My starter won't really crank the Saito over. I am using a Sullivan Hi Tork starter and I am wondering if it is getting weaker with age?
Any suggestions as to a good starter/battery combination would be appreciated. My starter will handle all of my other airplanes most of which are .40 and .60 sized, although there is one OS .91 that the starter handles OK. Thanks for suggestions. Jim.

What size battery are you using with it??? The starter should be able to handle a 100 sized engine, but you may need to get a little bit bigger battery to drive it.</p>

Ken</p>

Ken.. I have been using a regular 12V hobby battery. What do you recommend?

I use a lawn mower 12v starter motor. They are about $20-$30 and have plenty of cranking power to turn over engines. I've started up to a Saito 180 with a standard starter using this battery. The only downside is you need to make sure you have a battery charger to charge lead acid batteries. But if you do, you won't have any problems with it.

I've see others use 3S and 4S Li-po packs to run their starters as well. The advantages here is that you can make a portable handheld starter that won't be tied down by wires. Same thing with the charger that you will need a charger designed for them in order to charge them.

Hope this helps

Ken

starters do wear out and start slowing down but the problems is usually the battery. The little flight box battery tends to wear out in about a year of use unless it is maintained on a regular basis. I use an auto jump starter for mine. A lot of the guys are using the 18 volt drill battery and that is even better. Maybe John Buckner will jump in here with some photos of his starters for you. He uses a really good set up for his. As soon as I locate the drill battery at a good price I'm changing over to that.

Agree you need more battery. Lots of talk about a rechargable available through Harbor Freight (right price). I think it was designed for cordless drills. A lead acid lawn mower battery will work well, but weighs more. Until you get a better battery, one trick you can try is to start with the throttle closed when you start cranking with the electric starter. Have a buddy slowly open the throttle as you do, until it starts. With the throttle closed, there will be much less resistance from compression, and by the time you get inertia going, it will start.

I think this is the one [link=http://www.harborfreight.com/18-volt-battery-67029.html]HERE[/link]
You'll need a way to charge 18 volts.

FlyingPilgram, is right on. I have a Saito 220 that I start with a Hobbico 180. The only drawback is you need someone to either hold the plane or operate your throttle.

For my Saito 100, I use a chicken stick. It's about a one foot piece of PVC. Ifthe Sairo 100kicks back the PVCdoesn't complain, but my fingers would. Use expendable items.

Those are the ones will turn any whimpy cheap starter into a tiger. Virtually everyone uses that battery at our field now.

John

A few fellows are using the 18V from Harbor freight and it works well, just a little heavy. I'm still using the standard setup offered by Sullivan which uses twelve 1.2V NiCads for 14.4V. It will start anything up to a 1.80 Saito with ease. By now you must be tuned into the fact that it's not your starter but rather the battery. Time to upgrade!

Best of luck.

John,
 what do you use to charge those batteries with???

Ken

Here you go, Ken: [link=http://www.harborfreight.com/charger-for-cordless-18-volt-tools-67031.html]HERE[/link]

Thanks Pilgrim!!!!

Ken

Ken you can use any modern smart charger i.e. ones that auto sense voltage. and I charge at a c10 rate.

The actual chargers I use are the same three that I charge everything with including 1.2 volt ni starters. They are two Pro Peak Prodigy 11 and one Mystery charger the mystery is a fifty buck unit that was what HK sold before the BC6 or whatever they call it now.

The cells in the ten dollar battery are 1.2 Nicds and they work great for perhaps no more than two day. This battery offers Voltage and I have always said when it comes to starters, voltage is king. If the fellows want a battery that lasts for weeks this this is not for them, ya gotta charge it.

We are just now over forty members and becomeing even more active than ever and since I first discoverd this ten dollar battery over half of our member have made simple conversions with it. Thats because its the best bang/performance for the buck.

I no longer use the 16.8volt conversion I have used for years which were excellent performers but the conversion was difficult just attaching two seven cell Nimh packs in series and though up to 5000 Mah with some that setup was quite expensive.

The simple act of attaching this Harbour Frieght battery is so, simple that last one I pictured look close. That is just a block of balsa between the battery and the motor case. I carved a concave surface to fit the motor and the battery side is just flat. There is nothing holding the assembly together except RTV or silicon seal (takes twenty four hours to fully set before handling). There is no strength issues with using the glue (do not use epoxy, that is too brittle) I have dropped mine wheelchair height to the desert floor to many times with no bonding issues.

I also do not use Lipo because the issue with others constantly borrowing your starter. There is no way to convienently keep track of you batterys charge status an avoiding a deep discharge which will destroy that expensive battery almost instantly. Also if one choose to use the three cell lipo you are stuck with even less voltage and a starter that is going to be even more whimpy that the old twelve volt cell holder that folks are even still buying to this day.

John

Yep the battery....I have used a car jump starter battery.....don't worry if it says 300 amps of starting power....your starter is only going to take what it needs and nothing more

For a standard starter there isn't any problem running 18v through it? Can anyone post pics on how it's wired? The last picture posted I don't really understand what is being charged there. Also, it seems like it would be heavy to hold the starter plus the big battery in front of the engine. I'm just thinking that you don't want something cumbersome in your hand in front of a Saito 150 when it cranks up!

No there is no problem with using the 18 volt battery with a cheapie starter however much more voltage and you force a hydrolocked big fourstroke what will happen on some brands is the contactors in the switch will weld together or become interminttant. This happens in the switch not the motor.



I think I have convertered over ten of the them now for the fellas in addition to my own starters
Some of these cheapies have tiny little points on the switch plates and these are the ones that can have problem if you go over 18 volt and force locked engines.

We are approching almost a hundred percent of the actiive flyers using various combos with this battery. There is a reason for that: Its cheap, it is not difficult to handle, it works well for a wide variety of engines if not all, its super simple to convert and most of all working together with geared manual pumps on the fuel can and pocket type ignitors it eleminates redundant, expensive and dangerous power panels with big batterys in a flight box that is so difficult to lug around.


Gringo Flyer the wiring is as simple as can be. One wire with two conductors comes out the back of your starter. There are two blade connectors on the battery. All you need to do is connect each of the conductors that come out of the battery to the two blade that are on the battery. Solder or use a female blade crimp connector what ever.

If your motor spins the wrong direction you simply reverse the two leads from the starter to the blades on the battery.

Any manner of additional plugs can be installed to connect to a charger or simply use alligator clips whatever.

John