Wilson FX

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I have been following this site for a while. How many clubs have purchased a Wilson FX launch controller? Do you use the wireless?

www.wilsonfx.com
 
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Tripoli Indiana bought one last year. Talk to Gus P. (SS/EA 6BBL 71 Cuda) or David Reese (daveyfire).
 
Saw them using one at MWP AWESOME set up simple safe effective. Can I have an AMEN to the reverand for his wonderful product!!
 
Thanks. I am going to email him and ask if he has a demo system.
 
Thanks. I am going to email him and ask if he has a demo system.


Brad has told me anytime I would care to bring one back to Oburg to demo & use he would gladly supply it. Heck with all the money the club has spent on 2nd rate systems lately, we could have bought one of these....the real thing.

Ya just need to get the club members on board. I can bring one back anytime & I'm going up there soon for Nerrf & LDRS.
 
I just used this system for the first time at LDRS 31 in Potter, NY.
BEST SYSTEM I HAVE EVER USED!

Thanks Brad!!!
 
Hello Chuck and the others on this thread,

I just did a google search for Wilson FX and came up with this thread. So I joined the "Rocketry Forum" and voila.... here I am. I am sorry for the long wait for a reply, but I didn't know you were looking for me. I was having serious problems with my web site. It got hyjacked by some chinese finance company (this is NOT a joke though I wish it was). But I got it back just in time for my Bishop to move me to a new church. So now I have a new email too! [email protected] just in case you want to email me direct.

How many clubs have purchased a Wilson FX digital Launch Control System? I can answer that one for you. Seven clubs have bought a Wilson FX launch control system. Four clubs have bought a 32 pad control system: Tripoli Quad Cities-the home of Mid West Power-talk to Tim Lehr the original "Wildman"; WOOSH-a NAR group based in South East Wisconsin - ask for Scott Goebel(former head of woosh); Tripoli Indiana-ask for Gus Pipenberg(sp?) or Vic Barlow; and a statewide(?) 4-H group in Indiana but I can't think of the guy's name for anything). Three other groups, Rocket's For Schools (Wisconsin)-talk to Randy and Carol Lutz, Fox Valley Rocketry-talk to John Kohler, and a small group in Kenosha Wisconsin all have smaller systems.

And thanks for comments from "Crazy Jim" (good to see u at LDRS) and gregzo (I have to find out who this guy is so I can thank him personally for the system recomendation!)

I too think its the best club sized to LDRS sized Launch Control System on the market, but I am biased.

Someone was asking about the wireless component. Yes, I have a wireless option that works great. Unfortunately it is also VERY expensive. The proto-type wireless transmitter/receiver units cost $250 EACH and you need at least two units to make it work. My team and I are working at bringing a less expensive version of the wireless system to market and hope to have it debut at this year's MWP (Fall of 2012).

If you flew at the away pads last week at LDRS in Potter New York, you were flying off the Wilson FX wireless system. (All the pads on the left side of the LDRS range were also Wilson-FX but not wireless.) This system was also used at the far pads for LDRS 29 though most folks didn't know it. Their wireless system died and I was already there so I loaned them my wireless system to use at the away pads. The Wilson FX Wireless system was first introduced to the public at Mid West Power a few years ago.

Just in case you were wondering, the very first Wilson FX launch control system was created back in 1995 after a couple of years of research. It was only a four pad system, but it proved that we could control multiple pads independently using the same two wires to communicate to all four pads independently and at the same time. That was also the birth of Tripoli Quad Cities which has been my ginea pig club for EVERY Wilson FX launch control system from 1995 to the present. There have been multiple generations of control systems. There were several different generations of 16 pad control systems all by themselves. But it was the very first Mid West Power launch that propelled Wilson FX into creating a 64 pad system capable of controlling an LDRS sized launch set up. Tim, the "Wildman," Lehr asked me if I could build a 64 pad control system for a big launch and I said "sure." My Wilson FX team had one on the drawing boards but we had not actually spent the money to build the thing. So we got to work and scratch-built a 64 pad launch controller and eight 8-pad Bank-Boxes. We tested it as thoroughly as we could in the 'lab" and I showed up at MWP-1 with the 64 pad system. As I pulled it out of my van I got a lot of "OMGs" from our club members. We set it up and it worked flawlessly. The rest is history.

The Wilson FX digital launch control system was dreamed about, designed, tested, built, redesigned, and retested, by rocketeers and for rocketeers. Safety, simplicity, and rugged reliability have been designed into the system on purpose. Every useful feature that we could think of that is needed for a club to LDRS sized launch control system has been incorporated in the Wilson FX launch control system. I hope to soon have the last component, "Wireless," up and running and cheap enough for it to be sellable. It works, but a $500 minimum price-tag its a bit too steep. I hope to cut that price in half, but I won't know till we can finish testing and actually get into building the "production-models." Maybe by Fall of 2012, the wireless components will be ready for market.

Email me direct if you have any questions and also check out the Wilson FX website.

As for a "demo set-up" email me direct and we can talk about it. Just to let you know, I did just rent a 32 pad system to the NY Tripoli Group that just put on LDRS 31. I found out about 7 pm, Wednesday evening July 11th, that they were in dire need, so I packed up a 32 pad launch control system in my 2002 Infinity G20-t, and headed out for New York state. I had not planned to go to LDRS this year because I just started my new church on the first of July. But they needed a system like immediately. So I drove Wednesday till midnight, then got up Thursday morning and drove the rest of the way, getting there Thursday evening about 7:30 local time. We had most of the system set up Thursday night (by flashlight) and the rest early Friday morning including the wireless for the away pads and an "Armagedon" switch for mass drag races. Everything worked. I flew my Loc Mini-Mag blasting off as straight as an arrow, on a four grain Cessaroni Pro-38 which recovered perfectly, repacked my car, and left for home right after I ate lunch. Got home at mid-night, slept the rest of the nite and got up Saturday AM to get back to work on my sermon for Sunday July 15.

So, yes, demos and even rentals are possible.

Check us out at www.wilsonfx.com

Let me know if you have any other questions. [email protected]

Eventually I will have an FAQ section on the website as well as instructions for use of the system.

Till then, let me know how I can help.

Brad, the "Rocket Rev.," Wilson
 
I don't own a Wilson FX system (although I benefit from them as a member of Tripoli Indiana), but given it is post #1, I did want to vouch for Rev. Brad Wilson. He was my L3 TAP and is an upstanding guy. Not at all surprised to hear the "heroics" in helping out the LDRS31 team.
 
WOOSH is very happy with the Wilson FX system. We don't have the wireless, so no opinion there. But we've been using the regular system for several years with nothing but good results.
 
Thanks. I think this might be the system to go with. I am deciding on wireless.
 
Ok, can anyone report any negative on this system? So far everything is positive.
 
Thanks. I has a report that I think is bogus from the Midwest.
 
Ok, can anyone report any negative on this system? So far everything is positive.
One time, we lit a P motor with it, which got the clips got dirty, which made the next P motor we tried to light misfire on its first attempt #class3problems

hack: Out of curiosity, what negative report did you hear? I could try and replicate the circumstances with our system. You can PM me the details if you want.
 
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Reported that there were misfired while arming and disarming the system at Midwest Power. They reported it came from a TAP. I am not sure what the issue was.
 
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Reported that there were misfired while arming and disarming the system at Midwest Power. I suspected it was BS, but they reported it came from a TAP.
I've never seen it happen at a Midwest Power that I've been at—granted, I've only been to three. The system has an additional safety feature that if you're at the bank and it gets accidentally armed, you can push any continuity check button and it will shut the bank down while you search for the battery to disconnect it.
 
We have a system here for OAMC/Tripoli Mid Ohio and are very pleased with it. The only issue that we have is that we lost a buzzer for continuity on one box. Annoying, but minor.
 
Thanks. I suspected based on prior reports that it was a bogus report. I have heard nothing but good up to that point. I wanted to make sure before I started pusing to raise money for a system.
 
The only negative I have is that we didn't buy ours soon enough.
 
Hello Chuck,

Did you get the rest of the demo system yet? I shipped out the last components on January 13th and haven't heard anything from you yet.

Brad
 
Hello Everybody else on this thread,

Yes, the report supposedly from a "TAP member" about wrong pads igniting and igniters firing when the leads were connected to igniters at the pad at this last years Mid West Power launch were bogus. I don't know who was circulating them, but they are out and out fabrications. I asked repeatedly for any TAP member who had any information about problems with my system to please come forward. I told them then and I stand by it now, if there's something wrong with my launch system, then I need to know what it is. Because I will fix it! Nobody came forward publically or privately with any information for me to go on. So I can only conclude that the rumors were bogus.

I was about 20 feet away from the so-called "WFX System Accident" at the 2013 Mid West Power Launch and know exactly what actually happened. The guy on the next pad to the cert flight I was helping, had hooked up his igniter in his main motor to the Wilson F/X launch control system. He tested the continuity and everything was working just fine. It was not until he armed his "air-start" outboard motor electronics that things "went south" as the saying goes. It was his internal electronics that fired one of the outboard motors when he tried to arm them, that caused his rather short flight. It did get off the pad, but fell quickly to the ground next to the pad. The igniter in the main motor was un-lit and the main motor was never fired. There was no electrical connection between the Wilson F/X launch control system connected to the igniter in the main motor only and the air-start motor that actually fired on the pad when the flier armed his air-starts beyond the fact that they were connected to the same rocket.

The fault had nothing to do with my Wilson F/X system. The flier himself said the problem was with his air-start electronics. The bank of pads was not armed by the LCO and his igniter leads were never activated by the Wilson F/X launch control system.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them here. But I'm not here very often, so send me a note directly to [email protected] and let me know you've posted a question here. I'll be glad to answer as many questions as I can.

Brad the "Rocket Rev.," Wilson
 
I want to step up here and vouch for Brad and his system. If there was any discussion regarding a misbehaving Wilson F/X at MWP11 due to a "mislaunch" of a large cluster rocket mid-day Sunday that is incorrect. It is exactly as Brad describes as I am the idiot that had a wrong setting on the cluster control for this rocket :( -- scary but gladly no harm to person or property (rocket included).


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I doubt there is anything bad to say about the system, It saved our bacon at LDRS31 it ran the left bank perfectly the whole week. Only thing i can say Rev Wilson builds it to use Big Car batteries you Dont need to waste the money on them! We ran LDRS on common 12v 7.5 batteries perfectly!
 
That is awesome. We have on last test weekend next weekend. It will be mostly wireless.



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