Avionics News July 2014 - 70

POWER FOR PORTABLE AVIONICS
Continued from page 69

Star Aviation, told a couple of hairraising stories about power converters
and adapters that aren't made for
aviation use. "We went to the auto
store, bought a cigar lighter receptacle
and had the FAA in for comparison
tests against one we designed," he
said. "At between 1 to 3 amps, the one
from the auto store started smoking.
After explaining that with a voltage
converter, the adapter is a weak point
and testing ours to more than 20 amps,
the FAA granted us TSO approval."
Lone Star also offers a 28-volt to 12volt converter to power the adapter
- and a number of universal serial
bus power options, including a USB
adapter plug that fits in a standard 12volt socket, for which TSO approval is

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The issue is that practically none of the airplanes in the
current fleet were built with portable device charging
capabilities. That's also the opportunity.

expected by mid-summer.
Why bother getting TSO approval,
when you can buy a cheap (generally
Chinese-made) USB adapter at any
drugstore? "We tested more than 30
USB plugs purchased in the retail
marketplace and determined the
overseas USB plugs were not designed
for airborne applications," Mantos
cautioned. "During our testing, the
majority had severe overtemperature,
overcurrent and circuit deficiencies.
Smoke in the cockpit and other shortcircuit conditions have surfaced during
the last couple of years as the iPad
cockpit applications have grown in
popularity."
In addition to the TSO'd cigar
lighter, USB adapter and voltage
converter, Lone Star offers a range
of products, including a dual iPad
charger for 28-volt aircraft, "designed
for GA, business and airline class
aircraft and currently operating on
board numerous Boeing and Airbus
airliners," USB multi-port and multivoltage adapters, a portable plug-in
115-volt AC inverter, can design
custom power systems to meet user
needs.
Peter Tessmann, EMTEQ Inc.
product marketing manager, said
his firm also is selling aviation
USB adapters. "Our intelliUSB SR
does not require an STC - just field
approval as a minor alteration, but
you can get a TSO for AC to DC
conversion if needed," Tessmann
said. "The need for USB power is
new enough that the FAA really

hasn't mandated much regulation, but
we suspect it may be coming, which
will require more paperwork."
And, like Mantos, he had a
warning about non-avionics
adapters. "Auto-style outlets are
unregulated," Tessmann said.
"Batteries in PEDs and phones are
very sensitive and when charged
incorrectly, can result in batteries
that take longer to charge, decrease
the charge-hold or decrease the
lifecycle. Compared to a traditional
bootstrap install, intelliUSB SR
offers a lot more protection for your
device, the charger and the aircraft.
And this is a great product to stock -
take it off the shelf and it works."
Tessmann also explained some
details of USB charging. "The
standard for USB charging is BC 1.2,
but Apple has its own charging spec,
and then Samsung came out with
its own spec," he said. "Those three
specs cover 90 percent of the PED
hardware manufacturers. A lot of
chargers on the market are designed
specifically for Apple, which
delivers 2.1 amps at 5 volts. If you
connect a Samsung or other device,
it sees it as a foreign device and,
for safety, only charges at half an
amp. Therefore, you still get power,
but at roughly 25 percent of the
charge rate - noting the relationship
between amps and charge-time is not
perfectly linear. We've added logic
to our intelliUSB SR that detects
what kind of PED is connected,
and provides appropriate power at
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Avionics News July 2014

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