Narrative:

On start-up; we had a dead battery; or at least not enough juice to start the plane. The owner then hand propped the airplane and it fired right up and we took note that the alternator was charging the battery. Our flight from ZZZ1 to ZZZ was uneventful. We landed at ZZZ; taxied to the FBO where we all got out; and I took the owner and another occupant to their destination and then I came back to the FBO and got ready to go back to ZZZ1. I completed my usual preflight walkaround; engine warm-up; checks; etc.; and picked up my IFR clearance. So far; everything was uneventful and going according to plan. I was handed off from ZZZ tower to departure where I was cleared to bandr; a fix on V2. Upon intercepting the radial; I noticed all lights in the cockpit to dim and flicker a bit and then I was handed off to another departure frequency; which I did not hear all the way due to my radio coming in and out. I asked for a repeat and it was even more broken. I then noticed a major discharge on my ammeter and came to the assumption my alternator had failed and my battery was not going to last much longer. (Thinking back to departing ZZZ1 when we had to hand propeller the plane to get it started); I troubleshot as much as I could; then shut off all unnecessary electronics that would draw more power from my already weak battery. I decided to turn back to ZZZ. Through all of this; I kept trying to get a hold of anyone on previous radio frequencies and believe I got a hold of ZZZ tower. Every time I transmitted; I said I am experiencing an electrical failure and am turning around toward ZZZ to land. I came to this conclusion with my thought process being that I did not want to continue the flight toward ZZZ1 and over the cascades at night; I was only approximately 10 miles away from ZZZ. I was not completely familiar with the very congested area; so I did not want to go to another airport I was not familiar with and congest even more airspace for ATC to clear for me. I was on an IFR flight (in VMC) which meant I was on radar; so ATC could see what I was doing and the services available at ZZZ. I believe ZZZ heard at least parts of my transmissions and had told me to turn toward the airport and that's all I heard. I headed for ZZZ and started my descent while still making radio transmissions to ZZZ tower. On the downwind; I was given the cleared to land light gun signal by the tower and made an uneventful landing. Knowing that ZZZ is a congested airport; I turned off at the first available exit; I noticed that the arff department was dispatched and taxied toward them and shut down. They made sure everything was ok with me and the airplane and called for a tow. I then called the tower and explained my situation. In further review; I realized that I could have picked a better; less congested airport to land at rather than ZZZ. I did not need to land at the first available airport; I just needed to continue the flight in VFR conditions and land as soon as practicable (91.185) and just from the beginning we could have possibly delayed the flight due to the dead battery. I have learned a lot from my first malfunction during flight and this has proved to be a good learning experience for me because I am sure this is not the last time something will go wrong in my flying career and next time I will be more prepared.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 182 pilot suffered loss of communication due to alternator failure. Returned to departure airport.

Narrative: On start-up; we had a dead battery; or at least not enough juice to start the plane. The Owner then hand propped the airplane and it fired right up and we took note that the alternator was charging the battery. Our flight from ZZZ1 to ZZZ was uneventful. We landed at ZZZ; taxied to the FBO where we all got out; and I took the Owner and another occupant to their destination and then I came back to the FBO and got ready to go back to ZZZ1. I completed my usual preflight walkaround; engine warm-up; checks; etc.; and picked up my IFR clearance. So far; everything was uneventful and going according to plan. I was handed off from ZZZ Tower to Departure where I was cleared to BANDR; a fix on V2. Upon intercepting the radial; I noticed all lights in the cockpit to dim and flicker a bit and then I was handed off to another Departure frequency; which I did not hear all the way due to my radio coming in and out. I asked for a repeat and it was even more broken. I then noticed a major discharge on my ammeter and came to the assumption my alternator had failed and my battery was not going to last much longer. (Thinking back to departing ZZZ1 when we had to hand propeller the plane to get it started); I troubleshot as much as I could; then shut off all unnecessary electronics that would draw more power from my already weak battery. I decided to turn back to ZZZ. Through all of this; I kept trying to get a hold of anyone on previous radio frequencies and believe I got a hold of ZZZ Tower. Every time I transmitted; I said I am experiencing an electrical failure and am turning around toward ZZZ to land. I came to this conclusion with my thought process being that I did not want to continue the flight toward ZZZ1 and over the Cascades at night; I was only approximately 10 miles away from ZZZ. I was not completely familiar with the very congested area; so I did not want to go to another airport I was not familiar with and congest even more airspace for ATC to clear for me. I was on an IFR flight (in VMC) which meant I was on radar; so ATC could see what I was doing and the services available at ZZZ. I believe ZZZ heard at least parts of my transmissions and had told me to turn toward the airport and that's all I heard. I headed for ZZZ and started my descent while still making radio transmissions to ZZZ Tower. On the downwind; I was given the cleared to land light gun signal by the Tower and made an uneventful landing. Knowing that ZZZ is a congested airport; I turned off at the first available exit; I noticed that the ARFF Department was dispatched and taxied toward them and shut down. They made sure everything was OK with me and the airplane and called for a tow. I then called the Tower and explained my situation. In further review; I realized that I could have picked a better; less congested airport to land at rather than ZZZ. I did not need to land at the first available airport; I just needed to continue the flight in VFR conditions and land as soon as practicable (91.185) and just from the beginning we could have possibly delayed the flight due to the dead battery. I have learned a lot from my first malfunction during flight and this has proved to be a good learning experience for me because I am sure this is not the last time something will go wrong in my flying career and next time I will be more prepared.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.