I have the clips used with cox glow plugs but what kind of current battery can they be connected to?  Availability at Brodak?  Battery Warehouse?

Thanks

I just remembered using holders for ordinary D sized batteries strung together in parallel.

Keep in mind you need 1.5 volts and a few amps at the clip. D -cells provide the right voltage, but it sure works swell to use 3 or 4 batteries for their combined/extra amperage. A battery box like this can last several weeks of light use.
Rechargable 1.2 Volt (or is it it 1.3 V?) cells can be used, but they provide a lower voltage that must be offset by using a cell or two more in your pack.

These days I use a starter box with power panel and a 12V Emergency Light battery. once or twice a season the battery gets recharged.

Alternatively, eBay vendors sell a digital voltage regulator that connects to a bigger battery and provides the 1.5 volts regulated to the glow plug. That little module is about the size of a small pack of chewing gum.
Example batteries are as simple as am emergency flood light battery as power source in, and your glow clip on the output side.

But you want it now?

I used to make a box around 3 or 4 D-cells. This is either cheap tomato crate plywood, or in a real pinch, cereal box cardboard. This is just something, even duck tape, to hold the batteries side by side and IN PARALLEL.

I've used storage folder stiffeners to make the positive/negative bus bars in the box. Terminate externally with the glow head clip.

One time in desperation I used only popsicle/craft sticks and hot glue to make two caps zip-tied around the batteries.

The battery contacts were split brass paper fasteners and spring-loaded using foam tape. Each fastener was daisy-chained to the next with the last connection being the glow head clip. the caps are secured to the battery ends using zip ties. The wire terminations were simply one leg of each fastener crimped around a wire skinned at each one.

It was ugly. It worked fine.

Another time I used paint stirring sticks in place of popsicle sticks. The rest was as above.

Yes, it too was ugly...and worked fine.

Once you buy a pack of D-cells, ten minutes in your scrap pile should yield a small battery box.

I found four D Cell plastic boxes which link together in parallel.  I will try those first even though I found new ones on Amazon. These are found easily on Amazon.  I cancelled my order when I found the ones I have had for a couple of years.  Too much stuff. I know it is time to part with some of this stuff but when and how??? I just inherited a bunch of my brother's stuff after he died in February. Thanks Jim, I will link 3 or 4 together. I know think it will work.

6 will work for a whole season of speed flying

            Allen, when you say you have the Cox battery clip, are you referring to the stock Cox clip which has the yellow handle portion and the blue and red wiring. If so, these work but they're somewhat undersized in terms of wire gauge size. While it works, the wire size creates some internal resistance which will taxi the battery. I have replaced the wire with heavier wire which isn't exactly easy to do but the battery life is increased not too mention it improves starting . The other issue with the stock Cox clip is that the fine stranded wire used can be exposed inside the yellow handle portion and this can cause shorting which isn't as much as a dead short, just enough to slowly drain the batteries down.There's limited room inside the yellow portion but I was able to separate and use silicon to insulate the two leads.

I've used these for about 15 years.  You get four, and I wire two together in parallel with the holders cable tied back to back.  Works great.


Battery Holder

Quote from: kenneth cook on June 24, 2026, 08:47:57 AMAllen, when you say you have the Cox battery clip, are you referring to the stock Cox clip which has the yellow handle portion and the blue and red wiring. If so, these work but they're somewhat undersized in terms of wire gauge size. While it works, the wire size creates some internal resistance which will taxi the battery. I have replaced the wire with heavier wire which isn't exactly easy to do but the battery life is increased not too mention it improves starting . The other issue with the stock Cox clip is that the fine stranded wire used can be exposed inside the yellow handle portion and this can cause shorting which isn't as much as a dead short, just enough to slowly drain the batteries down.There's limited room inside the yellow portion but I was able to separate and use silicon to insulate the two leads.

  Another thing about the original Cox clip is that the wire gets corroded, and it won't carry any current. I have tried several with a known good battery and a known good glow plug and the plug wouldn't light. Measured with a meter one of the two wires just really high resistance or just open. Sometimes if you strip the wire back it can be black on one side or the other. These can be repaired and the wire replaced, though and it's worth the effort, as sometimes these are just the ticket in certain instances. I think It was Bill Bishoff posted that somewhere years ago and that's how I found out about it. It matched up with what I knew about low RC voltage and current use and what some guys called "black death" back in my R/C days and people having sudden radio failures with equipment that had been super reliable for a long time. The black corrosion would form on the negative wire in the switch harness, and when it got to a certain point, it was lights out for that system!! Many guys were in the habit of changing out harnesses each year if they flew a lot.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
   

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