Glow Plug Igniter with CONSTANT CURRENT --Oz--

Is the Rcats a (constant) resistance driver?

i know he posted he has some back in stock

and my mentor FredT actually SHOWED me his working yesterday.

its pretty cool. but I am also pretty cheap.

I've been having fistfights with my 2 Dcells lately, and fierce problems getting a dang engine to start...
maybe. hmmm MAYBE

Fred also had a super cool Dubro 1/2a glow plug clip like I've never seen before, I need to look for

I've found that 4 D-cell alkalines work better than two, lasts longer. Back in the mid 1970's, worked a summer for Research Corp., who was working for the Bekesy Laboratory for Geophysics at the University of Hawaii. (Was good cheap labor at minimum wage as a student hire.) There, they tasked me with removing old battery packs from the ocean bottom seismometer electronic racks inside the large diameter tubing (about 10 inches in dia. inside) aluminum pressure casing. There was like about 18 Duracell D batteries all soldered together. (These provided power to these seismometers dropped off coastal waters up to about 200 feet depth for several weeks at a time.)

We took them out, discarded them, then manually made up a new battery pack by soldering wiring in series new D cells. (They had really nice temperature controlled soldering stations.)

I asked if I could take home the removed batteries for my own use, which they permitted. After work, there in their lab, after sorting out the best of those used batteries, I soldered about 7 or 8 cells together in parallel, and made me an ultimate glow plug / head ignitor.

With so many cells, that "free" pack lasted me over a year, with many successful engine starts.

As we all know (or should), you need to have all your ducks in a row for the motor to start.

1. good plug
2. not flooded and primed properly
3. sufficient power to light the glow plug
4. good enough plug connection, wires and battery (or source) connection

With the little cox motors and the stock semi crummy glow clip connection and tiny undersized wires is one of the bigger issues, especially after its been used a while and fuel soaked/oxidized/etc. This is exactly where constant current helps, it overcomes all these voltage drops.

I think most of the resistance I have received in posts in this thread already know how to properly have their ducks in a row and dont have item #4 issues, and some dont have an issue paying $130 for the Rcats driver.

I dislike non rechargeable batteries, 9v being the worst at $4 a pop. D cells are about 5 bucks or so a pair and do work until they dont. I recycle quite a few Li-Ion cells for free from used notebook batteries/etc, a cv/cc modules are dirt cheap, only thing left is item #4, then your set for a long while.

Some time back I had a heavy duty glow head clip similar to a fancy clothes line clip but all metal that I mounted 16 gauge lamp cord wiring to, with spade lugs to connect to a 1.5 Volt ignition battery about the size of a 6V lantern battery or the Ray-O-Vac single cell about the size of a tall steel travel mug.

There was no problem with the wire carrying the current, certainly better than the Cox factory glow plug clip that had smaller 18 or 20 gauge wiring.

GallopingGhostler wrote:Some time back I had a heavy duty glow head clip similar to a fancy clothes line clip but all metal that I mounted 16 gauge lamp cord wiring to, with spade lugs to connect to a 1.5 Volt ignition battery about the size of a 6V lantern battery or the Ray-O-Vac single cell about the size of a tall steel travel mug.

There was no problem with the wire carrying the current, certainly better than the Cox factory glow plug clip that had smaller 18 or 20 gauge wiring.

And with this eliminating all 3 of the voltage drops in item 4. This will save many headaches.Some don't take the time to improve or buy better item number 4.

If you look at the rcats, it can output up to 1.8v (I read), and so has a advantage for floods and I want it started NOW. And one reason peeps pay that much for it.

I found my 2 D-cell custom ignitor made from an old quality ignitor clip, 14 gauge stranded wire and a Radio Shack battery box.


One battery shows sign of heavy leakage. I removed both, then used white distilled vinegar raw to neutralize and remove the dried crusted alkaline leakage. Then carefully flushed it with clean water. It cleaned up nicely.


I'll have to do additional repairs as the already cracked box now has split separating the end. Once I do this, then will have a good ignitor to light off my half-A's and other engines.

really like the clip George! @GallopingGhostler You can have all the fancy electronics in the world, but if the wiring and clip are not up to it you will have problems however you supply the current.

GallopingGhostler wrote:I found my 2 D-cell custom ignitor made from an old quality ignitor clip, 14 gauge stranded wire and a Radio Shack battery box.

One battery shows sign of heavy leakage. I removed both, then used white distilled vinegar raw to neutralize and remove the dried crusted alkaline leakage. Then carefully flushed it with clean water. It cleaned up nicely.

I'll have to do additional repairs as the already cracked box now has split separating the end. Once I do this, then will have a good ignitor to light off my half-A's and other engines.

That cleaned up well, and I like the clip. Do you know who makes it?
The short and thick wires, plus the nice clip goes along way.
Also I noticed your cell holder has the cells in parallel, did you modify it or buy it that way?
TIA

Hi George, good work Isn't it shorted due to metal body and pivot? There must be an insulation between upper and lower parts of that clip?

Levent Suberk wrote:Hi George, good work  Isn't it shorted due to metal body and pivot? There must be an insulation between upper and lower parts of that clip?

There is at least a 0.25 inch (5 mm) gap between the two ends in its relaxed state, they do not touch and short out. The photo does not do it justice.

Reading about contstant voltage or current  reminded me of some modules avaiable on sites like banggood.
So got one and this is the result:



link to module: Dc-Dc convertor

With these modules you can limit both the voltage and current; each has a multiturn potmeter.
Started out with 1.5v at the module but the glowplug was really dimm.
Keep in mind the wire is 2.2 meters long; this is a tradition from the time i used a 2v lead cell as my first glow driver.
So when i measured the voltage at the plug it was just 0.8 volt.
Increased the voltage to 1.4 at the plug and that gave a nice bright orange .
Current is turned to max (all the way clockwise on the pot) and that is limited to 5 amp

Power can be anything between 5 and 32 volt  so a 2 cell lipo would work or in my case a 6 cell nicad (yes that old)
Keep in mind that there is no undervoltage protection so you might want to add a lipotester to your setup.

Cost for the module is about $5 as long you do not mind waiting for the slow postage. these are all over ebay ect if you want faster delivery.

Weather is [bleep] here so no run test yet.

Also mine arived defective; one side of the inductor/coil had a poor solder joint and did not make contact so check that if you choose to get one and it does not have any voltage on its output.

cmulder wrote:Reading about contstant voltage or current  reminded me of some modules avaiable on sites like banggood.
So got one and this is the result:

What fun is that, when you can just buy a premade unit for $30 or $130?
Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?
Just use D cell batteries.
All that was sarcastic.
Well done!

Your very lengthy cable needed a adjustment for the extra voltage drop. Also these modules are less than $2 on Ali, add a old battery and you are way ahead of buying the D alkaline batteries on the initial upfront cost and thereafter, win win.
Since they are switching buck converters, they are pretty efficient too.

What glow clip is that, do you have a name or a link?

No Idea who made it or if its still avaiable .
It came with a batch of old rc things that where stored in a damp shed for about 20 years.
The yellow nicad pack was part of it too and for some reason surfived for all that time.
And yes the voltage loss was the exact reason for the long wire; the original 2 volt lead cell would burn out plugs with shorter wire.
After that i got a starter box with power panel/ glow driver that i still use.
With that a long cable is also convenient so the box can be away from the oil spray.

Also another advantage of the conveter board is that it has 3 status lights and one shows if there is current flowing.
That shows if the clip makes contact and if the plug is burned out or not.
The clear tubing around the board is so i can still see the lights and protect it from dirt and damage.

cmulder wrote:Reading about contstant voltage or current  reminded me of some modules avaiable on sites like banggood.
So got one and this is the result: .................

With these modules you can limit both the voltage and current; each has a multiturn potmeter....

The weather is [bleep] here so no run test yet...........

I've been looking at several of these, mostly on Banggood and Aliexpress, to use as a glowplug driver and for other electronic projects. For the glow driver, my inclination would be to replace the two cermets with a couple of 10 turn pots wired into an ammeter/voltmeter digital panel for use in my field box. I could change the voltage/current at will and get an idea how my plugs are doing.

Waiting to hear how yours works out.

a--

Qty=10 for $14 or $16 (I prefer the blue on on the right)
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832488405493.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.30.36051802IJfb57&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&_randl_shipto=US

If you want one with a volt/amp display.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251800942000498.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.2.46357bf7cOhzEV&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.291025.0&scm_id=1007.13339.291025.0&scm-url=1007.13339.291025.0&pvid=b9deecd2-f6ad-4abf-8279-f95b93556a34&_t=gps-id%3ApcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller%2Cscm-url%3A1007.13339.291025.0%2Cpvid%3Ab9deecd2-f6ad-4abf-8279-f95b93556a34%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238112%231997&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000018432048275%22%2C%22sceneId%22%3A%223339%22%7D&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21USD%210.44%210.4%21%21%21%21%21%40210323a416794456195251128e5017%2112000018432048275%21rec%21US%211693158057&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&_randl_shipto=US

while not suitable as a glowplug driver this one has many other usfull hobby aplications
boost converter

Its main party trick is that it can increase the output voltage too.
For example it can generate 50 volt out from 9 volt in.
I use them most set to 12v and use any battery above 7 volt to power them.
2 are in use in 100w led floodlights to replace the broken (mains) led driver in them.
Like the other board it also has current limiting.
When bolted onto a cooling block (like a old pc cpu cooler) they can run up to 8 amp.

cmulder wrote:while not suitable as a glowplug driver this one has many other usfull hobby aplications
buck boost converter

 

Yea, thats a nice BOOST converter (you may want to edit your post to just say BOOST as it is not buck/boost.

--Oz-- wrote:

cmulder wrote:while not suitable as a glowplug driver this one has many other usfull hobby aplications
buck boost converter

 

Yea, thats a nice BOOST converter (you may want to edit your post to just say BOOST as it is not buck/boost.

Did a test WITHOUT load and found that you are correct.
Without load it passes trough the input voltage if its higer then the pre-set output voltage.
When connected to a load like a led array then the CURRENT limit function made it appear it also reduced the voltage.

SO use with caution and make sure either the input voltage is lower then the required output voltage OR limit the current when used with loads that have a constant current draw.

And can report the driver works well on the pee wee used at test subject.
The clip is another story ; to big to fit between the fins and make contact with the center contact.

AM happy with the result.

Did another test run today his time a golden bee.
Glow driver worked well and starting was easy both the normal glowhead and the higer compression td style glowhead.