Here is how I set up my Estes PSII Controller with a Lipo…

[artgsc]

While checking the charge on my battery this evening it occurred to me that maybe this might be helpful info to someone new to the hobby….. First, you solder a male JST plug to a male plug that is compatible with your Lipo battery (my favorite is EC3). Most 3 cell 1300 mAh Lipos will fit in the PSII battery compartment and the JST simply plugs right into the PSII. To charge the battery unplug the Lipo at the battery connector and remove the battery (leave the JST plugged into the PSII). So far, I have had excellent results with this upgrade to the Estes PSII Controller….

 

[BEC]

That looks like it will work just fine.

As I’ve noted before, the real weak link in doing this is the little orange JST connectors (which are good for ~2A at best). But since it only takes a fraction of a second to fire an igniter, we get away with it.

I have been using an old ElectriFly 1250 mAh pack in my PSII controller for several years now and it works very well indeed.

 

[OC-Patrick]

Is there enough juice in these batteries to ignite 3 and 4 motor clusters?

 

[artgsc]

Never have tried anything over 2 motor clusters so can't honestly say.....

 

[waltr]

Is there enough juice in these batteries to ignite 3 and 4 motor clusters?

The Battery is above picture has a 50C rating and 1300mA-hr capacity.

This means the Battery can supply 50 * 1.3A = 65Amps which is enough to fire many igniters.
However, every connector and the length of wire between battery and igniter will reduce the Current.

The smaller the connections or wire the higher the total series resistance which lowers the Current (Ohm's Law, I = V/R).
Therefore, the question needs to asked if the "System" will fire 3-4 igniters in parallel.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

Car batteries have pretty amazing capacities which make them pretty unbeatable as far as providing lots of current in a short time.

However, there are high C rated LiPo batteries (used for drones and other applications) that can provide a lot of amps in a short window of time. Certainly more than most other battery configurations of standard batteries.

 

[cwbullet]

My igniters burn really hot and take a higher amp to fire, and I can fire 4 with a lipo so Estes igniters should not be an issue. I would be interested to see how many it could fire. Might be a good experiment.

 

[Grog6]

There are connectors good for 200A/pin; They're $120 each last I checked, but it's out there. I'm not above adding a connector, and potting the whole FC in epoxy, if that's what it takes, lol.

 

[BEC]

Is there enough juice in these batteries to ignite 3 and 4 motor clusters?

@waltr has it exactly. The battery can deliver the necessary current, no problem. Whether or not it will make it to the igniters through that little orange JST connector and so forth is the question. I would be also concerned about dirty/worn clips. If one has been buying three-packs of Estes motors long enough, there will be lots of spare igniters/starters on hand. I would simply grab four of them and conduct a test. Watch closely for simultaneous firing of all four (or three)

The controller, as sold, has a built-in two-igniter clip whip setup (two clips on each lead), so it's already provisioned for some clusters.

I have not tried many clusters with my PSII controller, but I have flown three-motor clusters off my homemade 3-pad system, which also uses a 3s LiPoly not much bigger. It doesn't have the tiny connectors that the PSII controller has (I use 30A Anderson Powerpoles), and the pad leads are heavier, though.

 

[cwbullet]

30A Anderson Powerpoles

This is the connector I would use.