Payload power that outlasts the engine.
PowerFlow runs your sensors off auxiliary power before the starter turns, holds them through the crank spike, and keeps them live after shutdown. No reboots. No idling on the ramp waiting for a LiDAR to come up. Clean, safe power for sensitive equipment.
PFLite is in production at $5,000. PFMax is in testing.
What it does
Before start. Your payload boots and runs setup or diagnostics on auxiliary battery power while the engine is cold. You stop paying for engine time spent waiting on a sensor to calibrate.
During crank. PowerFlow sits between the airframe and the payload. The alternator spike at start hits the unit, not your scanner. A flaky alternator during landing doesn't ruin a day of data collection.
After shutdown. Kill the engine on the skids. The unit fails over to auxiliary power in microseconds, so static alignment and data offload finish without the engine running and without dragging a battery station out to the flight line requiring another equipment boot.
On any airframe. It takes dirty, unregulated feeds and accuratly sorts the payload voltages to where you previously set it. Plug-and-play connectors, so a payload moves between aircraft in minutes instead of one new harness per airframe.
Two units
Same architecture, same connectors. The difference is how much payload you are feeding at once and built in backup power.
PFLite
In production$5,000 Sold direct. A&P installation required.
30A. Custom connectors per customer. Example payload: One primary sensor, the crew displays, and a laptop.
- 30A continuous
- Dual 10-36Vdc input, microsecond failover
- Two adjustable outputs, 6-28Vdc at 12A, 0.1V steps
- Connectors on faceplate can be customized
- Sealed machined aluminum, passive cooled
PFMax
V0.3 testing$11,000 Battery backup included.
40A. Multi-sensor arrays plus the processing laptop, with onboard reserve when the airframe goes quiet.
- 40A continuous
- Soft latches "OFF" in the event of upstream power loss
- Live LCD telemetry, per channel
- Priority input selection
- Onboard battery automatically charges during standard operation
Here are a few real world PowerFlow aerial survey deployments
PowerFlow has been Field Tested and has been operationally deployed on: Bell 206 and 407, Robinson R66, and Cessna 172, 182, and 206.
Side by side
| Specification | PFLite | PFMax |
|---|---|---|
| Max continuous current | 30A | 40A |
| Input voltage range | 10-36Vdc | 10-54Vdc |
| Adjustable outputs | 2 × 6-28Vdc @ 12A | 3 × 6-28Vdc @ 12.5A |
| Failover speed | Microsecond | Microsecond |
| Auxiliary outputs | None/ USB/ Passthrough | Expanded Options |
| Onboard battery backup | — | Standard |
| Soft latch | — | Hardware-level |
| Telemetry | Voltmeter on outputs | Volt & Current: all input/outputs |
| Priority input select | Automatic- highest voltage | Selectable |
| Thermal management | Passive | Active + passive |
| Polarity protection | On Request | Agnostic |
| Breaker protection | Included | Resettable |
| Enclosure | Sealed machined aluminum | Sealed machined aluminum |
What the ramp costs you
Every minute a turbine idles while a scanner boots burns fuel, burns crew hours, and burns down the interval to your next inspection. Three costs at once. Most operators only count the first two.
Put your own numbers in. The defaults are typical figures, not your figures.
What recovered tarmac time is worth across a survey season. Change any field. The numbers update as you type.
Saved per survey day
Break-even
Survey days
Engine time saved by then
Hours
Tell us the airframe and the payload.
We will tell you which unit fits, or that none of them do. PFLite is in production and available now. Built in the USA to order, ships direct.
Certified A&P mechanic installation required for any active airframe power draw. A signed Hold Harmless agreement and documented bench-testing are required before live deployment.
PFMini
Between a bulky and expensive industrial power conversion brick that needs a carrier board designed around it and a cheap module rated for a measly 5 amps, there is very little. PFMini fills the gap: palm-size, 300W/ 12.5A sustained power, huge input voltage range, massive live adjustable output range, and ready to use on the bench or in the field with nothing to build around it first.
PFMini
Taking orders now!9-53V in · 5-27.6V out · 300W Up to 12.5A. Adjustable to better than 0.1V.
Tiny but powerful buck-boost converter. The input voltage can be higher or lower than the output voltage setting, so the PFMini does double the job. All while taking less space than one normal DC-DC converter.
- Buck and boost/ up-down dc conversion in one channel
- Band select plus rotary dial for fine tuned output voltage, with onboard ~1% accuracy Voltage readout
- Reverse-polarity protected, 20A mini spade fuse short protected, thermal overload protection: all standard
- Ready to use and reuse — Nothing to design around first — Built to be easy to move between builds
Where to buy
Direct from ManiWrks for a discount, or through the marketplace you already buy from. Same unit either way.
- Direct — $299, taking orders now!
- eBay — listing pending
- Amazon — listing pending
PFMini is general-purpose DC-DC conversion equipment.
Full specifications
Complete I/O detail, deployment notes, and the compliance language. Two pages, built to print. Open one and save it as a PDF.