A little history on batteries & a how to.

[Keith Spriggs]

When I first started in CL the batteries that everyone used were telephone batteries, available at any hardware store to light up the glo plug. Some of you younger people may not know that the old telephones took two 1 1/2 volt batteries. They were about 2 1/2 inch diameter and about 6 inches tall. You used a piece of light cord with a couple of alligator clips on the end. The batteries had either a clip terminal or a screw terminal. When the old telephones disappeared and the batteries became harder to find they came out with the 1 1/2 volt hobby batteries that were the same size of a modern 6 volt lantern battery. Most people also started using a Kwik Klip that looked like a plastic clothes pin with a couple of metal pieces on it.  The hobby batteries and a similar clip are still available by ordering. I had a bunch of engines to bench test and was wishing I had one of the hobby batteries, but I hated to pay the freight on one item. I found an old 6 volt lantern battery and popped the top off it. Just as I suspected there were four 1 1/2 volt batteries inside. They were wired up in series to get the 6 volts. I bought a lantern battery for 1.97, took it home and  rewired it in paralleled I then glued the top back on . Voila a hobby battery.   

Anybody interested in how I did it email me and I will send you some progress pictures.

[frank carlisle]

Those phone batteries lasted a long time!! I used them up till about 1986.
Now I use the little ni-cad ones. The one I am currently using has been in service for about 5 years now and shows no signs of pooping out.

[Jim Thomerson]

That's interesting. I use a 2 volt  5 amp/hr Cyclon like used to be in the old GloBee Fireplug.  Still have the GloBee charger.  You can get used ones cheap from places which sell and service emergency lighting.  The batteries have to be replaced every so often.  They last several years for me.  I have about a 6 ft piece of lamp cord and an clip.

[Warren Wagner]

Anybody interested in how I did it email me and I will send you some progress pictures.

I remember those dry cells well.  I always used two in parallel.   What a contrast to the small NiCad that you can carry in your pocket!!

Why don't you post the pictures here on the forum, then everyone can benefit from your experience.

Thanks.

Warren Wagner

[Louis Rankin]

I found some 4200 MA NIMH sub C batteries at Tower.  They will last a whole Summer.

[Bill Heher]

In my experience the difference between the 1.5v dry cell and the 1.2v from a Ni-Cad can sometimes be the difference between easy starting and not so easy.

Most of the time the Ni-cad works fine, but some occasionally a combination of effects requires a bit more oooomph.  The 1.5v dry cells can help then.

I have a 99 cent 2 D-cell plastic batterey box from Radio Shack that I rewired it to have the 2 cells in parrallel. I keep a pair of Duracell "D" cells stored in the plastic package they sell them in, in my flight box.

If I am having trouble getting an engine started with the Ni-starter I will grab the dry-cell box- pop the Duracells in, and try that. If it lights right off then I know that my Ni-cad may be weak, if it still won't start then I start digging in and changing plugs, checking fuel, etc.

.3 v may not seem like a lot, but its 20% of the 1.5v that the glow plug is designed to use to fire up.

[George]

I remember those dry cells well.  I always used two in parallel.   
Thanks.
Warren Wagner

The large cells were also used for doorbells. I remember using two in parallel also, and having alligator clips on lamp cord wire as connectors before I discovered the Quik-Klip type.
When the batteries were almost dead, you could rewire them in series and get a few more starts.

George

[bill marvel]

During the winter in Southeast Missouri, snow and ice on the ground, several of us would pool our starting dry cells and make up a package of three or four, hooked up to produce  1 1/2 volts (Is that parallel?  I always forget).  We would insulate the bottom of the cells taped together.  We'd wrap the whole package in attic insulation.  It was probably over-kill but six or seven of us flew all winter long. 

If it was really cold, we squirted fuel on the head of the Fox and lit it to warm it up.  I look back in amazement that we didn't set one of those dope-covered, fuel soaked planes on fire!!!!

regards
bill marvel

[Bill Little]

I always used two telephone/door bell batteries in parallel.  I was the first (!) to get a kwick clip when they came out, didn't scratch up the exhaust stack like the old alligator clips!! 

I used electrical tape to hold the two cells together and a couple pieces of scrap lamp cord to do the parallel wiring.  For being kids, we had a LOT of help from people who didn't even fly!  Like telling us to run them in parallel. 

They always DID start the engines pretty good.

Bill <><

[Alan Hahn]

I want to mention that the Nicad voltage vs the dry cell voltage isn't the entire story.

A battery also as an internal resistance. If you put a no-load voltmeter on a freshly charged nicad and new dry cell, you will see this voltage, and it would seem like the nicad suffers in comparison. However if you hook up either battery to a load (like a glow plug), the current (which after all is what is heating up the glow plug) that flows depends not only on the voltage, but upon the resistance not only of the glow plug, but also the batttery, with current= Voltage/(Rbat+Rglow). For the same size cell, the nicad typically has much less internal resistance, and that is why they work so well for us. If you hook up 2 alkaline D cells in parallel, you can halve the effective battery resistance, and then the dry cell does a pretty good job (that's what I use). Using one of the big dry cells is equivalent to lowering the internal resistance (which is depending inversely on the area between the positive and negative foils of the battery). Of course in the end, you can recharge your nicad, but have to buy a new drycell.

[Keith Spriggs]

Here is some information on reworking the 6 volt lantern battery to make a 1 1/2 volt battery. I am going to try to post five pictures. If I don't get all of them in the first message I will post them in subsequent messages. Hopefully the pictures will be in the proper order, if not I am sure you can figure it out. Use a battery with a plastic case. Pry the top off the case. Here is what you will see (Picture # 1)

Cut the wires and remove the individual cells from the case. I didn't cut them before I removed them from the case so I could show what the wiring looked like. If you don't cut the wire before removing the cells, don't let the cases touch or you will short out the battery. Prepare the top of the case by drilling out the rivets or cot them off with a Moto Tool. Enlarge the holes to receive an 8-32 x 3/4 bolt. Prepare the bolts by grinding most of the head off it. (Picture # 2)

Rewire as per ( Picture # 3) I used a little bigger wire than the original to cut down on the resistance.

Make eyes in the ends of the wire for the bolts (Picture # 4) Run bolts up through the top put nuts on them and tighten. I put epoxy around the nuts to secure everything.

Put everything back together and test (Picture # 5) if everything is OK glue top back on with CA glue.

[rob biddle]

  Hey Keith,
 Great minds must think alike I reckon!

 I used to buy 6 volt torch batteries from my local super market for just this very task.

 Initially I'd wire the 4 cells up in parallel. A pack would generally last about a year.

 Drove about a 1/2 hour one day to fly on my own and guess what?, yep flat battery.
No flying that day.

After that I made 2 packs up with 2 cells each, labelled them 1+2.
Used pack no.1 always and kept no.2 fresh for a back up.

Never got caught out again after that.

Now days I use a power panel built in to a quite compact field box, powered by a 7ah 12v sealed lead acid battery.

Even if I fly 2 days a week (hasn't  happened for a while!) I never have to charge it more than twice a year and the current meter gives me advance warning of the batteries condition.

Cheers, Rob.

[George]

Just one more comment for benefit of the younger folk who did not have to go through the doorbell battery era. All flashlight, doorbell, etc. batteries were carbon/zink. Alkaline, nicd, lipo, etc. had not been conceived...the dark ages.

George

[Scott Jenkins]

The old Globee battery pack of past years was one of the best due to being able to vary the amperage or voltage to the plug. Down here in Florida a store called Batteries plus still carries the cyclon battery unfortunately my globee case bit the dust some years ago and yes I miss it. I was wondering if one of you electrical types could diagram a schematic either just like or similar to the globee using the cyclon battery. It would give me and some other a chance to build a decent battery setup for glows.

Scott

[Dave Rolley]

Scott,

The GloBee control was simply a variable resistor in series with the glo plug.  One end of the resistor connected to the battery and the wiper connected to the terminal on the top.  The other end if the resistor wasn't connected.  The orginal red case versions had a 25 W wire wound resistor.  I don't remember the size of the resistor.  Later versions had a carbon resistor.   To charge the battery you would put the resistor to its highest power setting, which was basically a direct connection to the battery.

The other lead had a small 10 amp fuse in the lead between the battery terminal and the top terminal on the case.  The reason for the fuse was simple.  The internal impedence in a 5 Ah Cyclon (nee Gates) is low enough that a direct short can dump the capacity of the cell at around 700 amps.

I'll try to remember to look at my fireplug tonight for the resistor size.

Dave

[Scott Jenkins]

Dave,
I will be the first one to admit that I am electrically challenged, hence the reason to ask for a diagram or schematic. Hopefully I can find the necessary parts at radio shack or a few other sources.

Scott

[Leonard Rennick]

I like your idea of using the the 6v battery and coverting it to 1.5v, it's a little neater than my method. I just take 4 D cell batteries that I by from Costco. I hard wire them together using solid copper wire and some duct tape. Solder on a couple of female banana connectors and your set for a season. That is unless you live here in the Phoenix area.  You may have to have two a season. Temp today is going to be in the mid 80's. One tip that will prolong the battery life is when not in use place it in the freezer. Batteries work by chemical reaction and this will slow it down when not in use.

Leonard Rennick

[Dave Rolley]

Scott,

I'll be in Orlando Dec 9 - 15.  Send me your phone number via email and I'll draw the circuit for you when we get together.

Dave