Odyssey PC-680 Battery Problems: Please Chime In

boomer · #1 05-13-2014, 12:12 PM

The past year or so I have noticed quite a few issues with newer PC680 batteries. This is in contrast with those who have had them for a quite few years, who seemed to get very good service. Some have opined that the product quality may have gone down recently, which has been my experience. I thought this thread might be a forum for those to chime in with problems to see if this is a concern.

I'm on my 5th PC-680 since August 2011. The first two were my fault as I ran them down completely, which is a no-no. Neither would revive using the rejuvenation process detailed elsewhere. However, the last three just died in regular service. One day they were good and the next they wouldn't start my IO-360.

The first of these (actually the third) lasted about a year. This one was successfully rejuvenated and is my aircraft now. The second (4th) went about 13 months and will hold voltage but not cranking power.

Now the third (5th) one just died after 5 months of normal use. I took it on a 4 hop cross country over three days, and it worked fine. When I landed at hope plate, I taxied in and shut down immediately. Came back 9 days later, and it was flat. Voltage was 11.0 on my EIFS, and I couldn't get a complete turn on the prop. Put in the rejuvenated battery (#3), and everything worked fine.

Tried rejuvenating #5 with no success. It will recharge to 12.75 volts but goes down to 11.5 volts after a day. This one is going back for a replacement.

Odyssey recharger used throughout.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their 680(s)?

-Joh

Mike S · #2 05-13-2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomer

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their 680(s)?

-Joh

Have you searched for prior threads/posts??? this has been discussed quite a lot in the last year or two.

Bavafa · #3 05-13-2014, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomer

The past year or so I have noticed quite a few issues with newer PC680 batteries. This is in contrast with those who have had them for a quite few years, who seemed to get very good service. Some have opined that the product quality may have gone down recently, which has been my experience. I thought this thread might be a forum for those to chime in with problems to see if this is a concern.

I'm on my 5th PC-680 since August 2011. The first two were my fault as I ran them down completely, which is a no-no. Neither would revive using the rejuvenation process detailed elsewhere. However, the last three just died in regular service. One day they were good and the next they wouldn't start my IO-360.

The first of these (actually the third) lasted about a year. This one was successfully rejuvenated and is my aircraft now. The second (4th) went about 13 months and will hold voltage but not cranking power.

Now the third (5th) one just died after 5 months of normal use. I took it on a 4 hop cross country over three days, and it worked fine. When I landed at hope plate, I taxied in and shut down immediately. Came back 9 days later, and it was flat. Voltage was 11.0 on my EIFS, and I couldn't get a complete turn on the prop. Put in the rejuvenated battery (#3), and everything worked fine.

Tried rejuvenating #5 with no success. It will recharge to 12.75 volts but goes down to 11.5 volts after a day. This one is going back for a replacement.

Odyssey recharger used throughout.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with their 680(s)?

-Joh

Is it possible that there is some thing else going on with your system? To have five them, or three of them (not counting those that were ran down) is very unusual.

I am on my 6th year on this battery, always use battery charger when in the hanger and never had any issues. Maybe I am just lucky with this battery

rleffler · #4 05-13-2014, 01:20 PM

Quit honestly, I'm starting to suspect my Odessey charger.

I get different stats, simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the charger to the battery. For example, it will tell me I am at a 60% charge. I plug it in to my second battery (on isolated buses), then back to the original. It then tells me it's down to 9% within absolutely nothing turned on in the interim. Then mysteriously, it's back to 100% within a half hour or so. I would think that if it was truly down to 9%, it would take hours to charge.

I am beginning to become skeptical if the charger is showing me any meaningful data. Is the percentage of charge represent anything close to being accurate? I haven't have a chance to baseline or troubleshoot this yet, so these are just current unsubstantiated thoughts at the moment.

I have the 12a Odessey charger and a pair of PC-680s in my RV-10.

Bob Redman · #5 05-13-2014, 06:21 PM

G'day folks,

Several years ago I had subtle failure of the continuous duty solenoid (Vans supplied) - it leaked about 0.25 volts per day into the ether. This ruined the PC680 battery over several months. The battery volts would recover quickly through recharge, but eventually would not regain sufficient grunt to turn the prop.

A new solenoid fixed the problem.

Regards

rleffler · #6 05-13-2014, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Redman

G'day folks,

Several years ago I had subtle failure of the continuous duty solenoid (Vans supplied) - it leaked about 0.25 volts per day into the ether. This ruined the PC680 battery over several months. The battery volts would recover quickly through recharge, but eventually would not regain sufficient grunt to turn the prop.

A new solenoid fixed the problem.

Regards

Bob,

How did you isolate that the contactor was the problem?

Thanks,

Bob

sailvi767 · #7 05-13-2014, 07:53 PM

What voltage is your alternator system putting out. The 680 requires 14.7 to get a proper charge and 14.1 is the absolute minimum. Less then that leaves the battery partially charged and damaged over time.

George

AltonD · #8 05-13-2014, 08:01 PM

I would put a current meter on the battery with everything in a normal shutdown position. It sounds to me like you have a current draw with the master off. Just my two cents.

Don Patterson · #9 05-13-2014, 09:14 PM

My Odyssey 680 battery in my 7a just gave up when I returned from 2400 mile cross country trip. Last week my wife and I went to KeyWest Florida for a week long vacation. When we returned there was not enough power in the battery to turn over the IO-360. I tested the battery and it was up to 12 volts, but would drop to 3 volts while attempting to crank the engine. Took it to a local auto parts store for testing, and it failed miserably.
I installed my 4 year old Odyssey that I pulled out of the plane 14 months ago, and the engine started fine.

Called Aircraft Spruce for warranty and a new battery was shipped that same day.

Im just happy we made it back without any problems.

Wayne Gillispie · #10 05-13-2014, 09:20 PM

My first failure is in my power tug, second on the bench being cycled and third new one in the plane. All in 2.5 yrs/135 TT.

I thought it was my GRT EFIS clock power. Measured 10 mA. Disconnected clock power and still the same thing...leave a fully charged 680 aux battery hooked up to nothing but a solenoid with diodes and within a week will go from 12.85 down to 12.50 vdc. You know it just might be the diodes/solenoid. My main 925 wired to exact same solenoid setup is always 12.80-12.85 no matter how long it sits.

And Bob, the 120V power to my same charger must be disconnected and reconnected when switching from one battery to the next or it throws it out of whack. The most accurate way is just measuring ocv and compare to chart. I also do a load test with a resistance heater type from auto parts store at annual to track performance.