Overview
With weight an issue it was decided to look at one of the heaviest accessories on the firewall with the typical battery weighing about 5 kg [11 lbs]
A Odyssey 625 battery for a Rotax weighs in at 6 kg [13.5 lbs] offering 200 CCA and18A hrs capacity.
After checking various recommendations for batteries it was decided to install a Lithiumax Red Top Ultralight battery offering a installed weight of 500 grams [1 lbs] using the more stable LiFePo4 Lithium architecture which according to reports have none of the tendency of the earlier Lipo batteries to burst into flames.
A load analysis showed that the 15AH would be marginal in a emergency with a failed alternator so it was decided to double up.
Installation
The battery mounts were fabricated from 0.020'' 304 stainless with the usual lighting holes punched through the structure, assembled using 1/8'' stainless pop rivets and fixed to the firewall with the same.
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| Dual batteries and isolator Note: Retainer straps are yet to be installed and will be fabricated using 0.015'' stainless steel but these will have to cut at the local sheet metal shop to obtain a neat edge Total weight 1.0 kg / 30 Ah / 220 CCA |
While I trust all these reports on the new batteries if anything was to go wrong it's a spectator sport for the suppliers so it was decided to install a battery isolator to allowing the battery to be removed from the aircraft load in an emergency.
The isolator switch body was modified to allow flush installation onto the firewall and then connected to the cable with the actuation ring fitted at the outer edge of the lower panel.
A red/green led will be installed above the ring to indicate the switch position using the integrated contacts seen at the rear of the switch body when wiring is underway.
I doubt it will be required but just in case.
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| Red ring is the switch actuator |
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| Revolution RaceGear remote isolator |
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