Powering glowplug?

shawn cook wrote: Jim, you can wire a bunch of D cells together as a inexpensive alternative which is essentially what a hobby battery is. I use 3-4 D cells with a zip tie around them and wrapped with electrical tape. I also have a 12 V gell cell and a power panel in a small pit box. I wish I made the box years ago. I picked up the panel for under $20.00 and the battery was $10.00. If you get one with a adj amp rate it can also give you a reference whether or not your plug is bad. Ken

I'd vote for the 12v Gellcell/power panel every time, I never use anything else, however, you must be very careful how many amps you put through a Cox head, so get a power panel with an adjustable amps rate, as Shawn advised, I have my ammeter marked to make sure I don't blow expensive heads!
Also, if you go down this route, make sure you get the correct charger for the gellcell, they are not expensive, but must be the right one.

Wilf

2 "D" cells in parallel. A 6 volt with the 4 "F" cells inside disconnected and reconnected in parallel (exactly what a hobby battery is). A #6 dry cell battery. A Rechargeable 1.5v (1.2v) battery (available online).

By far the most important part of using a power panel is not to plug your banana jacks for your glow plug clip into the 12v openings. Ken

shawn cook wrote: By far the most important part of using a power panel is not to plug your banana jacks for your glow plug clip into the 12v openings. Ken

I thought only I had ever done that!

Admin wrote:2 "D" cells in parallel.

My preference, too.

I picked up an inexpensive battery box from Rat Shack and rewired it for a parallel connection.

i actually tried to start my very first engine on an AAA battery once ^^

GermanBeez wrote:i actually tried to start my very first engine on an AAA battery once ^^

Did it start?

If you have a glow plug adapted head, the the Hobbico Super Hot shot II is about your best bet for the money. It's a 4000 mah rechargable D cell 1.5V headlock style GLOWPLUG driver. I have this one as well, had it for many years now and it still works really good.

If you have a OEM cox glow head,,then you can pick up one of the available cox style glow clip setups from the linked dealers on here.

The option I went for was the Rcats system with the adjustable voltage mod. I use some of the Fox 2 volt glow plugs in some of my motors, so one of the reasons I bought it. another is that it can acctually read the health of your glow plug and apply the necessary voltage to keep it lit,,even when flodded with fuel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tP73WuHSOA&feature=plcp

I use a genuine Cox 2-D cell battery pack and have for many years. My current pair of D cells has been in service for several flying seasons. I always carry a spare pair of fresh D cells "just in case".

No heavy and bulky battery arrangement for me!

For dirt-cheap "get'r started and fly", it's hard to beat a stack of "D"-size Duracells wired up in parallel. You got to REALLY use them hard to wear them out in a season. I always steer beginners away from "Hobby Batteries" as they seem to be sold D.O.A. off the shelves.

DO be sure and electric tape the ends of the D-cells, as chucking them into your field box with other metal occupants, is a relatively sure invitation for excitement totally outside that of flying model airplanes...

Went the power panel/tool box and big battery route for quite awhile. Got tired of lugging all that stuff around and hopeing my Chicom 12v cell had something in it. I went thru 3 of the gell cell/sealed cell batts before I tossed in the towel. Went the smaller cell route and even better dependability and couldn't be happier.

Some folks love the power panels and it is understandable,,but for me and my plethora of stuff,,smaller definitely is better.

PV Pilot wrote:Went the power panel/tool box and big battery route for quite awhile. Got tired of lugging all that stuff around and hopeing my Chicom 12v cell had something in it. I went thru 3 of the gell cell/sealed cell batts before I tossed in the towel. Went the smaller cell route and even better dependability and couldn't be happier.

Some folks love the power panels and it is understandable,,but for me and my plethora of stuff,,smaller definitely is better.

Yep...it's easy for the accessories to take center stage and become "The Hobby"...

Here's EXACTLY what I have used to start my Cox enginges for many years. Like, what could be simpler? (from Cox International) Why make it any more complicated than this? (It's also availabe without the clip)


See details
Cox Starter Battery Box (with clip) OEM Style
SKU: BTBXOEM
Our price: $ 19.95

SuperDave wrote:I use a genuine Cox 2-D cell battery pack and have for many years. My current pair of D cells has been in service for several flying seasons. I always carry a spare pair of fresh D cells "just in case".

No heavy and bulky battery arrangement for me!

That's what I use too, had it for years.


EMERGENCY BATTERY (if you were too stupid to bring a spare battery)
I was out at the field with a friend some years ago and his glow/ignition batteries went dead on the 2nd flight. He didn't bring his flight box as he usually only brings it with his large planes. So with the batteries dead and no store around for several miles down the road, we started to think up things to use. We looked all over the car for things with batteries in it the only thing we could find was the garage door opener. The garage door opener used a 9volt battery so I took a pliers and peeled open the case to release 8 "AAAA" batteries. Each battery is 1.5v so by flipping them all over and tightening them up between 2 metal pates in the vice that is bolted to one of the tables out there, we got the head glowing and the engine started. Took about 10 minutes to set all this up.

Thanks for the input. Went the rewired radio shack two d cell box route. Works great!