Onboard glow problem

[mdgyro]

I just got a new expert on board glow when I hook it up on the bench it lights the plug fine but when I put it in the plane with all servos hooked up it won't light any ideas

[mighty9]

what type of batteries are you using and type of receiver?

[mdgyro]

I figured it out. Here is the deal if the glow plug circuit is broken you must switch off the reciever power to the unit to reset it then turn it back on and it will work fine. This is the design of the unit and not mentioned in the paperwork. Also an important safety note: If the glowpower battery is hooked up with the polarity reversed the glow plug will remain on even though the the throttle is above set point and the light on the unit is off.the paperwork only says it will burn out the plug it says nothing about the plug remaining lit.

[TractorMan]

I have one of these glow drivers also. Mine keeps burning my glow plugs out. The polarity is not reversed though. I am using a 4.8v nicd battery, it says that you can use up to a 6v battery. I thought that the driver would reduce the voltage but that is not the case. I checked the voltage at the plug and the plug is getting 5.67v from my fully charged 4.8v nicd. Everyone that I know says that is why the plug is burning out. I called Horrizo Hobbies and Expert Electronics and both of them confirmed that the unit will put the full voltage to the glow plug but they insist that this much voltage will not burn the plug out. They are telling me that I am running too lean and I know for a fact that this is not so. Besides I have engines that I have almost fried running them too lean as a newbe and have yet to burn a glow plug out on any of them. I have had the first glow driver replaced and the second one burnt the glow plug out on the first flight. I have the driver set to turn the glow Plug on at low throttle only. Any suggestions before I throw this thing in the garbage and get a McDaniel pro Glow Driver?

[WangoTango]

I recently got my PhD in McDaniel Glow Driver! Before doing the McDaniel route, a friend of mine wanted to light three glow plugs on a Saito 1.70 radial. Well, the cylinders were anodized or painted black like a Golden Knight version of all the Saitos. This black finish did not let the current pass through very well or at all. We finally relented and used three glow drivers to light the plugs. We started the motor with two glow drivers and then once the motor was running, we lit off the third plug. During all our trial and error phase, I had a single plug McDaniel set up that had two 700 mah nicads inside the little orange container box of the unit. These proved to either be not enough battery or one battrery wasn't good. I replaced the batteries with two 2700 double "A" batteries and then charged them fully. This required using a different charger than the one supplied but after all was said and done, I got a good bright orange glow from my plug and the unit could switch on and off using either the throttle stick at a preset point of it's travel or by plugging it into the gear channel and flipping a switch. It lasted about two hours worth of lighting the plug.
Back to the radial problem...... The manual showed a diagrahm that, if assembled as it was depicted, would burn out the plugs very easy. It also showed a single 1800 mah cell. I'm here to tell ya, a single cell no matter how many MAH's you have in it, will NOT light three plugs. (That is a single cell that normally reads 1.2 to 1.5 volts) It will light a single plug. It will barely light two plugs..... And if you try to light all three plugs, you'll hear a faint laughing sound coming from the single battery....... followed by somebody chanting "ain't gonna happen!") Oh yeah........ that little LED light? It only tells you that whatever method you choose to activate it on the transmitter, the LED indicates it is in the on position only, NOT that the plug is lit. (You can have a LED light turned on but if the plug is burned out, you'll still be indicating a glowing LED. End result. The single McDaniel is a good unit but you'll want their version with the biggest battery set-up.
WT

[TractorMan]

I am finally going to give up on the experts Electronics Glow Driver. I have been trying to get this thing to work for too long. I want to fly my Plane! I am going to get the McDaniel pro Single Glow Driver. It is supposed to have 5 amps of power and uses nimh batteries. If this setup does not work than I am going back to the old glow stick. I just hate cutting that hole in that nice looking cowl.

[Al Lewis]

Glow drivers should be run off of a seperate battery. Mine used single C cells which is pretty much what a glow driver uses. You also have to program them to come on and go off. Most have them come on at 1/3 throttle and below.

[nesikachad]

One other option guys is to relocate where/how you drive the plug.

The onboard systems are bad azz no doubt as I have a couple, but on planes where I'm real anal about weight (racers and certain 3D planes)

I bought the H9 remote glow driver set up.

Now, the thing works great (for a while and then it chits the bed)

If you go to radio shack and buy a 1/8 headphone jack (mail and female). You can rig up your own set up with banana plugs that runs right off your power panel on your flight box. All you end up with is a clean looking female 1/8" jack port on the fuse. I run mine back on the T. Deck just cause it mitigates any wires up by the prop.

Then it's just a matter or running one wire to the chassis for ground and the other to the glow plug.

This also seemed to work ok on my 50" sundowner with a Jett60 and my 120 size AW yak BUT then both of them started being a pain in the _utz all over again.

I can't for the life of me figure out why such a simple idea can be so problematic but it sure seems to be. If anyone knows of a low profile male/female type quick disconnect that is robust (vibration resistant) enough for this kind of application I am ALL ears. My soldering is rock solid, I'm using good wire, and everything tested out with a meter just fine.

I dunt getz it.