ELT's new

[6597]

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.

[V529]

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.

[8413]

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?

[6597]

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.