DA40 replacement battery

Any DA40 related topics

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jwx96
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by jwx96 »

I have the Concord RG24-15M in my 2003 DA40-180. I plug in the BatteryMinder if I won’t be flying for a week or more. It’s 5 years old. I’ll see how it tests at the annual this year, but probably won’t go more than 6 years before replacing it.
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by dant »

I'm not super familiar with the regulatory path but has anyone tried getting field approval for one of the lithium batteries? 22# of useful load!
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Steve
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by Steve »

dant wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 9:46 pm I'm not super familiar with the regulatory path but has anyone tried getting field approval for one of the lithium batteries? 22# of useful load!
Not that I am aware of, but most of the newer DA40s need that weight up front to help with aft CGs.
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Rich
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by Rich »

Steve wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 11:00 pm
dant wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 9:46 pm I'm not super familiar with the regulatory path but has anyone tried getting field approval for one of the lithium batteries? 22# of useful load!
Not that I am aware of, but most of the newer DA40s need that weight up front to help with aft CGs.
EarthX has STCs for certain aircraft and apparently 337's can be used. Example:
https://earthxbatteries.com/product/ETX ... model=182Q

I have had an EarthX battery in my Motorcycle for like 9 years. EarthX has onboard electronics to manage the peculiarities of keeping all the cells evenly charged. The only downside in my experience is that cold starting (below 30 degF) is kind of weak.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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dant
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by dant »

Yeah, EarthX was what I was looking at. Curious if anyone had gone through the 337 path. Probably pretty tough for the 50g tank da40s with the CG issue but those of us with 40g it would allow for a bit more flexibility in putting 3 american adults in the plane, or 4 europeans.
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by Rich »

Among other things I created an Excel Spreadsheet that allows me to easily model addition, removal, or replacement of arbitrary components in the plane. The CG change for this EarthX is beneficial to our earlier DA40s with rather forward CGs and the NG, which also has this characteristic. How much movement would vary with the existing weight of the plane. In my case it'd result in a really low empty weight of 1675 lb. and moves the CG aft by 0.7". This allows two ample size (220 lb.) folks in the front seats. For a 2030 lb. NG, I calculate it'd move it about 5.4", for a 1820 lb. XLS/T about 6.7". These calculations all assume a starting point of the RG24-15M battery.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Rich
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Re: DA40 replacement battery

Post by Rich »

Oops. The 600 is a 12V battery. Mostly we'd need this one:

https://earthxbatteries.com/product/etx680-24-tso/
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