I have a gopro mounted to an inspection cover screw under the wing of my 182. I'm pretty disappointed with battery life. Is there any precedent for legally routing a USB cable up the a-pillar, through the wing, and out the cover so I can run it on ship's power?

The legality of the USB cable is much less questionable than the legality of the GoPro mounting, so if you've decided the gopro is fine I'd say the USB cable ain't no thang.

The crux will be getting much power through a USB cable over that distance. Shitty ones won't give you much power transmission due to the small wires. Look for a long one made specifically for charging which should have larger wires, and test it out in the cockpit prior to wasting time running it through wing. Not sure how many amps a gopro takes and it's minimum charging voltage but you'll probably need something like 16 or 18 gauge wire to get 1-2A through it with minimum voltage drop. The gopro will be cold (why it's not staying charged for you), so the charging performance will be much lower than when you test it in cockpit.

Another option that would be easier in some ways and harder in others would be to run 12V wires out to wing and put the 12V-5V USB converter in the wing. This way you could use standard 16 gauge wire for the long run, then a short USB cord going from inside wing to gopro.

Thanks asa,

I bought a legit mount that I understand only requires a log book entry to be legal. Not sure if that's all, but my IA is pretty easy going. Even if he wasn't, it would take 5 mins to take it off before going in for annual. It's mounted using on of the existing inspection cover screws.

That being said, what would you recommend for passing the cable through the cover? Can I legally install a grommet or something in the cover itself?

Collin Caneva (Old Green Plane) worked in conjunction with Silverhawk Aviation, in Lincoln, NE and Flight Fix to come up with an approved single switch activation for permanently mounted AD to DC converted power supplies on his C-182. You can see detail of it on this video starting at 9:00 on the video. I have seen this system work in person and it is great.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U066YEJXcEA&t=2s

I'm a fan of using these. You can put them near the camera easily and not have to worry about long cable runs.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore- ... 235&sr=8-4

jugheadF15 wrote:Collin Caneva (Old Green Plane) worked in conjunction with Silverhawk Aviation, in Lincoln, NE and Flight Fix to come up with an approved single switch activation for permanently mounted AD to DC converted power supplies on his C-182. You can see detail of it on this video starting at 9:00 on the video. I have seen this system work in person and it is great.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U066YEJXcEA&t=2s

Their power supply solution seems quite overkill, but this is what I was suggesting by running the 12V out to the wing then converting it to USB.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... ckkey=6431

My thought process is that I already have a certified USB port on my new panel, one can build their own USB cable using solder connections. I'm thinking it would be simple enough to construct my own USB C cable of the appropriate length and wire size to be suitable and just plug it into the existing port. That would be cheaper and easier than running power and installing a power supply.

Still not sure if it's ok to drill and install a grommet on the inspection cover though, I'll ask my IA.

Despite their value in accident investigations, or maybe because of the implied correlation. Thousands of GoPros flying - have yet to hear of one being the cause of an accident.

https://youtu.be/iOABpY4PKko

DC-DC 12V to 5V 3A Micro USB Converter Voltage Step Down Regulator Waterproof Power Converters for Car Smartphone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H7X37T6/re ... UTF8&psc=1

I do it all the time, using a special built voltage convertor I can charge my 52 VDC e bike battery at around 2 amps. It has a digital meter to track the battery voltage, and it all auto shuts off when the engine is cut off or the battery reaches a full charge. I thought your post was going to be about a similar need, I'm EXP of course. After enough time with this setup, I have a pretty good handle on how long of a flight translates into how much e bike range I will once landed, fun stuff.