What jump start pack should I buy? I have an O320 in my experimental supercub with an odyssey pc680 battery. Looking for small and light. Has anyone had good / bad experiences with the earth x ?
Thanks
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Very good experience with the Earth X. Just coming up on 3 years with it.
With the 4 cells rather than 3 in other brands it provides a higher voltage such that it needs less amperage. Nice thing about the higher voltage is most jump packs call for you to get it disconnected within 30 seconds so the inrush from the alternator does not damage them. The EarthX uses a 15 volt charger and the alternator does not impose a risk after start.
My Kubota tractor was always very hard to start in cold weather, just below freezing was a no go with a huge lead acid battery. I now have removed all the huge battery cables and just have a pair of 10Ga wires that the Jump pack plugs into. I can now start this old tractor down below 20°f with a 1lb battery.
My lawn tractor also no longer gets a new battery every year, it has a jump plug built into it and I just plug in the pack.
To me I am totally satisfied with the EarthX It does have a 400A fuse in the positive cable that I have popped a few times. Not a bad idea to have a spare cable set. I now solder in a new fuse to restore the popped cable.
to me, $130ish for a battery that can fit in a pocket and will start most anything, I am now a believer.
Heck, I question if my plane will even need it's own battery. With a low output alternator and low power draw when flying this may be all that is needed.
XP1 Micro Start works well. Also has lots of adapters to recharge your phone, sat phone, Ipod, etc. If you need a 24 volt jump pack, look for one called a Goliath.
Web
Life's tough . . . wear a cup.
Thanks charlieN. Any risk of damage to my 8 amp B&C alternator?
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Thanks all. Just noticed earth x has their jump pack on sale on their web site for $100.
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No, no risk.Originally Posted by cub yellow
What the issue is with high power batteries this small is the inrush of a 60+Amp alternator will smoke the tiny cells in these packs, especially the ones utilizing 3 high output cells. The Earth X has a better tolerance to this. The solid magnet 8A alternator you have, as long as it is regulated well should be no issue to these batteries.
You do want a modern gear reduction starter on your plane, they draw in the 80-100ish amp range where the old big iron starters could need 250-300A to spin them.
My experience over the past decade around race cars with Anti Gravity and Ballistic batteries is a stupid high failure rate, as in I have seen one battery not fail. These batteries did not have discharge limiters nor good cell balancing. The Anti Gravity Micro start batteries have failures due to these issues.
I have seen failures on more than one day old battery.
The motorcycle guys I know are experiencing a high failure rate in the Micro Start with cell failures.
A scare I had just a few weeks ago, I went out to my old 1972 Kubota, plugged in my Earth X, this old tractor need to run the glow plugs for quite some time compared to new diesels. When I motorized the starter I just got a clunk, second try not even a clunk. The jump pack was more than just warm.
Went inside and plugged it into the charger, didn't even get one light on for quite some time. A few hours later, it is back to life as if I didn't try to F it up by running it all the way down.
What I have learned tha past few years with this technology change, buy devices that utilize LiFePo4 cells which is what EarthX uses. They are less powerful per cell than other batteries especially those with the unstable LiCoO2 cells that had a bad ride in the news with the 787 and some flaming cell phones.
Wow, that is a great price.
It is well worth buying right from them since you can an just might smoke a fuse or two in the cables. They will send you a new one NC.
JeffP thanked for this post
Thanks again all. I just ordered from earth x for $99..00
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Convinced me, too. I'd been meaning to get one for the past year.
Vic
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I hard wired the earthx jumper kit to my battary and strapped the plug under my panel, nice to have a portable APU. I have a split master so i can leave the alt off during the start and turn it on once the booster's been unplugged.
CharlieN liked this post
These jump packs utilize an EC5 battery connector, common from what I see in radio control cars and planes. You can by these connectors with 10Ga leads to make simple safe connections into whatever you want to use this power source. Lawnmowers, ATV, Cars Boats and planes as mentioned above.
As I stated earlier, I start my 47YO Kubota Diesel with a one pound battery rather than the 65# lump it calls for.
On many Non electric aircraft, you could install a starter only. Run the leads back to where you have the EC5 connector. Carry your battery with you, plug it in, start up and fly away. No master, no other electrics, no generator, nothing. No worrying about where to mount a 27# lead acid lump in the plane, you just have a one pound battery that you carry in your pocket or flight bag.
if you utilize a hand held radio you can bring its battery back up too.
Keep in mind though, most Tablets and many radios have bigger batteries than the jump pack such that you will run the pack flat trying to recharge them.
Last edited by CharlieN; 11-27-2019 at 05:49 AM.
Charlie, get a Diehard from Sears. I have one in my Kubota that is 25+ years old, sits for weeks at a time....hasn't let me down yet. Have a Diehard in the 185 as well.
N1PA
Many decades back I had a JC Penny labeled battery that lasted a verry long time, I think they were a Johnson batterywhich I think is who makes the Sears batteries. Sears pulled out of the region here a few years ago, Interstate is best we can get now. Wallmart is the only big store left and when My wife and I brought the B-17 tour here the pilots could not find the Walmart from the air since it is the size of a hardware store in the rest of the country.Charlie, get a Diehard from Sears. I have one in my Kubota that is 25+ years old, sits for weeks at a time....hasn't let me down yet. Have a Diehard in the 185 as well.
I do say this jump pack impresses me, it my third one and the first that is worth having. My previous two would not start a car that did not have a battery in it, I am talking about small 4 and 6 cylinder cars with reduction drive starters that need less than 100A cold. Heck one of them would not start my lawn tractor even with a fresh charge.
Earth X is fast shipping. I ordered the jump pack special Tuesday of this week and it shows up this morning after Thanksgiving. Cute little thing.
While your dealing with EArthX, replace your boat anchor of a battery, the Oddysey ( I've had 2, good but HEAVY, with one of their's, you'll knock off a good ten pounds, more if you move it forward and get rid of some primary cabling. I didn't realize they made jump packs when I got mine, but if it's as good as the big batteries they offer I can't see how you could go wrong.
The proper BMS/ battery management system ( built in the battery) combined with high quality cells and the correct charge rate is crucial with these newer batteries. Done right they are fantastic, wrong, not so much. This I have learned from my 3 ebikes, which have been nothing but great.
Last edited by courierguy; 11-29-2019 at 03:18 PM.
Yeah, the odyssey is a bit heavy, at some point I need to do something about that. I'm not yet completely comfortable putting a lithium battery under my seat.
Brad
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Just this week, I got a number of field approvals for my PA-16, Sutton exhaust to make room, and EarthX battery on the firewall chief among them. It will likely be a year or so before I have it done, but getting the paperwork for the alterations first is always a good idea!
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EarthX airplane batteries come with an on-board trouble LED and an output lead for a remote trouble LED, which they also sell. My first ETX900 flashed a code. I landed, called EarthX, and they sent me a new battery via express. It was sick but not dangerous. If you have a modern crowbar charge circuit you should be plenty safe.
Re: Jump packs. I have a couple and use them often. They're great except for an engine that requires lots of time cranking. Jump packs spin a typical engine easily but do it in short spurts. Even then the duration time is limited. No surprise given the size. When you do exhaust the charge you're out of luck for a while. They don't recharge rapidly.
Last edited by stewartb; 11-29-2019 at 05:28 PM.
Why?
Web
Life's tough . . . wear a cup.
Knew that was coming. I Just like the simplicity of a sealed odyssey battery. I think there were a few early generation lithium batteries that had meltdowns. That has I'm sure been worked outby now.
Cost is also an issue.
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Not many problems with the EarthX. The only smoking battery that I know about, up here, happened immediately after installation. My money says that was due to man made issues. As to simplicity, the EarthX can be installed in more positions than the Odyssey. The biggest, issue in installing one is making sure that the battery model you chose will absorb the power output of the alternator. I.e., a tiny battery connected to a 70 amp alternator will not end well.
What's the calculation for reducing weight in an aircraft? $600 a pound?
Web
Life's tough . . . wear a cup.
Yes, weight reduction can be expensive. Agreed the battery is a fairly easy reduction of a substantial amount.
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Pretty sure those other batteries were an entirely different chemistry.
I really like/liked (past tense) the Odyssey batteries, I've had two, both lasted about 10 years.
My last one, after being replaced by the EarthX, was used in my ATV for a couple years. Then in it's final use, operating this timed shutter over the dog door in my shop. I used a spare linear actuator from my Datum skis, a bathroom fan timer, so I could leave in the morning with the dog (new at the time) kept in the shop, but then an hour later the shutter would open and he'd be free to run around the place all day, all without suffering separation anxiety while watching me drive off.
After a month of this, each time saying STAY as I activated the shutter prior to going to work, I left it open while giving the stay command, and drove off, with an eye on my rear view mirror. He didn't follow me, the training system worked perfect, and hasn't been used since. The battery is still on the shelf, and I use it for bench testing various 12 volt stuff, they are excellent batteries for sure, just heavy , compared to the new stuff.
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