US ELT Installation

To be completely legal, you very well may need to use a particular brand
of battery. Those will be specified in the manual. The ones most often
specified that I have seen are the Duracell -- because they have a
printed expiration date on each cell and are rather ubiquitous.
Therefore, the batteries must be "in date" and of the approved brand to
be legal.



Larry




"309" wrote in message
oups.com:

Jim's web site on his ELT installation is very informative, and he
brings up a good point about testing the function of your ELT, whether
it's required by "FAR" or not. Here's another good reason TO test.

Several years back, I installed an AmeriKing ELT in my 1-26. When my
A&P/IA and I went to test it, nothing happened. We found that the
battery label on the bottom case was mislabeled, so the batteries did
not form a continuous chain, ergo, no electricity was supplied to the
unit, not it banged or switched on. When we turnd the base around, it
worked fine. So we "corrected" the label on the case and it's checked
out fine every year when we exercise it, need to or not. And I DO hope
that those are the ONLY times that my ELT sees use.

And this should serve as a word to those wise enough to install the
AmeriKing units (or those from ANY manufacturer). Since batteries are
cheap, I try to replace them at each annual, including the remote
switch battery (a pesky 2/3 A cell, though available at Radio Shack).
The six D cells get used in any number of flashlights or toys over the
year, they've still got most of their charge from sitting in the glider
unused.

Fly safe,

-Pete

jphoenix wrote:
Eric,

I installed mine this past weekend, the antenna is located forward and
under the instrument panel glareshield, attached to the rudder pedal
bracket and installed within 20° of vertical as required by the
manual.

AmeriKing, $206 including shipping from Paul Remde.

See details he www.jimphoenix.com

01-- Zero One wrote:
To be completely legal, you very well may need to use a particular brand
of battery. Those will be specified in the manual. The ones most often
specified that I have seen are the Duracell -- because they have a
printed expiration date on each cell and are rather ubiquitous.

Actually, I DO follow the manual for all the batteries. The manual
recommends that the remote battery (the oddball two-thirds-"AA" cell)
be a Duracell LITHIUM battery, and that cell is good for 8 years.
However the manual says that "alkaline type cells are available from
various manufacturers and may be used in place of the Lithium cell...",
but the "Alkaline battery must be replaced every four years" (remote
only, Page 26). You have to replace the batteries by the "freshness
date" on the batteries, for both the main power "D" cells and the
remote. I recall the manual had the Duracell requirement, likely
because of the freshness date.

http://www.ameri-king.com/pdf/9.1.22.pdf

Now days, all major brands of batteries (Duracell, Eveready/Energizer,
Rayovac) have the freshness date printed on. I use the Duracells for
the main power -- it's tough finding the 2/3 AA cell from Duracell.
Ameri-King still stipulates Duracell for main power...and this is a
good way to stay legal, for a few pennies more (sometimes less!).

-Pete

Yeah, the manual actually specifies the part number Duracell to be used
and warns that failure to use that specific battery voids the warranty
and the TSO and your compliance with The Rules - if you should decide
that you need to comply with the rules ;-)

Speaking of rules, has anyone heard from any contest organizers which
contests will require ELT's?

Jim

309 wrote:
01-- Zero One wrote:
To be completely legal, you very well may need to use a particular brand
of battery. Those will be specified in the manual. The ones most often
specified that I have seen are the Duracell -- because they have a
printed expiration date on each cell and are rather ubiquitous.

Actually, I DO follow the manual for all the batteries. The manual
recommends that the remote battery (the oddball two-thirds-"AA" cell)
be a Duracell LITHIUM battery, and that cell is good for 8 years.
However the manual says that "alkaline type cells are available from
various manufacturers and may be used in place of the Lithium cell...",
but the "Alkaline battery must be replaced every four years" (remote
only, Page 26). You have to replace the batteries by the "freshness
date" on the batteries, for both the main power "D" cells and the
remote. I recall the manual had the Duracell requirement, likely
because of the freshness date.

http://www.ameri-king.com/pdf/9.1.22.pdf

Now days, all major brands of batteries (Duracell, Eveready/Energizer,
Rayovac) have the freshness date printed on. I use the Duracells for
the main power -- it's tough finding the 2/3 AA cell from Duracell.
Ameri-King still stipulates Duracell for main power...and this is a
good way to stay legal, for a few pennies more (sometimes less!).

-Pete

Jim - and anyone else interested - Region 8 will not require the use of
an ELT for the 2006 Regionals

Jay (Region 8 CM)

Actually, I had better clarify the above statement. Providing that the
rules committee follows the decision they made in November and posted
on the SRA site under the minutes of that meeting, use of ELT's will be
at the contest organizers discretion - as it was in 2005. If that rule
is finalized during the February meeting, Region 8 will not require the
use of an ELT for the 2006 contest.

I do wish that the rules committee would make their rules final a year
in advance rather than 3 months in advance. I suspect that it could
have saved a number of folks a chunk of change.

Jay

Thanks Jay, that's good news. I hope the other contests announce their
requirement well before the preferential entry deadline so that all
propspective contestants will have time to accommodate the rule, if
iimposed.

Jim

This has been an interesting thread. But there seems to be a
potentially major problem with ELTs that depend upon a cable and an
external antenna - they may not work after a crash!

First, consider the cable. I make my living using coaxial cables with
BNC (and other) types of connectors, and I can't count the times that
those connectors have failed. True, some were due to poor assembly, but
others (that had been tested after assembly) failed during non-abusive,
normal service. Considering the magnitude of the g-forces that could be
generated during a crash and the likely fragmentation of the fuselage,
how likely is it that the antenna will be electrically connected to the
ELT afterwards?

Second, consider the antenna. There was reference in this thread to a
whip antenna whose instructions specified that it needed to be mounted
within 20 degrees of vertical. There was also reference to mounting
antennas in carbon fiber gliders near the canopy or under a small
fiberglass area in the fuselage. How likely is it in these cases that a
wrecked glider will come to rest with the antenna properly oriented for
transmitting?

It seems strange to have the device itself meet a whole raft of specs
under a TSO (even going to the lengths of specifying the type of
battery) when after a crash the signal might not be able to leave the
ELT. Have the regulatory bodies (FAA, JAA, CAA, etc.) formally
considered this problem, or is it just left to the installer to assess
operational survival probabilities for the ELT system as a whole?

-John