Best Battery for your Cessna, Piper, Beachcraft or JetProp:

Read the article and find out my recommendation.

Myth: Aircraft batteries are over priced and don’t last.  Our car battery costs only a fraction of the cost but lasts much longer.  Therefore a car battery is better.

Fact: Aircraft batteries are of the highest quality and when properly maintained will provide years of quality service.

Example:  If you were to swap batteries between your car and your airplane (don’t try this at home kids) the car would would have no problem, but the aircraft would have the same problem.

Why: If you look at the example, it begins to be self-evident. Your car is driven almost daily which keeps the battery charged.  Allowing a battery to sit for days and weeks takes a big toll.  When a battery is run down and the engine starts, the charging system just hammers the battery trying recharge it.  This is a "deep" cycle and the battery is just not made for continuous deep cycles, and it fails early. This is true for all lead-acid batteries whether used in an airplane, boat, motorcycle, or your lawn tractor.  There are deep cycle batteries used for other purposes but they are not suitable for starting engines.

Another problem is the number one cause of battery failure for any lead-acid battery whether it is a flooded acid, gel cell, or the new agm (absorbed glass mat) type.  This damaging process is called sulphation and begins to affect battery’s ability to take a charge and hold a charge.  The the battery’s capacity becomes less and less.

What is Sulphation:

Battery sulphation has been with us from the day the lead-acid battery was invented.  The problem is that when a battery just sits, the acid slowly builds a film of sulfide crystals that cause the battery to lose its ability to hold or take a charge. A battery loses approximately one (1) percent of its charge per day and that rate increases with temperature.  An aircraft in a 100 degree hangar may lose half its charge in two weeks and double the rate of sulphation.  Let’s take a minute and read what the FAA’s AC-65-9,  Airframe  & Powerplant Mechanics General Handbook has to say.

Factors Affecting Lead-Acid Battery Life

Various factors cause deterioration of a battery and shorten its service life.  These include over-discharging, which causes excess sulphation and too rapid charging or discharging, resulting in overheating of the plates and shedding of active material, in turn, causes shorting of the plates and results in internal discharge.  A battery that remains in a low or discharged condition for a long period of time may be permanently damaged.  In addition to causing deterioration of the battery, these factors also decrease battery capacity.

Removal/Prevention of Sulphation

Every element known to man has a magnetic moment at a resonate frequency, i.e., a point at which the chemical bonds that hold the molecules together to form a crystal can be broken.  Sulphation, the number one cause of battery failure, is simply hard crystals of lead sulfate (PbSO4) that have formed on the lead storage plates in a lead-acid type battery.  Until recently there was little or nothing we could do about it.

VDC Electronics, Inc. has created a method of generating the required resonant frequency (3.26 megahertz pulse) to dissolve the lead sulphate crystals, allowing the molecules to return to the battery’s electrolyte.  By creating a waveform with the required 3.26 MHz frequency, coupled with a very fast rise time and a high amplitude pulse, core energy is developed to breakdown sulphation than by any other method believed to exist. 

This product break though is called the BatteryMINDer® and is available in a number of variations and voltages for different applications as can be seen on my website at www.thebatteryminder.com.

What a BatteryMINDer® will do for you:

1. The BatteryMINDer® will insure that your battery is fully charged even after prolonged downtime.
   
2. The BatteyMINDer? will not overcharge your battery.
   
3. The BatteryMINDer will not boil the electrolyte even if it is connected for months.  That is not to say the electrolyte level should not be checked!
   
4. The BatteryMINDer? will remove the sulphation on the battery plates or prevent sulphation on new batteries.
   
5. The new family of BatteryMINDers? like the 12248 have temperature sensing and battery type selection.  More information is available at www.thebatteryminder.com.
   
6. You will get a one (1) year Satisfaction Guarantee and a five (5) year "no hassle" warranty.

At present we have over 400 BatteryMINDers® keeping aircraft batteries in top condition.  It is not just the time and cost of replacing batteries.  More importantly, we need to keep the battery’s storage capacity up to its peak levels.

At present we are working with the manufactures to produce the Model 12248 and the Model 24021 that will more closely meet the voltages we need in the aviation industry.

Other Considerations

When you purchase a new battery ensure that it receives an initial charge in accordance with the manufactures requirements.  Failure to follow these requirements will lead to early failure and reduced capacity.

Most manufactures want an initial bulk charge at 14.1 volts for about 20 hours.  Off the shelf chargers will not have voltage options and can damage a new battery by overcharging as can the aircraft charging system.  The BatteyMINDer® Model 12248 has a gel cell selection that is 14.1 volts and at 8amps should help a new battery start its life on the right foot.

Gel Cell batteries should be charged/maintained at 14.1 volts to insure a long life.  Again the BatteryMINDer® Model 12248 has a 14.1volt setting.

The aircraft charging system should be checked at each annual for the correct output.

Buy or Condition?

Some have said they don’t want to take a chance, and consider their batteries consumable.  They buy a new battery expecting that they won’t have a problem.         
      
The fact is the capacity of their battery decreases during that year while a battery that has been kept charged/conditioned will be in much better condition!  If their battery lasts a year and they experience a failure of their charging system they may find they consumed the battery’s capacity earlier than they had anticipated.

What Battery is Best!
   
The best battery for our aircraft, boat, collector car or our other toys is the battery that is maintained.  Read and follow the owner’s manual and use a BatteryMINDer®.  You will find that you bought a great battery you can rely on for years to come.