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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
Hi,
I just added some new batteries to my web site tonight. They have been highly recommended to me by several sailplane pilots. New - Bioenno Power Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries - Enhanced cycle life - up to 2000 charge cycles! After 2000 charge cycles, the battery still holds 75-80% of its original capacity. - Lower weight - less than half the weight of lead-acid batteries! If you are accustomed to using lead-acid batteries - you will be shocked the first time you pick-up one of these batteries. - Constant and stable discharge voltage - Lead-acid batteries gradually lose voltage over time as they discharge - dropping below 12V early-on. LiFePO4 batteries have a much more gradual decrease in voltage until they are nearly fully discharged - staying at 13+V for most of their discharge cycle - so they are able to power your sailplane radio and instruments at higher voltages for longer periods of time. Higher voltages assure maximum transmit power from radios and transponders. http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/bioenno.htm Best Regards, Paul Remde Cumulus Soaring, Inc. |
#2
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
A comment on lithium batteries since I have two in my glider and a
digital volt meter mounted on the panel... I don't notice much voltage drop as I did with lead batteries other than when I transmit. The data available for the batteries indicates a rapid decline and shutoff when the battery is nearly spent. I don't think that's a problem since the shutoff voltage is around 9.6 volts and your radio will quit transmitting before reaching that limit. The reason I post this is because I was using a lithium powered flashlight the other day while working on my car and, when the battery reached it's limit, it simply shut off. It was so sudden that I thought the bulb had burned out. No dimming as you're used to with standard batteries. Changing the bulb had no effect so I swapped batteries with my drill and the light worked again. Charging the battery took less than an hour. On 4/15/2015 11:27 PM, Paul Remde wrote: Hi, I just added some new batteries to my web site tonight. They have been highly recommended to me by several sailplane pilots. New - Bioenno Power Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries - Enhanced cycle life - up to 2000 charge cycles! After 2000 charge cycles, the battery still holds 75-80% of its original capacity. - Lower weight - less than half the weight of lead-acid batteries! If you are accustomed to using lead-acid batteries - you will be shocked the first time you pick-up one of these batteries. - Constant and stable discharge voltage - Lead-acid batteries gradually lose voltage over time as they discharge - dropping below 12V early-on. LiFePO4 batteries have a much more gradual decrease in voltage until they are nearly fully discharged - staying at 13+V for most of their discharge cycle - so they are able to power your sailplane radio and instruments at higher voltages for longer periods of time. Higher voltages assure maximum transmit power from radios and transponders. http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/bioenno.htm Best Regards, Paul Remde Cumulus Soaring, Inc. -- Dan Marotta |
#3
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 8:04:05 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
A comment on lithium batteries since I have two in my glider and a digital volt meter mounted on the panel...* I don't notice much voltage drop as I did with lead batteries other than when I transmit.* The data available for the batteries indicates a rapid decline and shutoff when the battery is nearly spent.* I don't think that's a problem since the shutoff voltage is around 9.6 volts and your radio will quit transmitting before reaching that limit. The reason I post this is because I was using a lithium powered flashlight the other day while working on my car and, when the battery reached it's limit, it simply shut off.* It was so sudden that I thought the bulb had burned out.* No dimming as you're used to with standard batteries.* Changing the bulb had no effect so I swapped batteries with my drill and the light worked again.* Charging the battery took less than an hour. On 4/15/2015 11:27 PM, Paul Remde wrote: Hi, I just added some new batteries to my web site tonight.* They have been highly recommended to me by several sailplane pilots. New - Bioenno Power Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries - Enhanced cycle life - up to 2000 charge cycles! After 2000 charge cycles, the battery still holds 75-80% of its original capacity. - Lower weight - less than half the weight of lead-acid batteries! If you are accustomed to using lead-acid batteries - you will be shocked the first time you pick-up one of these batteries. - Constant and stable discharge voltage - Lead-acid batteries gradually lose voltage over time as they discharge - dropping below 12V early-on. LiFePO4 batteries have a much more gradual decrease in voltage until they are nearly fully discharged - staying at 13+V for most of their discharge cycle - so they are able to power your sailplane radio and instruments at higher voltages for longer periods of time. Higher voltages assure maximum transmit power from radios and transponders. http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/bioenno.htm Best Regards, Paul Remde Cumulus Soaring, Inc. -- Dan Marotta I was wondering about this characteristic myself, but don't! I bought a Stark Power LiFePo4 battery and ran it until it was discharged. The voltage declined very slowly over the first 8 hours or so, then more rapidly over about the next 2 hours before I shut it off at 11.9 V. This led me to conclude that a) mine will last for a very long flight and b) the decline in voltage gives plenty of warning that it is near the end. |
#4
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
Before we decided to sell the Stark Power LiFePo4 battery, we installed two of them in our DUO Discus. The DUO has lots of electronics in both cockpits including a transponder, Flarm, flight computers, etc, etc.
We flew on one battery for two long days, just to see how long they might last, and it still had lots of power left. We obviously now have both installed, and connected as we did with the previous batteries. We have sold a couple hundred of these with no complaints or problems, and they seem to be lower cost than others I am aware of. Even the important battery charger is reasonable in cost. They charge very quickly. At this time, we do not suggest using them for high power applications such as used in self-launch gliders. Tom Knauff www.eglider.org |
#5
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 2:08:17 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Before we decided to sell the Stark Power LiFePo4 battery, we installed two of them in our DUO Discus. The DUO has lots of electronics in both cockpits including a transponder, Flarm, flight computers, etc, etc. We flew on one battery for two long days, just to see how long they might last, and it still had lots of power left. We obviously now have both installed, and connected as we did with the previous batteries. We have sold a couple hundred of these with no complaints or problems, and they seem to be lower cost than others I am aware of. Even the important battery charger is reasonable in cost. They charge very quickly. At this time, we do not suggest using them for high power applications such as used in self-launch gliders. Tom Knauff www.eglider.org I flew with the Stark Power Batteries for a flying season before I started selling them. Also did some tests with Electrofly charger battery discharger see results: http://www.craggyaero.com/lifepo_battery.htm Richard www.craggyaero.com |
#6
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
Tom: I am curious how you have two batteries wired in the DUO? Parallel, two switches to a common bus? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks |
#7
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
Not Tom, but I have two LiFePO4 batteries with two toggle switches wired
to a common DC bus. Switchover is simple: raise the second switch, lower the first. On 4/18/2015 11:22 PM, wrote: Tom: I am curious how you have two batteries wired in the DUO? Parallel, two switches to a common bus? Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks -- Dan Marotta |
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
Thanks, Dan. There seems to be a plethora of over-thinking on this subject, but I could be wrong......
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#9
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:51:52 -0700, markgrubb wrote:
Thanks, Dan. There seems to be a plethora of over-thinking on this subject, but I could be wrong...... A little searching on RS, Farnells, and similar outlets will find break- before-make changeover switches. If the momentary voltage drop as you throw the switch causes problems, put a decently sized capacitor (1000-2000 microfarad) across the output lines of the switch with a small resistor 10-15 ohms) in series with it. The resistor may be unnecessary: its mainly there to limit to power surge to about 1A when the battery is connected and, as the panel only draws around 400mA with everything on, is too small to cause a significant voltage drop while the switch is open circuit. The season before last I discovered that, if I kicked the XLR plug feeding power to my panel when I was getting in, the momentary power drop would switch my radio and main vario off Putting a 2000 microfarad capacitoy and 10 ohm resistor across the panel side of the plug has been a permanent cure. I've watched it with a voltmeter across the panel side: it takes about a second for the voltage to drop to zero when the battery is disconnected, so the momentary disconnection if I kick the plug isn't nearly long enough to drain the capacitor. -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org | |
#10
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Bioenno Power LiFePO4 12V Glider Batteries
On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 11:48:46 +0000, Martin Gregorie wrote:
I see I left a badly edited mess, so here is another try: Another way of solving the battery switching problem is to use a break- before-make change-over switch. These are often rotary switches. A little searching on RS, Farnells, and similar outlets will find suitable switches for 12 volts at the sort of currents we require. If the momentary voltage drop as you throw the switch causes problems, put a decently sized capacitor (1000-2000 microfarad) across the output lines of the switch with a small resistor (10-15 ohms) in series with it. The resistor may be unnecessary: its mainly there to limit to power surge to about 1A when the battery is connected. The season before last I discovered that, if I kicked the XLR plug feeding power to my panel when I was getting into my cockpit, the resulting momentary power glitch would switch my radio and main vario off, which was annoying. Putting a 2000 microfarad capacitor and 10 ohm resistor across the panel side of the plug has been a permanent cure. My panel only draws around 400mA with everything on so, even with the resistor in circuit, the capacitor is able to supply enough voltage and current to keep the panel alive over the short period while the connection in the plug is lost: with the capacitor charged to 12v the 10 ohm resistor limits current to 1200 mA. As this is three times more than the panel requires, it won't affect the operation of any instruments while the capacitor is powering them. To check this I put a voltmeter across the panel side of the connector and, with a stable 12v shown, disconnected the battery. It took about a second for the voltage to drop to zero. In other words the momentary disconnection if I kick the plug isn't nearly long enough to drain the capacitor and cause anything to switch off. -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org | |
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