elec starters

[Bootlegger]

  Happy Thanksgiving Folks, I am looking for an elec starter combo with battery.  Any suggestions?  Thanks a lot

[john e. holliday]

From experience, I had one of the starters with attached battery.  It either had a bad battery pack as it would not hold a charge for very long.   I use a separate starter with a 12 volts sealed gel battery.  Well it is part of the power panel on my pit box.  By the way starter has a spring loaded switch and the other one has a lever..

[SteveMoon]

Hangar 9. It's Horizon's house brand and they make good, quality products.

Steve

[55chevr]

I had the same Sullivan starter for 35 years .... I use an emergency exit light sealed battery.  They last for years if kept reasonably charged.


Joe

[Paul Wood]

The starters with the self contained batteries are much safer in that you don't run the risk of tangling the wires in a prop.  I have found replacement batteries on line from battery supply houses.  The large starters with the wires running to a separate battery are good for big RC engines but not necessary for our CL engines.

Paul

[Gerald Arana]

Real men don't need no stinking electric starters...

Jerry

[Douglas Ames]

Real men don't need no stinking electric starters... 

Jerry

Be careful!

[Mike Griffin]

I bought one from Tower years ago and it is still a running...

Mike

[Ward Van Duzer]

I see a lot of folks tape the sealed batteries to the starters! you really don't need huge batteries.

W.

[Paul Walker]

I bought one from Tower years ago and it is still a running...

Mike

Better check that "off" switch. Doesn't sound like it us working,

 

[Mark Scarborough]

I found the small gel cell that came with the onboard starter was worthless,, I use an older 14.8 volt ( 4S) lipo pack,, I can charge it with my other flight batteries,, it was spare,, it was to old to fly with, and it spins the starter great,,

of course now as cool as it is, I suppose I still need to fly some glow so I can use it,,

[Mike Griffin]

Better check that "off" switch. Doesn't sound like it us working,

 

That gave me a good belly laugh Paul.  Thanks.. I needed that...Happy Thanksgiving .....

Mike

[Steve Helmick]

I have and use a Kavan starter with nicad pack underneath. It has planetary gears, apparently, so it is compact and runs at a nice speed. The problem is that Mr. Kavan retired, sold the company (maybe to SIG?), and finding parts or a new unit may not be easy...and definitely not cheap. Many of the imported starters I've seen developed very little torque...so you're doing the right thing by doing some research. The Kavan is great, but also....

You can buy a standard sized Sullivan starter at any swap meet for $10-$20....highly recommended. You can get various spinner cones for them at most LHS and Tower, including for needle nose spinners, which are a bit of a problem unless properly equipped. Their standard unit is wonderful...and you can hang a battery under it. Howard had some sort of batteries in a Tupperware sandwich box bolted on underneath...as clever as expected.

I'm not expecting my Kavan starter to last a lot longer, so I'm getting setup to use a swap meet Sullivan, with a power panel and 7 amp gel cell. Our home alarm uses those for backup when the 110v goes out, by the way. I can get a new one at my local hardware store. The thing to remember about gel cells is that they like to be recharged ASAP after discharge.    Steve

[Fred Cronenwett]

I have a flight box with a 12 volt motorcycle battery and a power panel

I use a royal heavy duty starter that is old but still works, the glow plug cord and starter plug into the power panel

Well worth the investment, after flying several twins the starter is a huge safety improvement. After flying with everything from a .15 up to a .90 glow engine the starter keeps the fingers safe!

Fred

[DanielGelinas]

Well, for starters, lets start by stating that starters can start engines but can also start to destroy the connecting rod....
OK, I use them sometimes also....
Hangar 9 with a yard tractor battery...
-Dan

[Randy Cuberly]

Hangar 9. It's Horizon's house brand and they make good, quality products.

Steve

Yeah Steve, that's what I have also.  It doesn't get a lot of use but it always works when needed...

Randy Cuberly

[55chevr]

I cant choke the Venturi on the Saito 40 powered Smoothie because it is buried in the fuselage. Just spin the engine over with the starter with my finger covering the muffler exit. The plane has muffler pressure and that acts like a fuel pump.  I can see the line fill.  You start it by hand from there if you want to. The Bob Reeves carb makes this the best setup I have had on an IC engine.

Joe

[Curare]

A 3S 2200 lipo has worked for me for the last 5 years, you just need to make sure that yuo don't over discharge the pack. A periodic check with a cell tester is all that's needed.

And in between starts it can be used to power your battery drill:)

[john e. holliday]

Paul, I'm still laughing about checking the off switch.   Now folks, if you think you don't have enough torque,  put 24 volts to the starter.