clusters?

how do yuo go about wiring a 2 estes engine cluster wiht 2 standard estes igniters but with a 12 volt system

Well, the easiest, down & dirty way to do it would be to twist one of each ignitor's leads together and then attach the alligator clips to the twisted ends.

The second and more reliable way is to build yourself a clip whip. This is simply some wire (I use about 12" of speaker wire) with an aligator clip soldered on each wire lead. Use one pair of clips and a piece of wire for each motor you'd like your clip whip to support (ie. mine has 6 lengths of wire and 12 aligator clips to support a 6 motor cluster). Then take the same lead from each wire (it helps if you use wire that you can identify which wire goes to which clip like 1 black wire and 1 white wire etc...) and twist them together. Then solder the twisted wires together and then use a multimeter to check that you have continuity at each set of aligator clips.

Hope this helps,

Mark,

I don't suppose you have a picture do you? I'm having trouble picturing what you describe. Plus I don't read real well.

I'll try and snap a picture of the one I built tonight and post it.

Picture a cat-o-nine-tails with aligator clips on the ends. --wince-- That just sounds painful.

When I had a Viper 4, I must have gone through 5 sets of clips Mark described. I kept leaving them at the launch pad to go recover the rocket at major launches. Someone else would see them, and I'd have to solder a new set for myself.

If you're just talking about 2 Estes engines, you should be able to twist one lead from each ignitor together. I've successfully lit three motors [one C6 and two A10s] hooking them up like that.

Sorry it took so long. Here is a picture of the clip whip that I made.

See, what did I tell ya? Cat-o-nine-tails....

that hunk works?

Originally posted by Slikna99
that hunk works?

Click to expand...

Like a champ!