Master left on, dead battery

Do you need a text message to tell you to lock your car door?
 
There's a mod for Beechjets that shuts the electrics down when the voltage is not quite 1v below normal...but it's tied into several other systems so it doesn't shut down on you when you need it most. Because of those interfaces, I doubt it'd be a financially feasible mod on a light plane.

If all else fails, I think some of the engine monitoring systems have a low voltage audio alarm.
 
I dunno, maybe a way to remember it...

I see that the master switch is off.
Determine that the switch is in the off position
Identify the switch in the off position
Observe the switch is off
Think to yourself “I have turned off the master switch”

Maybe we could make a mnemonic out of that?
 
bflynn said:
I dunno, maybe a way to remember it...

I see that the master switch is off.
Determine that the switch is in the off position
Identify the switch in the off position
Observe the switch is off
Think to yourself “I have turned off the master switch”

Maybe we could make a mnemonic out of that?
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MOMOBOOP
 
eman1200 said:
Dagnabit. Double fk. Note this day in the PoA logs......I actually agree with kritchlow.
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Sorry, dude . . . . But I'm in the "beacon on" group, it's much brighter than those little bitty nav lights. So I guess I'm disagreeing with both of you! :eek:
 
chemgeek said:
Another vote for leaving the rotating beacon on. Never run a battery flat after doing that.

If you discover a flat battery within a day or to you can usually rescue the battery with a smart charger and a trick or two. Longer than that with an AGM battery and it is pretty much irreversibly sulfated.
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Airplanes still have rotating beacons?
 
Kritchlow said:
Always leave the nav lights on.
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:yeahthat:

Stingray Don said:
I leave the beacon on all the time. Pretty good alert that the master is still on after exiting the plane.
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and :yeahthat: Another vote for the beacon. I always shut off before I start the engine. I shut the beacon off when starting just in case there is a voltage spike. Not sure if that could happen just something I do.
 
I teach to leave the beacon on for just this reason. I have seen a few planes with the beacon wired to a tripable circuit breaker. That way it is possible to turn the beacon off if necessary, but not a normal switch for normal operations.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
Hank S said:
Sorry, dude . . . . But I'm in the "beacon on" group, it's much brighter than those little bitty nav lights. So I guess I'm disagreeing with both of you! :eek:
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New LEDs are pretty bright, you will definitely notice them on.
 
If equipped I lift the stall warning horn tab to listen for the horn. Else, nav lights.
 
I haven’t had a problem since replacing my rotating beacon with an LED version. There is no way you can walk away from the plane without noticing that light.
Gary
 
I just go through my shut down flow. I leave the master on at night so I can read the checklist, which of course the last item is MASTER OFF. Then everything goes dark telling me the master is off.

During day light hours I just shut off the master, then seat belts off. I have never forgotten to take off the seat belts....
 
There is already a switch installed. It's either labeled Anti-collision or strobes. Leave it on always. If you walk away from that, you deserve to have a dead battery.
 
AKBill said:
Off topic I know, but I was wondering how Gary is doing. I hope well, take care Gary
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Thanks for asking...

Mary and I are making progress. I needed a third surgery on my leg and I hope it's the last. Back to the Doc on Wednesday, we hope to hear good news. Mary has an appointment coming up and we both hope that they finally turn her loose to drive! The worst part of all this is being stuck inside....I'm going bat **** crazy! Nothing yet from FAA or NTSB, awaiting the final report.

One day at a time.....

Now back to your regular program....Master left on, dead battery. ;)
 
mscard88 said:
We leave the beacon on. I've had two students recently that I told to look back at the plane and see if anything is amiss. Yup, left the master on and the beacon was, uh, beaconing....
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AH! So, in the daylight one must turn and look at the airplane to see if the strobes/beacon/nav lites/whatever, are iluminated.
Had that student been alone, and walked away, without turning his/her head for a quick glance at the airplane, the battery would be sitting there draining at a rapid pace, until....
 
bluerooster said:
AH! So, in the daylight one must turn and look at the airplane to see if the strobes/beacon/nav lites/whatever, are iluminated.
Had that student been alone, and walked away, without turning his/her head for a quick glance at the airplane, the battery would be sitting there draining at a rapid pace, until....
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Does nobody do a post flight walk-around ?
 
Kritchlow said:
Does nobody do a post flight walk-around ?
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I'm not a pilot, but when I fly right-seat with my son in GA aircraft, we always do an external walk-around after the post-flight checklist.
 
OK. Here is the fix, going forward into the future:
Get three of these for your plane.
Install them.
Wire them up so you get 15volts output.
Push the plane around the ramp to generate electricity to charge your battery, occasionally taking a break in the cockpit to cool off.
 
bluerooster said:
AH! So, in the daylight one must turn and look at the airplane to see if the strobes/beacon/nav lites/whatever, are iluminated.
Had that student been alone, and walked away, without turning his/her head for a quick glance at the airplane, the battery would be sitting there draining at a rapid pace, until....
Click to expand...

I teach them to look back as they walk away. Whether it sticks with them or not after they become certificated is up to them, but while they're learning they'll do it this way.
 
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mscard88 said:
I teach them to look back as they walk away. Whether it sticks with them or not after they become certificatedb is up to them, but while they're learning they'll do it this way.
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Back in my racing days, after a wreck I would get out and look the car over to see if it can be fixed. If not, I would walk away from it. Always, and I mean always I would turn around and take one more look.....is it really not repairable.?? then turn and continue walking away.

After I am finished with the plane, I walk away. And then turn to look at it again....
 
My trick is leave the beacon switch on but I'll have to admit that probably more than once I've walked into an FBO and someone said "Hey, you left your beacon on" so it's not like it can't still happen to you.
 
My turn coordinator always lets me know if my master is on... ☹️
 
flyingron said:
And how is this device going to determine that the master was "left on" rather than "on by intent?"
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Simple. Everyone knows you’re supposed to hose your engine down for better hot starting. Thus, there will be a rain detector on the firewall hooked to the system...
 
Salty said:
Do you need a text message to tell you to lock your car door?
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I could have used one last night. Car was unlocked and some kluck rifled through my stuff.

Come to find out my key fob wasn't working.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
Zeldman said:
Back in my racing days, after a wreck I would get out and look the car over to see if it can be fixed. If not, I would walk away from it. Always, and I mean always I would turn around and take one more look.....is it really not repairable.?? then turn and continue walking away.

After I am finished with the plane, I walk away. And then turn to look at it again....
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So you wreck the plane on every landing?

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
idahoflier said:
My turn coordinator always lets me know if my master is on... ☹️
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I have a “friend” who turned off strobes and turn coordinator to save power and wear and tear on the TC to do some software updates, and left the master on.
 
After a few years of flying and leaving the stupid thing on, you simply learn not to do that.
You will then adopt much stupider and more painful bad habits to replace that one!
 
Eh, it's not a problem until you have to figure out how to jump start a turbine airplane with two cars and three jumper cables. :rolleyes:
 
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