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Ameriking 451 (406Mhz) ELT

Tim Mahoney

I'm New Here
Does anyone have any experiences concerning customer service with the Ameriking ELT company? I have tried to get them to repair my less than 2 year old 406 Mhz ELT, and have found them to be very difficult to work with. I have returned the ELT to them for the second time, as they did not repair it the first time (and I had to pay them even though it is under warranty). I am considering buying a different companies ELT. Any suggestions?
 
Try ACK

Can't comment on Ameriking, but if you do buy another brand, I have found the ACK guys to give outstanding service.

Does anyone have any experiences concerning customer service with the Ameriking ELT company? I have tried to get them to repair my less than 2 year old 406 Mhz ELT, and have found them to be very difficult to work with. I have returned the ELT to them for the second time, as they did not repair it the first time (and I had to pay them even though it is under warranty). I am considering buying a different companies ELT. Any suggestions?
 
AK-451

I purchased my AK-451 ELT in Dec 2010 from Aircraft Spurce and installed it in Jan 2011. It has a two year warranty. I have done periodic tests about every 3 months. It failed to test in Feb 2012 during my condition inspection. The unit is dead, no indicator test light and no transmission on 121.5.

Lesson learned: Test your ELT on a regular basis, even if new.

Side note: After phone call to Ameri-King, ELT was shipped to them for repair. I have had several conversations with them since shipping the ELT. English is not the first language at the Ameri-King phone number. Communication has been difficult with the personnel at Ameri-King due to a language barrier. They will not let you talk to a supervisor, you can only e-mail the manager at the company address. Aircraft Spruce has contacted them on my behalf to get the unit returned. Supposedly, unit was shipped back to me Mar 9. Something doesn't smell right here!
 
I have same ELT and taking notes guys. Is your battery good. If not take it somewhere local to get a new one built. I would not send it in for a battery.

I'd rather trash mine and buy a competitors product before dealing with poor customer service which seems to be the norm anymore.
 
Ameriking Customer Service

About a year ago I had to deal with Ameriking customer service to resolve an AK451 warranty issue. Most of the experimental aircraft vendors that I have dealt with over the years have gone out of their way to resolve an issue. My dealings with Ameriking caused me to rank them at the bottom of my vendor satisfaction list. They were difficult to deal with, but I was very persistent and finally got my problem fixed. It took me 5 uncomfortable phone conversations, 3 trips to the post office, and about 3 weeks to finally get my antenna replaced, and to also settle a dispute about charging me for shipping costs after they sent me the wrong antenna. The man who usually answered the phone is confrontational, uncooperative, and short tempered, so dont waste your time with him. Try to speak to the other person there named Brian, or Bruce, or a similar name, he was fairly reasonable, cooperative, and was able to solve my problem after a number of phone conversations and attempts to explain that the antenna needed to be replaced. I learned that you have to be positive, patient, persistent, and try not to get too upset with their lack of awareness about the importance of customer satisfaction.

Mike
 
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Thx guys. I was trying to decide which one to buy at
Sun n Fun. Ameriking and ACK we're at the same price
point ( about 570). I have an Ameriking 121 which is not
working so it's an easier install but the ACK has a GPS input
After reading this I bought the ACK.
 
I purchased my AK-451 ELT in Dec 2010 from Aircraft Spurce and installed it in Jan 2011. It has a two year warranty. I have done periodic tests about every 3 months. It failed to test in Feb 2012 during my condition inspection. The unit is dead, no indicator test light and no transmission on 121.5.

Lesson learned: Test your ELT on a regular basis, even if new.

Side note: After phone call to Ameri-King, ELT was shipped to them for repair. I have had several conversations with them since shipping the ELT. English is not the first language at the Ameri-King phone number. Communication has been difficult with the personnel at Ameri-King due to a language barrier. They will not let you talk to a supervisor, you can only e-mail the manager at the company address. Aircraft Spruce has contacted them on my behalf to get the unit returned. Supposedly, unit was shipped back to me Mar 9. Something doesn't smell right here!

Update April 2015: During the condition inspection, I found that the Ameri-King 451 ELT power has failed test again. Battery replacement was due Feb 2016. When I removed the ELT, I found that a corner of the battery pack case had formed a vertical crack from the attachment screw to the bottom of the battery pack case. This ELT is 5 years old. I refuse to deal with the Ameri-King service people in Huntington Beach, CA again. No more Ameri-King ELT in my airplane. ACK 406 is on order!
 
This is once again an example of "you get what you pay for". The Ameri-King 121.5 ELT's had the highest failure rate of any I've seen, and this has been corroborated by two shops who deal in a large volume of ELT recertifications (mandatory on an annual basis in Canada). Both shops predicted the same poor reliability would follow with Ameri-King's 406 product, and they now indicate that prediction has become reality.

For what it's worth, none of the Kannad ELT's I've installed have experienced a failure of any sort. Several are now past their first battery replacement cycle, so are more than 5 years old, and still going strong. I only wish I received some sort of commission for sharing this kind of good news with other aviators! :)

Again, you get what you pay for. Most of us will spend an extra few bucks to buy leak-proof tubes for our tires, but won't spend an extra few bucks to get a higher-quality ELT. Caveat emptor.
 
Hi, there...

...I see you've met Victor :D - at least on the phone.

I'd trash the ELT and consider it tuition in the school of hard knocks. BTDT, even threw out the Tee-shirt.

-Stormy
 
Ameri-King Service pirep

This thread has caused me to become concerned about Ameri-King service; our airplane is fitted with an AK-451-23. Then the unit failed the "g" switch test during the condition inspection last month. I was pleasantly surprised by Ameri-King even though there are still some language issues, as English is not the first language for most of the staff. It did take several phone calls, which were handled by Victor, Keith, and George, to insure that the unit would be repaired and returned promptly. Their turn around was just one day, and the unit was returned via overnight freight. The repair total was $249.00 including return shipping. (The shipping cost is about $75.00 for overnight service, so this seems reasonable.) The best way to track a repair order with them is to have the Serial Number at hand, as that appears to be the basis of their tracking system. It appears that they have been reading Van's Airforce, and are trying to improve their customer support!
 
A guy at our airfield bought an ameriking elt and it was dead out of the box. He had to ship it to them at his cost(!). The vendor was no help. Don't remember who it was and I don't want to slander anyone. that's just not good enough. Guess I will put an ack in my airplane.
 
So this is timely for me to see this thread brought back to the top; I'm working on my condition inspection and have noticed an issue with my AK-451 ELT. First, the batteries are due for replacement; looks like I'm stuck ordering OE batteries at $130 for the set as no alternates are approved, ouch! Next, I checked the G switch and all appears well there, but during the unit self test it showed a fault with 5 flashes from the LED indicating "F3 RF power level < 33dBm@ 406.028 MHz". Might this be due to old/weak batteries?

I'll call AmeriKing tomorrow to see what's what, but judging from previous comments they might be a pain to deal with... thought I'd check in with the VAF brain trust first to see if anyone has seen this before.
 
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Hi John,

Failing the power output test "might" be an indicator of a badly depleted battery. If you follow this logic, the self tests should have detected a battery test failure before making it as far as the RF test. As much as I hate to say it, this likely is indicative of either a bad RF transmitter section or multiple, compounding failures. Either way, I'd be on the horn to Ameri-King to get guidance. BTW, since you were planning to replace the batteries anyway, it's worthwhile to measure their open-circuit voltage prior to calling Ameri-King so you can give them this piece of troubleshooting data.
 
An avionics person on my home field tells me that there have been a number of Ameri-King 406 failures on our field due to a badly designed circuit that leads to leakage current depleting the battery. And when the battery gets down to a certain level, the alarm can trip. Happened to his own AK451 mounted in his Cherokee.

My father's AK451 has the same issue, and is now at Ameri-King for "repair". They told him via email before he sent it this isn't an issue but they can fix it if he sends it in. ?!? Hmm. We noticed it because the leakage current causes the panel LED to glow very dimly, and the buzzer to faintly buzz. Hard to see the LED unless you're in a dark hangar, and hard to hear the buzz unless it's late and there's no activity at the airport.
 
ELT Buzzer

We noticed it because the leakage current causes the panel LED to glow very dimly, and the buzzer to faintly buzz. Hard to see the LED unless you're in a dark hangar, and hard to hear the buzz unless it's late and there's no activity at the airport.

That's a very timely comment. I just encountered the same condition with my Ameri King buzzer. You are right that the sound is so subtle that it can only be heard in a totally quiet hangar. With any background noise, it would be easy to miss.

If it's a design problem with the unit, hopefully it is also treated as a warranty issue.
 
If it's a design problem with the unit, hopefully it is also treated as a warranty issue.
I believe my father's is being treated as a warranty repair (his is reasonably new). It doesn't save you the shipping cost to send it to AK in the first place, or the nuisance of not having it for three weeks and counting.

Note that AK does not admit any "design failure". In one email they told him that the leakage current was low enough that the battery should last 5 years. You just have to listen to a buzz and see a red light for no reason for five years. :)
 
3.6v Lithium D size Battery for ELT

It was mentioned in a previous post that a set of 4 batteries for the 451 costs about $130 from Ameriking. There are many battery vendors on line including Amazon that sell these batteries, p.n. ER34615, for $15 - $20 each. Is there any reason that an experimental aircraft cannot use these batteries?

Ameriking mentions in their manual that it is forbidden to use any other battery than theirs, otherwise the warranty is cancelled. But the 451 two year warranty expires way before the 5 year expiration date on the battery, so why pay two times more for the more expensive batteries?
 
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Note that AK does not admit any "design failure". In one email they told him that the leakage current was low enough that the battery should last 5 years. You just have to listen to a buzz and see a red light for no reason for five years. :)

Yep. This comment and thread has given me valuable information about who to not buy my next ELT from. :eek:
 
It was mentioned in a previous post that a set of 4 batteries for the 451 costs about $130 from Ameriking. There are many battery vendors on line including Amazon that sell these batteries, p.n. ER34615, for $15 - $20 each. Is there any reason that an experimental aircraft cannot use these batteries?

Ameriking mentions in their manual that it is forbidden to use any other battery than theirs, otherwise the warranty is cancelled. But the 451 two year warranty expires way before the 5 year expiration date on the battery, so why pay two times more for the more expensive batteries?

FAR 91.207 does not distinguish between EAB and normally certified aircraft - same rules apply to both. If an ELT is required, you must use an "approved" one. If the approved instruction manual says you can use Duracell batteries (like the Ack 121.5 elt) then you can. If the manual says you must use AK batteries, then you're technically supposed to only use those.
 
Adding to this thread to let others know what the closure was on my father's AK-451.

Ameri-King eventually stopped responding to emails, and never did answer calls in person or return voicemails. So dad had to order a new ELT (not Ameri-King) so he would have one for a trip from Vancouver to Winnipeg. He now has a shiny new ACK 406MHz ELT instead.

He had written off any hope of hearing back from them, however, while he was on the return trip from Winnipeg he got an email telling him that his Ameri-King ELT had been fixed and was being shipped back to him. ?!?!?

The ELT arrived back, at which time he had to pay $160 in duty and/or taxes to pick it up. Nobody at AK marked it as warranty return, and dad didn't know it was necessary on the outbound shipment either.

We took it back to the hangar and hooked it up on the bench with the remote cable, y-splitter, and buzzer. Without turning it on, the LED in the remote was glowing. Shaking the remote caused the buzzer to start buzzing. We removed the battery from the remote and found it to only read 2.3V, so replaced it with a new one. Now it seems to work properly, no LED, no buzzer, and shaking does not activate it.

But when the battery runs down, i'd bet money it goes back to random activations.
 
Here is the same battery (UltraLife part number ER34615) for $6.99 each.
FAR 91.207 does not distinguish between EAB and normally certified aircraft - same rules apply to both. If an ELT is required, you must use an "approved" one. If the approved instruction manual says you can use Duracell batteries (like the Ack 121.5 elt) then you can. If the manual says you must use AK batteries, then you're technically supposed to only use those.

Legally, yes. This is just another reason why I will not buy another AmeriKing product.

:cool:
 
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