Need help with cold and dark startup

[Guest]

Hello,I'm starting the aircraft from a cold and dark state and I want to bring it to a state where I can program the FMC before starting the engines, in other words, just need electrical power, so here are the steps I'm following:From the Overhead panel:1. turn ON the BAT switch, (DC VOLTS indicates 23, and BAT DISCHARGE light is ON)2. turn ON GRD PWR (BAT DISCHARGE light is off)3. turn on the AFT 1 fuel pump4. start the APU5. turn ON the 2 APU GENAt this point my understanding is that the APU generators are generating electrical power for the system and are charging the bateries.What I notice is that the DC VOLTS continuously decreases and when it reaches 16, I loose power, the panels go dark again.Am I doing anything wrong or maybe missing any step?I'm new to 737NG but I'm a long time user of the dreamfleet 737 and the steps above are used with no problems.Thank you for any help

[Guest Ray_CYYZ]

You are not missing anything, this is a long standing problem with every version of Microsoft's Flight Simulator since as far back as I can remember.Microsoft's battery drain rates are insanely high resulting in a dead battery in virtually no time at all. The APU for whatever reason is not hooking in as a charging source like starting an engine neither is ground power so you basically only have about 6 minutes to get an engine burning.A couple of workarounds right now, the simplist which is to hit your (P) key to pause while doing the pre-flight work.You will find other methods further on in other threads which involved editing config files if you want. All the various addons have used hacks to fake out this issue in one way or another.Ray

[Guest]

So can I expect this could be fixed in the 737NG?Thanks

[Guest Ray CYYZ]

Gee, thats a tough one to answer. You are asking PMDG to fix Microsoft's bug that has been in their products since FS 98.If it can be fixed, Anthony will figure out a way to do it, he's stubborn }(Ray(Ps: put your Name in your signature, then you will not get reminded to post it here)

[crvm 0]

This is a Microsft FS limitation. Of course this deals with FS9 only. In FS2002 with an older version of FSUIPC you just extend the battery life. FS9 is another story with FSUIPC going payware, with the free version of FSUIPC you do not have the extended options needed to keep the battery going. Of course the choice is yours but many have felt a desire to support Pete by purchasing FSUIPC. PMDG have been looking into this situation and have consulted Microsoft but have not got any answers yet. Hopefully they will find a solution but until then it's a good idea to use the work arounds....[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smith [/4]P M D G 7 3 7 NG[/h4]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/mineimage.jpg [h3]Moving forward one step at a time AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]

[Guest Marnix]

Hi,Best way around it is to spend dollar and activate the extend bat life in FSUIPC, that's how I do it. You can also profit of a few other interresting items like smoothing the real weather ...Greets,Marnix

[Guest PhilipManwaring]

Perhaps somebody at Dreamfleet can provide assistance on this question? They obviously found a way to make their APU power the battery, thus overcoming this well-known MSFS limitation. Might be worth sending Lou an email to see if he'll divulge how they did it.

[crvm 0]

You need to sign your posts sir with you name, thank you. What aircraft are you talking about? There is no DreamFleet aircraft with an APU in FS9. [h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/winglets_lg.jpg [h3] AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]

[Guest]

RayThe reason I asked if it could be fixed by PMDG is because you mentioned the following, which lead me to believe it could be fixed:"You will find other methods further on in other threads which involved editing config files if you want. All the various addons have used hacks to fake out this issue in one way or another."So if there is a hack or any other method to fake out the issue, why not do it? I just don't know how to.Microsoft default FS aircrafts don't have any of the stuff we do at the overhead panel so maybe that's the reason why they don't worry about it as much as they should, that's my guess.Anyway I thank you all for the inputs, and I will try live with the workarounds for now until someone comes with a better idea.Thank you againMuris Saab

[Guest PhilipManwaring]

Sorry about leaving my name off the post. My login name is my full name, so I didn't think about posting it in the message itself.The aircraft I'm refering to is the Dreamfleet 737-400. It's not for FS9, but the battery problem is the same across both versions and somehow it seems that they solved it. Actually, the battery in PIC767 didn't discharge either once the APU or ground power were running. Aside from these titles, every other product I've used required the FSUIPC batter tweak, but it sure was nice to be able to fly in PIC or the DF734 and be able to leave the option turned off, knowing that if the battery DID go dead I had only myself to blame. I'm not an FS developer so I won't pretend to know how they did this or what is involved, but perhaps either Eric from PIC or Lou from Dreamfleet would be willing to pass on their experience. Regards,Philip Manwaring