Replace Nicads?

[FlyingScot]

In my previous job all NiCad equipped airplanes had been upgraded to Lead Acid. My current plane has a NiCad. It seems slow to recharge and on a flight last week the heat went up on start and was at 115 degrees over an hour into the flight and did not go to below 100F until two hours into the flight. The next leg the battery seemed to be back to normal.

I had the plane in the shop for a variety of reasons this week and had that looked at. Turns out the battery is from 1991. The shops says it will be about $500 to cycle it and check it and it may need a new cell which cold be expensive as well. A Lead battery would run about $3K and the STC maybe that much as well for a one time expense. The plane flys maybe 1-2 a week and we have a few flights to ski resorts a year, but the majority of our time will be spent in mild to hot climates. Should I service the Nicad or go for Lead?

 

[A Life Aloft]

Go for the lead upgrade....Get the Hawkers

http://www.securaplane.com/pdf/MSB_Onesheet.pdf

 

[FlyingScot]

Go for the lead upgrade....Get the Hawkers

http://www.securaplane.com/pdf/MSB_Onesheet.pdf

Just updating for reference.

Hawker never called back that day with pricing info, the Hawker spec sheet looks impressive though. We went with a Concorde from Avial was installed the next day. Here's the info I learned about the batteries in the process: NiMh batteries need to be maintained every 6 months, and occasionally a cell replaced. The lead batteries are just replace every 2-3 years at $3k at a time. Price is pretty much even. Nickle has a flatter curve on power loss on giving longer useful starting power, in trying conditions, but Lead won't melt through your wings in a thermal runaway.