Hi, Can any of you guys give me some tips or instructions for using my Tower Power Heavy Duty Electric Starter?

I've never had a starter and in Controline I always felt the purist should hand flip a motor to get it started. Now as I enter RC and fill out my flight box, I've added a starter just for ease. I'm having some problems though. First of all, I'm wearing a real nice groove in my spinner where the starter cone rubs and sometimes it just jumps around the spinner. I think one of the things I might be doing is starting too "wet". I know about hydraulic lock and the warnings. Someone told me that I should make sure the prop is just past tdc so that it has some chance to swing all the way around and get moving. Also, when starting, should the cone of the starter be held firmly against the spinner before activating the starter?

I think I just need some basic instructions that I must have missed.

Thanks for any suggestions or tips.

Tom

Tom, Welcome to R/C!

Replace the starter cone insert with a softer silicon one, your LHS should have what you will need. I make sure that the prop is not already up agaist the compression so the starter gets a head start and have no problem starting .90 sized engines with a standard starter. The softer cone doesn't slip and therefore does not cause the groove you are getting with OEM.

Yes, Welcome To RC!

When starting, spin the prop by hand backwards to the compression point. Place the starter firmly on the spinner and squeeze the 'go-bar'. After a little practice you'll be just fine. (Don't be affraid of pushing kinda hard.)
One other thing that I find helps is taking some sand paper or steel wool and carefully take the edge off the inside of the starter cone. With the starter spinning you have to be careful though!

I still groove a spinner-once in a while.

I have the same trouble. I actually replaced the spinner with an aluminum one, so the groovy problem is gone, but my standard starter will barely turn the engine over even with a full head start. Are there some more powerful starter motors out there? I have an OS 91fx.

I have a YS 120 and an OS 91 4-stroke that can be a bit hard to turn over with an electric starter, but here are some tips that help get em going with no problems.

first of all, prime your engine. WITHOUT the glow drive on the motor, open your throttle wide open. Cover the carb intake with your thumb, and hand flip the prop until you see fuel being pulled into the carb. then return your throttle to idle. doing this will mean that you have to turn over your motor few times with the electric before it starts. I find that once my OS motors are broken in, I usually don't have to use the electric starter on them. once they are primed I can flip start them with a chicken stick.

As stated above. back off (clockwise) your prop to just before the compression. this gives you a bit of a "running start" before the starter hits the compression.

You might want to practice this next one a bit, but it makes all the difference in the world when getting a bigger motor (or a new motor that is still a bit stiff) started. hold the starter about an inch away from the nose cone, and then turn on the starter. once it's up to full speed firmly place it on the nose cone (this is where the practice comes into play). you'll get a lot more power to turn over the motor this way.

the last tip came from my YS 120 motor. My starter could barely turn it over when my field box battery was any lower than a full charge. solution?? get a bigger battery. I replaced the battery in my field box with a lawn mower battery. You can get a 12v lawn mower batter at wal-mart for about $19. It's a sealed battery, so you don't have to worry about leaks. You will have to by a new battery charger, one designed for charging auto/marine 12v batteries. I don't remember the cost because I already had one for my boat. Once I put the mower battery in my box the starter will turn over and crank my YS quite nicely.

hope some of this helps

wrong size cone insert,I carry 3 or 4 different size inserts in the flight box for different size spinners,none of my spinners have groves,if the engine is over primed or flooded the starter has a hard time turning the engine over.I normally put the cone against the spinner,but if I'm having trouble turning the engine over,I'll start the started first then shove it against the spinner, also as in the other post, make sure the battery is strong and has a full charge,mine is a close cell from the lhs and will crank g23,120 size engines with ease.
Have a goodun,John.

Problem solved! I purchased a Sullivan Dynatron high torque starter motor.

Sullivan Products

I placed the Sullivan against the spinner, pressed the switch, and the motor would turn over at about a speed I would judge to be significantly over idle. Far more than enough to get the fuel flowing.

My OS .91FX is mounted inverted, with the fuel tank very slightly above the carb. This results in a very slow drip of glow fuel from the carb when the needle valve is open. The rate is about 1 drip every 6 to 10 seconds. Since the drip is dropping OUT of the carb, and not INTO the carb (inverted), I figure that the engine is practically self priming. The only problem is that a simple one time flip of the prop is not enough suction to pull the fuel INTO (up) the carb.