Starting problems always seem to happen at the worst possible time. The engine does not want to start; it won't even crank. It's at times like these that airplane owners realize that a price is paid for all this glory and romance. To some degree that can be blamed on the frequent long-term sitting and lack of attention that we subject our aircraft to. Then again, if you had a '72 Chevy that you drove once a month, it may not start reliably as you'd like either. But there's more to it. It can also be blamed on marginally sized aircraft batteries (about half the relative battery starting capacity compared to an automobile) in fighting the war on weight and space. Flooded aircraft batteries self-discharge one percent or more per day. Sealed batteries self discharge much slower. With our minimally sized aviation batteries, the time before the voltage drops too low to start is not all that great.
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