LiFePO4 Batteries

On Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:08:47 PM UTC-7, vontresc wrote:
JS wrote:

LiFePO4 batteries keep going so long that you'll rarely see a discharge below 12V.

They behave fine in parallel, charge and discharge.

They hold a charge for ages, so those who put their glider away for the

winter could fly months later on the old charge.... Not that anybody ever

forget to charge batteries!

There's no need to keep the panel off after preflight. No more waiting to

turn the transponder on until hooking up the rope. For those with

bluetooth devices, no more "it won't connect to the logger" while taking up slack.

Dare I say no more excuse to not have a transponder?

WARNING: These batteries cost more than a roll of cheap yellow electrical tape on Amazon.

Jim

(You Only Live Once department)



Update: bought one if the stark power batteries from Tom Knauff, and so far

I am impressed. After three hours battery voltage was still 12.7 or better.

I bought a 10 Ah Tenergy from Amazon.com and it included a free smart
charger. It's a direct fit for the 9 Ah lead acid battery in the
baggage compartment of my LAK-17a and much lighter. Lasts a long time, too!


Dan Marotta 5J
On 5/21/2014 3:33 PM, jfitch wrote:
On Wednesday, May 21, 2014 12:08:47 PM UTC-7, vontresc wrote:
JS wrote:

LiFePO4 batteries keep going so long that you'll rarely see a discharge below 12V.
They behave fine in parallel, charge and discharge.
They hold a charge for ages, so those who put their glider away for the
winter could fly months later on the old charge.... Not that anybody ever
forget to charge batteries!
There's no need to keep the panel off after preflight. No more waiting to
turn the transponder on until hooking up the rope. For those with
bluetooth devices, no more "it won't connect to the logger" while taking up slack.
Dare I say no more excuse to not have a transponder?
WARNING: These batteries cost more than a roll of cheap yellow electrical tape on Amazon.
Jim
(You Only Live Once department)


Update: bought one if the stark power batteries from Tom Knauff, and so far

I am impressed. After three hours battery voltage was still 12.7 or better.

Also I like the fact that it's nice and light should I ever drop it on my

foot ;-)



Pete
I have a new Starkpower 12 AH. I just ran it down to see how long it would last, also when it goes flat how suddenly. Powering a Butterfly vario, PowerFlarm, Trig 21, Dittel radio, Ilec spare vario, iPhone 5S running iGlide. Draw was bout 0.9A until the iPhone is charged, then drops to around 0.7A with no radio transmission and infrequent transponder hits. Starts out at 13.1V, then quickly settles to 12.9V. At about hour 11, down to 12.5V. From there to hour 13 a more steady decline to 11.5V. I shut it off at 14 hours, about 11.2V. That's longer than my usual day flying! I'm not sure how much longer until the 9.5V shutoff, probably not much as the voltage decline was accelerating. Anyway, plenty of life, plenty of warning when it is going soft.