Best Battery for our Carbon Cubs?

[stede52]

I had a braille battery and it worked great until I let it go dead once and then It lost some juice because in cold weather at Johnson Creek I barely got it started with a jump. Lesson learned don't leave on your master switch. I'm trying the EarthX now because it has low-voltage and High voltage protection. I don't believe there's any kind of danger with these iron phosphate lithium batteries. EarthX hasn't had any problems with them in the past. Only Lithium ion batteries have their problems with overheating .

[jim plaster]

I've been running an Antigravity lithium iron battery for a little over two years and it's getting a little weak now. Dealt with cancer issues so the airplane sat for a few months last year....not helping the battery I'm sure. Probably going the Braile route next....I gotta catch up for lost flying in 2016! Thanks for the info Kurt!

[stede52]

I've been running an Antigravity lithium iron battery for a little over two years and it's getting a little weak now. Dealt with cancer issues so the airplane sat for a few months last year....not helping the battery I'm sure. Probably going the Braile route next....I gotta catch up for lost flying in 2016! Thanks for the info Kurt!

I should have been more specific, most of the battery manufactures building lithium batteries for motorcycles, small aircraft and cars like the Tesla are phosphate based which haven’t had the problems of exploding or overheating and catching fire that other lithium ion batteries have. The anti-gravity is also a phosphate based Lithium ion battery.

[Gary H]

Yep, Steve likes his. I still use the Braille, been working good for me. Steves flys more than I do. He's really retired. Don't think you can go wrong either way. Fly safe !!

[lbell]

Yep, Steve likes his. I still use the Braille, been working good for me. Steves flys more than I do. He's really retired. Don't think you can go wrong either way. Fly safe !!

I am about ready for a battery purchase. Anyone have any new insight on earth
x vs braille and oddisy?

[jim plaster]

Finally installed the Braille battery in my bird after trying the Antigravity battery for almost 3 years. Bought mine from Jegs for $169 and they shipped it FedEx next day...free shipping over $100! Currently out of service for a week now with horizontal stab issues...hopefully be flying again soon. The Braille fits nicely in the smaller battery box without any modifications. It's also a AGM style battery. If you go the Odyssey route you'll need to do the bigger battery box modification if you own an earlier airplane....the kit cost north of $600 I believe....so check your serial number to determine which size yours is..The older airplanes use a smaller battery....

[stede52]

Braille are nice batteries and mine worked great until I left my battery on for a couple days. After that cold weather made my CC really hard to start and sometimes not at all, that's where my portable antigravity backup shined I really like the Earthx, It's performing well in cold weather.

[cubber]

I don't want to cause anyone undo concerns, but I think all of us with lithium batteries should run a very simple test. Do this test on the ground and even in your hangar. Turn on all your devices that use electricity and time the voltage drop to see for certain how long it takes for the voltage to drop below 10 volts. It took mine to drop a bit less than five minutes. I now have an Odyssey and am very happy with it. The lesson here is 'don't lose your alternator'.

Kurt

[DRL]

That would be a good test, although the battery should be fully charged before the start of the drawdown. If it was the EarthX battery, the automatic protection will shut it down at about 11v. We lost the alternator (field connector failed) and it took about 25 minutes before we had to switch to the standby battery, although I am not sure we had a full charge before takeoff. We programmed the Dynon to give a red alert and audio message whenever the battery is not being charged, so that should avoid that problem in the future.

Our EarthX is about three years old and still going strong. It did run down to the shut off in the hangar after 6 weeks without charging, most likely because the clock is always powered and draws some current. From time to time we run it for 30 minutes without the engine running so that we can program and load the database, but afterwards, we still are able to do an engine start. So long as it indicates at least 12.3 volts it will swing the prop. We like to see the battery accepting less than 20 amps from the alternator before we take off.

Without the larger battery box, there is not much choice for us. The motorcycle batteries just don't work well.

[kiwibob]

Some years ago I commented in this thread on the Aero Lithium battery which served me well for six years in my Carbon Cub. I had a spare which would get balance charged from time to time. Yesterday I looked in the cupboard and found the spare in this condition, significantly swollen and distorted.

Apart from the physical damage that this would have caused in both the swelling and trying to get it out I dread to think what might happen next.

I have a hazardous materials guy coming to pick it up as I'm not even prepared to put it in the car (look at the YouTube videos of lithium battery fires). Until then it's sitting in the middle of the concrete drive in case anything further happens.

It's back to lead acid for me

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