Best Battery for our Carbon Cubs?

[OFS]

Thought I would share some pictures of a new battery box Im installing, I figure everyone loves pictures.



I also took the opportunity to make some longer seat rails and modify the seat for the further aft positions (for a taller customer). Maybe I will get a 5 point harness mount made sometime as well....

I apologize some of the pictures are sideways and upside down, cant figure out how to fix them.

cutting.jpginsert.jpgseatbottom.jpgrails.JPGseat front.jpg

[Pete D]

I would be very careful with moving the seat aft. There typically isn't much room to spare from the back of the seat to the rear stick when the stick is full forward. (maybe no stick and a rear stick cover?) Also, the seat and base were not really designed to be loaded that way...

How tall is your customer? Usually there is enough adjustment in the rudder pedals to give long legged pilots enough room there. Give me a call, I can give some tips on that if you'd like.

[kiwibob]

Merry Chistmas to all but hold the phone! I just recieved a Christmas present from Andy at AeroLithium to try. Its a 3.3 lb 1000CCA battery. Yes rated at 1000CCA Right size and right connectors, I will try it when I get back but should be a monster starter battery. Stay tuned . Construction also looks much better including a cushioned base and fully sealed with gel. And yes you do need a balancing charger for these batteries do NOT use a regular battery charger or jump it, doing so will ruin your cells. Regards Gary

My Carbon Cub (#193) has been a poor starter from new. The supplied battery was pretty much hopeless and unless you "bump"ed it (I gather this is to be avoided) chances are it would not go without a hand swing.

Matters improved a lot with a Shorai Lithium about 6 months ago but even so it always struggles getting over the first compression. On the occasions it could not get over that first hump shutting down the master and waiting for a couple of minutes would do the trick and it would fire (mostly) straight up. There is very little spare capacity in the battery however.

Really this has been a concern with beaches and back country strips being pretty much out of the question (the former can be very unforgiving of a failure to start) unless there is a plan B available. I've also been a bit concerned after reading the AeroLithium FAQ that there is probably a need to balance the Shorai. It does have a connector for this purpose but again I've been unable to find any good information.

Anyway I've taken the plunge and bought an Aero Lithium (a claimed 1000 CCA in the tiniest package!). It looks a bit unprepossessing (ok home made if you will) but they certainly seem to know their stuff and the Cub just burst into life like the plane it always should have been.

At this point I intend to run with it for a few hours and see how it goes but at worst it would be a sure start standby if it were stowed in the tool kit for back country trips. Certainly a lot easier than putting in a bigger battery and taking the weight hit.CSS.jpg

[glickle]

I would be very careful with moving the seat aft. There typically isn't much room to spare from the back of the seat to the rear stick when the stick is full forward. (maybe no stick and a rear stick cover?) Also, the seat and base were not really designed to be loaded that way...

How tall is your customer? Usually there is enough adjustment in the rudder pedals to give long legged pilots enough room there. Give me a call, I can give some tips on that if you'd like.

I am now a Three time CC owner and well over 1000 hrs in the planes and can say that at 6ft 7 inches have been very confortable with the existing aft seat limits if that helps. Best Gary

[glickle]

My Carbon Cub (#193) has been a poor starter from new. The supplied battery was pretty much hopeless and unless you "bump"ed it (I gather this is to be avoided) chances are it would not go without a hand swing.

Matters improved a lot with a Shorai Lithium about 6 months ago but even so it always struggles getting over the first compression. On the occasions it could not get over that first hump shutting down the master and waiting for a couple of minutes would do the trick and it would fire (mostly) straight up. There is very little spare capacity in the battery however.

Really this has been a concern with beaches and back country strips being pretty much out of the question (the former can be very unforgiving of a failure to start) unless there is a plan B available. I've also been a bit concerned after reading the AeroLithium FAQ that there is probably a need to balance the Shorai. It does have a connector for this purpose but again I've been unable to find any good information.

Anyway I've taken the plunge and bought an Aero Lithium (a claimed 1000 CCA in the tiniest package!). It looks a bit unprepossessing (ok home made if you will) but they certainly seem to know their stuff and the Cub just burst into life like the plane it always should have been.

At this point I intend to run with it for a few hours and see how it goes but at worst it would be a sure start standby if it were stowed in the tool kit for back country trips. Certainly a lot easier than putting in a bigger battery and taking the weight hit.CSS.jpg

I was just able to try the 1000 CCA battery on my OLD Carbon Cub plane #107 ( now owned by another owner) and its truly amazing the difference. We started it up several times and stopped while warm ( not a HOT start like we have in the Summer so could not test a really hot start) and WAYYYYYY better than stock and I will post the actual Iphone video of the starts when I get a chance. Suggest you all do your own due diligence on these Lithium Iron batterys as to safety etc but they DO WORK! I was happy with the 400CCA Aero Lithium battery which I ran from April till December over 100hrs, when I sold my plane and now have Carbon Cub #246 with the new Hartzell starter which thus far at 70 hrs is starting very well with the stock battery. Best Gary

[Scott Coatsworth]

I am now a Three time CC owner and well over 1000 hrs in the planes and can say that at 6ft 7 inches have been very confortable with the existing aft seat limits if that helps. Best Gary

The stock CC is the only tandem plane I can fly comfortably at 6'6" and 37 inch inseam. However long trips can still challenge the knees and the modification attained about 1 1/2" further aft seat position with no interference with aft stick and has proven in my case to be alot more comfortable. Perhaps warmer Florida flying rather than Nebraska winter flying would add further comfort.

[kiwibob]

and the Cub just burst into life like the plane it always should have been.

I made a very short video (17secs) of a couple of hot starts using the AeroLithium battery yesterday:



I'm delighted with it.

[Dennis]

I built my Carbon Cub (kit 19), so I was free to experiment with whatever battery I wanted. I installed a Shori lithium iron battery model LFX36A3-BS12. This battery is too big to fit under the seat. It has 540 cold cranking amps and weighs just under 5 LBS. I installed this battery on a home made shelf, with a hold-down bracket, on the back side of the firewall. I used home made clamps to secure the battery tray to the firewall fuselage tubes. I mounted the master solenoid on the side of the battery tray. The starter solenoid is on the engine side of the firewall. One advantage of this arrangement was a shorter cable between the starter and the battery. The cable between the master solenoid and starter solenoid is about 4" long. This probably eliminated something like 3 ft of cable compared to the standard battery location under the seat. I am happy to report absolutely no cranking issues with this system.

I did not install a key switch in the airplane. Just two toggle switches control the connection to the Light Speed ignition system. I do have a small Power Sonic back-up battery. On two occasions I have forgotten to turn off the two ignition switches. First time the ignition was on for about a day and half. The engine still started just fine. Second time I left them on for three days! No the engine would not start; however, I was able to recharge the battery with my regular old battery charger and the battery came back to full life. So far, I have about 42 flying hours on this battery. I am happy with it, but watching for potential problems with this one of a kind installation.

Dennis

[kiwibob]

Anyway I've taken the plunge and bought an Aero Lithium (a claimed 1000 CCA in the tiniest package!). It looks a bit unprepossessing (ok home made if you will)

Finally here's a photo. The red tape over the top is mine to keep the red and black terminals from touching which I suspect would be very bad.

The little connector plugs into the charger to balance the 4 internal cells (which is why it came out of the plane). When installed in the plane the plug fits into the circuit board on the battery. I put in spacers to keep the circuit board from bashing the side of the battery box which is way too large for this battery.

After 30 hours the starts are still just great and I have found Andy at Aerolithium extremely helpful.

aerolithium.jpg

[Fresno]

Any pics of the Aero Lithium 1000 CCA installed? I have a 2010 with the original box. How is the fitment? Is there room for two? At that weight, it seems like cheap insurance.