What Battery Do You Use?

[colekingx]

I'm in the process of selecting a battery (likely an AGM). In reviewing the batteries mentioned in this forum, I'm am surprised at no mention of using a Yuasa as these seem to be almost the default battery on motorcycles.
Is anyone using Yuasa or have rationale for not using one?

[Shadowrider]

Earthx. kitfox sells them and the battery tray for them.

[jrevens]

I use a Deka ETX-14 AGM battery. It was the original one offered with my kit by Kitfox. For me it doesn’t make much sense to use a light Lithium battery. I could buy 4 of the Deka batteries for the cost of the Earth-X. I have a relatively low total electrical load, and my airplane is already fairly light. A little extra weight firewall forward is actually desirable for my CG. That’s just my airplane. I built my own battery box.

[Andy Battman]

I see from the Kitfox parts catalog, the earthx is going for $379. I would think Kitfox owners would get a discount. .. no ?
So, $379 + $60 for the bracket = $439 total... What justifies this kind of price ? compared to the other lithium aircraft battery available ?

[Dave S]

Odyssey PC 680 AGM over here. Even with the poundage of the old odyssey, we load the plane with myself, my wife, full fuel and 140# of camping gear/baggage within W/B. The AGM batteries aren't fancy or hi-tech or anything, but seem to be long lived, quite durable and get along with little attention and survive period of disuse with little/no loss of charge. Don't know anything about other AGM brands. Also, others experience and mileage may vary.

[avidflyer]

On the cheaper side, I run a 300 CCA lawn tractor battery. It spins the 912 over in my Kitfox 4 just fine. Same one in the Avid Flyer and Jabiru engine. Cost is about $30. JImChuk

[109JB]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cranks incredibly fast on my 582. The 582 needs pretty good cranking speed to start in cold weather. This beat an AGM by a long shot. No problems.

[Andy Battman]

Does noco have any customer service if any issues arise ? amazon shows $161.96.. wow, that's cheap ! 7Ah capacity is all thats needed apparently. 600A starting current, wow again..
I wonder how much starting current is actually needed to start my 912 ? I dont read anything about any balancing capabilities in the BMS. For something so fantastic, and so cheap, why are there ANY bad reviews? , I tend to believe them more so...

[109JB]

Does noco have any customer service if any issues arise ? amazon shows $161.96.. wow, that's cheap ! 7Ah capacity is all thats needed apparently. 600A starting current, wow again..
I wonder how much starting current is actually needed to start my 912 ? I dont read anything about any balancing capabilities in the BMS. For something so fantastic, and so cheap, why are there ANY bad reviews? , I tend to believe them more so...

Don't know about service because I haven't had a problem.

[Eric Page]

7Ah capacity is all thats needed apparently.

As Jim suggested above, there’s more to choosing a battery than its cranking ability and price tag. Consider a few questions:

• Are you using an engine with one alternator, or two?
• Is your engine self-sustaining, or does it require electricity to run?
• How do you plan to use the airplane (VFR or IFR, back-country, cross country or local)?
• What is your ship’s running airframe electrical load?
• What are you willing to turn off to shed electrical load if all power generators fail?
• How much battery-only endurance do you want to achieve?
• How hyper-focused are you on minimizing empty weight?

Your battery capacity and chemistry preferences will be different depending on how you answer those questions.

For a Rotax engine, check the electrical section (chapter 24) of the engine installation manual. For all of the 900-series engines Rotax recommends a battery with at least 16Ah capacity and 350CCA, but the capacity will obviously be more critical for an electrically dependent engine like the 912iS or 915iS, for which a dead battery = no thrust. The same consideration would apply to any automotive conversion with high pressure fuel pumps, electronic ignition and an ECU.

As an example, I’m using a 912iS in a plane that will be used for day/night VFR and some back-country flying. I plan to use an EarthX ETX-900 (15.6Ah, 400CCA). My plane will be configured to aggressively load shed if I lose both alternators and have to run the engine on battery only. The entire Dynon suite, transponder, ADS-B and most lights will be shut off. I’ll finish the flight using a standby instrument (combined altimeter, airspeed and VSI), comm radio, landing and cabin lights (only as needed) and pitch trim. All of that adds up to a few hundred miiliamps of average load. Finally, I’ll test the battery at least annually to verify its capacity.