New EarthX STCs

[EarthX Lithium Batteries]

EarthX Lithium Batteries is Excited to Announce FAA STC Approval for 24V:

Beechcraft A36, A36TC, B36TC, F33A, F33C, V35B, G36

Cessna A152, 177B, 180K, A185F, LC41-550FG, LC42-550FG, T240

Commander 114B, 114TC

Mooney M20J, M20K, M20L, M20M, M20R, M20S, M20TN, M20U, M20V

Piper PA-28-181, PA-28-161

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I'd love to get 46 pounds of useful load back. (M20R has 2 batteries.)

Unfortunately, while these batteries are about the same price as Concordes IIRC, the EarthX guy at OSH said they normally last 4-6 years. Using Battery Minders, I've gotten much better results with traditional batteries. I have one battery that's about 13 years old, and another one that's 17 years old!

 

[Jim K]

I'd love to get 46 pounds of useful load back. (M20R has 2 batteries.)

Unfortunately, while these batteries are about the same price as Concordes IIRC, the EarthX guy at OSH said they normally last 4-6 years. Using Battery Minders, I've gotten much better results with traditional batteries. I have one battery that's about 13 years old, and another one that's 17 years old!

Seriously? That's insane. I guess if it's cranking with both batteries, they're barely getting loaded.

I'm on year 3 with my earthx. I'll let you know how it's going in 10 years

Iirc they told me to expect 10 years when they first got stc'd for the pa32. 4-6 sounds awfully short. Id expect a lead-acid to go that long.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Seriously? That's insane. I guess if it's cranking with both batteries, they're barely getting loaded.

It's not. There's a switch, you choose which one is cranked and charged, though there is a circuit for trickle charging the unselected one as well.

I'm on year 3 with my earthx. I'll let you know how it's going in 10 years

Please do!

Of course, to really make the EarthX work well, I'll need to buy a lighter composite prop as well (for CG), so we're probably north of $20K...

Iirc they told me to expect 10 years when they first got stc'd for the pa32. 4-6 sounds awfully short. Id expect a lead-acid to go that long.

Interesting. I'll have to see if their answer changes next year!

 

[Jim K]

Of course, to really make the EarthX work well, I'll need to buy a lighter composite prop as well (for CG), so we're probably north of $20K...

That's a big part of the reason I jumped on it in spite of having a Concorde that was still good. The 3 blade on my plane moved the CG way forward to where I can only put pillows & blankets in the front baggage. The battery also happens to live in there, so 23ish pounds removed was a huge benefit for me. Bonus is it actually spins my motor over noticably faster. It's also the cheapest way to add 23 lbs of useful load by at least an order of magnitude. Well, other than losing weight myself, but, you know....

I'm a fan as of now. Longevity is the only open question.

 

[Ed Haywood]

Longevity of lead acid batteries varies depending on where you live. Will be interesting for those of us in semi-tropical climes to see if EarthX has same issues.

I installed one last year. So far very happy with performance, and really needed the extra pounds of useful load.

 

[Datadriver]

I'm going on year 3 with an EarthX in my Arrow. No issues to date...