EarthX battery for Experimental Aircraft

[Neal]

Very pleased with the EarthX battery! I had not had it on charge since my last flight a week ago and have been using it throughout the week for my landing light project as well as a long Garmin update yesterday. I went to fly, volts were around 12.8 to 12.9 so that's around 40-50% state of charge. The engine cranked strong and was no issue starting! Impressive. What's also nice is that LiFePO4 batteries can take a higher charge rate, pretty much anything you can throw at it, so the alternator was throwing 20-25A at it so helping it recharge faster than the prior setup. Highly recommend!

 

[Cubonaut875]

I highly recommend raising your seat and verifying what battery you have installed, make sure you have an EarthX (blue) or a AGM (orange). Based on your production order experience, I don't know what you have under your seat

That is an excellent idea. Of course I just came back from the hangar.

 

[Neal]

Tweaked the numbers, looks like if you don't connect the values you will get gaps as I thought. Here's what I'm running with...hopefully for good.

 

[Cubonaut875]

Stopped at the Hangar and checked my battery, definitely an Earth X battery. I'm curious, did you take a picture of your config settings before you changed them with the Earth X battery. I'm curious if my battery is config'd to the standard battery.

 

[Neal]

 

[Cubonaut875]

Looks like my Config is set to a non Earth-X battery. Email headed to Pete. Thanks Neal!

 

[Neal]

Looks like my Config is set to a non Earth-X battery. Email headed to Pete. Thanks Neal!

I asked Pete when on the phone with him and mentioned I didn't think your numbers were right that you sent me. He felt the GDU replacement should not have affected them. Anyhooo, here is what he emailed me when I asked him for the numbers for EarthX. Click here for the post.

 

[Neal]

Follow up on my EarthX ETX-900 experience.

Absolutely love this battery! Yesterday I flew, it's been two weeks since the last flight. I did an avionics update prior to flying without being on the charger, I have not used the charger for a while now. So two weeks and avionics update, I was concerned if I would be able to turn over the prop to start. On the prior SBJ-J16 it would definitely struggle. Yesterday - nope. Strong start, no concerns whatsover.

Also, very happy with the settings I'm using for voltages.

Highly recommend switching to EarthX!

 

[Neal]

One of the issues with LiFePO4 batteries is the temperature constraints which mainly applies to charging which is more restrictive. The BMS within the battery "should" prevent charging when outside these parameters. While temps typically don't get too cold here in VA, which I'm now proven wrong as it's 19F as I type this, ouch, I did wrap my battery in a thermal wrap I found on Amazon that people use on car batteries. The temp in the hangar doesn't typically get down to OAT but it could be a problem.

My RV (motorhome) has a bank of LiFePO4 batteries (4 x Victron 330ah) and the installer offered an option to put a heating pad around them that they get custom made. It's a small 12V drain that provides a small amount of heat, actually they can get quite hot, so there is a relay that is used paired to a Ruvee bluetooth temperature sensor that controls the on/off of the heating. It only takes a few minutes to heat the pads and then it turns off and that residual heat keeps the batteries warm for quite a period of time. I think aircraft with LiFePO4 batteries will need to consider the same type of setup, just like we have engine pre-heaters, owners should consider some type of battery heating as well if using LiFePO4 batteries such as EarthX. Someone could/should probably reach out to EarthX to suggest they offer something like this and some LiFePO4 batteries such as Battleborn actually have heaters built in which would probably be a better solution.

 

[spusmc]

Stopped at the Hangar and checked my battery, definitely an Earth X battery. I'm curious, did you take a picture of your config settings before you changed them with the Earth X battery. I'm curious if my battery is config'd to the standard battery.

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Looking at this you have the leads on the right side of the plane not forward correct? Mine came with the connections facing forward from CC. Is that an extension for the ground? Seems like that would be much easier to connect the wires than having them facing forward. Mine are forward with the same battery and currently one set of leads to jump but not trickle charge. Needless to say trying to connect the wires with the battery facing forward more of less kicked my a$$.

 

[Cubonaut875]

Here is my current battery set up largely as if came from the factory, this picture was just before I put the pigtails on for the back up starter battery but with the charger pads attached. I was contemplating how I was going to get the pigtail on for the back up battery, hence I'm sitting in the back seat with my socks on. The arrow pointing to the open lead in the last picture was me asking Pete what it was for and if it was disconnected. I seriously forget what he said it was for, but the just was that it was not a problem. I believe it was a sensor lead of some type.

 

[spusmc]

Ok, very interesting. Mine is facing 90 degrees from that facing forward. I am going to investigate this and make those adjustments. It makes sense for servicing- thanks for the pics. I will shoot some before and after pics in case anyone else is in the same boat. I have some time to do this since we are snowed in here in Colorado..... That lead is for an aux light you can mount in the dash to give you a heads up of a fault or low battery. I capped mine, there are enough blinky lights already.

 

[Neal]

Per Pete at CC you don't need that lead/light as the G3X will alert with voltage anomalies. I think the difference is @Cubonaut875 got his EarthX installed from the factory whereas the SBS-J16 is oriented with leads forward as you pictured. Interesting how they rotated it.

 

[Cubonaut875]

I would assume that rotation of the battery has something to do with the vent lines, which are still difficult to connect back as you can see one has been trimmed to allow the vent to be connected. As I understand, Neal's vent is located differently due to your cargo pod.

 

[Neal]

I don't have the vented EarthX battery, that is for certified aircraft and what CubCrafters uses and probably not a bad idea. Not all aircraft can open windows (and door) if needed but just as with the choice of EarthX (LiFePO4) there is assumed risk.

 

[Cubonaut875]

Makes sense now, the cargo pod would not allow venting in the usual place, hence having the plane delivered without LiFePO4 battery.