can battery minder damage anything?

[cliffy]

I have mentioned many times on this forum that those of you that do fly IMC  need to do a proper capacity check on your battery

every year and NOT with one of those car type quick capacity checkers. A real aviation constant drain checker as per the book.

With only one alternator and one battery If you do lose your alternator its your only way out. Its your lifeline make no mistake about it

Even a Boeing737 only has "maybe" 30 mins battery if it goes down to BAT only power. 

Its then a REAL emergency to get down. You may also only have a very few minutes to get on the ground.

Here's a question- If you did lose your alternator and were battery only and you have electric gear- where do you decide to put the gear down?

Right away or wait until you get ready to land and find you have no power to put it down?  Now you have compounded your problems with a manual 

gear extension. If you are IMC then the question gets even trickier 

Battery Minders?  I have seen2 examples of minders left plugged in without monitoring by looking at things and in both instances something went wrong and the batteries boiled over spreading acid all over the airplane structure for months before it was found.

There is some data (some data) that might support the postulation that batteries contained in the tail section of the airplane last longer than those in the engine compartment. Heat seems to be the issue

[Skates97]

18 hours ago, carusoam said:

Hmmmmm…

Anyone get a BatteryMinder for their car’s battery?

The car that lives in the garage and only comes out on nice weather days….

My ancient expedition drains more electrons in a week… than an ordinary battery can keep up with…

Somewhere there is a relay that isn’t resetting correctly… and retries endlessly every five minutes or so… 

So now that truck has a cheap float charger keeping it alive…

 

PP thoughts only… lamenting….

-a-

We have one on the car we leave at our place in CO. It only gets driven every 3 months or so when we fly in for skiing in the winter and hiking /etc the rest of the year.

[Mac80]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:51 PM, Fly Boomer said:

Haven't tested it, but mine says:

Includes Short circuit, spark, reverse polarity protection, thermal runaway protection, automatic D/C disconnect on A/C failure and quick-connect/disconnect fused alligator clip assembly.

Emphasis is mine.

Soneil - Canada Aero Pack 1 amp long term maintainer pulse desulphator aviation battery charger. 24 volt serial number FJ04128FB1. Made in China. Did not test it but believe it or the plug into side of fuselage created a drain when hangar power was cut off.

Case states danger high voltage inside case.

[Pinecone]

13 hours ago, Mac80 said:

Soneil - Canada Aero Pack 1 amp long term maintainer pulse desulphator aviation battery charger. 24 volt serial number FJ04128FB1. Made in China. Did not test it but believe it or the plug into side of fuselage created a drain when hangar power was cut off.

Case states danger high voltage inside case.

Different product, different specs.

Battery Minder (brand name) state they disconnect when no AC power.

Many products state they have "high voltage" where there is AC line power.  It is higher than the battery voltage, but not really high voltage.

[Pinecone]

15 hours ago, Mac80 said:

I am going to try to use trickle charger again and will use volt meter to see how it is doing after I see condition of battery with the larger charger on. I won’t be walking away leaving installed for long durations without checking on condition and have FBO helping search for a new sealed battery. Out parts man notices better duration from sealed batteries.

Do NOT leave a standard trickle charger on your battery for a long time.  It WILL damage the battery.

Battery Minder and Battery Tender (brand name) products are microprocessor controlled and control the voltage to properly charge and maintain the battery without damage.  My one car has been on one for many years without issues.

[Hank]

On 3/1/2023 at 6:01 PM, cliffy said:

There is some data (some data) that might support the postulation that batteries contained in the tail section of the airplane last longer than those in the engine compartment. Heat seems to be the issue

My C has the battery on the engine side of the firewall. My first Concord lasted seven years, the second one was just replaced at almost six and a half. Don't own a maintainer or trickle charger. But sad to see the new, higher battery prices . . . . .

[211º]

A little hard to see in this photo, but passing 6.5 years.

Having trouble starting now. Going to get a new battery. But also going to test the old battery then put it on a just-also-probably-prematurely-ordered battery minder with declassification.

I hope to (for science) do a test after it decalcifies.