Battery Question

GeorgeB wrote:
I hate top posting in general, but it seems to fit here. Bumper has
noted very important points, and to add fuel to the fire, it is
important that the battery is designed for the intended service. The
only 1280 I see on the Power-Sonic sebsite is the PSH1280 which is
designed for UPS applications, and for 15 minute discharges of roughly
20 amps. I would not be at all surprised (they don't say) that just 2
or 3 of those will significantly reduce capacity. Your far more
reasonable discharge would be less severe, but I'd still guess it is
low on the number of cycles vs their more "traditional" designs.

According to the Powersonic Technical Manual

(http://www.power-sonic.com/techman.pdf)

their batteries are designed for cyclical use. The diagram on page 6
indicates 200 complete discharge cycles can be obtained before the
battery capacity reduces to 60%, or 400 discharges of one-half the
amphour capacity. The battery choice appears to be OK for glider use, so
I suspect the problem is as some other posters suggested: current drain
is higher than expected, a defective battery, improper charging, or even
erroneous voltage readings from the SN 10.
--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

X-no-archive: yes
In article , Eric Greenwell
writes
GeorgeB wrote:
I hate top posting in general, but it seems to fit here. Bumper has
noted very important points, and to add fuel to the fire, it is
important that the battery is designed for the intended service. The
only 1280 I see on the Power-Sonic sebsite is the PSH1280 which is
designed for UPS applications, and for 15 minute discharges of roughly
20 amps. I would not be at all surprised (they don't say) that just 2
or 3 of those will significantly reduce capacity. Your far more
reasonable discharge would be less severe, but I'd still guess it is
low on the number of cycles vs their more "traditional" designs.

According to the Powersonic Technical Manual

(http://www.power-sonic.com/techman.pdf)

their batteries are designed for cyclical use. The diagram on page 6
indicates 200 complete discharge cycles can be obtained before the
battery capacity reduces to 60%, or 400 discharges of one-half the
amphour capacity. The battery choice appears to be OK for glider use, so
I suspect the problem is as some other posters suggested: current drain
is higher than expected, a defective battery, improper charging, or even
erroneous voltage readings from the SN 10.

The only way to find out what the capacity of a battery may be is to
either do a timed discharge at a fixed current (tedious) or use an
instrument that measures the capacity and compensates for temperature. I
use such a device but they are expensive. My meter is now priced at
332.07 USD (185.00 UKP), so borrow one if you can.

For more details go to http://www.actmeters.com/actmeters.htm
and look on 'quick product index' for 'New GOLD-IBT Intelligent Battery
Tester'

Tim Newport-Peace

"Indecision is the Key to Flexibility."

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA
or even
erroneous voltage readings from the SN 10.
--

The SN10 is very 'quick' to sense the drop of your
batteries and turning to the last page will give you
the voltage readings in flight. Try and look at that
reading while, with everything else turned on, you
key your mike and see what your voltage readings are.
I have seen several gliders changed to the sn10 with
this same problem and it is usually solved by increasing
the wire size coming from the batteries to the instrument.
When you key the mike you increase the amp draw and
thus the voltage drop across small diameter wire is
amplified. This is noticed by the intermittent warning
on the Sn10 everytime you key the mike. It still could
be the other problems addressed in the other posts.
But if you use at least 14 awg leads from the battery
and have clean and propery sized connections (15 amp)
you will address the SN10 issue!

wrote:

The battery is a PowerSonic 1280, and the charger is a
standard RR14650A gell cell automatic charger.

Umm, the RR14650A from W&W is a 14 volt charger. You really
use that on a 12 volt battery? If so, you've probably
fried the battery from overcharging.

I had the same problem with a 12 AH gel cell in my LS4. PowerSonic
Battery was dead in less than a year. I concluded that keeping the
battery on float indefinitely (even with a charger designed for that)
was probably not a good idea and could have cooked the battery.

I bought a new battery, never charged it more than overnight, and so
far (two years) have had no more battery problems.

I had the same problem with a 12 AH gel cell in my LS4. PowerSonic
Battery was dead in less than a year. I concluded that keeping the
battery on float indefinitely (even with a charger designed for that)
was probably not a good idea and could have cooked the battery.

I bought a new battery, never charged it more than overnight, and so
far (two years) have had no more battery problems.

wrote:
I had the same problem with a 12 AH gel cell in my LS4. PowerSonic
Battery was dead in less than a year. I concluded that keeping the
battery on float indefinitely (even with a charger designed for that)
was probably not a good idea and could have cooked the battery.

I bought a new battery, never charged it more than overnight, and so
far (two years) have had no more battery problems.

Were the charger and the battery where they saw high temperatures (say,
over 90 degrees F), like being in a hangar during the summer? A lot of
chargers are designed for room temperature operation, so unless the
charger was a temperature compensating type (adjusts the output for
ambient temperatures - not common), it might have overcharged the battery.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

David Kinsell wrote:
wrote:

The battery is a PowerSonic 1280, and the charger is a
standard RR14650A gell cell automatic charger.


Umm, the RR14650A from W&W is a 14 volt charger. You really
use that on a 12 volt battery? If so, you've probably
fried the battery from overcharging.

Hellooooooo, anybody home? Can't we at least have a discussion
about how using 14 volt chargers on 12 volt batteries is a great
idea, and gives lots of extra power to the linear?

I think that David spotted the problem here..



A 14 volt charger charging a 12 volt battery.



Probably fried the battery.



Batteries are inexpensive. Get another one and try it with the proper
charger. [Of course, David will suggest that you buy 2 new batteries, a
12 and a 2 and use the existing charger. But that is a different
thread. :-) ]



Larry





"David Kinsell" wrote in message
:

wrote:

The battery is a PowerSonic 1280, and the charger is a
standard RR14650A gell cell automatic charger.

Umm, the RR14650A from W&W is a 14 volt charger. You really
use that on a 12 volt battery? If so, you've probably
fried the battery from overcharging.

01-- Zero One wrote:
I think that David spotted the problem here….



A 14 volt charger charging a 12 volt battery.



Probably fried the battery.



Batteries are inexpensive. Get another one and try it with the proper
charger. [Of course, David will suggest that you buy 2 new batteries, a
12 and a 2 and use the existing charger. But that is a different
thread. J ]



Larry



Thank goodness it made it out. Sure would hate to see the OP rip the
wiring out of his glider, throw away a perfectly good charger, spend
$300 on a battery tester, and illegally turn off his non-existent
transponder when all he needs is the right battery.

I'm starting to think you can't believe everything you read in RAS.