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Author Topic: GLOW PLUG DRIVER  (Read 913 times)

Offline Scott Jenkins

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GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« on: June 02, 2008, 10:51:23 AM »
Morning all,
I am tired of not having a glow plug driver to accomdate all the different glow plugs I use ie. K&B, OS Turbo P3 type and Nelson heavy duty. I am thinking about something simple to build and recharge much like the old glow bee units.
How about 4 sanyo 2000 Mah C cells in parallel or, parallel-series to up the volts, with a rheostat potentimeter and a small amp meter with a on/off switch. The rehostat is the stumbling block for me. Better yet if any one has an old Glo bee unit they want to get rid off even better.

Help the Nats is closing in on me very quickly with much to do,

Scott
« Last Edit: June 02, 2008, 01:03:26 PM by Scott Jenkins »
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Scott Jenkins
AMA 43122
FAI F2C VOLUME 2 SECTION 4, 4.3.7
m) During the refuelling and the restart of the motor, and until the time when he releases the model aircraft, the mechanic must keep the model aircraft in contact with the ground by at least one point and with the centre line outside the flight circle. During that time the pilot must be crouching or sitting inside the centre circle. He keeps one hand on the ground and his handle and his lines as close to the ground as defined by the F2C panel of judges until the model aircraft starts again.

Alan Hahn

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2008, 02:57:15 PM »
Is this to kick start the motor as the ESC tries to find the stator orientation? ;)
[glow]
Actually I have really had a lot of luck with the COX glow plug plastic D-Cell battery holder. Two D Alkalines in parallel have started everything I use including standard plugs, Cox heads (with a clip) and Nelson plugs.

I drill two small adjacent holes in the back of the plastic case and use a small wire tie to hold the wires as they come off the terminals. This worked pretty good for Fox racing where I've had to run to where the plane stopped.

[/glow]  ;D
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Offline Scott Jenkins

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2008, 03:17:17 PM »
Alan,

Yea, I usually use two flashlite D cells in a holder but it is hard to read when the juice is low. The nelson and OS plugs do take up to 2 volts to get them good and bright and if they are in a flooded engine forget it. You have to be able to burn off that excess fuel in a pit stop if necessary. Like I said an old glo bee setup is the simplest thing I could think of. A potentimeter (sp) and a meter and a battery thats all I need. The type of batterys came from the fact I have a couple of 7.2 v rc car stick packs laying around to break up and use.
The potentimeter has me stumped though, I would have just checked the ohm readings min/max on the globee and tried to find a like item.

Scott   
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Scott Jenkins
AMA 43122
FAI F2C VOLUME 2 SECTION 4, 4.3.7
m) During the refuelling and the restart of the motor, and until the time when he releases the model aircraft, the mechanic must keep the model aircraft in contact with the ground by at least one point and with the centre line outside the flight circle. During that time the pilot must be crouching or sitting inside the centre circle. He keeps one hand on the ground and his handle and his lines as close to the ground as defined by the F2C panel of judges until the model aircraft starts again.

Offline Mark Scarborough

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2008, 06:22:47 PM »
I choose this! slickest trickest most functional driver I have seen.
http://rcatsystems.com/pdf/ligd_instructions.pdf
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For years the rat race had me going around in circles, Now I do it for fun!
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Alan Hahn

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2008, 06:34:09 PM »
That indeed is slick, and it sure isn't cheap! If I had one of those, I would make sure I started the engine right in front of the judges.
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Offline Scott Jenkins

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2008, 06:59:55 AM »
Nice unit but the cost is way up there and the feature I really do not like is "Auto shut-off, times out after ~90 seconds" if this were say 5 minutes to auto shut off then it would be worth consideration. Having to remember to either turn it on or check the see if it is on during a race is something I do not want to worry about. I will keep looking for a potentimeter that will deliver a maximum of 2 amps at 2 volts max.

Scott   
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Scott Jenkins
AMA 43122
FAI F2C VOLUME 2 SECTION 4, 4.3.7
m) During the refuelling and the restart of the motor, and until the time when he releases the model aircraft, the mechanic must keep the model aircraft in contact with the ground by at least one point and with the centre line outside the flight circle. During that time the pilot must be crouching or sitting inside the centre circle. He keeps one hand on the ground and his handle and his lines as close to the ground as defined by the F2C panel of judges until the model aircraft starts again.

Offline Mark Scarborough

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2008, 07:15:51 AM »
On the RCATS driver, I spoke to the gentleman that produces it. One of his questions was "do you race" apparantly a fair number of his units have been going to CL racing guys. For them he sets the turn off point to the time they want. Yes its a bit expensive. But you charge it once a year, and its sealed pretty weather proof, and its dead reliable. each to their own though.
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For years the rat race had me going around in circles, Now I do it for fun!
EXILED IN PULLMAN WA
AMA 842137

Offline Scott Jenkins

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2008, 10:15:26 AM »
I ended up building my own glo driver using a cyclon 2.5 amp/hr battery and a 0 to 3 amp meter with a .25 ohm resistor to control the amps going into the plug. The unit works ok but I would still like a bit more adjustability. The original globee unit I tried to emulate has a .5 ohm rheostat to control the amperage to the plug. I have tried to locate a rheostat like this but without much luck. Anyone have a source for this rheostat or a acceptable alternative.

Scott
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Scott Jenkins
AMA 43122
FAI F2C VOLUME 2 SECTION 4, 4.3.7
m) During the refuelling and the restart of the motor, and until the time when he releases the model aircraft, the mechanic must keep the model aircraft in contact with the ground by at least one point and with the centre line outside the flight circle. During that time the pilot must be crouching or sitting inside the centre circle. He keeps one hand on the ground and his handle and his lines as close to the ground as defined by the F2C panel of judges until the model aircraft starts again.

Offline don Burke

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Re: GLOW PLUG DRIVER
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2008, 11:51:18 AM »
"On the RCATS driver,..."
I've been using one for well over a year for racing and everything else.  I charged it once after 13 months just for drill and it still had 25% charge left!

I installed a plug-jack in the lead and change the type of end depending on the type of connector I need to make to the plug.
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don Burke AMA 843
Menifee, CA

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