Aerovoltz Lithium-Iron Battery PIREP

[FastEddieB]

Back in 2014 I bought an Aerovoltz Lithium-Iron aircraft battery on special at a Florida airshow for installation on my Sky Arrow. Main impetus was to save about 13 lbs over the existing Odyssey battery, a significant saving given my porky 860 lb EW.

At the time I marked my "tickle board" to schedule replacement in 3 years, figuring that was a decent conservative life. But thing led to thing and its soldiered on for about another 3 years, never failing to start the plane's ROTAX 912 with enthusiasm. Overall, very, very satisfied.

Notes:

1) I never allowed it to completely discharge, which I hear is death for lithium batteries in general.

2) Only once did I come close, when my ignition modules failed. In that case it cranked with enthusiasm for an extended period, but then "fell off a cliff" as it neared depletion.

3) It likes to be warm on engine start. It can be sluggish when cold on the first starting attempt. Then, once warmed, it cranks much better on the second try.

4) The handful of times I stuck it on a charger, I just used a conventional one, which seemed to work just fine.

5) In-plane charging was via John Deere voltage regulator, pretty rock solid at 14v charge rate.

In any event, as a precaution I just ordered a new battery from Aerovoltz:

They've apparently updated the case design and electronics. This also lets me set aside my old one as a ready spare. I'll report back if I see any significant changes.

 

[Lndwarrior]

I'm flying wiht EarthX which is considerably more expensive. So far so good.

A couple of questions - what is the weight of this particular battery? Does the BMS system have a means of telling you something is wrong - like the idiot light on the Ex?

 

[Stewartb]

You can't over discharge that one or an EarthX. The BMS disconnects the cells before it happens. Recharging with my Optimate Li specific charger is simple. No problem for the battery.

 

[FastEddieB]

A couple of questions - what is the weight of this particular battery?

2.6 lbs.

Does the BMS system have a means of telling you something is wrong - like the idiot light on the Ex?

I don't believe so.

 

[FastEddieB]

I finally* got around to installing the new Aerovoltz battery yesterday.

The new model is physically larger:

Not in and of itself a bad thing - it more closely matches the dimensions of a conventional battery of similar capacity, making installation a bit more straightforward. Weight is still right around 2.5 lbs. Still required some foam spacers, provided, but I got to remove some rather larger spacers and brackets the smaller battery had needed. It also has terminals on both sides for flexibility.

The only potential drawback would be if someone had fabricated a battery box based on the smaller form factor. I had not, since I wanted the option of buying a conventional battery like an Odyssey if I had a problem on a trip, let’s say.

Another new thing is a 3-wire harness, which you can just make out above. It ends in a fused 2-wire receptacle for charging, similar to one I added to the old battery on my own. The third wire runs to a screw on the top of the battery, and a button on the receptacle allows for a “reset” from certain failure modes. Documentation is a little sparse. I may write them for clarification on this.

Another difference is my Schauer charger typically charges to a point and goes into a “float” mode, as indicated by a pulsing “maintain” light. It works this way on conventional batteries, and the old Aerovoltz as well. On the new one, it seems to charge to the same roughly 13.6v, but then stops charging and does not go into “float” mode. I’ll ask if this difference is part of new circuitry present in the new model but not the old.

Anyway, pleased so far and will report back after a test flight.




*Not worth its own thread, but Karen and I both picked up something, her right after Christmas and me about the first of the year, with my symptoms mirroring hers but lagging by about a week: a bad cough, followed by some kind of sinusitis and headache and fatigue. It was not until Sunday I started to feel human again, with Karen again about a week ahead. I made two trips to a walk-in clinic and was prescribed two courses of antibiotics and steroids over that timespan. It wasn’t the flu - neither of us had a fever - but whatever it was it royally sucked and there’s a LOT of it going around ‘round these here parts. Be careful out there!