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My Experience with EarthX Batteries
I posted the following on the Purple Board but thought I would also post here for those that may not follow that forum. This is just my personal experience and not an attempt to bash EarthX. Overall, they are a good company that continues to support home builders.
I finished building my Zenith CH601 XLB eight years ago. I chose EarthX for my plane due to weight. I have a heavy engine (Lyc. O-235-C1) and wanted to do everything possible to reduce weight. Since my first flight in 2016 I have gone thru four or five EarthX ETX 680 batteries in 600 hours of flying.
Note that I have an electrically dependent engine and so my comments are geared towards this condition. I need an electrical power or the fan stops.
Initially, I really liked the battery and the fact that it had "self-monitoring" capability. After living with these batteries I have taken on a new perspective.
First off, most of the replacement batteries have been because I left something on in the plane and ran it down. And this was the first misunderstanding I had about these batteries.
I was under the mistaken impression that they would shut themselves down before they permanently damaged themselves. Not the case. If you leave a switch on, the chance of being able to fully restore the battery is non-existent in my experience.
You may be able to get it to take a charge, but the reliability of the battery afterward is suspect. In my case I could charge them and they would appear normal (no indication from the monitoring light). However, they would lose charge consistently afterward. If the plane sat for a week, the battery would need to be charged again before it would start the engine.
This abnormality was not indicated by the battery monitoring system (BMS). And I soon realized this was a concern.
The monitoring system only monitors certain abnormalities, but not all. This realization left me wondering what other abnormalities didn't the BMS system identify? My comfort with flying with this battery began to diminish when I understood this fact.
The other aspect of the EarthX BMS is the various indications it provides. They are - Slow Flashing, Short Flashing, and Solid. For Slow and Short Flashing you need additional data to assess the criticality of the situation. These include voltmeter and/or over-charging warnings. Depending on these indications you need to assess the criticality of the condition based on the systems in your aircraft - and distance from a suitable airport or off-field landing site.
In my case I have a both and Primary Bus and an Endurance (emergency) Bus electrical system. (I also have an everything has failed system for double redundancy but I'm ignoring that for this conversation) When assessing the EarthX battery warning light signals you need to take into account your specific electrical system to determine the seriousness of the abnormality.
Yes, of course, the solution to all electrical problems is to land right away and trouble shoot on the ground. In the real world however, landing right away is frequently not an option (terrain, urban landscape, IMC, whatever). In this case, you need a clear understanding of whether your electrical system is about to die completely.
This is where my confidence in EarthX really diminishes. The warning light system is too generic and open to interpretation. Even when I read their literature and try to apply it to my system it is not straightforward. The heart of the problem is the perception that the EarthX BMS is actually monitoring the battery. It is, kind of. For certain conditions.
In my mind this uncertainty might be acceptable in an automobile, but it's not good enough for an aircraft. After eight years I no longer completely trust EarthX batteries.
If your aircraft is not electrically dependent, then there is less of an issue. However, there will still be the uncertainty of a BMS light indication and how it may affect the flight.
In my mind, a Battery Monitoring System should be able to fully monitor all battery conditions, but this is clearly not the case with EarthX. To be fair, no other battery manufacturer does this either. I just feel there is a subtle, but important, misrepresentation by EarthX about their "Battery Monitoring System".
I do need to add that EarhtX has been great to deal with. Kathy is very knowledgeable and responsive. I appreciate EarthX's commitment to GA. I look forward to the day when a BMS is able to fully monitor batteries in all conditions so that pilots can fly with confidence.
If I had the motivation and physical ability, I would probably dump the EarthX for a more traditional battery. They are known quantities with generally predictable failure modes. However, this would mean major changes to my aircraft that I have no desire to get into.
If my alternator fails, and the EarthX takes a total dump in flight, I have another battery backup system (TCW) that powers a fuel pump to keep my flying for some time.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jim and Amelia Isaacs on
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My personal experience with the EarthX 680 has been good. Bought it in early 2019 and still flying with the same battery. Left the battery switch on overnight twice in these past five years and both times it went to sleep to prevent permanent damage. Put a LifePo recharger on it both times and it awoke with a full charge within a few hours both times. No problems with it since. If I may, what I infer from your post is more about your concern with the electrically-dependent design of your engine. Maybe you could contact Ron Wanttaja and ask him if he has any data on inflight engine failures due to electrical failures. My guess is they are rare. Perhaps, armed with data, you might feel more at ease about the choice you made in your power plant and its electrical requirements.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Carter on
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Installed EXT 680C 10-1917. No problems so far. Ran down once in error. Charged with standard charger, came back to normal voltage. Been a while but seem to remember the onboard charging system had requirements. Have O-235 with Plane Power alternator. Leave strobe switch "on". Harder to walk away with master "on".
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Permalink Reply by John Austin on
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Same here - hate to pile on but I have run the same EarthX battery for years with zero issues - however, have never left the master on and flattened the battery, either! LOL! I have a red strobe beacon wired to the master so it would be hard to walk off and leave the master on. But I do agree the battery fault light is a little mysterious as to what the various blink rates mean. On the bright side, my Jabiru 3300 is not electrically dependent, so a battery failure would be a non-event since I'm a day-VFR flier and I can run iFly GPS on my phone as a backup.
John
N750A.
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Permalink Reply by christopher fryatt on
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no issues here, using the external vented model. I have total electric dependent fuel system. Monitor voltage and amps with Dynon d120 ems . Replaced once after failing start-up electrical system check
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Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on
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The responses here seem to track what others have said over on he Vans Air Force forum. There are a lot of those flying with EarthX.
I wasn't trying to bash the company, just point out my experience and concerns when you have an electrically dependant engine. For me there is this uncertainty over what the BMS system is doing, or not doing, after a battery drain down. There would not be this same uncertainty with a "stupid" lead acid battery.
I do leave my strobe lights on all the time but in the latest case I accidentally bumped the Endurance Bus Master switch when getting out of the plane. The strobes are not wired to the endurance bus....
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Permalink Reply by Kathy Nicoson on
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Hi Gary,
I know we have talked on the phone and emailed several times over the past 8 years, and I am sorry I have not been able to communicate your need for more understanding about the LED fault light indicator and the protections the BMS provides which has left you disheartened with your battery.
We do provide a dedicated technical support team for our customers via phone or email, extensive documentation and manuals, videos, fact sheets, FAQ’s etc. We understand that new technology has a learning curve, and we do try to provide information in many different ways.
You state the BMS only monitors certain abnormalities, but not all. May I ask what additional abnormalities do you seek?
We do monitor for low or high state of charge, we monitor for cell-to-cell imbalance, we monitor for heat (which shortens the life of any battery), we monitor for cell defects, we monitor for short circuit, and we monitor for BMS fault conditions on the board itself (which had redundancy built in, so this is not a single point of failure).
The LED fault light, located on the battery itself, or by a remote LED on your panel, or connected to your EFIS, is an indicator that something is outside of normal with either your battery or your charging system, which is detected by the BMS. A lead acid battery or “traditional” battery can certainly have something outside of normal too but there is no way to alert you to this in the cockpit. This does not make it more reliable; it just means you don’t know about it.
The EarthX fault indication alert is an advancement in battery technology to be able to give you forewarning and mitigate a problem before it is an issue.
It is rare to receive a fault light indication, but if you do, there are 3 light patterns or codes that can happen. Different scenarios can cause the fault light indicator to activate so it does require the pilot to use additional data to understand why it is providing a code. We do offer a placard you can place next to the LED light on your panel (or your EFIS if you connect it this way), that provides explanations of the codes. Indicator Placard - EarthX Batteries We also offer a quick reference guide that is postcard sized that comes with the battery or you can print it off if you lose it found under our RESOURCES tab. 220707-LED-Indicator-Quick-Reference.pdf. The manual also has much more detailed information on what the LED indication means here: ETX_Manual_111017_AC.pdf (pages 5-6).
The most common fault light indication pilots receive is when they forgot to turn their alternator on (you would be surprised how many pilots do this…:0)) and the 5 second on/off alert comes on when the battery is 70% drained. Having a flashing light on your panel should catch your attention and then you need to access why it might be on. In this scenario, simply turning on the alternator solves the issue and once the battery is charged up again, the light goes off. Another scenario is your alternator has failed, and you would receive the same alert from the battery. (In an electronically dependent engine, the battery indicator should NOT be your first alert that your alternator failed, or you do not have your alternator on).
As always Gary, please feel free to reach out to us with your specific concerns on your aircraft as in the homebuilt world, no 2 planes are the same.
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