Product Review:
SwitchGlo
Perspective By:
Boulder
Manufacturer Contact:
Compudraft Engineering ATTN: SwitchGlo 22024 Lasson St. Suite 100 Chatsworth, CA 91311 Phone 818-709-0268
Manufacturer Website:
http://www.SwitchGlo.com
FlyingGiants Ratings:
| Packaging: |  | | Kit Quality: | | | Ease of Build: | | | Overall: | | |
SwitchGlo is an extremely cool idea in on board glow systems. This system is the first one that I've heard of that plugs into your receiver and draws it's power from your receiver pack. As you can see in the product specs., the current draw is a mere 4.4 mAh per 10 second cycle, an extremely small amount when you consider how many starts that will provide during the course of a day's flying. |
   I received my SwitchGlo and opened the box immediately. I couldn't wait to see what this product was and what it could do to make my time at the field easier. As I opened the shipping carton, I was impressed. The SwitchGlo unit comes in a very simple, professional package along with an easy to follow installation and info card. When ordering the unit, you have an option of 3 pigtails, an alligator clip, a spring connector, or, the unit that I chose to use, a clip connector. You will see the installation of the clip connector in my pics later in the review, and a shot of the other 2 pigtails that are available in one of the following pics.
Dimensions: 1.587" x .720" x .590" 8" receiver cable 4" glow/gnd cable + 8" pigtail Weight: 22 to 25 grams, depending on pigtail choice Input/Output: 4.8 to 7.2 VDC input 1.5 VDC output to glow plug Frequency Compatibility: USA - 27 MHz, 72MHz, 75MHz, and 2.4GHz Not yet compatible with 50MHz INTL - 35MHz No other International frequencies tested Power Consumption: 0.44 mAh per second of glow time 4.4 mAh per 10 second glow(then the Auto Shut-Off takes place) Requirements: 1 available channel or a Y-Harness can be used
Let's get to the basics... It's a very simple install, connect the pigtail to your glow plug, mount the ground to a solid bolt on the motor and pick a spot to mount the unit itself. Very basic and easy to follow directions as you will see in the following pictures. My test bed for this install is my trusty QQ 73" Yak with a YS-140L for power. There's not much to the install, but as always, I took care to make it as clean as possible.     Let's clean this whole thing up...adding a few wire ties makes a huge difference in the look of the final product!! This will complete the "under the cowl' installation, not a bad looking install, if I do say so myself!!    Now let's finish up the install by making a clean run to the receiver. As usual, I believe in using wire ties to keep everything bundled and neat, it just looks better. 
In the following picture you will see the light that come's on when the system is operating. One thing you can't see is the audible "BEEP" that you will hear telling you the glow plug is getting fire! If the light doesn't glow and the "VERY AUDIBLE" tone isn't heard, there's a good chance your plug is bad. That's a good thing to know if you fly glow, you will never know when your plug is going to go bad, it's nice to have an actual signal giving you that info.  When I programmed my transmitter to utilize this product, I thought I'd just put it on a switch and call it good. Thinking a little further, I figured having it on a throttle mix wasn't a bad idea, how hard could it be? It took me about 5 minutes to program this unit to come on at approximately 10% of throttle and below, along with the ability to come on with the "flip of a switch"! These settings allow me to have a very easy starting process, bring the throttle up to half, spin the motor for prime, bring it down to almost idle and fire it up!! All without ever hooking up an external glow igniter!!!
Setting this up for your system could have open ended possibilities. The uses are beyond airplanes, as it was originally designed with heli guys in mind. It goes to all aspects of the R/C community. Your programming prospects are only at the mercy of your transmitter's capabilities, come on at a low throttle setting, on with a switch, or never come on over 40% of throttle setting...all are possibilities...and easily done. Open your transmitter manual and mix to your hearts content!!!
Myself, along with several friends at the field, thought this is a great product. One friend is thinking of getting this for his Dad for Christmas, and another has asked for a link to get this for a project he has under way. After these guys have seen this unit for only a short time at the field, and they are already getting their wallets out, that in itself should be awesome testimony to the validity of this product...THANK YOU SWITCHGLO!!! YOU HAVE A WINNER HERE!!! | Compudraft Engineering ATTN: SwitchGlo 22024 Lasson St. Suite 100 Chatsworth, CA 91311 Phone 818-709-0268 http://www.SwitchGlo.com | |
Similar Threads 
SwitchGlo 
Linear Mode
