"I'm= all electric so I should develop a replacement program, but the darn things= are so bulletproof I don't know what the cycle should be. Maybe one e= very two years? Anyone have advice about that?"

John,

I would suggest using the annual capacity c= heck as a guide (AC 43.13B). Over my l= ast 15 annual conditions inspections, the capacity test has proven to b= e a good indicator of a fading battery long before showing an= y outward signs of trouble- such as during engine cranking. As long as= capacities remained steady in the high 90's everything was good. = Once capacities start on a downward trajectory, time is running out.=

Chris Zavatson

N91CZ

360std

www.N91CZ.= net

From: John Barrett <2thman1@gmail.com>
To: lml@lancair= online.net
Sent: Mon= day, June 24, 2013 5:32 AM
Subject:<= /span> [LML] Re: Odyssey Batteries

I'll chime in too I= guess.

Am on my second set of two PC 680s. My system sounds li= ke a clone of Fred's. It has two separate busses, 70 amp alt on one si= de normally operating at about 36 amps and 20 amp B&C on the other bus a= nd it usually draws about 7 amps during cruise flight. X-tie occurs at= startup, in any bus failure and can be manually selected. Main differ= ence is mine is controlled automatically by Vertical Power VP 200.

Th= e first set of batteries grew tired due to terrible abuse over several years= in build shops, they were recharged most of the time with older charg= ers and were drained and recharged so many times, estimating the number woul= d be impossible.

I replaced both a bit over a year ago and now= use a battery minder that is compatible to the extent that both manuals (ba= ttery and charger) reference the other brand and indicate the settings to be used.

Early in my flight testing program I had plagui= ng electrical issues that would frequently kick the electrical to the E bus a= nd often times would even fail that. I can't say that necessarily put e= xtra stress on the batteries, but I don't imagine it was particularly good f= or any part of the system.

I was doing a lot of charging last y= ear during the time we were trying to identify and solve the problem. T= hat was prior to acquisition of the minder but the batteries were never drai= ned or particularly stressed I don't think.

Now the electrical busses= are properly balanced so the electrical performs correctly and the batterie= s seem to be very happy. I still put the minder on after I run electri= cal on the ground or leave it for a period of time. The batteries take= up little space on the fire wall and since real estate under the cowl is pr= ecious, that's good. They are relatively light weight so there is very little down side to these. I'm all electric s= o I should develop a replacement program, but the darn things are so bulletp= roof I don't know what the cycle should be. Maybe one every two years?= Anyone have advice about that?

The old Odyssey batteries I too= k out last year are still around. I tried to charge one of them and it= never reached the charged stage in 24 hours. I've got it on the recon= dition cycle as of last night and it will be interesting to see if it recove= rs.

John Barrett

Sent from my iPad

On Jun 2= 3, 2013, at 4:41 AM, WAYNE F MARSHALL <paradoxmaybe@me.com> wrot= e:

>
> I love my Odyssey batteries installed in my Legacy. G= oing strong for 5 years now. Even if I don't fly for a month because of weat= her, maintenance or travel, when I return and crank it is like they are brand new!
> Wayne Marshall
> N54KM
>
&= gt;
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