Re: Micro 12VDC Generator with a Cox .049 Sure Start Diesel Engine

StevenStanleyBayes Sun Mar 22, 2015 6:56 pm

WingingIt74 wrote:
StevenStanleyBayes wrote:
WingingIt74 wrote:Maybe easier to hook it up to a brushless outrunner, especially for a test run of the theory.

Looks good but, probably, very expensive. So is YAF 54 alternator.

Take your pick, they are pretty cheap.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__517__59__Electric_Motors-Outrunners_by_size.html

Revisited the store. The prices are excellent. However, because the store is in the US, I assume there would be a huge shipping charge to outside the US.

Yet, these are great options. Thanks for the link.

StevenStanleyBayes Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:19 pm

Along with the amazing Pony, I have also found these vintages :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImO49YgeYZs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_i4G8SiAWI

StevenStanleyBayes Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:18 pm

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:45 pm

On the way to the shop.

The diode drop at the load may be possible to be compensate for by offsetting the voltmeter with the calibration screw.

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:22 pm

Got back from the shop. They did not have what I needed but I got something to patch up the schematics :

1N5408, 3A, 100V, Standard Diode, Sold only in quantities of 15 for $5.64

47 Micro Farads, 63V Electrolytic Capacitor for $1.81

I have some ceramic capacitors at home which I would put in parallel the the electrolytic capacitor to filter the spikes.

The low value of the capacitors, around 47 Micro Farads, will ensure the dynamo does not burn from too strong transient load and neither does the fuse.

StevenStanleyBayes Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:39 am

The electrical has been assembled. Have to run a test with an external source and calibration.

Came to an idea to make a simple schematics of a voltage regulator which will provide around 1.4V at any current, say 0 to 5A with a power zener which is a power transistor which buffers 2 diode voltages. The idea is not related to this project. The reason for the simple device is any source, say, a car battery will be able to provide 1.4V at high currents to provide power for a glow plug to start a Nitro engine.

The upper transistor will consume energy and create heat which will consume m8re than the needed power from the battery which is not a problem because the glow plug requires just a few seconds of power for the engine to start.

The schematics is very simple and anyone can make this.

Alternatively, a switching power supply IC's can be used with power transistors although not necessary.

StevenStanleyBayes Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:19 pm

Tested the electrical with an external source. Worked OK.

I offset the voltmeter with 0.9V to compensate for the load diode which gives 0.9V at around 1.5A to 2A. The other way is putting a tiny signal Diode between the negative pin of the voltmeter and ground or before the positive pin of the voltmeter ( preferable ). Then some fine tunning with the voltmeter offset can also be carried out.

Anyway, the voltmeter offset was OK and there was more to move.

The diode gives 0.28V at nearly 0 current and less than 1.2V at 3A with a 0.8V to 1V between 1A and 3A.

Exhausted the heat shrinks. Will get more. Until then : electrical tape. To be replaced.

May make pictures.

StevenStanleyBayes Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:43 pm

Installed a new 7mm pulley on the engine made of two Cox spacers and surrounded by 1cm commercial plastic and metal washers. With the dynamo washer the same as before, 1.5cm, the engine to dynamo pulley ratio is around 0.5.

StevenStanleyBayes Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:46 pm

The pictures of the assembled back panel with the electrical and labels have been appended to the previous file and can be viewed at :

Pictures of the Back Panel : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Back%20Panel.doc

As mentioned, the electrical tape is temporary and is to be replaced by heat shrinks.

Here are all of the links :

Thesis : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Cox%20.049%20SureStart%20Diesel.doc

Edited Video of the System Start and Work with the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6sSJIbKgk4

Edited Video of the Engine Start and Work without the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTbZ11njcn0

Video of the System Start and Work with the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA0HQJMAUSo

Video of the Engine Start and Work without the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7FfparKL78

Pictures of the Back Panel : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Back%20Panel.doc

Pictures of the Engine, the Dynamo and the Stand : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Engine,%20the%20Dynamo%20and%20the%20Stand.doc

Pictures of the Engine and the Stand : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Engine%20and%20the%20Stand.doc

Electrical Schematics in .jpg Format : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/12VDC%20Micro%20Generator%20with%20Micro%20Engine%20with%20Internal%20Combustion.jpg

Electrical Schematics in .123 Format : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/12VDC%20Micro%20Generator%20with%20Micro%20Engine%20with%20Internal%20Combustion.123

StevenStanleyBayes Thu Mar 26, 2015 12:35 am

As I had mentioned I made a schematics of a simple device to supply 1.4VDC at any glow plug current ( more than 5A maximum ) from a car or motorbike or any other 12V accumulative ( rechargeable ) battery. The schematics is a fully analogue one and not a switching one. Switching power supply for a glow plug can easily be made too.

The price of the electrical and electronics components is not more than $5 when purchased in singles. A heat sink for the transistor may cost around $2.50 in singles. In case plastic enclosure is used, the enclosure can add another couple of dollars. An Aluminium enclosure with such a tiny size must not be more than $10, typically, not more than $5 in singles. The PCB would add another $5. Power lines must be doubled with thick wire. Air mount may be possible.

The device must not cost more than $20.

PLEASE, NOTE, NOT ONLY HAVE I NOT BUILT NOR TESTED THE SCHEMATICS, NOT EVEN WITH SOFTWARE, BUT I HAVE ALSO NOT GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT ALSO BECAUSE THIS IS NOT RELATED TO THE PROJECT. However, the schematics is so simple, so,I think, should work fine.

The schematics is appended to the thesis : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Cox%20.049%20SureStart%20Diesel.doc

Please, give a shout in case you find any errors or problems.

StevenStanleyBayes Thu Mar 26, 2015 3:24 pm

Did you like the Glow Plug Schematics which gives 1.4V at the necessary currents from a car or motorbike battery or any other 5VDC to 12VDC source?

Did you find any errors?

Do you think such a device is useful?

StevenStanleyBayes Thu Mar 26, 2015 6:24 pm

StevenStanleyBayes wrote:Did you like the Glow Plug Schematics which gives 1.4V at the necessary currents from a car or motorbike battery or any other 5VDC to 12VDC source?

Did you find any errors?

Do you think such a device is useful?

I have just had a look at the schematics. The requirements for the transistor are very high. Such transistors either do not exist or are specialized.

Thus, I have redone the schematics to use a bipolar transistor and buffers which can be either FEB transistors or, best, operating amplifiers.

The new schematics would have an 8 position rotary switch to allow the user to select one of the popular glow plug voltages from 1.2V through 1.9V with a 0.1V jump.

StevenStanleyBayes Sat Mar 28, 2015 3:05 pm

Decided to wait until Monday or Tuesday to get the heat shrinks.

Got a few schematics for the Glow Plug which would work and 2 which I am not sure.

I will write a Document which will be ready before I get the heat shrinks, I hope.

StevenStanleyBayes Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:13 pm

As previously discussed, I have designed ( on paper only ) a few variation of a simple device which would provide 1.2VDC from a battery with a very good accuracy and independent of the battery voltage.

The first variations of the device ( as noted in the document ) may not work and have not been deleted to stay as an introduction only. The other versions ( as noted in the document ) will most likely work.

In one of the variations, the device allows the user to select one out of many voltages. Examples have been given with available voltages of : 1.2V, 1.3V, 1.4V, 1.5V, 1.6V which many people on the Internet claim to be good Cox voltages with 1.6V being too high. People claim different voltage is best for different circumstances such as fuel, ambient temperature, etcetera. In case 1.6V is too high, this can be skipped.

Another example has been calculated with voltages of : 1.2V, 1.4V, 1.6V, 1.8V, 2V which some people prefer to use.

Any voltage can be made just by changing a resistor. More voltages can be added by changing the one of five switch ( SP6T ) rotary switch with one of eight, ten, twelve, etcetera.

I have checked the document but very briefly, so, mistakes are possible.

As previously noted, there will be excessive and unnecessary consumption from the battery during the conversion of 12V to 1.2V which cannot be avoided with these types of devices but can with a switching power conversion. However, also as noted, this unnecessary consumption is not have any effect on the battery because the device is to be used for seconds or a couple of minutes only during the start of the glow engine.

I hope this would be useful.

Here is the link :

Glow Plug Voltage from a 12VDC Source : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Glow%20Plug%20Voltage%20from%20a%2012VDC%20Source.doc

Here are all other links again :

Thesis : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Cox%20.049%20SureStart%20Diesel.doc

Edited Video of the System Start and Work with the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6sSJIbKgk4

Edited Video of the Engine Start and Work without the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTbZ11njcn0

Video of the System Start and Work with the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA0HQJMAUSo

Video of the Engine Start and Work without the Dynamo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7FfparKL78

Pictures of the Back Panel : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Back%20Panel.doc

Pictures of the Engine, the Dynamo and the Stand : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Engine,%20the%20Dynamo%20and%20the%20Stand.doc

Pictures of the Engine and the Stand : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Pictures%20of%20the%20Engine%20and%20the%20Stand.doc

Electrical Schematics in .jpg Format : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/12VDC%20Micro%20Generator%20with%20Micro%20Engine%20with%20Internal%20Combustion.jpg

Electrical Schematics in .123 Format : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/12VDC%20Micro%20Generator%20with%20Micro%20Engine%20with%20Internal%20Combustion.123

Glow Plug Voltage from a 12VDC Source : http://www.steven-stanley-bayes.com/Glow%20Plug%20Voltage%20from%20a%2012VDC%20Source.doc

Surfer_kris Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:09 am

What is the purpose of your glow plug driver?

There are many different ones available already, ready made or circuit diagrams for DIY, the best ones will compensate for a wet plug etc.

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:47 am

Surfer_kris wrote:What is the purpose of your glow plug driver?

There are many different ones available already, ready made or circuit diagrams for DIY, the best ones will compensate for a wet plug etc.

The purchase is to driver a glow plug. Also to have a number of voltage for different case. All this from a car, motorbike, ATV, etcetera battery. The car can have the engine run in while started or not.

I did not know there are others available. The prime of the parts for this one in singles would be around $30.

However, in case there are commercially available, obviously, the driver would just stay on paper.

Surfer_kris Mon Mar 30, 2015 1:14 pm

They are usually called "power panels" if you want all the fancy stuff with adjustable current etc. Here are some for instance; Just Engines

For DIY circuits just use google; Glow plug drivers DIY

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:04 pm

Surfer_kris wrote:They are usually called "power panels" if you want all the fancy stuff with adjustable current etc. Here are some for instance; Just Engines

For DIY circuits just use google; Glow plug drivers DIY

Thanks. These look OK and the pricing is very low.

The ones I have suggested give many voltages with around 0.25% accuracy and do not control the current. However, a current control is easy to utilize and to make them control either the voltage or the current. I have not thought of this but, just at a first glance, I would think a simple potentiometer which can take 5A in the collector and before the feedback may limit the maximal current. The device will not be able to put more than the maximal current and will not regulate at higher currents.

However, I am not sure why people want to control the current when they can control the voltage. Glow Plugs are nothing but resistors which get to glow when there is a current of a gives value through. Thus, an ampermeter and a battery voltage should do just as fine. A simple potentiometer which can take the heat and an ampermeter should be sufficient.

Surfer_kris Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:34 pm

Yes, all glowplugs are a resistive load but they should be driven to a high temperature where the resistance varies with temperature and you do in fact want to keep the glow plug at a certain temperature (visably glowing) independent on the power required to reach that temperature. So while advertised as adjustable currents (for simplicity I guess), they should in fact have adjustable levels of desired final resistance in the plug (as this differs for different glow-plug manufacturers). The glow driver will then keep the glow plug at the wanted glow-plug temperature independent on the required load (the required load varies with the amount of fuel on the plug).

So it is not a matter of controlling voltage or current, it is a matter of controlling/regulating the power to get up to a desired resistance (i.e. glow plug temperature).

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:56 pm

Surfer_kris wrote:Yes, all glowplugs are a resistive load but they should be driven to a high temperature where the resistance varies with temperature and you do in fact want to keep the glow plug at a certain temperature (visably glowing) independent on the power required to reach that temperature. So while advertised as adjustable currents (for simplicity I guess), they should in fact have adjustable levels of desired final resistance in the plug (as this differs for different glow-plug manufacturers). The glow driver will then keep the glow plug at the wanted glow-plug temperature independent on the required load (the required load varies with the amount of fuel on the plug).

So it is not a matter of controlling voltage or current, it is a matter of controlling/regulating the power to get up to a desired resistance (i.e. glow plug temperature).

This can be done with electronics but the simple way would be to have a battery, a potentiometer, an ampermeter and a voltmeter. Thus, one can watch the ampermeter and the voltmeter and calculate the resistance and adjust the potentiometer to have a given resistance which changes with temperature but the user can adjust the potentiometer to reflect on the changes of the resistance.

StevenStanleyBayes Mon Mar 30, 2015 3:05 pm

StevenStanleyBayes wrote:
Surfer_kris wrote:Yes, all glowplugs are a resistive load but they should be driven to a high temperature where the resistance varies with temperature and you do in fact want to keep the glow plug at a certain temperature (visably glowing) independent on the power required to reach that temperature. So while advertised as adjustable currents (for simplicity I guess), they should in fact have adjustable levels of desired final resistance in the plug (as this differs for different glow-plug manufacturers). The glow driver will then keep the glow plug at the wanted glow-plug temperature independent on the required load (the required load varies with the amount of fuel on the plug).

So it is not a matter of controlling voltage or current, it is a matter of controlling/regulating the power to get up to a desired resistance (i.e. glow plug temperature).

This can be done with electronics but the simple way would be to have a battery, a potentiometer, an ampermeter and a voltmeter. Thus, one can watch the ampermeter and the voltmeter and calculate the resistance and adjust the potentiometer to have a given resistance which changes with temperature but the user can adjust the potentiometer to reflect on the changes of the resistance.

When I described the electronics I may do for the generator project I mentioned power monitoring with MAX4210. This can be used to adjust the power dissipated by the Glow Plug which converts the power mostly into temperature ( thermal energy ) and light energy.

Another way I can think of is to apply the voltage which the glow plug manufacturer has suggested as a safe voltage for continuous run of the glow plug. Most cite 1.2V as such. This means 1.2V can be applied for hours regardless of whether the engine works or not. Once applied, the user can just sit and wait and read the ampermeter and the voltmeter, i. e. the ohmmeter. Hopefully, after a while, the necessary glow resistance will be achieved. I think this is the safest way. Different manufacturer suggests different voltages as well as different fuel needs different temperature. OK. Then, the only think the user needs to know is the function resistance, temperature.

MAX 4210 can measure the power. A slight problem is not all of the power goes into temperature with some going into light. Still power can be measured and the function power, temperature can be used to find out what the temperature is.

An important observation is to know the sign, the direction of the resistance of Platinum with temperature. In case the resistance increases with temperature, then one just needs to apply the safe voltage and sit and wait. In case the resistance decreases with temperature, one must ensure sufficient starting voltage to provide enough current to heat up the Platinum reasonably quickly. Current source instead of the voltage source can also be used.

The beauty of using voltage is safety because glow plugs are guranteed to work continuously at this voltage without any damage. Just flip the switch and wait without any worries.

Tricks can be used to put a higher or lower voltage at the beginning and then to switch to the recommended although the second is not very safe to do but may come handy in low ambient temperatures.

Surfer_kris Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:20 am

It sounds like you have some catching up to do here.
Do you have any experience with glow engines?

StevenStanleyBayes Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:12 pm

No, I have never seen a Glow Plug Engine.

Regardless, here is what happens with the glow plug. A glow plug is made of Platinum which has resistivity ρ of 10.6 10-8 Ωm and temperature coefficient 0.003927 per ºC. The positive temperature coefficient means the resistance of Platinum increases with temperature.

Thus, the resistance of the glow plug is a function of temperature as you have pointed out and, for a glow plug, this dependence is very strong as the temperature of a glow plug changes tremendously.

The temperature of the glow plug and thus the resistance is a process and takes a while for a given temperature to be established.

Electrically a given resistance, thus temperature, in established by the current through the glow plug. The current can be controlled in two ways : either by a current source or by a voltage source. Current source is an electrical device which gives a constant current regardless of the load and, hence, regardless of the voltage. Voltage source is an electrical device which gives a given voltage regardless of the load and, hence, regardless of the voltage.

When the glow plug is controlled by a voltage source, a given voltage is applied to the glow plug which is maintained constant. At the beginning, when the glow plug is at ambient temperature, the resistance of the glow plug is lower and higher currents fly through obeying Ohm’s Law. After a while, the current through the glow plug heats up the glow plug slowly but surely and increases the resistance. Because the voltage is constant, the increased resistance decreases the current through the glow plug until a given equilibrium resistance and current are reached. This equilibrium defines the maximal temperature, resistance and the minimal current at this voltage. When the voltage is increased, new equilibrium parameters are achieved where the temperature and the resistance are higher as well as the current.

Therefore, a voltage source with variable constant voltages can heat up the glow plug to different temperatures.

Theoretically, in case of an IDEAL voltage source, the equilibrium parameters do NOT depend on the ambient temperature. An ideal voltage source is able to provide any current while keeping the voltage constant, Mega Ampers, Giga Ampers, Tera Amper Exo Ampers, etcetera. Thus, regardless on how the glow plug is frozen, an ideal voltage source will always be able to heat up the glow plug to exactly the same temperature as when the glow plug is in room temperature.

Obviously, ideal voltage sources do not exist. Thus, the ambient will have an effect on the glow plug which may not be able to achieve the same temperature in different ambient environments.

How does the ambient affect the glow plug : by the ambient temperature as well as the action of the user and the engine.

The effect of the ambient temperature is clear : the lower the ambient temperature, the more voltage has to be applied to achieve higher currents and higher temperatures.

The action of the user is defined by how long the user waits at a given voltage : whether the user would allow for the equilibrium to be achieved and what the user does. What the user does is clarified by the examination of what the engine does :

The action of the engine is in two ways : the engine compresses the fluids in the cylinder and hence gives a higher than the ambient temperature. However, in case the ambient temperature is very low ( or the temperature of the fluids ) then the engine compression, true, increases this ambient temperature by the increased temperature is still very low. Thus, the engine will blow low temperature fluids onto the glow plug. The more start attempts are made and the faster one after another they are, the more the decrease of the temperature IN SOME CASES. In other cases, the faster the start attempts one after another, the more compression builds up, which may increase the glow plug temperature.

In severe ambient temperatures, the effect of decreasing the temperature of the glow plug with start attempts may prevail. This is why, the selected voltage should also reflect the period between any two attempts and, depending on the ambient temperature and the temperature of the fuel, should either require more voltage or less voltage.

What is the required temperature to start a given engine with a given fuel : this also depends on the engine and, most importantly, on the fuel as you have pointed out.

Thus, for a given fuel at room temperature with a single start, a given voltage is needed and a given period of waiting ( probably a few seconds ). Under other circumstances, the voltage has to either be increased or decreased. However, there is no point of decreasing the voltage to voltages lower than 1.2V because the glow plug is guaranteed not to be damaged at this voltage and, thus, this voltage will start engines and fuels which can start at 1.2V or lower. When the engine can start at lower voltages, the engine will also be able to start at 1.2V even better or the same.

In case one wants to heat up a glow plug much faster to reach equilibrium, there are many ways to do so with automatically and manually reading various parameters.

Here is an easy way to do so manually without reading any feedback parameters : A transistor and a diode can be put in the same schemeatics I have suggested between the 12V positive and the load positive. In the base circuit a capacitor and a resistor ( s ) can be put. The resistor is calculated to have a value of ( Usupplymax – Uce ) / Ibemaxpulse to ensure the current through the base emitter junction cannot be higher than the defined maximal current for a given pulse or, best, for an infinite period, i. e. Ibemax instead of Ibemaxpulse. The device must be applied to the glow plug with switch positioned to off position. When the switch is turned on, the hole battery ( minus around 2V of the collector emitter saturation voltage and the diode voltage of 0.7V to 1.2V, i. e. around 3.2V ) will be applied to the glow plug because the capacitor in the base circuit is discharged and huge maximal current flies through with a value defined by the resistor and thus a huge collector emitter current flies through the glow plug. Then the capacitor starts to charge and the currents decrease until they reach a very low, negligible value. During all this, currents will continue to fly through the voltage regulator and the resistor when the voltage of the load is lower than the regulated voltage. Thus, when the current through the transistor collector emitter and load are low, they will make a low load voltage and the regulator higher voltage will continue to provide current through the load.

Because the transistors are unidirectional, backed by the diodes, no current will fly through them in the opposite direction. Thus, the two places where current can come from, the regulator and the transistor will be paralleled and only this which can make a higher voltage through the load will give current through the load and the other one will not.

This is what happens then : At the beginning, the whole supply voltage ( 13.2V max ) ( minus the tiny Vce and the tiny diode voltage ), in all, around 12V max or around will be applied to the glow plug. The regulated voltage will be applied too but because the regulated voltage ( say, 1.2V to 2V ) is much lower than the supply voltage of, say, 12V, no current will fly from the regulator through the load. The capacitor will start to charge, the current through the transistor decrease, Uce will increase, the voltage applied to the glow plug will decrease and thus the current through the diode. When the capacitor is charged, the current through the transistor will be very low and Uce will increase to a very high value, thus, the transistor will not be able to provide more than the regulator voltage and the regulator voltage will be able to supply current through the glow plug.

In devices with a feedbacked regulator, the regulator will try to adjust the voltage to the defined one ( say, 1.2V ) and, when the voltage of the load is lower, will also provide current through the load along with the transistor.

In case one wants to apply the initial surge again, one may wish to turn the switch off and wait for the capacitor to discharge. Additional resistor in parallel can be put for the capacitor to discharge faster. Then turn the switch on again. Best is not to allow for the capacitor to discharge faster so the glow plug is protected from many consecutive surges.

The idea which took so many words is simple : by selecting the value of the capacitor in the base circuit, one will be able to inject a huge current through the glow plug FOR A TINY PERIOD ONLY, say for 1ms and the regulator will continue to supply the glow plug with the regulated voltage thereafter. In this case, the glow plug will be able to reach a higher than the ambient temperature very quickly at the beginning when the switch is turned on. Then, will continue to see the regulated voltage of a selected value, say, between 1.2V and 1.6V.

I HAVE NOT THOUGHT TOO CAREFULLY OF THIS SURGE CURRENT CAPABILITY ( A. K. A. CURRENT THROTTLING ) BUT THIS IDEA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG WHILE AND HAS BEEN APPLIED IN MANY CASES.

I made a similar yet different circuit when I made an 18V power supply for a drill from the mains with a couple of Halogen light bulbs and power zeners. The Halogen light bulbs had an initial resistance of around 3Ω which increased after a few milliseconds. Thus, I had a transistor with an RC in the base circuit to shunt the rest of the schematics for a few milliseconds and take the whole initial heat. Then, the transistor will be off and the rest of the circuit will be on. Thus, the transistor works only for a few milliseconds at the beginning, gets some heat and then is off until the next start when the Halogen light bulbs are at ambient temperature.

Obviously, the risk to burn the glow plug is higher. And the only thing achieved is a lower period of INITIAL waiting for the glow plug to reach the desired temperature faster.

This is why, the best way is to know how much heating of the glow plug is necessary, then to select a given voltage and then to attempt to start the engine. In case more heat is necessary after the first attempts, more voltage can be given.

The problem is the dependencies of the glow plug temperature of the ambient temperature as well as the fuel and compression effect are not known and neither is the required temperature to start a given type of fuel. This is why, one may wish to start at 1.2V and continue to increase the voltage.

StevenStanleyBayes Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:16 pm

StevenStanleyBayes Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:46 pm

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