Earth X ETX680 Battery

[whee]

I'm a believer. In our blue plane we had around 3 years of service from the EarthX before the fire, and I should add that while I have some theories about the cause of the fire, none of them include the airplane battery. I didn't baby it at all, I just cranked it when I wanted to fly. I did keep a compatible charger available for special cases like extended ground operations, but I could have gotten by without it. In that same installation, I couldn't get a PC680 to last more than a year, and it was frequently dead after more than 3 weeks of not flying. I didn't have any plans on the horizon to replace the EarthX, it was still going strong.

It’s interesting that a PC680 would only last a year and that an EarthX was still going strong at the 3 year mark. There must have been something with that installation that was abusive to a lead acid battery. PC680s usually last a long time. One of mine is at least 4 years old and still performs well. Unfortunately, I sometimes go months without flying but dead batteries are never a concern.

That’s being said, lithium batteries are fantastic so when I no longer need the weight of lead acid batteries up front I will enthusiastically swap them for lithium. Good to hear that people are getting good service life out of their EarthX batteries.

[jaredyates]

I think it was the temperature. I was talking about it with the EarthX engineer Reg, and he pointed out that as the temperature climbs in a battery with lead, the lead softens and becomes much more vulnerable to vibration etc. The rated temp range is higher on the EarthX by a few degrees but in my experiment the functional temperature range was "better enough" to make a big difference.

[kestrel]

Based on a call with one of EarthX's techs, the ETX-900-VNT is built on the same line with the same process as the TSO. It is the same battery except for the paperwork. I wouldn't be afraid of any of the batteries they promote for aircraft use, but the 900-VNT and 900-TSO should be the top of the heap.

FWIW, it is fine to install them in parallel, though I would make sure they are both fully charged/same charge before doing so.

I was asking about the merits of multiple ETX-900's vs a larger battery if greater capacity was needed.

[Bcone1381]

Batteries can be neglected at times. This can have consequences. EarthX has an "End of Season" fact sheet that bears some respect. https://earthxbatteries.com/maintena...tart-up-guide/

In a nut shell, batteries have two capacities, the capacity to crank a starter, and a capacity to power small loads over a given time. Although a new 16 amp hour battery for example should give 2 amp of power over 8 hours, or 16 amps over one hour, it will loose capacity as years tick by.

This means an old battery that cranks your engine still should have a capacity check to test its ability to power your electrical system if the alternator fails in flight.

EarthX suggests installing a new battery, turning on all your equipment, do a time hack, and monitoring the voltage until it reaches a given value. Then at a regular interval (maybe annually, or twice a year) repeat the capacity check and compare the result against your "new time value." EarthX says 80% capacity is a pass, 79% means it time to replace.