We tested six models of aircraft batteries using an automatic tester supplied by Concorde. Before testing, batteries were conditioned with multiple discharge / charge cycles.

by Kim Santerre

For owners who like to save a few bucks by doing some of their own maintenance, battery care and replacement is high on the list of things you can do yourself. But even if you don’t do your own wrenching, when your battery flunks a capacity test during annual inspection, your shop may call asking for your preferences on replacement.

What do you tell them? We’ll get to that in a moment but as a refresher, refer to our primer on battery technology in the November issue of Aviation Consumer in which we provided basic information on both sealed and flooded (wet cell) batteries, including the generic pros and…