Blacksquare King Air Battery Issues

[regis9 4,033]

Hello, tonight I was flying this aircraft and kept having an issue where I would get a BATTERY CHARGE warning while taxiing.  Eventually this would go away but then I would get BATT TIE OPEN.  I dug into the manual and from what I can understand, the issue is that I'm applying too much power to the battery during taxi.  The manual says "care should be taken while taxiing to avoid overcharging the battery." but doesn't explain how to take care in this area (at least that I can find).  I taxi in low idle, props full forward, and with minimal thrust.  Is there something else I should be doing/not doing?  I went through the start-up using the checklists line by line and I'm pretty sure everything else is by the book, I have no other unexpected warnings illuminated.  As I understand it, BATT TIE OPEN basically means the battery has been disconnected from the electrical system because I've overcharged it. 

Side note, the manual gear extension works...I found this out upon arrival because the landing gear need a functional battery to extend otherwise!

Thanks for any help,

Dave

[roland 28]

Would like to know the same.

The manual needs to be a bit more specific about correctly managing the aircraft's electrical system.

 

Roland

[orchestra_nl 953]

I've never had this issue sofar but it's nice it is modelled. It shows the quality of their work that we almost need the full real-world POH to be able to deal with everything that can happen.
 

[JYW 2,989]

The only time I (think) I saw this warning was when I had turned on the gens after engine starts, but had not toggled them up to 'reset' first.   I reset both gens and didn't get the battery message any further.  Doesn't necessarily seem to add up but that's how it went!

[dbw1 445]

In addition to electrical issues the engine responses appear quite off. The airspeed indicator - the white triangle is at 220 where it should be at 202knts....this was brought to their attention quite some time ago. While this creation is 90% of the way there it needs that last 10% to make is a great creation. 

[regis9 4,033]

7 hours ago, JYW said:

The only time I (think) I saw this warning was when I had turned on the gens after engine starts, but had not toggled them up to 'reset' first.   I reset both gens and didn't get the battery message any further.  Doesn't necessarily seem to add up but that's how it went!

Thanks, in my cases last night I did reset the gens.  Mystery continues…:)

[MrMoss99 8]

Was this ever solved? I'm having similar issues myself with the BAT TIE OPEN

[hangar 661]

There's another issue I found in addition... there's a bug causing the invisible click spot for the TDS750 to only function if you're looking at the gps from an extreme right-hand angle (and looking back to the left at the gps). Otherwise you cannot click on the gps at certain times. Been like this for a long time now.

You'll only notice this when using the config combo where the TDS750 is on the top and the regular radios on bottom (if you use the TDS750 with the 530 underneath then there's no issue)

[regis9 4,033]

1 hour ago, MrMoss99 said:

Was this ever solved? I'm having similar issues myself with the BAT TIE OPEN

It was a weird one for me.  I had it happen for a few flights then it didn’t happen for the next few flights…AFAIK I didn’t do anything differently between the flights.

[hhbrbg 140]

I‘m not sure if i‘m right, but…

it could be, that if you have groundpower enabled and both generators running, then the battery 🔋overload’s and get‘s damaged?

[MrMoss99 8]

I made some progress on this since I posted earlier this afternoon. From what I gathered searching online & reading the BKSQ manual, it happens when the battery becomes overcharged, and in-turn overheats. The plane will disconnect the battery bus from the electrical system to protect itself, so your only electrical power from that point onwards will come from the generators/inverters. Since the gear motor is powered by the battery, you'd have to extend the gear manually as you correctly stated.

The manual does include a checklist for this event, so you can try the following:

Battery Tie Open

CTR Volts = If Matches Batt Volts...

Bus Sense - Reset

 

BATT TIE OPEN Annun = If still Illuminated...

Battery Bus - Emerg

Gen Ties - Man Open

GEN TIE Annunciators = Illuminated

CTR Volts = Confirm Unpowered

Number 1 Inverter - Bus Transfer

Landing Gear Relay - Pull Off

Landing Gear - Extend Manually on Approach

 

However, I have found the best method is to avoid it in the first place! Make sure you follow the start-up checklist by the book, no shortcuts! In particular, make sure you set the Prop Levers to 100% (definitely not feathered, which is how they will be when the sim loads in Cold & Dark), and you RESET the Gens once both engines are started, with the Gen Ties on "Normal". Once you have a good start, monitor the BAT amps on the overhead to make sure the battery stops charging BEFORE you attempt to taxi. The AMPS +/- should return to zero and the DC Volts should be around 28V. Then taxi with the engines in LOW IDLE and be very easy on the power, if the "battery charging" message comes up, stop and monitor your amps once more - if it's not too late!

I'm not a King Air pilot so this could all be absolute tripe, but I haven't had an issue with the Bat Tie since being mindful of this mechanic within the BQSK system.

Hope this helps!

[MrMoss99 8]

26 minutes ago, hhbrbg said:

I‘m not sure if i‘m right, but…

it could be, that if you have groundpower enabled and both generators running, then the battery 🔋overload’s and get‘s damaged?

In all cases I was starting the engine from the battery, not external power - so that rules that out at least. The King Air certainly has one hell of a complex electrical system for an aircraft of its size, so it's been a fascinating process trying to wrap my head around the diagrams. I guess when paying the money for these more complex addons, this is what it's all about!

[regis9 4,033]

Thanks, yeah I figured out that I had somehow overcharged the battery and hence why the gear wouldn’t drop (I had to do a manual gear extension).  My issue was I could never figure out what I had done in the first place to overcharge the battery.

I have a closer look at your suggestions next flight.

The culprit for me might be the prop levers.  Years of flying the Majestic Q400 means my brain automatically wants to start a turboprop engine with the prop levers back then push them forward after engine start (you get that amazing roar in the Q400) when you do this).  I noticed the new Caribou requires prop levers forward as well.

I do wonder if the battery system on the real king air is this sensitive to overcharging or if it’s a bug.  I have no idea or real world experience but it does seem for an advanced aircraft like this it’s surprisingly easy to toast a battery.

Edited February 24, 2023 by regis9

[MrMoss99 8]

5 minutes ago, regis9 said:

Thanks, yeah I figured out that I had somehow overcharged the battery and hence why the gear wouldn’t drop (I had to do a manual gear extension).  My issue was I could never figure out what I had done in the first place to overcharge the battery.

I have a closer look at your suggestions next flight.

The culprit for me might be the prop levers.  Years of flying the Majestic Q400 means my brain automatically wants to start a turboprop engine with the prop levers back then push them forward after engine start (you get that amazing roar in the Q400) when you do this).  I noticed the new Caribou requires prop levers forward as well.

To this day, putting the prop levers to 1020 in the Q400 has to be the most satisfying sound I have encountered within a sim - so I sympathise with that greatly.

[Fielder 3,713]

This is off topic but BlackSquare is busy making steam gauge versions of two more default MSFS planes: The Bonanza and the Baron to join their King Air and Caravan. Just Flight says they will be releasing 'soon'.