Best Battery for our Carbon Cubs?

[clipwingcub]

The ballistic battery that Wick's is selling is the Lithium Fe (iron) battery. There is a good review comparison between the Ballistic and the Shorai that one of the motorcycle groups did. They both compared favorably in the tests. The one point that was negative for the Shori were the flimsy terminals, which may not hold up to the vibration. Ballistic is also coming out with a 16 cell version. Either one looks like a good way to save weight without a huge price penalty.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcyc...le-battery.htm

Tony

[RanRan]

. Either one looks like a good way to save weight without a huge price penalty.
Tony

You're right. Knocking 12 pounds of weight off the Carbon Cub by exchanging batteries is well worth the price. This is just an example of advancement by technology that has been sorely missing by the strangulating effect of insurance companies over the aviation industry for, what, the last 80 years?

Nobody wants to be first on stuff like this. It takes courage. Does innovative courage pay off in the market place? You bet. My hat is off to CC for doing the testing. Very cool.

[glickle]

Wellllllllllllll? I tried the Shorai Lithium battery and its not ready for prime time on a high compression motor. They have fixed the terminal issue written about below but First one had an immediate short in it and stranded me first flight until I found a nice feller who jumped me with his truck. Second one worked fine but still does not have enough cranking power on hot starts to top the Extreme x2 battery which still comes out the winner by a significant margin. I also ended up changing out starters and found I had a weak starter to boot. The testing was both before and after replacement of the starter. Interestingly the Lithium battery by Shorai advertises 270 CCA and the Extreme x2 advertises 220 CCA and is still far superior. I expect that the Lithium Iron batterys will improve over time shortly however as that weight savings is huge. Thats my pirep . Best Gary

[randylervold]

Gary,

Sorry to hear you did not have a good experience with the Shorai Power. We have had one installed in N155PC for several months now and it's working fine. With the regualr battery it would often not turn over when hot, in fact it did that to me twice. With the Shorai it has been working flawlessly. There was a known "bad batch" that Shorai acknowledges, any chance you still have a bad one?

This technology looks promising so we are continuing to pursue it.

[reileyr]

Randy, what model number Shorai battery are you using? Will it fit in a S-1 battery compartment? If not, is there an alternative Shorai battery that will fit?

[randylervold]

Shorai Power LXF18A1-BS12. It is physically smaller than the standard battery but comes with a bunch of foam pads that let you shim it so it doesn't rattle. We are running these batteries in both our Carbon Cub and Sport Cub here at CC with excellent results but there have been customer installations where the battery didn't perform. We don't know the reason for these variable results yet.

[reileyr]

Thanks, I just ordered a Shorai and expecting for excellent results.

[Rich]

Okay, despite the Sears battery tender, my battery finally died. What is the official best choice replacement advice from Cubcrafters? I need to order one ASAP.

[t.c.williams]

Just saw an Aerovoltz 12 cell which is all of 2.5 lbs. and has 410 CCA. It is in a Piper Cub and the owner says it turns over better than anything he has ever used. Anyone ever heard of this model? Will call CC tomorrow and see if I can get it put in #203 due next month.

[Dan L]

Anyone have experience with this battery? http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...atphighpwr.php

It is called a ATP Ultrastart. A couple of Cub guys are using it and it seems popular with the Rotax users. The weight is 4.4 pounds and physically it is 2.7" long x 3.5" wide x 5.0" high.