RV-7 N117TR

[EXflyer]

Just looking at the bend radius looks a little tight, don't have my old books but thought it was 3 times the thickness of the metal. Also edge of the metal looks rough which can cause a crack at the bend. Just a thought.

[pilotpip]

Andy,

Your thread gives me hope of doing this some day. Love the tech in your plane, and the detail you shared through your building process. Darn you, Photobucket!

I hope Pie is doing well. As a father of 2 under the age of 3 reading about her diagnosis and hospital stay was gut-wrenching.

[crabandy]

As posted earlier I gave up on the odyssey battery after 6-7 of them failed at 10-12 months. My EarthX I installed Feb of 2018 failed me today, a smidge over 4 years later Feb of 2022.
I did notice the last 6 months the airplane cranked slower, I wasn’t too surprised when it would only throw 1 blade and stop this morning. To be fair the one blade and stop was very typical of the 6 month old odyssey battery in the winter. After a couple failed start attempts with the EarthX I was able to preheat the 40 degree engine and found a friend with a lithium charger. The charger ran through a complete cycle on the battery in about 45 seconds. Charging and preheating did the trick and I was able to get it started and fly home with the “batt fault” showing on the EFISS and normal charging on both Alts. Back at home and thoroughly warm the airplane cranked well.
I did run the airplane 1 year with the EarthX before adding my oil door cowl flap to aid in cooling, the Odyssey doesn’t let you know it’s unhappy with temps but the EarthX does. Prior to the oil door cowl flap I would almost always get over temp alarms on from the EarthX during summertime quick turns, a combo of hot/cowling mods/starting/charging/slower climb speeds. The oil door flap kept the EarthX happy most of the time, I found summertime/mountain altitudes/heavy it would still overtemp.
Granted my EarthX had the benefit of 3 years flying with the oil door cowl flap, but it gave better service during and lasted 4 times longer than the odyssey. Even without shipping that makes it a better value than 4 odyssey batteries.

[riseric]

Thanks for your write-up.
I have 2 EarthX, one in the back and one on the firewall.
Flying since November 2021.

I did hear about the heat issue up front so I installed the front one in EarthX's insulated battery box and routed a 1" blast tube from the baffle to the battery. The blast tube is blocked with tape these days as I believe the battery doesn't need -15C air...
Hoping to keep the battery happy and cool in warmer times.