TCW backup batteries approved by FAA
Avionics power in a pinch
A Pennsylvania company that has provided backup batteries for experimental category airplanes for more than a decade now has approval to install them in a broad range of FAA-certified general aviation aircraft.
TCW Technologies has obtained an FAA supplemental type certificate to install its backup batteries designed to power critical avionics in about 100 Beechcraft, Cessna, Grumman, Mooney, and Piper aircraft. The firm already has about 8,000 of its backup batteries in experimental category aircraft.
TCW backup batteries are available for both 12- and 24-volt electrical systems, and they provide about one hour of emergency power for avionics such as a GPS nav/com and primary flight display. Retail prices range from about $600 to $1,100.
The lithium-iron-phosphate backup batteries are connected to the aircraft electrical system and selected avionics. If the aircraft electrical system fails, the backup battery automatically provides power.
TCW units are fully self-contained, and can be mounted almost anywhere in an aircraft.
The company plans to rapidly increase the kinds of aircraft eligible for its backup batteries. The list currently contains single- and multiengine pressurized and unpressurized airplanes with a maximum operating weight of 6,000 pounds or less.
TCW has been working to gain FAA approval via STC for about six years.
“It’s been quite a journey,” Newman said. “I didn’t want to talk about the product until it was approved, and now we’re there. We’ve got it in writing from the FAA, and we’ve got backup batteries in stock right now.”
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