Charles_McG
Ciderwright
Last night I finally got around to doing some ground testing with my Quantum. Not of the Quantum itself, but battery x igniter selections.
I started flying altimeters with an eggtimer Quark powered by the 180mAh ??C battery borrowed from my Boy's Cox Sky Ranger park flier. It seemed to work well enough. I've killed off a couple of those batteries (left in trees overnight :-( and replaced them with Venom 210mAh 20C which seemed to work equally well and were the same size. A size very handy or BT50, which is what my Quark Chute Tender is built in.
So now I have a Quantum, and have been working up to airstarts. My initial ground testing with the orange Estes PSII Sonic igniters was disappointing. They wouldn't light. Like, at all. The tip would glow under the pyrogen without setting it off. Cris (ever helpful) suggested that it was likely the battery. I happen to have a -bunch- of these PSII igniters collected up from Hobby Lobby. My avbay was already built around my current on-hand batteries, so I got some Wildman starters, which pop like a snap, and carried on.
I did, however, pick up the Turnigy 300mAh 45-90C battery that Cris recommends. For future projects. And last night I did the ground testing again.
Venom 20C starting Estes Sonic - No
Venom 20C starting AT First Fire Mini - Yes
Turnigy 45+C starting Estes Sonic - Yes
The difference was dramatic.
If you haven't watched them burn, the Fire Fire Mini was a little longer, much steadier burn. Like a tiny sparkler. The Estes kind of snapped and popped it's way down the pyrogen. Brighter flashes.
Take away. Listen to Cris. And Cs matter.
Aside: I've had a terrible history with the Venom batteries. They die left and right after 1-2 non-stressful uses. Single cell Lo V failures so my charger rejects them. I'm hoping the Turnigy do better in that regard, too.
I started flying altimeters with an eggtimer Quark powered by the 180mAh ??C battery borrowed from my Boy's Cox Sky Ranger park flier. It seemed to work well enough. I've killed off a couple of those batteries (left in trees overnight :-( and replaced them with Venom 210mAh 20C which seemed to work equally well and were the same size. A size very handy or BT50, which is what my Quark Chute Tender is built in.
So now I have a Quantum, and have been working up to airstarts. My initial ground testing with the orange Estes PSII Sonic igniters was disappointing. They wouldn't light. Like, at all. The tip would glow under the pyrogen without setting it off. Cris (ever helpful) suggested that it was likely the battery. I happen to have a -bunch- of these PSII igniters collected up from Hobby Lobby. My avbay was already built around my current on-hand batteries, so I got some Wildman starters, which pop like a snap, and carried on.
I did, however, pick up the Turnigy 300mAh 45-90C battery that Cris recommends. For future projects. And last night I did the ground testing again.
Venom 20C starting Estes Sonic - No
Venom 20C starting AT First Fire Mini - Yes
Turnigy 45+C starting Estes Sonic - Yes
The difference was dramatic.
If you haven't watched them burn, the Fire Fire Mini was a little longer, much steadier burn. Like a tiny sparkler. The Estes kind of snapped and popped it's way down the pyrogen. Brighter flashes.
Take away. Listen to Cris. And Cs matter.
Aside: I've had a terrible history with the Venom batteries. They die left and right after 1-2 non-stressful uses. Single cell Lo V failures so my charger rejects them. I'm hoping the Turnigy do better in that regard, too.