about these things. Lots of great value kit planes out there.
- heelix 7y agoThe issue is certified aircraft. I think the 'certified' USB charger was around $300 for the part when we installed one - in addition to the certified mechanics time. The experimental side is cheap.
- naz 7y agoThe Tecnam P2008 has a 12v socket and it's a rare luxury in an otherwise awful plane. Most single engine piston aircraft don't have charging ports or 12v sockets.
- sokoloff 7y agoI had one in my '67 182 and two in each of the 58P and then A36 that replaced it. I seem to recall them being present even in the Piper rental airplanes as well.
- AdrianB1 7y agoThe point was to compare battery life and care for equipment. I cannot mod the plane to add a 12V socket, but I can use an external battery pack. Still, 5 hours vs several days comparison still makes the smart watch good enough.
- r00fus 7y agoOr a nice 20-30mAh portable battery? Those charge my iPad Pro like 5x.
- epse 7y agoI think you meant Ah instead of mAh, or 20000 mAh instead of 20.
- CydeWeys 7y agoCurious why you think planes surely have outlets in them? We're not talking about jetliners here. We could easily be talking about planes that are suitable for clear conditions only.
- SomeHacker44 7y agoMy light plane has six 2.1A USB ports for charging use plus several others dedicated to avionics updates that can also charge. In addition I have three 24V cigarette lighter "outlets" which have two dual port USB adapters. So... Plenty of on board charging foe the six seats. Not hard to retrofit. I only wish I had more!
- CydeWeys 7y agoWhat's the plane and did it come with these or did you or someone else add them?
- coldtea 7y agoIt's trivial to have such things for your plane (talking about small planes with propellers etc used for hobby flying, commercial aviation of course would have specific requirements) -- it's getting them to pass the relevant regulations that's the deal. Eg. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ps/ipad_usb.html https://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ps/ipad_usb.html
- onion2k 7y agoThat sound less like a plane and more like a flying USB hub. :)
- onion2k 7y agoI know very little about planes and think of them as being very like cars, and a 12v socket is a cheap and useful feature in practically every car since the 1950s (more recently USB has replaced them) so I assumed planes might have the same thing.
- tzs 7y ago
- Teever 7y agoWhy can't you charge the iPad in the plane?
- AdrianB1 7y agoNo 12V socket, too complicate the bureaucracy to add one.
- sokoloff 7y agoSee FAR 1.1. It's (correctly) judged to be a minor alteration in the eyes of most A&Ps and can therefore be signed off by just an A&P with just a logbook entry. https://www.savvyaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/articles_eaa/EAA_2015-06_alterations.pdf https://www.savvyaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/articles_ea...
- brlewis 7y ago> I have 2 baro altimeters and an old Garmin GPS, but the iPad's GPS is usually more precise to indicate current height above ground I had a boss who was a pilot, and he told me this riddle: Q: How do you measure altitude with a barometer? A: Drop it and see how long it takes to hit the ground.
- coldtea 7y ago>I fly sport planes and the battery in the iPad I use to augment the cockpit has a 5 hour life. You could trivially get a smaller than the iPad power bank with you and get up to days worth of battery life...