If one were to use the start cart in every available situation, what kind of battery life are we talking for the MU2? How much are the batteries?

Start cart is very helpful, but always managing a GPU start is not obvious.

We always GPU at our home base (my FBO) but generally do battery starts while on the road. My important to battery life is using Battery Minders, if not 24/7, but at least a 24 hours before a flight.

For the Gill lead acid batteries (scealed) 2 years should be Ok, but I have heard of 4 to 7 years for really low usage with lots of battery minder trickle charging. We are at 19 months on our Gills on our Marquise and so far so good.

About $4,200 US for a pair of new Gills.

-Pascal

why Gils versus the concord sealed batteries?

I very rarely use a GPU and do not use battery minders. I replace the batteries every 2 years. I use Gill batteries because they are about 50-60% the cost of Concordes.

Why not ? The Gill is way cheaper than the Concorde RG-380E/44 ($750 less per battery).

As with tires, I don't believe in buying expensive aircraft batteries. Too many things can go wrong (forgetting hot bus cabin lights ?) to ultimately reduce battery life of an expensive battery.

TPE-331 starts are really hard on batteries, two are used in parallel or series on the MU-2. Cross-Gen starts are unfortunately NOT possible, you must recharge the batteries between starts. Main advantage to GPU start is no wait between engine starts.

-Pascal

WRT batteries, I agree with Pascal's comment. I use GPU at home, normally battery on the road unless FBO offers GPU free (some do with fuel purchase). I use batteryminders on the batteries whenever at home. Last set of batteries lasted 6 years (Gills). New ones are Gills as well.

Gill G6381E is $1,700 each, Concorde RG-380E/44 is $2,500 each. Keep in mind you need two.

I basically never cart start, no access at home base. I currently have a pair of Concordes which have been going for 2 years now. I have them on Minders. Fingers crossed they keep going strong for another couple years. Otherwise I'm going back to Gills since if there's no significant life difference between the two, the price is a lot better. I suspect there will prove to be life difference. But... I have yet to demonstrate that.

Presumably you and others don't use minders on the road, or do you? (I know nothing about TPs.)
Ashley

Can any of you recommend a particular brand/model of battery minder?

Just bought two for my Turbo Commander. $1550/each. Expect them to last 2 years on Garrett's for "normal use". My friend, who Batteryminder them religiously in his hangar, gets 5 years out of them.

I'd like to add the Startpac Li-ion portable GPU to my arsenal, but it's a little dodgy to connect, start the left engine, get out and detach on your own. Kinda need a a second guy. I wish there was a connector in the cabin.

As I dream of a turbo-prop, that's a question I have been wondering about. Is there a way to safely do a GPU start when you are alone?

Glenn

Varies all over the map.

Flooded Gills, all battery starts, no Battery Minder, might be 12-18 months.

Sealed AGM Concordes, majority GPU starts, religious use of Battery Minder might be 5-6 years.

Last I checked, flooded Gills were about $3K and Concorde AGM was about $4.5K.

I've used up two sets of Gills (about 2 years each, doing 60-70% GPU starts). Switched to Concordes 3 years ago, started Battery Minder 1 year ago, still going strong, still do 60-70% GPU starts.

I think the cost per battery start is about $10-15 of the battery. If GPU is complimentary with fuel, I pretty much always request it.

I built a case with two Battery Minders in it and fitted the airplane with a single point battery connector. Now my home FBO knows how to put the plane in the hangar and they hook up the BM for me. So my planes is 100% on BM when home.

Mike C.

Yes, but I am starting to believe the Concorde AGM are less cost in the long run.


I did that once on my Concorde AGMs for 4 days. GPU start, on BMs, no ill effects apparent.


Main advantage is faster, cooler starts, particularly in cold weather. Ultimately, the health of the engine matters more than the battery.

Mike C.

I could carry my setup on the road, but that is a small percentage of the calendar time (< 10% of days in a year), so not worth the hassle.

This means my airplane spends 90% of available time on the BM which seems like enough.

If I knew the plane would be away a long time, I would take the BM setup with me.

The key to my BM setup is that all it takes is to plug in one connector to the plane that connects to the two batteries. No panels to open, nothing to disconnect, no buttons to push.

Mike C.

I would not recommend this as a routine practice.

Do the battery start, accept the $10-15 life of the battery you burned up doing that, and be safe.

Mike C.