tmenold

My Feedback: (17)

I recently purchased a used plane that had a remote glow starter mounted in it. The problem is, is that the wires were clipped in it. I did get the other end of it (that hooks up to the glow plug) but it only has one wire (yellow) that is mounted to the top of the cap. The part that is mounted on the side of the plane has a yellow wire and a black wire (I assume this is the ground) hooked to it. The only place that I can see to hook this black wire to is to solder it on the side of the cap that hooks to the glow plug (this cap is what has the yellow wire coming out the top). Am I correct in that I need to solder this black wire to the side of the cap? I appreciate any direction on this issue! Thanks!

Trent

golf4two

Typically, one wire goes to the cap and the other is grounded to the case of the engine. Engine ground can be easily done by connecting the wire to one of the mounting bolts. An "eye" at the end of that wire makes things much easier.

tmenold

My Feedback: (17)

Golf,

Thanks for the feedback, that even makes more sense and even easier (no soldering). I guess I'll still have to solder and heat shrink the wires together though. Have a great day!

Trent

tmenold

My Feedback: (17)

I got the remote glow starter hooked up correctly and can get the coil spring on a glow plug to glow by touching it to the engine when I have my glow igniter hooked up the remote point on the side of the plane. My next question is that it looked like in lost a lot of ignition power by using this remote glow starter. What I mean is that it took a while for the coil to light up after being hooked up. I use a hobbico glow igniter and even charged it over night. I can't get enough glow power to start my engine. Is this normal when using a small "cordless" glow igniter? Do I need to use a glow igniter that is hooked up to a power panel? My glow igniter will immediately make a glow plug light up if I stick it directly in the bottom of the igniter. Do I really lose that much power by using a remote glow starter that is maybe 12-14" long? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

captinjohn

Try replacing the wire to it with more heavy wire. The voltage will not drop as much. Capt,n

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I make up my own and some of them are quite far from the engine. If my little glow stick is down on power and ready to be recharged it isn't going to light up the plug enough to fire the engine. That's when I start using my power panel on my flight box. I use it in the winter too. After my glow stick is charged up again all is well. There is a current drain.

tmenold

My Feedback: (17)

Thanks for your points!!! I will say that I definately noticed some voltage drop using my glow stick, but my main problem was that the cap on the glow plug was not making a good connection (whoops). After wiggling it around I can get it to make contact and my glow stick works, although the indicator on it's top was barely in the green. It worked good enough to start the engine. Thanks and happy flying! ;-)

ARUP

One thing good about a power panel in lieu of the nicad glow starter is that if a plug's element is broken the power panel won't register. Now you know the probable reason your engine won't start!

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

That's true and I have a glow stick with a meter on it. The battery may be down though in the stick but it isn't hard to figure out if the engine doesn't fire. When I make up my own remote drivers I use the Cermark plug caps. The twist on metal for four strokes and the rubber cap with the spring clamp for two strokes. I was a dental lab tech and still have my wire benders and a lot of dental wire and can make my own plug clamps like a spring but the Cermark caps are just so much better, they are either on or off, the wire can look like it's on but be loose.