RCC3 Ground Test

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Evilash

Evilash

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Ok, maybe I am missing something but I see ground testing mentioned quite a bit and for the life of me I cannot find out how you do that with a RCC3 Extreme. Can you ground test with that altimeter to test that the charge amount is right?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Evilash -

I'd recommend going the simple route when testing ejection-charge/BP efficacy... Use some wire and a battery vs. using the altimeter.
If you're absolutely set on altimeter initiation of the charge, you could get an extended USB cable and give it a go using the mDACS Diagnostic tools.
 
Ground testing applies to testing of ejection charges and recovery set up in the target rocket. Altimeters and their programming setup can be more effectively tested on a bench.
 
So just a long wire to the charge itself and light it. Its so simple I feel like an idiot lol. Thanks!
 
dixontj93060 said:
Ground testing applies to testing of ejection charges and recovery set up in the target rocket. Altimeters and their programming setup can be more effectively tested on a bench.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was referring to, testing the charge to make sure it was big enough to pop the shear pins and cone. Thanks for the help.
 
To test the charges, I just hook up the ejection charges through the AVbay with a 20 foot phone cable and ignite with a car battery or 2 AA's taped together. Some people use their Estes launch controllers. For the RRC3 tests, I use wires with LED's soldered on. The LED's (From Radioshack) have two colors for different power output so I can visually see how much juice is going through. This will help you not waste your charges :)
 
Killachrome said:
To test the charges, I just hook up the ejection charges through the AVbay with a 20 foot phone cable and ignite with a car battery or 2 AA's taped together. Some people use their Estes launch controllers. For the RRC3 tests, I use wires with LED's soldered on. The LED's (From Radioshack) have two colors for different power output so I can visually see how much juice is going through. This will help you not waste your charges :)
Click to expand...

One needs to be a little careful with the type of battery used in ground tests. I know of one story of a person who used high current ematches (igniters, whatever) and ground tested with a car battery. The ground tests worked fine. For the flight, a 9 v battery was used. The ematches did not light and a fairly nice rocket was lost. These things do happen.
 
4kids49 said:
One needs to be a little careful with the type of battery used in ground tests. I know of one story of a person who used high current ematches (igniters, whatever) and ground tested with a car battery. The ground tests worked fine. For the flight, a 9 v battery was used. The ematches did not light and a fairly nice rocket was lost. These things do happen.
Click to expand...

You are correct sir! I'm using q2g2's so they're easy to ignite. If you are making your own or have high current ematches, make sure they ignite from the RRC3 first (without black powder) then move on to BP and shear pin tests.
 

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