I'm new to engines. Have ran about 3 tanks in my OS .46 AX. About these glow starters. I have a Hobbico one. Its charged up and
fires up the engine 1st time! After I run the tank out, I re-fueled and waited about 15 minutes to half hour. Fired it up again.
Adjusted the needle and ran lean and rich according to engine manual. Well, I started screwing around moving the throttle up and down
while moving the needle. Engine quit. Tried to re-start a bunch of times but the engine wouldn't kick over. How many times can the glow starter be used before it needs charging? Or, did I run too lean and heated up the engine and it just quit because of heat? Trying to get this adjusted so I can move the throttle so it don't bog....

Dave...

A fully charged glow starter like yours should be good for ~ 20 min of continuous output. Did you have it connected for that long? If so, you discharged it -- charge it for ~ 15 hrs & you will be good to go again.

Agreed. It sounds as though you left it connected while running the engine. You don't need to do that. Once the engine is running, remove the glow igniter.
Dennis-

This hobbico glow starter, It doesn't really say what milliamp the C cell is. It wasn't 20 minutes...I did remove it as soon as engine started.
Well, I will try again tomorrow. Stuck the glow starter on its charger. I plan on just taxi'ing around to get the feel of "driving". Hell, all my electric aircraft are hand launched and belly landed. Talked to the local club instructor and he is gonna check the plane/engine for me before it flies. Actually, I'm gonna let him trim it out. I will fly it on a "buddy" cord. With electrics, you don't care if you crash a 5 dollar foam plane...just epoxy or pro bond it back together. However, I have a few "clams" invested in this one. I wanna make sure its solid before I take complete control of it.

Dave...

Maybe your glowplug failed. Take it out and check to see that it glows with your charged up driver.

Jim

I have the Hobbico recharge that you push and twist,if i get another one it will be a c cell clip on.

Dave,
Did you charge the igniter for 24 hours the first time? Did it sit for a couple weeks before you used it? Either of these things could have caused it to be under charged when you tried to use it. Next guess, as was mentioned, would be the glow plug. A lean run can fry a plug.

Good luck with that first flight,
Dennis-

Thanx Dennis. I will look at glow plug. I do have two spares that are new.

Dave...

Dave Long time no see. How have you been. Being new to glow can get frustrating but once you get used to it you will know just how to do it. I've posted this before and it has helped and I feel it's a good method to learn how to tune the engine. Now that your trying glow all we have to do is get TIC to fly a Zagi (a long running joke on another forum) well I think your going to like the glow and welcome to RCU Dave. Here is the tuning post.

Dauntae

Here's a scenario: Pilot takes off, plane's engine sounds great. After several minutes of flying, engine seems to lose power, sounds kinda "thin", pilot keeps flying. Engine continues to sag, now full throttle is very weak, pilot now understands that maybe this isn't gonna clear up. Engine dies (what a shock! ), pilot calls for deadstick landing overshoots, tears off landing gear, etc. Never seen this at your field, right?

Here's the way that *I* set mixture on non-airbleed carbed engines (90% of the engines out there fit this category, but the theory is similar for air-bleed carbs). First of all, understand that the high speed needle has its main effect from 3/4 to full throttle, and the low speed needle controls everything from idle up to 3/4 throttle. It thus makes sense to me to spend the biggest majority of my tuning time adjusting the needle that controls the largest portion of engine running, right? Also, remember that there is a proper air to fuel ratio (mixture) that allows the engine to run properly. Too much fuel is rich, and too little fuel is lean. We "richen" the mixture by adding more fuel (turning the needle out, or counter-clockwise), and we "lean the mixture out" by decreasing the fuel (turning the needle valve in, or clockwise).

I start the engine give it full throttle, and lean it to it's highest rpm (peak), then richen it by maybe a quarter turn. Then with the glow plug igniter still attached, I slowly close the throttle to an idle rpm. At the lowest rpm that the engine will still reliably run, I then remove the glow igniter. If the engine dies immediately, I know it's too rich, and I then lean out the LOW SPEED NEEDLE by 1/8th of a turn (don't touch the high speed needle). Start the engine again, (and this is important) give FULL throttle briefly to clear out excess fuel, then slowly close the throttle again. Remove the glow igniter, and this time it may run a little longer before it dies, so lean the low speed another 1/8th turn. Re-fire the engine, give a burst of full throttle to clear it out, and slowly close the throttle again. remove the glow igniter and now notice that the rpm DROPPED a bit when you removed the glow igniter, but the engine kept running. We're getting there. It's still too rich, and you'll prove that by opening up the throttle and hearing the engine "blubber" then die. That's because excess fuel has collected in the crankcase during the rich idle, and when you opened up the throttle, the excess was pulled into the cylinder, making it WAY too rich. Supposed you were on a landing approach, and decided to go around, you throttle up but the engine "blubbers" and then dies (another thing we haven't seen, right?). Yep, the LOW SPEED needle was still too rich, allowing excess fuel to collect in the crankcase, just WAITING on you to try to go around so it could "LOAD UP", blubber, and die!

Keep leaning the low speed needle down until it idles well, but now, when you open up the throttle, it HESITATES instead of BLUBBERS. When this happens, you've lean it down too far, so richen it up 1/16th of a turn and try again. You know you've got the LOW SPEED needle right when you can fire it up, remove the the glow igniter, and the rpm doesn't change AT ALL, and you can open the throttle up, and it doesn't blubber or hesitate, it just runs!

The final thing you do is re-adjust the HIGH SPEED NEEDLE, leaning it to it's highest rpm (peak) and then richening it up maybe 1/8th turn to give it a slightly rich mixture. We also know that the fuel mixture will change in flight when you point the nose up (harder for fuel to travel uphill) and also as the fuel level in the tank changes. In both cases, a leaner mixture results, so we actually need to set the mixture a bit further on the rich side to account for this. While the engine is running at full throttle, CAREFULLY pick the model up and raise the nose to at least a 45 degree angle while listening to the engine. If the engine sags a bit, then you'll need to richen up the high speed needle 1/16th turn. Try it again, and when you can point the nose up and the engine doesn't sag, but maybe shows a slight GAIN in rpm, you know you've got it right.

Now the engine will be happy, and chances are will reward you with reliable running. If you've got one of the few engines with an air bleed adjustment for low speed adjustment, the theory is the same, just refer to your manual to see how to richen and lean the low speed mixture.

Hi Dauntae!!! Long time no talk! Yep, got a Hangar 9 Arrow with an OS .46 AX engine. After being at a fly in and watching a group of guys fly bearcats, texans, spits, edge 540's, funtanas, etc. I had to get me one and try 'er out. This Arrow is my largest model by far. I'd have to run a big Jeti brushless with gearbox in order to provide the power that this .46 is capable of. And then I don't think it'd match it. In any event, I like the sound of these engines! The only thing I don't like so far is
the cleaning part. I used Windex last time. Is there anything better to use?

Dave...

Dave,
I keep generic baby wipes in the car and use those to wipe off the heavy, oily stuff. They work great, but do leave a light film behind. If it bothers you, you can shine up the plane with Windex after.
Dennis-

Dennis you took the words right out of my ahhh "keyboard" It's kind of funny, I get to a register and they ask if I have a boy or girl and I really don't know..... I don't have any kids. Baby wipes are the easyest way to clean up after a day of flying. And Dave if you like the way the OS 46 AX sounds wait till you fly a 4-stroke. I got addicted to 4-strokes a while back and is mostly what I use now. Your going to have no trouble flying the glow planes after some of the smaller electrics, The only real difference will be the power and your reflexes will be right there due to the smaller planes your used to. The bigger planes are not as twitchy as you might be used to and you will have the reflexes of a well they tell me at my club a Mongoose???? and the biggest difference you will like is the power will be the same right to the end of your flight, It won't dwindle down like the electrics. You will do well with them and if there is anything I can help with just let me know.

Dauntae

About that glowplug driver, I always used the connector from my fieldbox battery. One year my sister bought me a DuBro glow starter, the aluminum one with the red disc, for Christmas. I stuck it in the field box, after charging on my HiTec 335 until it blinked. Don't know how long it charged, but the HT, I believe, peak charges.

Anyway, it wouldn't hold a charge for 2 days. I puzzled over it for a while, and used it on my TwinStar (to start both engines quickly) but discovered I had to charge the night before every flight, and sometimes it wouldn't work through the evening.

Another guy borrowed it, and rather than charge it he just stuck a spare battery in it (I guess he had some laying around for that purpose.) Lo and behold, it now holds a charge for weeks. SO... maybe it's your battery. The DuBro disassembles for replacement. I see some don't, what's yours like?

Good luck,
Dave Olson

DB and Dauntae, thanx for the tip for baby wipes!!!!! Baby'ing your aircraft!!!!! LOL!!!!!
Scar, my glow driver is from Hobbico. I don't think it will come apart. I will check though. I plan
on getting a field box and power panel. So, I will go with a glo starter that plugs into the panel
and use it. Going to run another tank of fuel today. I think I have it basically run in....I can do
full throttle and hold the plane up perpendicular and it doesn't bog out. The transition is pretty much
smooth from idle to full throttle. I will however have the intructor check it out before its flown to make
sure I got it right.

Dave...