Kayak wrote, > "I am unaware of any better alternative however. Maybe others here can share anecdotal experience with them, good or bad or if there are any true peers to consider."
I've got a contender for consideration: I thought I'd look this Odyssey battery up and see why it's considered a "gold standard." I think we choose batteries, first of all, for our planes based upon the size of our battery box. Once that's been determined then it's a matter of picking the ones we either know to be good or have heard are good within the limitations of the size of our battery box.. I've always heard Odyssey is a premium battery. When I went looking for the best battery for my sized battery box - which is the next size larger than the typical motorcycle battery holders found on many if not most KRs, I found one from Japan that doesn't cost any more than this PC680 and is just a small amount larger, but boy . . . a huge difference in specs. This Odyssey is 7.1 inches across the front and the NEPO M44 I've got is 7.7 inches across the front, so .6 inches wider. The Odyssey is 3 inches "deep" whereas my NEPO is 5 inches, so that's significant. Two inches deeper so it's not going to fit in a motorcycle size battery box. Height for the Odyssey is 6.5 inches and the NEPO is 8.9. Almost 2 1/2" higher. Ken Cottle built my battery box to fit a "lawn tractor" size battery and located it, (very securely) on the hat shelf behind my head. Between it and my head is a solid piece of cushioned wood that's the rear canopy frame. Whether he did that for CG reasons (I doubt it since KR's almost all tend to come out tail heavy) or just to get it away from the heat and vibration of the engine compartment I've never remembered to ask, but that's where it is. I've learned to very much appreciate the extra capacity that I can stick in the battery box - capacity over and above what's available in a motorcycle-sized battery. Even an Odyssey. Here's what it looked like just after I'd bought it. I'll see if I can find a picture of it when its residing in the aircraft. https://tinyurl.com/yxld3szm Odyssey is 16 lbs. shipping weight and weighing my NEPO just now (since I happen to have it at home instead of at the hangar) is 25 lbs. So it's ten lbs. heavier, two inches deeper and 2.5 inches taller. Both are AGM and both cost almost exactly the same. There's some differences other than the NEPO being slightly deeper and higher: Odyssey PC680 NEPO M44L 16Ah capacity 55Ah capacity 170 CCA, 280 MCA, 350 HCA 725 CA at 68 degrees 520 Cranking Amps for 5 Seconds 570 CA at 32 degrees 380 CAA at 0 degrees The only source I know of for the M44 is Powerstride. https://tinyurl.com/va5lqls They didn't have them in their inventory for a while and I was concerned about ever finding another one in case mine ever poops out (it's currently 4 years and 4 months since I bought it). But I see they are back in their inventory. The "L" has been dropped from the designation and it's color is different, but it otherwise looks the same and the specs are the same. My current one still will hold a 12.8 charge. I treat it really nice, which is why I have it at home where I can keep a 1 amp charger on it once in a while and monitor its use and also monitor voltages while the battery sits with no charger on it. I'm a little OCD when it comes to this battery since I went through several crap lawn tractor size batteries before I found this NEPO and for quite a while I didn't think I could replace it should it ever fail, but Powerstride has them back in stock thank goodness. My plane is a real electricity hog when coming in at night with everything turned on and the puny 16 amp GP alternator not putting out anything since the engine is at idle or close to it. Once I have ADS-B and other doo-dads this electrical loading will be even more the case. As it sets, this NEPO M44 theoretically will carry the entire electronic load of the plane with everything turned on, for 45 minutes. I've never tested it to its maximum, but I have gone well into the reserves in night landings and it's never flinched. I've even hopped out of the plane after one of these everything on night landings and taken a reading on the battery and I've never found it even low. So I've come to trust it. Of course I need to replace my very greedy position lights with LED's and same thing with my halogen landing lights and I'll be doing that. So . . . since the topic of batteries is at hand, I'm again noting for the group's attention this rare find of a really powerful and relatively compact electrical source. It's about half the size and weight of the new battery I just bought for my Oldsmobile and the CCA and CA numbers aren't much lower than the car battery's numbers. I couldn't find an Ah rating for the Costco battery but for the size of this M44L, the Ah capacity is simply amazing. At least I'm amazed. Prior to finding the NEPO the best Ah number I could find for this size battery was in the mid 30's. For a small increase in dimension and weight, the M44 delivers over three times the electrical reserve of the Odyssey. ************************ While on the subject of gizmos, Mike Sylvester recommended a Wal-Mart phone called an LG Rebel 4 a few weeks ago with the idea that we can load Avare on it and have a handy, inexpensive back-up in the cockpit. Well . . . it's all true. This is my first smartphone so maybe others won't be quite as amazed as I am by it, but truly . . . I'm amazed. It has a GPS in it and a bright enough screen and plenty of room to hold Avare and all the WAC charts plus a whole lot more. I've not even activated it, just downloaded Avare and charts on my home wi-fi. Using Google Voice I can even make and receive calls on it. If I buy some airtime for it it will function as a hotspot for my laptop when I'm out of town. All of this and more . . . for $20! Mike KSEE ____________________________________________________________ Men, You Need To Try This ED Solution Immediately Med Journal http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5e17bfdfe7d773fdf3448st01vuc _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
