What's new
Van's Air Force

The definitive Van's Aircraft support community! Buying, building or flying an RV? Join our exclusive family of mentors and enthusiasts!

Odyssey PC680 Alternative?

I'm the outlier with the Full River. I bought one in May (2024) and had to replace it two weeks ago.

After about three months of use, it would only charge to about 12.6V and would immediately drop to under 10V under load.

Bought another Odyssey PC680.
 
I think I'm going to stay with the PC680. I feel safer with a system that's been around awhile and don't want to fabricate another cooling portal in my aft baffle to keep the lithium cool so it doesn't do untoward things. However, since the PC680 is only good to 113F, a cooling system for the AGM might be smart?
 
rockitdoc said:
I think I'm going to stay with the PC680. I feel safer with a system that's been around awhile and don't want to fabricate another cooling portal in my aft baffle to keep the lithium cool so it doesn't do untoward things. However, since the PC680 is only good to 113F, a cooling system for the AGM might be smart?
Click to expand...
I’ve never mounted a battery on the firewall. This creates a double edge sword:
- No need for cooling.
- An EarthX would require a vent.

I don’t know, but mounting either an Odyssey or EarthX in a RV-14 on the cabin side of the firewall might be a challenge. I know the rear bell crank can be built like the and RV-10, adding the RV-10 standard battery tray but I‘m guessing an Odyssey might not support the best W&B. The light EarthX would be less of an issue.

Carl
 
Pilot135pd said:
EarthX doesn't let you connect two of their same batteries together, parallel or series. In my case they want to sell me their 24v battery, I wanted two of their 12v.
Click to expand...

I have an EarthX ETX680 and an Odyssey PC680 side by side - each with their own battery contactor/solenoid. They are joined in parallel when the batteries are selected on. I've had no problems with them playing together as a team in operation.

I believe that the EarthX is the bully of the two though. I can't prove it, but I think the EarthX is throwing out the majority of the amps during engine start. Either way...my post engine start re-charge rate is twice as high as before - now easily into the 45+ amp range. But my battery(s) (with the EarthX likely being the fast-acting sponge) are fully recharged twice as fast.

I am concerned about starting the engine with fairly-drained batteries. I'm concerned that the EarthX battery might accept a recharge amp rate that exceeds my 60A alternator and its 60A fuse.
 
Last edited:
I have 3 PC680,s that I have replaced in 10 years on my RV7. All replacements were found to still be in good condition; replacement's were in attempt to trouble shoot poor/weak starting issues.
The issues were intermittent, replace the battery and it seemed to help. It turns out that the starter was the problem all along ( likely a bad contactor in the solenoid). Replaced the starter and all has been good ever since.

PS my wife's Decathlon has a Metal Jacket MJ version of the PC680, despite having a 10 foot wire run from behind the rear baggage bulkhead, it is still providing robust service with 8 years of use.

Things are not always what the seem. Wiring, starter and solenoid problems often masquerade as being weak batteries!
 
Last edited:
DCBrown198 said:
I have an EarthX ETX680 and an Odyssey PC680 side by side - each with their own battery contactor/solenoid. They are joined in parallel when the batteries are selected on. I've had no problems with them playing together as a team in operation.

I believe that the EarthX is the bully of the two though. I can't prove it, but I think the EarthX is throwing out the majority of the amps during engine start. Either way...my post engine start re-charge rate is twice as high as before - now easily into the 45+ amp range. But my battery(s) (with the EarthX likely being the fast-acting sponge) are fully recharged twice as fast.

I am concerned about starting the engine with fairly-drained batteries. I'm concerned that the EarthX battery might accept a recharge amp rate that exceeds my 60A alternator and its 60A fuse.
Click to expand...
Hi the alternator will deliver whatever current it's rated for, normally a little more than 60 amps when cold at high rpm. The battery can't make the alternator deliver more current than it's rated for. I believe this has been raised before.
Also if you look up the time curve for the fuse it will take at least twice the rated current to blow in tens of seconds
Thanks
K
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top