Plug battery

[BillLee]

Does anybody use Li-Ion batteries for glow plug? Ni-Mh?

Regards,

Bill

[kenneth cook]

         I use the RCAT glow driver which is lithium battery powered. Last months on a single charge.

[Dan McEntee]

  The glow driver I got from Bill Bischoff uses two Ni-Mh batteries.  I take it to the field as a back up for my starter box, and plan to build another, smaller box with that in it as my plug ignitor.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[GERALD WIMMER]

Hello Been using a 12.8 volt 12amphour Lithuim Iron motorcycle size cell for our glow driver and starter. It has worked well for the last 8months and is much lighter (1/2 the weight) then our old 12volt 12ah lead acid (SLA) battery . Still have a Nimh AA single Enelope cell powered push on for emergency use but has not been need since we swapped from lead.
Regards Gerald

[Paul Wescott]

Hello Been using a 12.8 volt 12amphour Lithuim Iron motorcycle size cell for our glow driver and starter. It has worked well for the last 8months and is much lighter (1/2 the weight) then our old 12volt 12ah lead acid (SLA) battery . Still have a Nimh AA single Enelope cell powered push on for emergency use but has not been need since we swapped from lead.
Regards Gerald

What Gerald said.  Available on eBay.  If you don’t want the $150 motorcycle size, they have $60 gel-cell size that we are all familiar with, and many other smaller shapes and sizes, all based on arrays of 18650 cells.

[Brett Buck]

Does anybody use Li-Ion batteries for glow plug? Ni-Mh?

  The McDaniel batteries are NiMH, much better than the previous NiCADs.

     Brett

[Reptoid]

Does anybody use Li-Ion batteries for glow plug? Ni-Mh?

Regards,

Bill

Hi Bill, Long time no see.
 I built my own glow driver for F2D and other flying. Being an Electronics Engineer I knew there were good alternatives out there. I use one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-USA-5AMP-XL4015DC-DC-Step-Down-Adjustable-Power-Module-LED-Lithium-Charger-/254462849256?hash=item3b3f2af0e8
(the link is for two so $4 ea.)
I use two cells of li-ion battery for input (=8.4V @ full chg) Output is adjustable. Like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/122826635369?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649
Or this:https://www.ebay.com/itm/4PCS-UF-3-7V-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Battery-Flat-Top-Head-US-Fast-Ship-/174275835314?hash=item2893a635b2
You can use multi function charger set on 2 cell Li-ion or lipo (3.7V x 2) or you can use one of these for a no brainer :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N75MMG6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Clip style and container are up to you. For combat we use an led in the clothespin clip on 5' leads and the batt and driver in a small lipo bag. For Nelson type plugs; Initially set voltage at clip to 1.65V open, then with plug connected 1.4V @ plug (Very bright). Set the Pot on the board to minimum before applying voltage to clip or plug (at least 10 turns to left) to avoid smoke.
If you want to use it for std. glow plugs you will have to set the voltage lower or put a .1 Ohm resister in series with output lead. You can install a switch to bypass the resister for Nelson plugs.
So much better than 2V lead/acid cell. Last longer, WAAAAY lighter
PM me if you have questions

[phil c]

Horizon Hobbies makes glow stick starting batteries, the kind with a twist lock and two finger plunger to lock onto the plug.
Several manufacturers, the all us NiMhydride 2600mah batteries.

Have had a lot of troubles with lead acid 12 volt glow driver set ups.  The batteries kept leaking off charge.

I used the glow stick style last Sunday at a combat contest.  4 one flip starts.  Can't ask for more.

[frank williams]

does anyone have any experience with this ?
https://www.singahobby.com/index.php/rcdevice-rcd3011-super-glow-driver.html

I just built the one described by reptoid above ... put it into a TicTac box .... works great

[frank williams]

This is the TicTac UFO glow driver.  The rocker switch is a lighted switch, but since the system isn't 12V it doesn't light.  Probably should have to only charge it once a year.  Battery drain if you leave the switch on isn't much at all.  It could be  probably packaged to fit into the GlowBee charger bottom but an on/off would be needed to be added.

[Doug Moisuk]

D size 5000ma Nicad. Lasts all summer.

[Istvan Travnik]

My bet is so simple, and gives 2 volts, proper voltage for most plugs.
Buy a 6 volts, three cell cheap acidic gel battery   with 4,5 ÷ 10 Ah capacity, in some safety technology shop. (Continous source for alarm sets).
Cut it into two parts. (Wear safety glasses and rubber gloves!)
Gently remove middle (No2) cell, wash it and throw away in safety collector place, as described.
Clean the lead connector bridges, and build (solder on) connecting tongues, similarly to the existing ones, on No1 and No3 cells.
Clean the plastic wall's residue into nice, plain surface.
It is up to you, if you will use as a single cell, or, will you glue together the cleaned cells, now with accessible single cells' poles.
Cheapest, compact and very durable solution.
Istvan

[Reptoid]

I just built the one described by reptoid above ... put it into a TicTac box .... works great
[/quote]

Glad you like it. Did you add a charge jack? I've built several and the ones I put in a small plastic box I added a charge jack that accepts the charge plug on the charger I listed.

[frank williams]

Yes ... the charge jack is down in the box... it's head is near the plug line outlet and can be accessed with some hemostats or if needed by flipping the lid and extracting it ... I used the charger you listed in your post .... put a fuse in the input

[mccoy40]

I use Sonic Tronics glow driver.

Made in the USA, right down the road from where I live. They are RC enthusiasts and are big time modelers.

The battteries are NImh. They have a trade in policy for their old glow drivers so the price was discounted about 40%.   

My old glow driver lasted about six years.


Real nice couple.   

[FLOYD CARTER]

Lithium chemistry results in open circuit voltage of 3.7 volts.  Too much for our  glo plugs.    Ni-Cd or Ni-MH chemistry has a terminal voltage of 1.2 volts,  within the safe operating range of our glo plugs.

[frank williams]

Model Builder magazine (Jan 1976) had an article for the first glow driver that of I'm aware of.  Our club members built several of these with good success.  This is the only glow driver that will actually make the plug glow brighter under water than out in the air.  Current glow drivers that I've used are good (RCATS, SonicTronics,etc) but the underwater test was never as impressive as with the Model Builder circuit.  Just might build another to refresh my impressions.

https://rclibrary.co.uk/title_details.asp?ID=2254

[Reptoid]

Lithium chemistry results in open circuit voltage of 3.7 volts.  Too much for our  glo plugs.    Ni-Cd or Ni-MH chemistry has a terminal voltage of 1.2 volts,  within the safe operating range of our glo plugs.

Maybe you missed the point? We are not driving the plug directly with LiPo or LiIon. We are using a solid state circuit to get adjustable voltage for the plug. Way more efficient than direct.

[Lyle Spiegel]

Does anyone still use 2V Willard lead-acid with dropping resistor? I still have mine, but prefer Sonictronics NiMh

[John Craig]

https://radiosouthrc.com/radio-south-products/pro-driver-mk-iii/

[FLOYD CARTER]

Does anybody use Li-Ion batteries for glow plug? Ni-Mh?

Regards,

Bill

The original post says nothing about an electronic glo driver circuit between battery and glo plug.  It seems to indicate a battery connected to a glo -plug. Nothing more.

[Reptoid]

The original post says nothing about an electronic glo driver circuit between battery and glo plug.  It seems to indicate a battery connected to a glo -plug. Nothing more.

Did you read the follow on posts? You can't hook up a lithium battery to a glo plug unless you want to burn it up. Even a 2 volt lead acid battery will burn out a glo plug if it's fully charged and you hook the plug directly to the battery. The voltage at the plug drops because of the resistance of long leads or a dropping resister between the plug and the battery.

[Istvan Travnik]

Dear Dan,
That is not equal, to use a 3.7 Volts Li, or 2.0 Volts Pb battery (I use nominal figures).
Since the power thru a plug, or anything else, as resistor, looks as follows:  U^2 / R, where is U: Voltage (in Volts), R: resistence (in Ohms).
That means Li gives  (3.7 / 2)^2 = 3.42 (Three-point-forty-two) times more power. 
Personally, I always used one cell Pb since 1968, and no one plug blown. (For the truth, with 2' long wires, and Graupner clip. )
There was a few years break, when I used 7Ah , 1.2 volts Ni-Cd cells (two cells) from SAFT (France); one was unsufficient in cold weather.
Istvan

[frank williams]

I rebuilt my TicTac Glow Driver with the sibling circuit board of the original.  It comes with a built-in voltmeter.  Having the voltmeter solves the problem of not having a light indicator as a reminder that the switch is on.  The voltmeter can be toggled between displaying the input or the output voltage.  So far works like a charm.  A setting of about 2 volts at the output gives a nice strong glow.