rsx19

whats a good voltage for a glowignitor and to the point where it struggles to start the engine.




mine right now is it 1.27v

i dont know if the engine was struggling or it wasnt primed.

thanks

hpi apollo

ignore those voltage meters, they dont work right alot fo the times, if you arent sure, plug ti in for little while, and if you tihnk tis flooded, take the glow plug out, turn it upside down, and crank it over, usually its about 1.5

rsx19

i used my volt meter

so ur saying its low right?

it wasnt flooded cause it just took a while on the starter until it started

hpi apollo

just because it took a while to start doesnt mean it wasnt flooded, charge your ingiter and try it again

rsx19

yeah i replaced the battery with a new freshly charged 2500mah

but now im charging the rx batt now

HeLLsGoD

You probably didnt prime it properly anybet. Prime it just before the carb and give it 2more presses so it enters the carb and crank itself.

As for the glow igniter voltage:

-1.5v is the right voltage for most glow igniters
-An alkaline battery puts out 1.5v
-A rechargable Ni-HM puts out 1.2v but usually puts out a higher voltage than rated

vlad2004

I just got a new hpi glow igniter... I let it charge for 10 hours and try to glow the plug but I see no glow at all.. i checked the voltage and is around 1.22 volts. I saw a lot of videos where people connect the igniter to the glow plug and it makes it glow like a bulb filament.. should my glow plug glows?

Anthoop

Yes the plug should glow.

Depending on the charger and the battery will depend if it has sufficient charge...but 10 hours should make it glow.

Try a new plug...even new ones can be faulty.

vlad2004

thanks.. I try with two new glow plugs, on brand new and another from my working traxxas revo 3.3 its weird.. and I.m having a hard time... feeling so frustrated bcoz its not my first rc car but its my first glow igniter... so the glow plug should definitely glows once I put it on the igniter right?? and 1.22 volts should be enough to make it glow?? I read somewhere that plugs needs 1.5 volts to glow...

1QwkSport2.5r

Rechargeable batteries are 1.2v cells but when fully charged usually show 1.4-1.5v. Standard alkaline batteries are 1.5-1.7v when new but don't have the capacity that a rechargeable cell does. A 1.2v cell is more than adequate for 1.5v glow plugs.

The attached picture is my Dynamite glow driver with a 1.2v NiCd cell from an old cordless drill battery pack. I didn't check the voltage of the cell, but it hadn't been used since charged a month ago. The element of the plug should glow bright orange. Sorry the picture is skewed a little since the flash went off when I took the picture. You can still see the element glowing though.

vlad2004

I have a few new plugs left, I will try tonight .. thanks for your help.. but I'm still thinking my glow igniter does not have enough power to make them glow

1QwkSport2.5r

You may have a bad cell in your driver or a weak connection. I would try a brand new plug and look at it in dim light. If a new glow plug doesn't glow bright orange with your cell, then there may be a weak connection in your glow driver. If you bought this driver new and it doesn't glow a plug with a full charge, I'd take it back and exchange it for a different one.

vlad2004

I checked the voltage and is 1.22 volts and I even let it charge a few more hours but still don't go over 1.22 ~1.27.. will see tonight.. one last thing.. can I use a regular 1.5 alkaline battery to make it work???

1QwkSport2.5r

It depends on what kind of glow driver you have. If you have one that takes a AA sized cell, I'd exchange it for one with a sub-C cell. The AA cells don't deliver near the amperage that a sub-C cell can. Most glow drivers take sub-C cells which are a little smaller than regular C cells, but you'd have to try one to see if it fits. If it fits, it'll work.

For some perspective - it takes about 3 amps to glow a plug good. The smaller the battery, the less time it can deliver that amperage and in some cases, not deliver enough amperage to start with even with a full charge.

vlad2004

Great answer... thanks

rgburrill

AFAIK NiMH batteries do not have the max voltage of NiCd batteries. I have never figured out what good they are and rarely use them.

1QwkSport2.5r

I have some NiMh sub-c cells for my glow drivers, but they don't last as long as the NiCds for some reason. Peak charged voltage is pretty close at least between the cells I have anyway.

kmeyers

HPI sells a 1300 mah battery and a 170 mah charger. 7.6 hours is the max time on an empty battery.

I suggest that you cycle the igniter. One method is to leave a glow plug in for 3 hours (somewhere safe from possible fire ignition). I cycle my glow igniters with an old two cell flash light bulb, fits in nicely (I have 100's of them).

You already overcharged your battery once, but, good NiCds are tuff so don't worry.

Also typical glow plugs draw is 3.5 (originally I wrote .5) amp at 1.5 volts.

So cycle and never over charge again. When in doubt discharge and then give it a full charge.

1QwkSport2.5r

Have you ever put an ammeter inline with your driver and glow plug? Most glow plugs require closer to 3A to glow nice and bright. 1/2A would barely be enough to burn the oil off the element.

Most at of the time, new cells need to be cycled (charge/discharge cycles) several times before they operate at full capacity. However, a new cell should light a plug very well when freshly charged; they just may not last as long at first.

kmeyers

Ive been burning mostly gas for a number of years. So I just hooked the fluke up, no glow until 3.4 amps on my set up. like my sig says Ooops.

You are correct Sir, my bad.

vlad2004

Just a quick update.. I just got a new glow igniter and even without charging it .. it makes my plug glow... hpi glow igniter sucks... I will try to cycle it so see if gets better... thanks all for the quick response...

1QwkSport2.5r

It's all good - I wasn't trying to beat you up or anything.. I just want people to have the right info.

Anthoop

A battery and charger do not operate at 100% efficiency....so using the numbers 1300/170 we get a charge time from fully discharged to fully charged of 7.65 hours....but really we need to know how efficiently the battery is being charged and also factor that in...
However when you buy a new rechargeable it is not fully discharged anyway....and battery A might be slightly different to battery B even though they are the "same"....(I used to run electric many moons ago and "matched cells" still sticks in my mind).

Anything I have bought that contains a battery will come with instructions on how to charge it for the first time....how to prolong the life of the battery, etc.....I generally follow the instructions as electricity is not my bag....give me suck-squeeze-bang-blow over witch craft.