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Choosing the right ELT

G

garrys

Active Member
My 2 year old Ameri-King AK451 ELT is broken......continuously alarms and doesn't shut off. The Search and Rescue people aren't happy! When I called Ameri-King I was informed they lost their FAA certification and can no longer either sell nor repair their units. So, I'm in the market for a new one. I'm looking for suggestions for a replacement. Nothing fancy....just 306 and 121.5 Mhz. Y'all's suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you.
 
Do you mean 406? I am happy with the Kannad I bought. 6 year battery, internal backup GPS antenna Ect.
 
I'll second the vote for the Kannad products. Not the cheapest ELT on the market but, so far, all of them I have installed or recommended to friends to install have performed perfectly. If the ELT is to be mounted where it might have a view of the sky, getting the Kannad Integra is a good bet because it has an internal GPS and an internal 406MHz antenna that it uses as a backup in the event the external antenna is swept off the airframe or the coax cable is severed.
 
I also have the AmeriKing and am less than happy that they have lost their FAA approval. However, I wouldn't ditch it just yet necessarily. I had an issue with mine activating unprovoked and it turned out to be a flat battery/terminal corrosion in the remote unit. The battery life is quoted at 3 years but I now change mine every annual. Also, there are several outlets still selling the Lithium batteries to replace the main pack - so there may be life in the old dog yet rather than fork out several hundred $$$
 
Lynnb - short answer is yes, Kannad 406 Compact AF, or in my case, 406 Integra which is based on the Compact.

paul330 - I see you are writing from South Africa. I can't comment on your local regulations and you might just be lucky enough to be able to fabricate your own battery pack using commercially-sourced cells. It's worthwhile doing an in-depth review of South Africa's airworthiness regulations.

This is a topic which has been discussed here at length as it is a common misconception that one can source lithium batteries and build one's own battery pack for a 406MHz ELT. For US and Canadian-registered aircraft, the ONLY approved source for batteries is that listed in the approved installation/maintenance manual. Use of any other battery invalidates the TSO certification of the unit. Unfortunately for us, the approved batteries for 406MHz ELTs are listed by the ELT manufacturer's part number for the battery pack, not the manufacturer's part number for the individual lithium cells. Bummer (says the guy who just paid CAD$380 for a new battery pack!).

Both US and Canadian-registered aircraft are required to carry an ELT compliant with TSO C91, C91a or C126 - there is no wiggle room on this point. There have been some good discussions on this topic - check out these for some good reading.
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=148658&highlight=elt+battery+tso
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=145274&highlight=elt+battery+tso
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=132690&highlight=elt+battery+tso
 
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