Battery life when running a transponder

Ive got a Garmin 320 with ACK 30 encoder that is ready to go in the
Cherokee. Perhaps tonight I will be able to get everything wired up and
check the current draw. Im expecting about 1.5 amps between the
transponder and encoder. That will drain my battery moderately fast, but
my "long" flights tend to only be about 3 or 4 hours anyway.


-Tony Condon
Cherokee II N373Y

On Jul 2, 11:30*am, Tony Condon
wrote:
Ive got a Garmin 320 with ACK 30 encoder that is ready to go in the
Cherokee. *Perhaps tonight I will be able to get everything wired up and
check the current draw. *Im expecting about 1.5 amps between the
transponder and encoder. *That will drain my battery moderately fast, but
my "long" flights tend to only be about 3 or 4 hours anyway.

-Tony Condon
Cherokee II N373Y

Remember measurement will be affected by the radar interrogation rate.
If it is not being interrogated on the ground you'll measure a lower
power draw than in practice.

Your excuse in future can be you had to land becasue the battery for
your transponder was going flat :-)

Darryl

On Jul 2, 11:30*am, Tony Condon
wrote:

...Perhaps tonight I will be able to get everything wired
up and check the current draw. *Im expecting about
1.5 amps between the transponder and encoder... *

Tony, if you get a chance please post the measured current draw here
on RAS.

If you'll recall, I suggested the GTX320 a while back on the basis of
having shoehorned one into my HP-18 panel. Eric Greenwell asked about
current draw, and I didn't have a good answer (I couldn't get a draw
value that I trusted) but I was pretty sure it was less than an amp
for the xpdr and only about 200 ma for the encoder. It'd be good to
see what your draw is, even if it is a base draw. If possible, maybe
see what the draw is during Ident when you know its transmitting.

Thanks again, Bob K.