Which battery?

[Wildhorsesracing]

Just replaced a Gill in my plane with a Concorde - the Gill was installed in 2009 and wouldn't hold a charge. Don't know anything about the Concorde since I have only used it for a month.

Has anyone tried a solar panel to keep their battery charged?

[Ned Gravel]

Changed to the Concorde sealed battery in the second year of ownership of C-FSWR. Never had a reason to look back. Great battery compared to the Gill (went through three before changing). The current one is in its fifth year on the aircraft.

[AmigOne]

I'll join the majority since I dumped Gill batteries years ago. Concorde is the way to go.

[M016576]

My last gill battery died after only 2 years. Junk, 2 cells completely out. I'm a Concorde fan now...,

[triple8s]

Well..........I bought a G-35 in 2007 when bought the C Model, and it died this past spring, however, every year like clock work and I even pull the battery once between annuals to clean the battery box. I have had good luck with the Gill in everyway except puking acid out all in the box that they seem to do so regularly. I will try a Concorde next go round.

[Hank]

My Concord is 2 years old, and it spins the prop fast enough to taxi with. Maybe after my carburetor overhaul, it will crank instead.

[The-sky-captain]

Going on 4 years with a Concorde and no issues yet. Before that was a fairly new Gill that crapped out...

FWIW my mechanic said he had a lot of issues with Gill in dealing with them on warranty issues.

[Steve65E-NC]

I am fed up with Gills. However, it gives me pause that I must buy a $180 battery specific charger from Battery Minder to maintain either of the gel Concordes. What are other doing? Are you buying the specialized charger when you change over??

[Hank]

My 2-year-old Concorde has also never been charged [except by the alternator in flight]. No problems, she sure does spin fast when I turn-and-push.

[carusoam]

I bought the charger from Gill for a Gill battery. Price is similar to a battery...

-a-

[drapo]

Had my Concorde for 2 years now and it's still going strong. Parked outside all winter, never used a charger and never had any problem starting even in below zero wheather around Montréal, QC. BTW, I also made the change to a PlanePower alternator and a Skytec starter, a good move!

[Fly Boomer]

If I'm counting correctly, four different posters have mentioned the Concorde RG-35RXC.  Zero references to this number on the Concorde web site.  Is it the RG-35AXC?  Four identical typos?

[Marauder]

If I'm counting correctly, four different posters have mentioned the Concorde RG-35RXC.  Zero references to this number on the Concorde web site.  Is it the RG-35AXC?  Four identical typos?

Yep. Should be the AXC. My first one lasted 13 years. Didn’t die but succumbed to an over torque at an avionics shop.


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[Fly Boomer]

That's nothing short of amazing in the world of airplanes.  I was also shopping for a maintainer.  Any suggestions?  Also, any suggestions for a good price on the RG-35AXC?

[jaylw314]

11 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

 

Yep. Should be the AXC. My first one lasted 13 years. Didn’t die but succumbed to an over torque at an avionics shop.


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One can hope.  mine came with the plane and IIRC was installed about 8 years ago, so I'm hoping I've got 5 years left.  I know it's got plenty of capacity left given how much cranking I had to do with a bad mag last year...

I have a cheapo battery charger I got from Wal-Mart, but I never use it--I just try to fly at least every one or two weeks.  As long as the charger is reasonable quality and handles AGM batteries, you should be ok, but a lot of people go for the "official" Battery Minder charger for aviation if they want a charger they can leave on for weeks at a time...

[Ned Gravel]

1 hour ago, Fly Boomer said:

That's nothing short of amazing in the world of airplanes.  I was also shopping for a maintainer.  Any suggestions?  Also, any suggestions for a good price on the RG-35AXC?

In order to provide you with our experience regarding maintainers, we are going to have to know where you live (or which airport you call home for your plane).  Not wishing to pry, but I am not certain you will want to fly six hours to get to your maintenance shop.

Just sayin'

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Fly Boomer said:

That's nothing short of amazing in the world of airplanes.  I was also shopping for a maintainer.  Any suggestions?  Also, any suggestions for a good price on the RG-35AXC?

I’ll sell you an RG35AXC for $1,000.00 plus shipping, it would be a really good price for me!

Clarence

[Fly Boomer]

Guess I should have defined "good" a little better.  I did see one on eBay for a little over $700 (plus shipping).  Everyone knows that eBay prices are always "good", right?

[jaylw314]

1 hour ago, Fly Boomer said:

Guess I should have defined "good" a little better.  I did see one on eBay for a little over $700 (plus shipping).  Everyone knows that eBay prices are always "good", right?

??  It's $319 at Aircraft Spruce

[Jerry 5TJ]

I talked to a vendor of certified Li-ion aircraft batteries at AirVenture last week.  That company is building batteries with what I call a true battery management system  monitoring each cell, with under and over voltage protection, thermal management and full current limiting.  

I was looking for an upgrade to the RG46 battery.  It’s not available yet.   If and when it comes out the battery life should be thousands of cycles, not hundreds as with our lead acid batteries.  The battery weighs less and has more capacity in the same volume.  

Only big negative is the price.  Think multiple AMU for a RG35 style replacement.  

For a turboprop where every % rpm faster cranking means cooler starting it is worthwhile.  Their Cessna Caravan Li-ion Battery replacement is around $15,000.  

For a piston the 19th century lead acid battery is still the economical choice.  

Lacking any real alternative I just bought two new Concorde lead acid bricks this summer.  I have them connected to so-called smart chargers when in the hangar.  The last pair survived 4 years. 

[Fly Boomer]

A quick search reveals:

Spruce              319.00    including shipping
Chief               318.00    including shipping
Sky Geek            351.25
Univair             317.75
BatteryOut          319.95
Aircraft Supply     349.80
Wag-Aero            316.20
145.aero            328.49    including shipping
 

There are a few outliers but, in general, the open market is at work.

[Fly Boomer]

Also, it appears that the Concorde RG-35A XC likes the BatteryMINDer 128CEC1-AA-S5.

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

I talked to a vendor of certified Li-ion aircraft batteries at AirVenture last week.  That company is building batteries with what I call a true battery management system  monitoring each cell, with under and over voltage protection, thermal management and full current limiting.  

I was looking for an upgrade to the RG46 battery.  It’s not available yet.   If and when it comes out the battery life should be thousands of cycles, not hundreds as with our lead acid batteries.  The battery weighs less and has more capacity in the same volume.  

Only big negative is the price.  Think multiple AMU for a RG35 style replacement.  

For a turboprop where every % rpm faster cranking means cooler starting it is worthwhile.  Their Cessna Caravan Li-ion Battery replacement is around $15,000.  

For a piston the 19th century lead acid battery is still the economical choice.  

Lacking any real alternative I just bought two new Concorde lead acid bricks this summer.  I have them connected to so-called smart chargers when in the hangar.  The last pair survived 4 years. 

My first Concorde RG35AXE lasted 6-1/2 years; I'm two years into it's replacement. I do not own and have never used a "smart charger," only the dumb walmart one when I let it get low a time or two . . . . Sure beats a new wet cell every 2 years or less, and little danger to the stupidly-expensive battery box hanging on my firewall.

[LANCECASPER]

28 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Also, it appears that the Concorde RG-35A XC likes the BatteryMINDer 128CEC1-AA-S5.

I can order it with my Aircraft Spruce discount if you want.  Not much of a discount on the battery but a little more on the Battery Minder. Free shipping.

 

 

[cujet]

As DOM of a corporate flight department, I purchase quite a few Concorde batteries. I see a lot of love for them here, and I want to set the record straight, they are good, but not great. 

The first thing is that any lead acid battery degrades. Concorde batteries are no exception. When new, they more than meet their AH rating. A 44AH battery will test at over 50++AH on either the 10 or 20 hour test. However, as time passes, they lose capacity and eventually at the 3 year mark, (here in Florida) they won't pass a properly performed capacity check, not even close. Recently replaced a pair of 3 year Concorde old batts in our Pilatus PC12/47, #1 tested at 30%, #2 at 60%, starting performance was still excellent. Since lead acid batteries tend to last longer in cooler weather, it's possible that a cooler location may allow it to pass a 3 year cap check to 80% or about 35AH. That's a good bit off the 52AH (real world) new capacity though (remember the 44AH rating? ) . I strongly suspect that those of you using very old Concorde batteries are using batteries that are far from rated capacity, not to mention new capacity. 

I spoke with Concorde and they admit the maximum life is 4 years in ideal conditions. That means passing the 3 year cap check might be possible and failing the 4th year. But remember that the way Concorde does it is by "sandbagging" the specs. The degradation still happens on schedule. 

The capacity is required to run avionics and put the gear down after the charging system fails. The capacity has little to do with starting.  

 

Edit: Also, I get 2 years from the single Concorde's in hard use. At which point, they are toast and starting suffers. 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by cujet