Where is the “5A” stated?
One could do an actual measurement of the current drawn. If it is powering a battery charger then one would expect the draw to be at some “max” value and then taper off as the battery gets charged.
Aviation breakers are crap. They are thermal i.e. they contain a heater which pops it if it gets too hot. So they are very imprecise. They are mostly for fire protection of wiring after the breaker.
Actually, I don’t know what the draw at 12V is.
Here is the spec sheet from the user’s manual:
Sorry, I don’t know the exact translastions for “Erfassung” means. “Gleichstromeingang” would be “direct current input”.
Also found this is the manual.
It says the breaker should at least 10A, preferably 15A…
Peter wrote:
I am somewhat surprised they can get the cigar lighter hot enough (red hot) from a 12V ~3A supply (36 watts or so). My 24V cig lighter (TB20) draws a lot more power than that.
The wording in the quote (from the POH?) in Bosco’s post 4 implies the socket is not intended for lighters but only for power plugs.
10A Max suggests it might draw 10A. Or more likely it could mean the power supply should be rated at 10A, which suggests there could be current spikes a lot bigger than the 1-2A stated above it.
For a draw of say 2A, maybe with spikes to (say) 5A, I’d fit a 10A or 15A breaker for sure, because a (say) 10A breaker passing 5A continuously is going to get hot and will have a short life. At 2A, a 10A breaker will be fine.
I reckon this thing draws 2A and briefly a few amps more. Probably dodgy to power it from a fag lighter socket which says “3.5A max”, but it might work. Or it might trip out. Or it might blow up. The problem is that a 12V socket on a 24V plane will be using a DC-DC converter and these tend to be flimsy chinese stuff.
I looked at this in the past, probably for those Sequal o2 generators (see post #1), and the smart way to get a 10-20A DC output is to find a used DC-DC converter on US aviation Ebay, for say 100 bucks (new price probably $500), install that, and install a proper connector like a 2 pin Lemo
This is the sort of DC-DC converter I would use.
boscomantico wrote:
OK, so it cannot be charged by a 24V aircraft? Or can it?
I don’t have my unit in front of me, but IIRC:
derek wrote:
How high will the Inogen One G5 work (assuming two people on board)?
The device weights about 2.5kg with the large battery. Each device can support one person up to 18000 or two people up to 14000. I have two units on my plane. myself.
I still use the composite 48 cu ft MH cylinders (have two of them) and 2 x O2D2 regulators, as described near the end of here. Since I keep a large O2 rented cylinder at home, this works fine.
I also sometimes fly above 18000ft, and 2-up, so these low-end generators would not cope. There are units (as discussed further back) which are better but they are not cheap and draw a lot of power, and contain large “consumer grade” lithium batteries.
Historically these consumer grade generators were specced only to 8000ft i.e. for supporting a person who needs oxygen all the time and who needs to do an airline trip.
I was playing with the idea of plugging in my previusly purchased, never used
“oxygen generator” :
it would draw around max 10A, but the risk is too high, in my opinion. I’d rather go with the battery version (and tested) Inogen, and wouldn’t risk lighting the plane on fire at 14000 feet.
