Stratus Power

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Appareo is having a two-fer sale on Stratus Power through December, so I bought a couple:

https://appareo.com/store/product/double-up-december/

I plan to put one on each side of the plane. The installation guide says to install a 4A breaker for it. Since I have two, I’m debating whether or not I can feed both from the same breaker. Upsizing the breaker to accommodate both at once sorta defeats the purpose of the breaker. So I guess I’ll be installing two breakers. Unless someone has a better option?

[JimParker256]

Yeah, I would use 2 breakers, since each of the plugs "could" draw 2.1A, and if you had something plugged into all four plugs, you'd definitely exceed the 4A breaker's capability.

[jaredyates]

The purpose of the breaker is to protect the wire. What size wire are you using? Also, if the plugs are providing 2.1a at 5 volts (10.2 watts), that's not the same as 4a at 12v (48 watts).

[Chris In Milwaukee]

The docs say 20-22ga wire, and draws 1.9A/26.25W full load on both ports on a 14V system. I doubt I’ll ever see that use case given the devices I use, however.

[jaredyates]

Very well, so it sounds like that 1.9a figure is based on what the breaker will see at max load, or 3.8 together. The basic wire size/breaker size chart in 43.13 says a 20 gauge wire goes with a 5a fuse or a 7.5a breaker, while a 22 goes with a 5a fuse or a 5a breaker. So it sounds perfectly acceptable to wire them to a single 5a fuse or breaker. You could use 22 or 20 based on which you had on hand, and whether mechanical strength was a concern. You can always use a bigger wire on a smaller fuse (if you aren't weight-sensitive), but not the other way around.

If it's on your Maule though, then my opinion especially doesn't matter, so consult your A&P.

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Yeah, they're within the 4A range of the breaker when combined. Unsure if there's an understood FoS in there at all. If not, it's good to go with two on one.

My A&P said, "Go ahead and hook it up and we'll check it out."