EarthX ETX1600 User manual

EarthXLithium
BatteryUser’s
Manual
Copyright© 2023 EarthX, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained in this document is the property of EarthX, Inc.
EarthX reserves the right to make changes to its documents or products without notice. It is the responsibility of each user to
ensure that all applications of EarthX’s products are as intended and safe based on conditions anticipated or encountered during
use. The EarthX logo is a trademark of EarthX, Inc
11017_AB

ETX- S E R I E S L I T H I U M B A T T E R I E S
Table of Contents
Overview...........................................................................................1
Technology Inside............................................................................. 1
Battery Cells....................................................................................1
ETZ-Series - BMS...........................................................................2
ETX-Series - BMS...........................................................................2
ETX-Hundred Series - BMS............................................................3
Operating Instruction.........................................................................4
Normal Operation............................................................................4
Abnormal Operation........................................................................4
Monitoring .......................................................................................4
Limitations.........................................................................................5
Specifications.................................................................................... 6
Discharge Versus Temperature....................................................... 22
Self-discharge Rates....................................................................... 23
Discharge Curves............................................................................ 23
Installation....................................................................................... 25
Battery Installation.........................................................................25
Fault Monitoring Installation (ETX-Hundred Series)......................26
Voltage Monitoring Alert Recommendation (Existing Aircraft Equipment if
applicable).....................................................................................30
Vent Tubing Installation (Model with part # that end in VNT) ........31
Battery Inspection and Testing........................................................ 35
Charging ......................................................................................... 36
Storage ........................................................................................... 39
Warranty ......................................................................................... 39
Troubleshooting .............................................................................. 40
Regulations..................................................................................... 41
Terminology .................................................................................... 41
I C O N K E Y
Valuable information
Caution

ETX- S E R I E S L I T H I U M B A T T E R I E S
1
Overview
EarthX Lithium batteries are designed as a maintenance free replacement for the 12-volt
lead-acid or lithium batteries. To ensure a smooth replacement process, our batteries are
similar in dimensions to many OEM motorsport or power sport batteries. Our 12V
replacement lithium battery consists of 4 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) cells in series
and one or more in parallel with built in electronics to protect the lithium cells.
Our lithium cells together with our Battery Management System (BMS) create the safest
lithium battery on the market, with more starting power, and longer life.
The common features of our Lithium Batteries.
•Flexible battery connection –with center mounted terminals and terminal adapters,
the same batteries can be used in either left or right-side polarity applications.
•Longer Storage Life –there is no need to float charge in the off season if outside of
vehicle.
•Environmentally Friendly –no hazardous chemicals and it can be recycled.
•Fast Charge –can be fully charged in less than an hour (if charged at the maximum
recommended charge rate)
•Maintenance Free!
•No Special mounting direction (could even be mounted up-side-down)
•Will Not Freeze or Boil Over –Lithium batteries are dry cell technology and will not
freeze or boil ever.
Failure to follow all application use, installation, charging, and storage instructions may result
in battery damage and or fire!
Technology Inside
Battery Cells
Our batteries use cells made of Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). This chemistry is one of
the highest performing and safest on the market today.
Lithium batteries are fundamentally different than lead-acid batteries. A lithium battery
voltage remains relatively constant while discharging, while voltage for a lead-acid battery
decrease. A lithium battery’s storage capability is nearly 100% usable (measured as Amp-
Hour, Ah); while a lead-acid battery designed for motorsports typically only has 30% useful
storage. As such, a 2Ah lithium battery has the equivalent “useable” capacity to a 6Ah lead-
acid. Also, a lithium battery’s cranking power is stronger, for the voltage while cranking is
generally higher. But when the lithium battery runs out of power it does so more abruptly.

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2
LiFePO4cells by the nature of their chemistry are 3.3 volt. 12V lithium batteries are created
by using 4 cells in series (technically it is a 13.2-volt battery, but nominally full charge voltage
is >13.3V). Lead-acid batteries are made with 6 cells in series. Another difference is that
lithium cells are dry cell technology, where the cells are packaged individually. As such, the
individual cell’s charge level will diverge with repeated charge/discharge cycles and age. This
condition reduces the performance of the battery (reduces capacity), for the battery charge
level is only as good as the charge level of the weakest cell. Moreover, charging a battery
with unbalanced cells results in one or more cells reaching the maximum charge (voltage)
level before the rest of the cells in the series, which leads to over-charging of the cell(s) and
eventual failure.
ETZ-Series - BMS
All EarthX integrated BMSs continuously monitor each cell’s voltage as part of the cell
balancing and over-charge protection. If the voltage of a cell exceeds the others, the BMS
circuits will work to reduce that cell’s charge level. This ensures that the charge level of all
the cells remains equal, even with the high discharge (> 100Amps) and charge current
(>10Amps) of your vehicle.
A cell can be permanently damaged if over-charged (over-voltage) just one time. The BMS
has circuitry to block incoming current to the battery from the charging system if the voltage
exceeds 15.5 volts (an over-charge condition). Once the voltage level is below 15.5V, the
BMS will automatically reset itself. The ETX-Hundred Series batteries have enhanced over-
charge protection; see the ETX-Hundred Series section below for more details.
The ETZ-Series BMS has short circuit protection, but it is not resettable or repairable.
ETX-Series - BMS
The ETX-Series BMS has all the features of the ETZ-Series, plus over-discharged protection
(completely draining the battery), excessive cranking protection, and short-circuit protection.
The BMS disconnects the battery from the load if it is drained to less than 5% remaining
charge (an over-discharge condition). An over-discharged battery typically has a voltage less
than 11.0V. If the BMS disconnects the battery, the voltage reading of the battery will be
zero volts.
Excessive cranking protection logic includes temperature monitoring to limit “high current
use” (engine cranking) to 2 -35 seconds in any 60 second period.
If the battery terminals are “shorted” (or a low impedance load is connected across
terminals), which causes the battery volts to instantaneously drop to a very low level, the
battery will disconnect from the load to protect the cells and BMS from damage (short
circuit protection). If the BMS disconnects due to excessive cranking protection or short
circuit protection, the BMS will automatically reconnect after a cooldown period (typically 1-
3 minutes). The ETX-Series is designed for short circuit protection > 1000 Amps.

ETX- S E R I E S L I T H I U M B A T T E R I E S
3
Excessive Cranking Time vs Temperature and Amps (representative
curve for ETX-Hundred Series)
ETX-Hundred Series - BMS
Only the ETX-Hundred Series battery models are recommended for use as the primary
aircraft battery (starter battery). In addition to the features found in the ETZ-Series and
ETX-Series motorsports batteries, critical electronic circuits are redundant, the over-charge
protection is enhanced, and fault indication is included. All components associated with the
main electronic battery disconnect are redundant. The built-in redundancy and fail-safe
design (default is to allow charge / discharge current flow to/from battery) ensures that no
single point failure results in the battery unintentionally disconnecting. The design aligns
with the requirements for an FAA approved lithium battery as per RTCA performance
specification DO-311a and DO-160. Our ETX900-VNT includes a thermal run-away
containment system making it fully compliant with DO-311a specification.
In the event of a charging system failure where the voltage increases to above 15.5V, the
resistance to charging current increases, and above 16V the charging current is completely
blocked. The time delay for this feature is 3 seconds to allow the aircraft alternator’s over
voltage protection (crowbar circuit) to activate first. This design offers charge voltage
protection greater than 40V. The discharge current (current out of battery) is unaffected in
this situation. EarthX requires having automatic over-voltage protection (crowbar) for
alternator type charging systems (not required for <20 Amp pad mount standby alternators).
The battery’s microcontroller monitors all failure modes, and reports failures with a built-in
LED indicator and discrete output. The discrete output for external fault monitoring is a