Battery Health

[donv]

I have been doing some flying a few different 690s, one of which sits for a month at a time between flights. Because it sits so long, I tend to do a series start the first start of the trip, and the batteries seem to recover very quickly. Is that a good or bad sign of battery health?

I vaguely recall that a healthy battery should take a long time to recover from a series start?

[donv]

And yes, I have told them they should get a battery charger.

[Bruce Byerly]

Don I don’t recommend series starts at any time anymore especially with weak batteries. If it’s super cold maybe, or on a mountain top in the summer with “cold” oil?

Chargers are a good.  Use TQ limiter to trim fuel if necessary.  If it won’t start in parallel, something is wrong.

If the batteries recover real quick they are either new or, more likely, old and won’t take a charge like they used to.

If they are over 2 years old they should probably be replaced anyway. I know someone will say they get 8 years out of batteries.  Same guys call when stuck on mountaintop with a hot start and/or with 46 electrical gremlins that they can’t figure out.  Just my observation. 

[donv]

Thanks. With a charger, you can get a surprising number of years out of batteries (versus about 18 months - 2 years without).

Not doing series makes sense, though. I have always felt if you had to use the torque limiter to reduce the fuel on start, something is wrong... I know lots of people who do it, but I never have.

[Adam Frisch]

I switched to Concord in mine and added Battery Minders. Will see how long they last. The old Gill's didn't last long, but that might have been from not flying much.

[donv]

The 690A started just fine in parallel. I asked the mechanic about it before flying it, and he said the batteries just passed a cap check, nothing to worry about.