REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Mon Dec 10 14:27:18 CST 2012

Talking about batteries, It is time to change mine; we had some discharges
over time and not holding well now. I am thinking on an Odyssey 925. Crack
power sounds good, but cold amps suck 330. Talking with Odyssey, they tell
me that the standard CCA is for 30 seconds, but their technology is designed
to give all the best on the 5 first seconds, and when cold, it should give
at least 500 for the 5 seconds.

Any of you have any experience with Odyssey. Are these claims right?  I live
in the DC area, so not to bad, but few days a year, we easily are below
freezing level, and wonder if anyone has already played with freezing
temperatures and batteries. 

I also saw the AEROVOLTZ Phosphate Lithium, pretty cool!!  410 CCA for 3lbs
weight!!  Maybe two of those would be better.

Ruben G. Creus

* +1.571.215.0025

* ruben at vainneg.com

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From: Laurence Coen [mailto:lwcoen at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 12:36 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Grover,

Charging a totally discharged Optima is a problem but can be done.  I talked
my brother into buying an Optima for his boat based on my experience with
the one in my airplane.  He left the master on for two weeks on his sailboat
and completely killed his 6 month old Optima.  He had one of those new
fangled automatic charges that told him the battery was bad and couldn't be
charged.  I hooked it up on a 40 year old Sears charger and recharged it and
it is still in use 4 years later and working fine.  When I first put it on
the charger it only took about 1 amp.  Several hours later the current went
to 10 amps and the battery charged normally.  I think you are right in that
totally discharging an AGM type battery is really bad for them and is
certainly not good for any battery.

Larry Coen

N136LC

From: Grover <mailto:grover at mcnairperformance.com>  McNair 

Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 10:37 AM

To: 'Velocity Aircraft <mailto:reflector at tvbf.org>  Owners and Builders
list' 

Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Rich & Mark,

Being in the automotive business for 30+ years, I have seen a number of
problems with gel cell batteries like the Optima. Most of the problems
originate from the batteries being run down completely. They can be very
hard to recharge when drained, even when relatively new. This is a link for
proper charging of Optima batteries:
http://www.optimabatteries.com/us/en/support/battery-care/charging/

I chose to use a standard Group 31 battery in my 173FG.

Grover McNair

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From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Mark Magee
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2012 9:25 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Optima's have gone up in price recently. The used to be less expensive than
any certificated battery. I love them for they have such a long shelf life.
I have one out in the garage that's probably 6 or 7 years old I use to jump
off any dead battery. Still kickin' strong.

Mark

On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 8:09 PM, Rich Ervin <rich_ervin at hotmail.com> wrote:

I've been hearing talk about the optima. Right now I'm in "triage" mode -
nowhere close to gold-plating the system.

I will look into the Optima's and if the price is not unreasonable I'll buy
that instead - I'm sure it's not more than $100 or more...

  _____  

CC: reflector at tvbf.org
From: edjonesbrady at gmail.com
Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2012 20:01:03 -0600
To: reflector at tvbf.org

Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Hi Rich,

I thought I'd throw this over to you and the group: is anyone using Optima
or similar AGM batteries. When my Odessey goes I will consider an Optima or
Johnson Control AGM battery. I've fairly good results with the Optimas, when
properly sized.

Mark B. Magee

N34XL

Sent from IPhone 4S

On Dec 9, 2012, at 7:44 PM, Rich Ervin <rich_ervin at hotmail.com> wrote:

That's very generous, but I am not someplace warm, and I will need to
replace this battery anyway so I think I'll need to just get the order
turned in - maybe this week.

  _____  

From: wjwilbeck at gmail.com
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2012 15:20:51 -0600
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

Hello Rich,

I have a 4 year old Odyssey Battery that I replaced in my Velocity.

It tests fine but I will not fly with it.

If you live somewhere warm, I would consider flying it down to you sometime.

wj

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Rich Ervin
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2012 9:49 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR: Battery Advice

I have an airplane battery which was dead for 10 years, but had very little
usage prior to that (only a month or so).

I want to use this battery just for starting and possibly some slow-speed
taxi work. I plan to order a new battery, but I'd like to continue working
on this plane using the old battery until I'm ready to permanently install
(and properly maintain) a new one.

I've already tried charging it, and it didn't seem to take a lick. I only
charged for about 15 or 20 minutes though - once on a medium speed charger,
then connected to a car battery with the engine running.

Does anyone have a tip for reconditioning the battery for temporary use?

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