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Battery capacity
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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:34 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi,

The Europa build manual states that for the Rotax engine, a battery of
16 Ah is recommended.

I have been thinking about this, and would like to share my thoughts.

1) For cranking power, the battery Amp-hours is a vague indicator, but
nothing more than that. A battery of 5 Ah could well be able to deliver
more amp's for starting than a certain 16 Ah battery. The Amp hours tell
you something about the total energy conserved in the battery, nothing
more. Just like the amount of fuel in your tank doesn't say much about
the power of the engine (but one could state that a small tank is
somewhat indicative of a small engine). If the battery has enough Amps
to crank the engine, the amount of Amp hours indicates how long and how
often one can run the starter before the engine starts.
2) The battery capacity usually allows for "starting problems", i.e. to
flood your engine, crank it dry, try again, etc, switch it off again at
the fuel station, start again after refueling with the same problems, do
some trouble shooting, etc.
3) In a usual setup the function of the battery is twofold: Producing
power to start the engine, and providing emergency power when the
alternator fails. In a dual alternator setup however, the second
function of the battery is not necessary. (OK, during an engine failure
when both alternators stop, the battery still has to provide power, but
this situation usually doesn't last for very long and even a small
battery is sufficient to issue a mayday call, to deploy the flaps, and
play your favorite song on the panel mounted CD player.).
4) With a 16 Ah battery, one should assume that it is possible to start
the engine with the last few Amp-hours left (the capacity is there to be
used, otherwise one could do with a smaller battery anyway), so it is
feasable one starts the trip with an almost depleted battery. The
alternator is then supposed to recharge the battery during the trip.
Now, we all know about the fabulous power output of the Rotax
alternator. To top off a 16 Ah battery, you need to charge the battery
for 1 hour with 16 Amp's. Or for 2 hours with 8 Amp's (100% efficiency
unrealistically assumed). But the Rotax alternator has just enough power
to keep the avionics powered in a typical setup, with only very few
Amp's to spare to charge the battery. With other words, a 16 Ah battery
will probably never get properly charged again once it's capacity has
been put to use (unless using a mains connected charger on the ground).

I have a setup with dual alternators, and dual batteries. Idea behind
this is to be able to fully deplete one battery during glider activities
(future MG), while still keeping a not used battery for restarting at
hand. And of course to have full redundancy, with a fuel pump on each
bus, a navigational instrument on each bus, etc, and to be able to keep
flying even after a total failure of one bus.

Why am I telling all this:
The battery capacity.
I plan to use one 5 Ah battery on each bus, nothing more... These babies
are able to produce 250 Amp's momentarily each, while the Rotax starter
needs 60 Amp's to crank the engine.
I plan to start on just one bus (so just one battery), and one battery
should be sufficient to start and even allow for a few failed attempts.
And then if all fails, there is yet another battery.
When an alternator fails during flight, I always have another alternator
to power the essentials and keep the airplane flying as long as the fuel
allows. The "dead" bus still has a small battery to power a secondary
fuel pump for about one hour, in case there are multiple failures.

The advantage of this minimalistic battery setup is of course the
weight: a total of just under 4 kilo's, (8.8 lbs), for both batteries
together. As a typical 16Ah battery weighs in at more than the double
amount, so this setup more than compensates for the weight of the
secondary alternator.

For less weight, more juice during flight, more redundancy, etc.
It just sounds to good to be true. Hence my suspicion:

Any comments on my reasoning?
Is my assumption that the Rotax usually starts within 10 seconds acceptable?
Has any of you ever depleted a 16 Ah battery during starting?
If so, how many start attempts did you get out of this 16 Ah battery?
And did you get this 16 Ah battery recharged again with just the Rotax
alternator?

Has anyone else experience with a "minimalistic battery setup"?

--
Frans Veldman


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:03 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Frans
I just completed battery selection and install on 914 XS mono with both sets of wings.I contenplated various configurations, included was using only 1 Odyssey PC310 or Ultrastart Red with my suplimental 2.2 amp battery, or one of each 310 and Ultrastart.I am am electric model aeroplane guy and am not unfamiliar with pushing battery capacity to limits.A few comments:****I talked to the guy markets the Ultrastart and the 13. The 13 is just a PC545 with another nametag. Folk who sell them (13) have details that are different than PC545, what else is new, a sales brochure that is less than accurate. I went with a PC545 with no metal jacket and a 2.2 amp supplimental with ability to use any size battery I want by plugging into Sermos (Anderson Power Pole) connectors. Good chance I will make model packs at precise voltage I need for Europa!****You are quoting sales brochure numbers that sound good. "I plan to use one 5 Ah battery on each bus, nothing more... These babies > are able to produce 250 Amp's momentarily each"My question is at what voltage? Also another question is what is service life using this battery at a 50 plus amp draw for starting? Will such abuse cause a internal open failure? Is it worth the added complexity to parallel for starting? If your motor doesn't start in 5 seconds, what will the voltage be next attempt?****Are you happy using the very small terminals on Red? http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/atphighpwr.phpOr small terminals on PC310? (better than the Ultrastart)http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc310.htmIf you were to use 2 batteries I would devise a plan to use both for starting. A sales brochure may say 5 amps, but I can almost with a shadow of doubt state that on a colder day asking starting amp draw you are not going to get anywhere near 5 amp capacity! Ask your one remaining untouched battery after soaring to start up a now cold engine (with cold oil) when it is cold and you may be surprised to find that it will not crank as fast as you would like (low voltage).I can spout that my 2.2 amp hour battery can dump over 150 amps for short times (which it can) but only for a limited number of times, at a much reduced voltage and much reduced capacity. It is very happy to dump dump 5C though many many times.Bill Dube used to subscribe to Aeroelectric and races a 0 to 60 in under 1 second electric motorcycle. He uses A123 cells and loves them. He was offering a A123 pack for aeroplane use for a while (charging circuit that was aeroplane happy). Now that may be worth considering in addition to a PC310, or have him make you a second battery with half the number of paralleled cells.I went witha PC545, since it is mounted aft thus no need for metal jacket, aluminium #4 wires with copper clad and a second total loss 2.2 amp battery with ability to take along any size total loss battery to suit mission. I have a vacuum pad mounted SD20S with LR3C from B+C.BTW in under 10 seconds I can turn off main battery with a Flaming River race car switch and run pump #2 direct off of total loss battery.I have details:http://www.europaowners.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album258&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php on Odyssey batteries: Album: High amp "light" batteries, high amp "light" fat wires, high and low amp "very" thin wires, integral high amp bypass/buss as light as you can get with low resistance. Y9-01-01 Last change: 04/01/09 Contains: 80 items
Viewed: 622 times.



and total loss battery: Album: Passenger headrest to get Flaming River race car battery switch, 9 breakers on back and plenty of electrical "stuff" inside. Y8-12-09 Last change: 03/15/09 Contains: 45 items
Viewed: 375 times.


Good luckRon ParigorisIn your case if you absolute want 2 batteries, consider the PC310s instead. Make up some of the weight difference with aluminium wire. [quote][b]


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ptag.dev(at)tiscali.co.uk
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:09 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi!Frans
With the 6 cylinder Jabiru I needed 2x 13amp hour "starting" batteries
Oddessy or Red Top wired in parallel. The starter on it was likely to
pull momentarily in excess of 100 amps. I now have the Rotax 914 with
two replacement batteries (the others were 9 years old and showed NO
signs of distress) and the heavy duty starter just needs a stab on the
button and the engine is away, no clunking and wings flapping as the
usual scenario!
The point being that the word is STARTER battery ....one that can
release instant massive power. Don't get just bog standard batteries get
STARTER Battery's
It is quite possible with the battery location being on the passenger
foot well that one of these would do the job but why be on a song and a
prayer?
Regards
Bob Harrison G-PTAG

--


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davidjoyce(at)doctors.org
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:12 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Frans, A single Odyssey 16 amp/hour battery has done me extremely well for 6
years, without ever blinking. It also had ample in reserve when I had
regulator failure and stopped charging 1/2 way between Ostend and the Essex
coast. Regards, David Joyce, G-XSDJ, 914
---


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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 5:43 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

David Joyce wrote:
Quote:
Frans, A single Odyssey 16 amp/hour battery has done me extremely well

I have no doubt about this, but I'm looking for a way to save some
unneccesary weight. 16 amp/hour appears a little bit "overdone" for me
if one has two alternators on board. (I need two alternators anyway
because the Rotax alternator/Ducati regulator will not reliably deliver
enough power for my setup, so it is sort of logical to extend this
proposition further into two fully separate buses for extra redundancy).
Also, because I have two fully separate electrical busses, I will need
two batteries as well, and carrying two 16 amp/hour batteries is really
out of the question. Wink

A nice alternative could be two PC310 Odyssey batteries (each 8
amp/hours) (thanks, Ron). This will give me 16 amp/hours in total as
well, but divided over two fully separate systems. But without weight
savings. Sad

--
Frans Veldman


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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:34 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Ron,

Quote:
http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc310.htm

Ok, I think I will go with 2 PC310's.

Quote:
I went witha PC545, since it is mounted aft thus no need for metal
jacket, aluminium #4 wires with copper clad and a second total loss 2.2

About the aluminium #4 wire:
I did some calculations. Aluminium offers little advantage over copper.
The sales brochure will try to let you believe something else.
The error is that they compare #4 alu wire with #4 copper wire. This
saves 45% of weight indeed. What they don't tell you (it is also
forgotten in their data sheets) is that the conductivity of aluminium is
less. #4 alu wire has even less conductivity than #6 copper wire. And #6
copper wire weighs a lot less than #4 copper wire which they used for
comparison. Now do the comparison again... leave the math to you. Wink
What is the weight saved?

I will use #6 copper wire. This will give me a voltage drop of 0.5 Volts
with batteries in bagage bay (guestimated a 9 ft back and forth). Your
thicker aluminium #4 wire will give a loss of 0.7 Volts....

Just found an online-calculator for this:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm near the bottom of the page.

Have fun! Wink

--
Frans Veldman


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kevann(at)gotsky.com
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:35 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

I went with one PC680 and two alternators, and two busses including an
e-buss alternate feed path. I don't think you could run down the 17 ah batt
during a days soaring such that it would not crank the engine, unless you
run lights and everything while soaring.
I keep the battery in great shape by plugging into a maintainer in the
hanger, and changing the battery for a new one every two years. The used
battery goes into my subaru car for the next two years.
I also used the CCA fat (#4)wires to the rear mounted batt. to save some
weight.

Kevin
so far only short wings
---


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:56 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Kevin

"I also used the CCA fat (#4)wires to the rear mounted batt. to save some weight."

Did you crimp and solder terminals, or just crimp?

The CCA strands work harden very easily. Can you explain (perhaps a pix) of how you routed and strain relieved the connection to battery to avoid fatigue and breakage?

Thx.
Ron Parigoris
Visit - www.EuropaOwners.org


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:12 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Frans
"> About the aluminium #4 wire: > I did some calculations. Aluminium offers little advantage over copper. > The sales brochure will try to let you believe something else. > The error is that they compare #4 alu wire with #4 copper wire. This > saves 45% of weight indeed. What they don't tell you (it is also > forgotten in their data sheets) is that the conductivity of aluminium is > less. #4 alu wire has even less conductivity than #6 copper wire. And #6 > copper wire weighs a lot less than #4 copper wire which they used for > comparison. Now do the comparison again... leave the math to you. Wink > What is the weight saved? "Your math is fuzzy.Eric Jones does in fact speak all about the fact that resistance of #4 CCA has same resistance as #4 Tefzel:http://www.periheliondesign.com./fatwires_files/Copper%20cables.pdfalso read install manual.I saved a pound:http://www.europaowners.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album266&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&page=1#6 wire especially with an aft battery will be marginal at best. Your .5 volt drop may be running the panel but when you crank 50 plus amps it will be far greater. If you want reliable starts on a cold engine best go minimum of #4. That said I was thinking pretty hard about using #5 CCA. Eric sells Teflon covered CCA. I purchased the yellow cover CCA. If you were to strip the covering off #4 CCA, you could easily unwind and make a #5 wire, then heat shrink on some Teflon heat shrink tube!Another reason I like the aluminium wire is although it saves a pound, it moves CG a bit more forward.Redo your math. Ron Parigoris [quote][b]


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:19 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Oooooppps"> Another reason I like the aluminium wire is > although it saves a pound, it moves CG a bit more forward."Meant to say it moves CG more aft (takes some weight forward of CG).Ron Parigoris [quote][b]

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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:59 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.ny.us wrote:

Quote:
Your math is fuzzy.

Well, show me a better math then.

Quote:
Eric Jones does in fact speak all about the fact that resistance of #4

Eric Jones is the guy that sells the stuff, and ommitted the
ohms-per-feet figures in the pdf... He compares cables with the same
diameter, doesn't talk about voltage drop, while the interesting thing
is to compare two cables with the same voltage drop (over the same
length and with equal amount of amperes) and THEN do the weighing.

Quote:
I saved a pound:

No, you didn't. At least not if you compare it with copper wire with the
SAME RESISTANCE as your CCA wire (instead of the same diameter).

Hey, I know a great way to save even more weight: Buy my special teflon
#4 cable, absolutely metal-free! It weighs 5% of the copper cable with
the same diameter! Now that's a real bargain! Wink

Quote:
#6 wire especially with an aft battery will be marginal at best. Your .5
volt drop may be running the panel but when you crank 50 plus amps it
will be far greater.

Well, #6 copper wire has a lower voltage drop than your #4 CCA wire. If
#6 wire is marginal, #4 CCA wire is sub-marginal. Wink

Quote:
Redo your math.

Now show me the ohms-per-feet of copper, and the ohms-per-feet of
aluminium. Then we can do a trivial calculation, where we compare the
weight of aluminium and copper WITH THE SAME VOLTAGE DROP (which is
entirely different than the comparison of two cables of equal diameter.
Wink )

Granted, there is a little weight saved, but it is nowhere near 45% as
they claimed.

--
Frans Veldman


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terrys(at)cisco.com
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:19 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

We chose a 25 Amp hr battery with the assumption that we would
eventually build long wings for our Europa (which we eventually did) and
that we would need plenty of battery capacity to run various avionics
for several hours with the engine off. We have since flown with the
engine off for about an hour max, and had the voltage to the instruments
drop to the point where they started dropping out (we were consuming
about 2.5 amps). Our problem is that there are small voltage drop at
many locations that can add up to as much as 2 volts. So when the
battery drops to 12.0 volts, the instruments see 10.0 V, and have
problems operating there. We have spent some time looking for the
voltage drops. They come from each connection (spade lugs, etc.), each
switch, and each circuit breaker. The biggest drops are in the
individual circuit breakers in the switch panel we bought from Aircraft
Spruce. We have reduced some of the drops by coating connections with
silver grease, but have not come up with a good solution for the drops
in the circuit breakers.
We have since swapped out the 25 Ahr battery for a 16 Ahr battery, to
save a little weight.

As far as charging the battery, we have only the stock alternator, which
has no trouble keeping the battery charged. We were very careful to
keep our power consumption low, using a mechanical master contactor
(saves 1 Amp), low power strobes (4A vs 7A), LED Nav lights, lower power
radio and xponder, etc.

Regards,
Terry Seaver
A135 / N135TD
--


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christoph.both(at)acadiau
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:32 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Folks,
I don't appreciate these kind of exchanges, especially on an open forum.
There is nothing wrong being precise and knowledgeable but it is the
kind of words we use which makes all the difference. Let's be precise
but kind.
Christoph Both
#223 Classis
Nova Scotia, Canada

--


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rparigor(at)suffolk.lib.n
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:38 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Frans
I don't have all my documentation here.
For Tefzel wire, you can look up info in 43.13
Did you read Erics install manual like I reccomended?
http://www.periheliondesign.com./fatwires_files/FatwireInstallationManual-4.pdf#4 CCA is .435" diameter and .244 miliohms per foot and 1.72 oz per foot. Larger diameter and bout same resistance as #4 copper but lighter per foot..43.13 has #4 wire at .28 ohms per 1000foot and #6 at .44 ohms.I don't have the weight of #4 tefzel with me, but weighed samples I had on hand.Is there something the matter with my math?BTW read on the website I sent you about PC310 batteries about charging. Although they will somewhat work with normal lead acid battery chargers, you want to follow their recomondations. I will set my LR3C at 14.7 volts.Ron Parigoris [quote][b]


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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:49 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Terry,

Quote:
for several hours with the engine off. We have since flown with the
engine off for about an hour max, and had the voltage to the instruments
drop to the point where they started dropping out (we were consuming
about 2.5 amps). Our problem is that there are small voltage drop at
many locations that can add up to as much as 2 volts. So when the
battery drops to 12.0 volts, the instruments see 10.0 V, and have
problems operating there. We have spent some time looking for the
voltage drops. They come from each connection (spade lugs, etc.), each
switch, and each circuit breaker. The biggest drops are in the
individual circuit breakers in the switch panel we bought from Aircraft
Spruce.

2 Volts of loss appears pretty much to me. As I don't have the engine
running yet, I'm playing/testing with the avionics on just the (scrap)
batteries, and as far as I can tell I have nothing near 2 Volts of
voltage drop.

What you could do here:
1) Use regular fuses, they have less voltage drop than circuit breakers.
2) Make sure not to use too small wire sizes.
3) Run one heavy ground wire, as every avionics item needs ground, this
saves half of the wire losses with just one wire.
4) Use as few connectors as practical. I have one connector that
connects the instrument panel to the rest of the ship, the rest is soldered.
5) For voltage sensitive equipment, use a DC-DC-converter, which accepts
any input voltage and always puts out 12 Volts.
6) A rarely used trick, but worth considering, is to use a 7 cell
battery. This will give you a nominal voltage of 14 Volts.

--
Frans Veldman


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frans(at)paardnatuurlijk.
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:06 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Christoph Both wrote:

Quote:
Folks,
I don't appreciate these kind of exchanges, especially on an open forum.
There is nothing wrong being precise and knowledgeable but it is the
kind of words we use which makes all the difference. Let's be precise
but kind.

I apologize if my posting didn't look kind. I did not intent to be
unfriendly.
Please understand that English is not my native language and that the
subtile differences between "not agreeing but kind" and "not agreeing
and not friendly" are difficult to master. If one agrees, the exact
wordings used don't matter, it is always friendly. But not agreeing is
an entirely different and more difficult matter. Wink

I guess for Ron applies the same. We apparently don't agree on the
aluminium cable thing, but I consider him as a friend and do not intend
to be unfriendly to him, nor to anyone else on this forum.

--
Best regards,
Frans Veldman


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:24 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Ron,

Quote:
Did you read Erics install manual like I reccomended?

I thought I did, but this pdf contains information that is missing in
the pdf on top of the page.

Quote:
#4 CCA is .435" diameter and .244 miliohms per foot and 1.72 oz per
foot. Larger diameter and bout same resistance as #4 copper but lighter
per foot..

Well, this explains a lot.
So far I have always learned that the "gauge number" indicates the
DIAMETER of the cable. So, #4 cable in aluminium is the same diameter as
#4 copper cable.
Now it appears that this #4 CCA cable is more than twice the diameter of
what one normally would call #4 cable.

Quote:
Is there something the matter with my math?

No, there is something the matter with the name of the cable, which
suggest that it has a diameter of #4. Why would someone name something
#4 cable, while it has twice the diameter? :-S

If you do the math according to the standard cable sizes (seen the
online calculator I recommended?) then #4 aluminum cable comes out worse
than #6 copper cable.

So, we were both right after all with our math but I have to admit being
mislead by the "#4" indication suggesting that this cable would have a
diameter of gauge #4.

However, if his "#4 CCA" cable has indeed the same resistance as #4
copper cable, by increasing diameter, then the weight saving is indeed
worthwile.

Quote:
BTW read on the website I sent you about PC310 batteries about charging.
Although they will somewhat work with normal lead acid battery chargers,
you want to follow their recomondations. I will set my LR3C at 14.7 volts.

I also have that Ducati-thing on the other alternator. Guess I have to
put a diode in series with its sense lead to crank up the voltage somewhat.

--
Frans Veldman


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:28 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

I wrote:

Quote:
Eric Jones is the guy that sells the stuff, and ommitted the
ohms-per-feet figures in the pdf... He compares cables with the same
diameter,

Disregard, as in this case the assumption that all #4 cables have the
same diameter appears to be wrong.

The rest of this posting continues on this wrong assumption. Wink

--
Frans Veldman


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:06 am    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi Christopher"> I guess for Ron applies the same. We apparently don't agree on the > aluminium cable thing, but I consider him as a friend and do not intend > to be unfriendly to him, nor to anyone else on this forum."I too consider Frans a friend and was in no way intending to be arrogant if I came off that way, just bringing up a point as a matter of fact that needed further probing.No disrespect was intended.SincerelyRon Parigoris [quote][b]

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:54 pm    Post subject: Battery capacity Reply with quote

Hi FransGlad we are both now on same page.#4 welding cable is different in diameter (larger) than solid copper single strand. Circular mils of copper is usually close. That said some tefzel #4 that looks close to same strands are different diameter, so don't think diameter is absolute.I saw somewhere else that aluminium wire is sized to resistance of similar copper. Think it was when "tipping" (pigtailing copper to aluminium wire with a wire nut and aluminium oxide paste) my home which has aluminium wire. Same gauge solid aluminium is larger in diameter than solid copper."I also have that Ducati-thing on the other alternator. Guess I have to > put a diode in series with its sense lead to crank up the voltage > somewhat."Good idea to increase setpoint if you can. Where exactly would you put diode in circuit? What value diode? Has anyone out there changed Ducati setpoint? How did you do it and how has it been working?Ron Parigoris [quote][b]

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