Newb Question on Glow Plug Heaters

Inquitus

How often do they need to be charged?

I have an Ansmann 3000mAh Sub C battery. Does it discharge over time? Should I give it a full charge before use.....if it has been idle for say a week? How many starts is it good for?

Tnx a mil,

Inq

syl77

it should still be good after a week, infact it should be good after a number of weeks and at 3000mah, it should last alot of flights before having to be recharged. Is it getting a full charge, how old is it and is it Nimh or Nicd. You should cycle the battery a few times if it isnt lasting too long.
If you doubt that its lighting the glow plug, take plug off the engine and connect it to glow starter to see if it lights. becarefull not to burn out glow plug though..

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Thats why I went for a glow starter with a built-in amp meter, takes all the guessing out of it.

Inquitus

FuzzyWuzzyWazza wrote: »

Thats why I went for a glow starter with a built-in amp meter, takes all the guessing out of it.

Thats exactly what I thought, and I shall be purchasing one to replace this one!

coolwings

A nimh battery fully charged today, and put aside for a week, will "leak" about 4 - 8% of it's charge during the week. The older the battery the faster it will "leak".
But of course that still leaves plenty of usage in it at the weekend.

Just a note on the meter type based on the ones I've come across. Most of those meters stop working or become madly inaccurate within a short period after first use. (Based on my handling of about 40 of that type) In GreenHobbyModel we replaced several on request from purchasers who hoped for a more accurate reading until it became apparant that they are all the same. For example a fully charged glowstart often shows 3/4 full. We don't sell that type now for quality control reasons.
The meter is useful in the sense that so long as it doesn't show "empty" there is power left inside!
The meter type looks good in a picture ... but in the real world nothing beats having quick engine startup routines and getting it off the engine fast! Good practise would have it on for about 20 seconds and off again with the engine started . Even the 1700 size lasts long enough for a couple of days when you get to that point. And the 3000 size has oodles of duration.

syl77

Thats why I went for a glow starter with a built-in amp meter, takes all the guessing out of it.

I had one of those, it gave me more greif, came with a crappy battery i suppose. I ended up buying a good RC car brand, think its around 1700mah, lasts forever. I usualy replace my glow plugs every 30 flights or so, so no problems there.

EDIT: just checked, its actually 2500mah,:o

Inquitus

Ok I'll keep all my newbness to one thread.

I bought a petrol 4x4 car, I spent today running the engine in for a few tanks full, and then gave it a tank or so of driving it slow.

During the driving phase I noticed that all the controls were back to front, left was right and pull trigger was break. I am guessing there is probably a setting on the controller to fix this, but I've not had time to read up yet.

I need to do some end point adjustment too, and figure out the abs.

Inq

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

There is usually a switch to reverse throttle and steering servo controls, one for each control that is.

Coolwings, Yeah I basicall only use it to see if there is a charge in the starter, but I als find it hande to diagnose blown plugs, as there is no responce from the meter if the plug is gone. Just takes the guessing out of trying to decide if the started is dead or the plug.