Litium battery question

[Jerrytex]

I am leaning towards going with a Shorai LFX18A1-BS12 battery. Super light and and plenty of CCA and can handle the 18 AMP rotax alternator, from what I found during my research.

My question is, all of you that are running the lithium batteries, are you keeping them on a charger when not flying?

Is the charger even necessary? It's $90! and looks flimsy.

My odyssey 625, I kept on a trickle/maintenance charger. But from what I read, the lithium batteries, don't bleed down unless something is left on.

Also, can you jump start a lithium battery? Like get to the airport, hook up jumper cables and crank......?

Might end up staying with ole faithful, oddesey 625, but gaining 10-12 pounds of useful load is appealing and it seems that the meltdowns of the lithiums are few and far between nowadays.

[desertdave]

I'm running an Earth-X (Forum Sponsor) for the last year or so. I do not keep it on a charger and the plane easily starts up every time.

[Shadowrider]

Earth x also. They have their own internal board that controls the charging, discharging, balancing, voltage. If volts get too low it will shutoff output to save the battery. I know earthx wants you to buy their fancy charger, but just send it 14v and it will charge and balance the cells. So, I just use my power supply and set it for 14v and couple amps. Another feature I like about the earth x if it detects a problem it will turn on a light, which can be tied into the Garmin g3x that gives me an earthx fault CAS if there is a problem. Mine has sat for a month and the battery was still showing 13.2 volt. (Earthx resting volts)

[efwd]

EarthX is just so good to do business with to start. To address Jump starting, EarthX sells the Jump Pack which is multipurpose. I have one. It has the ability to charge cell phones etc etc, it is a flashlight as well. I keep it in the airplane since I won't just be able to pull up in my car when Im 100miles from home. As for the Charger, EarthX has some pretty nice units that act as a power supply for long power on needs. They didn't have the option for that when I needed it so I had to poney up for the power supply unit as well.

[dginok]

I'm using an Antigravity ATX20-RS, and loving it, especially combined with a John Deere-type regulator after the Ducati died. The plane starts better than ever, and I never keep it on a charger.

[Backpacker]

Earth x also. They have their own internal board that controls the charging, discharging, balancing, voltage.

At what voltage would it shut off the output to save the battery?...and would that voltage be the same for all the Earth X models?

[Shadowrider]

The BMS disconnects the battery from the load if it is drained to less than 5% remaining charge (an over-discharge condition). An over-discharged battery typically has a voltage less than 11.5V. If the BMS disconnects the battery, the voltage reading of the battery will be zero volts. Excessive cranking protection logic includes temperature monitoring to limit “high current use” (engine cranking) to 10 -30 seconds in any 60 second period. If the battery terminals are “shorted” (or a low impedance load is connected across terminals), which causes the battery volts to instantaneously drop to a very low level, the battery will disconnect from the load to protect the cells and BMS from damage (short circuit protection). If the BMS disconnects due to excessive cranking protection or short circuit protection, the BMS will automatically reconnect after a cooldown period (typically 1-3 minutes). The ETX series is designed for short circuit protection > 1000 Amps.
ETX Hundred Series

[littlecricket]

Earth-X sun n fun discount is 10% off and free shipping if anyone is interested.

[FlyinFish N928M]

Appreciate the feed back from everyone!

All of your information here has been excellent!!

The research in the Contrails article is good, most of it is above me, however the caption that talks about the tortures of the stator windings on the bench, "running at full power for weeks and the insulation still in perfect condition" gives me a lot confidence that I am in the clear that the AC power will not fail and melt down under hard operations.

The learning curve is steep until you start communicating with other folks that have been there already. I have alot of confidence B&C has done their homework before releasing the AVC1. The lithium batteries adds a new twist to the electrical plan and it is just a matter of time before you understand what normal operations should look like. I want the first flight and beyond to be perfect, and knowing what to be look out for is essential.

I will be doing more electrical testing this weekend with an inductance amp meter and comparing indicted volts/amps on the G3X and GEA24 engine module, to actual measurements behind the panel to ensure everything is reading correctly. Will attempt to add an extra reserve to my fuel so that I may get into that 30min recharge window and hopefully see my electrical system normalize.

If anyone else has added input/research on this subject please share for the common wealth of knowledge!

Thank you all!

Mike

Contrails caption below:

Reassuring values

We can rest assured, knowing that each time, the assumptions taken are very conservative.
The heat will be better rejected by conduction through the housing of the ROTAX than by the running of our test bench, ambient air temperature might very well be below 80°C, and the insulation of the winding is not necessarily poor quality.
NB : we observe that despite the "tortures" undergone at full power for weeks, the winding insulation still in perfect condition (Cf. fontispice).

[DesertFox4]

Good info Eric. Battery choice IS dependent on engine installation and electrical load factors.

***My reply in post 10 is in response to Jerrytex’s question about what works for a Rotax 912uls installation specifically.
The EarthX ETX-680 or ETX-680C should also work well with a 912ul or 914.


For critical instrument battery backup, most go with TCW’s IBBS (Integrated Battery Backup System). Chose which battery backup system again depending on critical components needed for flight. https://www.tcwtech.com/product/inte...v=7516fd43adaa