They were busted by the FAA for use of illegal parts. It was announced a few weeks ago. There has not been much talk about it on the forums... but pilots have been looking at alternative brands if they need new equipment. It may or may not have any effect on annual sign off of your particular unit.
Depends on a number of variables.
 
flightlogic said:
They were busted by the FAA for use of illegal parts. It was announced a few weeks ago. There has not been much talk about it on the forums... but pilots have been looking at alternative brands if they need new equipment. It may or may not have any effect on annual sign off of your particular unit.
Depends on a number of variables.
Click to expand...

From this article, if your parts were produced after 12/28/2015, you may have a problem. Otherwise, legacy products are fine.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/FAA-to-Ameri-King-Cease-and-Desist-225829-1.html
 
also from that article:

If that's not bad enough, the FAA said it is not confident that parts and articles manufactured by Ameri-King prior to Dec. 28, 2015, were manufactured in accordance with any approved design. The agency will continue to evaluate the continued operational safety of these parts and articles and may ultimately issue an Airworthiness Directive to address any unsafe conditions.
 
GalinHdz said:
They are ER34615 D SIZE (NOT "D CELL") 3.6v lithium batteries. You can get them from this source and from many other suppliers.

Ameriking 425 Manual

:cool:
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Please be careful when ordering replacement ELT batteries (TSO paperwork discussion aside), there are some distinctly different chemistries used for the D-size batteries by various ELT manufacturers. Some use Lithium thionyl chloride (like the link above), some use sulfur thionyl chloride, and some use sulfur manganese dioxide. Please make sure you get the same chemistry for your replacement batteries as the original; the voltage output, discharge curve, and reserve capacity can vary quite a bit.

Getting the paperwork correct is one thing, getting the device to function as needed is quite another.
 
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so what is everyone doing?

looks like.....'wait and see' if an AD is issued on any particular part/device.

I have an AK encoder that has performed fine for the last 10 years, perhaps it was actually built correctly in 2005? :)

...this is probably not the first or last manufacturer who will continue to source parts from a wide variety of subs, and the trail gets murky real fast from what I hear.
( perhaps not so much in the TSO world, but I do recall hearing of bogus engine and airframe parts put into airliners in the past!)

This problem may kind of 'solve itself' if nobody buys any AK parts or equipment for a year or two!?!?
 
Our avionics shops won't re-certify ELTs with non-TSOd batteries, so all AK-451s here will be garbage as their batteries come due. A call directly to AK a few weeks ago was fruitless as they weren't answering their phones.


New Olympic sport - The AK 406 ELT distance toss. How far can you throw it! Please remove battery before tossing!
 
Ralph Inkster said:
Our avionics shops won't re-certify ELTs with non-TSOd batteries, so all AK-451s here will be garbage as their batteries come due. A call directly to AK a few weeks ago was fruitless as they weren't answering their phones.


New Olympic sport - The AK 406 ELT distance toss. How far can you throw it! Please remove battery before tossing!
Click to expand...

You are probably just as well off that they didn't answer their phones...saved you miles and miles of frustration.
 
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