EAA Sport Aviation

Dash II Oil Filter

MIKE BUSCH

battery fully charged at all times and the electrolyte at the proper level (for flooded-cell batteries), the longer the battery will last. Let it discharge or let the top of the plates get exposed and the lifespan of the battery will be severely compromised.

A process known as “pulse conditioning” may help prevent or reverse sulfation. The process involves charging the battery with voltage pulses intended to break up the crystalline lead sulfate. The effectiveness of pulse conditioning is somewhat controversial. The companies that make pulse-conditioning chargers claim it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, while the battery manufacturers tend to remain skeptical. I cannot vouch personally for the effectiveness of pulse conditioning, although I’m pretty sure it couldn’t hurt.

CAPACIT Y TESTING

Both Teledyne-Gill and Concorde have
issued Instructions for Continued
Airworthiness (ICA) calling for regular
capacity testing of their batteries. A capac-
ity test consists of fully charging the
battery, then applying a specific load and
measuring how long it takes for the battery
to discharge. Gill calls for doing an initial
capacity test after one year and then every
six months thereafter. Concorde calls for
doing an initial test after two years and
then every year thereafter. In the real
world, these capacity tests are sometimes
done at annual inspection (and sometimes
not), but it’s almost unheard of for them to
be done more often. Gill calls for the bat-
tery to be replaced when its capacity
declines to less than 80 percent of specifi-
cations; Concorde’s replacement threshold
is 85 percent.