Narrative:

Approximately 10 minutes after departure; approximately 2 NM from gants intersection; in hard IFR conditions; we experienced a total loss of electrical power with subsequent navigation/communication/GPS failure. Unable to squawk 7600 due to suddenness of power failure. Our last assigned clearance was direct hxd from gants intersection so we were able to turn to hxd prior to GPS failure. We maintained 4;000 ft on a 194 degree heading using compass/directional gyro/attitude indicator until we broke out of the clouds when the ceiling rose to 4;000 ft. This was approximately 50 NM northwest of charleston; sc. We then proceeded VFR to ZZZ. We notified FSS as soon as I was on the ground. He canceled my IFR flight plan and notified everyone downstream from charlotte ATC. I also notified everyone who left me messages. 2 notes: 1) we had a handheld garmin 396 that failed to function during this flight. After talking with the garmin folks; we are still uncertain; however; the GPS did work later that night when I turned it on. It also continues to work as I write this. I will not fly without it in full function in the future; as this would have greatly decreased my task of navigation. When we broke out we should have been close to savannah; however; by flying east of course; we had difficulty picking up VFR landmarks. 2) when we broke out we knew daylight was soon going to be gone; we landed at gge as it was the first airport we saw as we proceeded up the coast. We landed with approximately 10 minutes of light left. We came in to a non-controlled field. We filed for 2 hours of flight time and called as soon as we got down with approximately 1.9 hours on the hobbs. Crash fire rescue had already been deployed. It is good to know they are there; but I hate I could not notify anyone to avoid that.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot suffered complete electrical failure in IMC conditions. Employed a controlled descent to VMC and landed at first available airport where he informed ATC.

Narrative: Approximately 10 minutes after departure; approximately 2 NM from GANTS Intersection; in hard IFR conditions; we experienced a total loss of electrical power with subsequent Navigation/Communication/GPS failure. Unable to squawk 7600 due to suddenness of power failure. Our last assigned clearance was direct HXD from GANTS Intersection so we were able to turn to HXD prior to GPS failure. We maintained 4;000 FT on a 194 degree heading using compass/directional gyro/attitude indicator until we broke out of the clouds when the ceiling rose to 4;000 FT. This was approximately 50 NM northwest of Charleston; SC. We then proceeded VFR to ZZZ. We notified FSS as soon as I was on the ground. He canceled my IFR flight plan and notified everyone downstream from Charlotte ATC. I also notified everyone who left me messages. 2 notes: 1) we had a handheld Garmin 396 that failed to function during this flight. After talking with the Garmin folks; we are still uncertain; however; the GPS did work later that night when I turned it on. It also continues to work as I write this. I will not fly without it in full function in the future; as this would have greatly decreased my task of navigation. When we broke out we should have been close to Savannah; however; by flying east of course; we had difficulty picking up VFR landmarks. 2) When we broke out we knew daylight was soon going to be gone; we landed at GGE as it was the first airport we saw as we proceeded up the coast. We landed with approximately 10 minutes of light left. We came in to a non-controlled field. We filed for 2 hours of flight time and called as soon as we got down with approximately 1.9 hours on the Hobbs. Crash Fire Rescue had already been deployed. It is good to know they are there; but I hate I could not notify anyone to avoid that.

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.