a Li-Ion in a lead acid world.

Hi Frank,
I looked twice at the Peak Battery site but could never find any
dimensions. Can you provide the dimensions or a link to that part of
the site?

When you say that the Peak battery is a lot safer, I'm not all that
convinced, because 1) I was never able to ignite the Li-Ion's other
than with a hammer, and 2) everyone is flying with Li-Ions, in cell
phones, iPaq's, Oudies, Socket Mobile power packs, etc. and I don't
hear of those catching on fire, ever. Not to mention all the Li-Ion's
sitting on job sites everywhere all night on chargers, if one burned
in Seattle I would know about it.
But I think that is something for each person to decide and I won't
attempt to convince anyone Li-Ion's are safe, just to consider how
many they are already flying with. One of the batteries I burned up
was from an Ipaq 3950 and it was clear that you Can Not survive such
an event without losing the canopy at a minimum. The smoke, not only
from the battery but from the plastic case and components goes on for
about 90 seconds, is very acrid, think burning tires. The youtube
videos don't do it justice, I think because they burn the battery only
and not a PDA/PNA at the same time which is where a lot of the smoke
comes from.

That being said, I would not go to an all Peak Battery solution
myself, too much expense. But the $140, 7ah version might be an option
for a back-up to a UB12150 VRLA ($40). I wonder what life you would
get out of the Peak Battery if you used it only 6 times per year?

Brian


Take a look at Scott Fletcher's article in this month's Soaring
Magazine. *While very expensive (about 5x), the Li-Fe-Po (Lithium-Iron-
Phosphate) battery pack is a lot better suited to soaring use than
either Li-ion or SLA batteries. *The K2 Energy (http://www.peakbattery.com/) 12V 10AH pack is the same size and form factor
as my regular UB1290 (12v 9.0AH SLA), and is considerably lighter. *It
is also (according to the company and some independent research) a lot
safer in that it won't explode or catch fire when abused. *Lastly, its
discharge curve runs between 13.2V fully charged to about 12.5V at end-
of-charge, making it a better fit for most avionics.

I bought one for my Ventus 2 because I am planning to install a
transponder this winter and a FLARM unit next spring, so will need
some additional amp-hours. *I plan to run with one SLA and one LiFePo
next year, and then get another K2 battery after the end of next
season.

Frank (TA)