Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 413; Flight Crew Type 100
Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure; Human-Machine Interface; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
I was flying at my assigned altitude of 6;000 when instructed to descend to 4;000 over ZZZ1 to get ready to shoot the ILS approach into ZZZ during IMC conditions. At this point I lost my com 1 and switched over to com 2. I tried reconnecting with Approach but was not coming in clearly; so I decided to recycle the avionics. When I did a reboot nothing turned back on and I had lost all coms; navigation; transponder; and attitude and heading (digital aspen system).At this point I had no lighting in the cockpit and was in IMC. I saw a hole in the clouds and decided to take my exit to get to a lower altitude below the bases and pick up cell phone reception. I was near ZZZ but did not have the Tower number on my cell and didn't have time to look it up while dealing with an emergency. I decided to call the owner and have him contact Airport Operations and Tower and tell them I was coming in for an emergency landing and lost all electrical.As I entered the downwind for XXR and started setting up for landing; my flaps also now went dead. As I turned base I made sure nobody was on final approach and turned final and saw the green light gun signals from the Tower.Made the landing and was escorted back to parking to now start the process of inspecting what went wrong.In hindsight; considering it was my first electrical failure in IMC conditions and at night - I decided it would be best to take my exit rather than stay at altitude and maneuver as I troubleshooted without attitude and heading. I also did not have a flash light available to check things properly and decided that getting on the ground safely was the best decision at this point; as I did not know if I would get another exit from the clouds. Had I been in VFR I would have felt more comfortable with troubleshooting but because it was IMC and I knew I was over ZZZ1's final approach course; I did not want to take any chances and took decisive action.
C172 pilot reported electrical failure in IMC resulted in utilizing cell phone to safely land.