EarthX Battery Kaput?

[Weatherpilot]

I have an ETX-680. It has been sitting awhile during my extensive upgrades/condition Insp. I had disconnected the battery and removed while working on wiring and firewall stuff. Put it back in to find that it only has 6v on the meter. Was 13.8 last time I checked it. So with the BPM feature (battery protection mode) that EarthX batteries have - the battery will not charge unless you reset the BPM. To do this you either need a $180 charger or another 12v source. Reached out to EarthX. They sent me the procedure. Basically you hook up another battery or charge pack in parallel and connect the charger. This they say will reset the BPM and allow charging.

Not sure if anyone else had this problem so I thought to share it.

I'll let you know what happens. Really don't want to lay out another $379 for a new one.

[GordonTurner]

Hi Greg. Sorry to hear about this, hope it comes back to life. Curious if you don’t mind sharing roughly how long was it “on the shelf” and was it in a somewhat climate controlled place or was it just sitting in ambient conditions?

[Bryan Cotton]

Here is my EarthX eXperience:
I bought my first one from our local Explorer post, Youth Exploring Aviation. My younger son Matthew and I were involved for a year. We restored a 1946 Aeronca Chief. It had no electrical system but the rebuilt engine that went into it had a starter pad, so they added a starter and and EarthX battery so they didn't have to hand prop it. Later the IAs were not happy with the paper trail and they removed the EarthX, and it was offered to me at half price. I bought it, it sat around for a long time, and when I went to use it - kaput. I borrowed the right Optimate charger from a neighbor but it did not come back. I think between the poor usage, i.e. use it until it needed to be charged, then sitting must have killed it. So I dried my tears, bought a new battery and my own Optimate. Life was good.

We started having occasional battery warning indications - the little LED would flash. I have a remote LED in the cockpit next to the MFD. It always worked, and the warnings would go away after a while, but I didn't like it. From the manual it may have had a weak cell. So I bought #3 - and still had some flashing LED issues. Great. This led me down the rabbit hole of VRs. Relevant thread linked below, and the last post (currently) of that thread links another good VR thread.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7412

That story had a happy ending with my new John Deere VR. The battery warning indications went away. Battery #2 may be fine - still charges and I used it to run my CPAP machine during a winter camping trip last month.

Despite all this, hard to beat the EarthX in terms of performance and weight. I can't afford a lead acid battery.

If I was in your situation, I'd do the following:
1) Buy an optimate charger and see if you can save it.
2) If not, buy a new battery.
3) Charge the battery regularly. We put ours on charge after every flight, except when going XC.
4) Consider the John Deere VR. It charges at 14.6-14.7 and the EarthX is happy there.

[Weatherpilot]

Hi Greg. Sorry to hear about this, hope it comes back to life. Curious if you don’t mind sharing roughly how long was it “on the shelf” and was it in a somewhat climate controlled place or was it just sitting in ambient conditions?

Inside heated hangar for about 3 months - will let you know the outcome.

[Murray Parr]

I had a similar experience whilst still building. I had everything wired up including the keep alive wire for the MGL Explorer lite. Seems that was enough to drain the battery over a few months. The second time this happened, it wouldn't charge again. After liaising with Earthex, they concluded it was kaput and even though it was just out of warranty, they sent me a replacement. I now keep it on the Optimate charger all the time. I just don't think they like lack of use too much and would recommend keeping it on the charger.

[13brv3]

I've had 3 of these, and generally have good luck. I had one die between flights for no obvious reason. That was on a plane that had a Hirth 2-stroke. It had zero volts out, and they replaced it under warranty. I have one in the Onex that sees the Optimate charger maybe once a year. Just recently on my annual I connected it, but mostly because I installed lights and had spent a bunch of time playing with them. In less than 30 min it was in "maintain" so clearly no problems. The other is currently acting as a spare, and is on my engine stand. It's easily gone months without charging, but it also has nothing connected to it between uses. It does sound like they need a good quality charging system, so maybe that's the variable.

[Weatherpilot]

Update: it wasn't the battery.

Received a new EarthX battery. Installed. No joy.

$360 down Hope Spruce will take it back. I purchased the recommended charger that EarthX said was good. Recharged my original battery just fine. Installed the EarthX on my lawnmower and it started it just fine. Just doesn't do anything in the Sonex..

Removed the starter. Bench tested just fine. AP/IA said I have the wrong solenoid installed. He says it needs to be an intermittent solenoid. Installed is what I assume is the original solenoid that the builder put in. Not sure what model/part number it is.

Question: what solenoid should I use? Is there an automotive equivalent? Can anyone advise please?

Thank you all for your continued support and advice

Greg.

[Bryan Cotton]

Greg,
Which solenoid? There is the master contactor, and on my Aerovee starter there is an integrated intermittent solenoid to crank the engine. See figure 2.
https://www.kitplanes.com/aircraft-wiring-4/

The master contactor is continuous duty.

[Weatherpilot]

Which solenoid?

The starter solenoid. The intermittent one.

[Bryan Cotton]

Is it not part of the starter?