| I purchased a boat in Slidell, LA (New Orleans) and was there all last week. Come Saturday, as I went to start the plane, I noticed that I had left the master on for 5 days. First came the hand prop, the engine started but the battery was so dead that it couldn't put out enough current to start the alternator. Next I borrowed jumper cables and restarted the engine, took off and climbed out, heading back to Detroit.
After about 20 minutes of flying the current into the battery went from 20 to 30 to 40 to 50 amps before the alternator circuit breaker (CB) blew. I shut off the master and let everything cool off for 15 minutes. I am sure glad that I have magnetos. I hand flew the plane using my handheld Garmin. I then reset the CB, turned on the master and then the alternator. The system charged for about 3 minutes and then shutdown again. I turned the charging system back on every 10 minutes for the next 2 hours and finally the charging current went below 40 amps and stayed on. I tested the battery temperature by hand and estimate that the battery got to about 140°F.
When I landed I put my battery tender on the battery. The battery tender said that the battery was 80% charger and went to work on the balance.
Yesterday I went to the airport and started the plane twice. Both times had good high speed rotation.
What a great battery.
Two years ago, on the advice of Tim Hedding the head engineer at http://bandcspecialty.com/, I purchased a BC-100 battery. Tim only said that he had had fewer complaints about the BC100 than about many other batteries. I now agree with Tim.
The BC-100, 25 AH is not the same size as the Gill is replaced. I had to have a battery case made. I am now glad that I did. I was replacing my Gills every 1 to 2 years. -- Lorn H. 'Feathers' Olsen, MAA, DynaComm, Corp. 248-345-0500, mailto:lorn@dynacomm.ws LNC2, O-320-D1F, 1,000 hrs, N31161, Y47, SE Michigan
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