Jim Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 I had the original Power Safe SBS-8 in my airplane for over 6 years before it started to show signs of being tired. I pro-actively replaced it with the recommended Odyssey PC310 in the fall and it's already performing worse than the old Power Safe. Anyone else had similar experiences? I've treated the Odyssey exactly as I treated the Power Safe in that I hook up an AGM trickle charger if the plane sits longer than a week. I also noted when I installed the Odyssey that it had no manufacture date or serial number on it, which the Power Safe does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 The Odyssey PC310 is the same battery as the Hawker SBS-8. 6 Years ago I did some research because FD didn't know what battery would be a replacement here in the US for the Hawker. I found out that this is the same company and that they are the same battery. One is for the European crowd and one for the US. They just have different names. One issue is where yo buy from. One CT owner here just bought one and it was already 2 years old. It might behoove all of us to actually talk to someone on the phone and state we want a current battery or they'll get it back instead of just ordering online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted March 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 No date on the battery. No serial number on the battery or box. I have no clue when it was made. The Power Safe battery is available in the US for about $20 more. That's what I'm replacing it with. It doesn't say Hawker anywhere on it. It does say Enersys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 Hawker / Odyssey is the parent company. My bet is Power Safe may be the US side. If you do an internet search they are listed together. Research the SBS-8 and then the PC-310. They are identical. If you type in Hawker / Odyssey for a search they come up together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted March 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 If one comes with a serial number and mfg date and the other doesn't they are not identical and they probably didn't come off the same production line. My opinion, based on years of manufacturing stuff. In any case, I had an excellent Power Safe battery and now I have a crappy Odyssey. I will be replacing it with a Power Safe battery and I'll be noting the mfg date and serial number in the aircraft log. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 They aren't made off the same line. Different plants I believe. The SBS is used mainly in Europe verses the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanik Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 I've finished all the electrical tweeks I wanted on my CTSW so I figured I would list them out. The only mechanical change I made was the Matcos and monster retread tires (much nicer). When I got my plane, the battery was always depleted, the blindingly bright voltage warning light would come on if I ran the landing light, there was substantial noise in my ANR headsets. It wasn't good. Much of these are described elsewhere in this forum so I'll summarize here and most of which can be seen in this picture: http://www.johnea.ne...rt/P1020211.JPG Add a diode to the feedback on the Ducati regulator. This pushed my charging voltage from 12.9V (much too low) to 13.7V. 13.9 would have been ideal but 13.7 is close enough. Roger looked at this on other birds and sometimes it is fine, sometimes it is ~1/2V low and some are like mine, very low. The ~13.4V systems would benefit from a Schottkey diode instead on the PIN diode (0.8V) that I used. Switch to LED landing/Taxi light. The AEON V5 Aurora bulbs were the best I could see online but they are still too wide at 30 deg, not well sealed and only 7W (450Lm). So I finally made my own 15deg MR16 bulb for 25W and ~2700Lm which makes it twice as bright as the halogen bulb it displaced Replace the Odyssey with a LiFeP battery. That saves me 4 lbs, has better cold cranking and capacity and should last 2-3x as long cycle life. $160 LFX18 series from Shorai. I made a new fiberglass battery box rather than hack the existing box as it did not fit exactly. Replace the way too little capacitor. Rotax calls for a 22mF, 25V cap minimum and bare minimum is a better description of it. The one FD uses is an HA series. the internal resistance is fairly high so it is only rated to 4.3Amps of ripple which would easily be exceeded if the battery went open circuit. With all the lights running, you would have 3x its rated ripple current and it would overheat and fail in short order. You would hear it too. They go off like little sticks of dynamite. Replaced with a 100mF monster. , http://capacitoredge...=ALS40A104KF025 16+ amps rated ripple and >2x the rated life. Size matters in caps. As you can see, this one is big. One nice side effect, all the noise is gone. I tried my new aveo lights jury rigged to a cig ligher plug and the LED switcher landing light and everything else on. Whisper quiet in the headsets. Aren't you E-LSA? you should seriously consider swapping out for a Li- battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted March 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 Aren't you E-LSA? you should seriously consider swapping out for a Li- battery No. Not yet, but it might come to that. As to the battery, all I want is another fresh one just like the one that came with the aircraft. 6 years of reliable life is fine. My regulator is already charging at 13.7 volts so that's not a problem. I like your capacitor fix and if I take it to experimental, I would completely redo the electrical system, including a pi filter for the power. Landing lights are already LED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baker Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 I think all of the PC310's I've seen had a manufacturer date on them. I know I had an old one in the scrap area that had the date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Lee Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 All the Odyssey's I have seen have had MFG dates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 All the Odyssey's I have seen have had MFG dates. in deed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Makes me wonder where mine came from. No sticker on the side. I know I didn't make a mistake because I looked all over it and then handed it to another person in the hanger asked him to find the date. He couldn't find it either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanik Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 No. Not yet, but it might come to that. As to the battery, all I want is another fresh one just like the one that came with the aircraft. 6 years of reliable life is fine. My regulator is already charging at 13.7 volts so that's not a problem. I like your capacitor fix and if I take it to experimental, I would completely redo the electrical system, including a pi filter for the power. Landing lights are already LED. The capacitor you could do now. It is only generically specified by Rotax and the replacement exceeds the Rotax spec. The battery, however, is specifically defined by FD to be either the hawker or Odyssey so for that you would need an LOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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