Thread: Helicopter battery in 4x4

My BIL picked up a 2nd hand helicopter battery from a mate in the aviation business and stuck it in his Hilux as a replacement for the standard battery.

He reckons they have heaps more cranking power than standard, last about 7 years and are a deep cycle style battery that will run a fridge without a dual kit for about 3 days and still have anough grunt to start your car reliably.

Anyone else here every heard of such a thing and can you think of any drawbacks.

The BIL has been running this for about a year now and has had no issues.

What is an "aircraft" battery depends upon the airplane.

Older light aircraft have nominal 12VDC systems; newer (seventies) small planes are more often than not, 24VDC, and helicopters, well there are very few old helicopters, (and even fewer old helicopter pilots). This may however help to explain where the referenced 12VDC battery was sourced.

With aircraft, weight is a primary consideration. More weight, less fuel or payload, hence aircraft batteries tend to be mechanically weak both internally and externally, and performance oriented, rather than designed with abuse in mind.

Aircraft batteries in very new light aircraft and helicopters could be some sort of Gel or AGM as opposed to Wet - that is having battery caps. In fact if the battery does have battery caps, the caps should be different than what you are used to seeing on a car - that is the caps are vented, but non spill. This means that battery acid is not supposed to leak out when the aircraft is inverted. As such, the cap is probably a good inch or so high, and that can be a clearance or breakage problem in itself.

Gel batteries are desireable in a plane if the electrical system will accept them as they normally do not gas nor leak, both real advantages when the batteries are located rearward for weight and balance reasons.

Gassing batteries seem to find control cables to corrode and leaking batteries let the sun shine in.

Jets and jet props etc use totally different batteries than would ever work in a car by the way - well maybe the hybrids.