Another ELT incident, AK-451

[Walt]

Air Force Rescue Coordination center calls all my listed numbers this morning at 4am saying my ELT is going off

Freaked the wife out as she was away on business and gets a "wake-up" call asking if she knows where I am, so now my home and cell phone won't stop ringing.

I arrive at the hanger at 5am and sure enough it's going off.

Ameriking AK-451, it's going back to the factory tomorrow, after turning it off it passes the self test, it may not find its way back in my aircraft when I get it back.

[Indytim]

Let us know what you find out.

[Snowflake]

There's a coin-cell battery in the remote display. When that battery runs down/dies, it triggers the ELT. This has happened to half a dozen airplanes locally. Ameri-King claims this is "not a problem with the ELT" and that the battery should last 10 years before this happens.

The real issue is that there is a leakage current problem in the remote display circuit somewhere. If you close your hangar door (or go in at night with the light off) you'll see that the LED in the remote display glows dimly, and you'll hear a faint buzzing from the piezo buzzer. These are what draw the coin cell battery down.

Oh, and also: My father sent his ELT in to Ameri-King to "fix" this. It's been four weeks now and they claim they can't find it, so he's got to buy another ELT anyway. It won't be an Ameri-King.

[Rupester]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

There's a coin-cell battery in the remote display. When that battery runs down/dies, it triggers the ELT. This has happened to half a dozen airplanes locally. Ameri-King claims this is "not a problem with the ELT" and that the battery should last 10 years before this happens.

There is a battery replacement reminder for that lithium cell in the AmeriKing info. Luckily, I added that as an item in my Annual checklist. Only because of that I just replaced it this Spring. (IIRC, the AK info says to replace every six years.) Seems like everybody remembers to replace the D-cell batteries in the ELT itself, but many are not aware of the lithium cell in the panel remote.

[Walt]

Good info, in this case both the ELT and remote are about 3 yrs old so the batteries "shouldn't" be depleted yet.

Will be shopping for a Kannad at Osh this year.

Anybody want to buy a slightly used AK-451

[az_gila]

File a Service Difficulty Report (SDR) with the FAA.

If they get enough the problem will get fixed...

[krw5927]

The AmeriKing customer service sounds outstanding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cIpmgsbac

[jetjok]

Originally Posted by krw5927

The AmeriKing customer service sounds outstanding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cIpmgsbac

That video is the epitome of a disgruntled customer! Hilarious!

[Walt]

Now that's some funny sh*t

[krw5927]

Originally Posted by Walt

Now that's some funny sh*t

Guess you know what to do with yours now. Fortuitous timing as well - fireworks stands should be popping up any moment.

Make sure to video it for some truly front-page footage!