The Cessna 120-140 Association Forum

So my old 121.5 Sharc 7 is still working but the battery packs went from apx. $35 to $150. Don't know what the hell happened there so checking on new ELT's and the cheapest is $850? What am I missing? Even battery packs are expensive for all the 406 ELT's. I swear I just looked into all this about a year or so ago and didn't see the battery costs go 6X. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

Apologies for the rant

I know the 121.5 isn't satellite monitored anymore.

If you have any installation pics I'd be grateful.

Yeah................. we should all comiserate! The pricing has gone banana's. I wonder what the rational is.............we order them (all types) for customers at work and there's no savings by going to the "better units".
I'm sure there's a reason for the crazy pricing, but no-one has shared it with me.

I have an EBC-102A ELT and it uses a battery pack that is made up of about 6AA batteries wired in series. The pack is now over $100. I wonder what the legalities of just replacing the AA batteries in the pack are?

I wonder what the legalities of just replacing the AA batteries in the pack are?

I've read it's a traceability thing. The actual batteries can't be that much to produce but if you've got a lawyer's pile of paperwork to follow them then there's everyone's cut of the pie.

The AmeriKing units with the off the shelf 'D' batteries is a classic example. The FAA basically put the squeeze on them, couldn't repair them, mystical AD's. Apparently you can't install them anymore even if you do find one.

My Sharc7 has 6 'D' cells wired together. Don't know if they are alkaline or not. Would be a simple thing to make but illegal.

Well, in the grand scheme of things it's more of an annoyance than anything. Only have to deal with it every other year.

8413 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 8:17 am Well, in the grand scheme of things it's more of an annoyance than anything. Only have to deal with it every other year.

Just curious about this, has anyone heard where an ELT was successfully used to actually locate a downed aircraft within a short period of time?

Can't say about downed aircraft, but my CFII is a CAP instructor and they still monitor 121.5. More activations in hangars than anything else. I"ll ask him about rescues....