Redline - Delay

[uncle_vanya]

I have detailed what happened this weekend to my Funnel Roc' in the coffee house.

But I thought it was important that I chime in about my J420 Redline motor ejection. I had an "older" J420 but it was new enough that the Delay Grain was packaged separately from the rest of the motor parts. The Delay shipped as a Medium delay and I even followed the Aerotech info on how to reduce the time using a tire gauge and drill bit. I shaved about 3/32 of an inch off to reduce the time due to the performance reduction expected due to drag.

In any case, the dely was spot on. Kudos to Aerotech. I know a lot has been said about bad delays on Redlines - I've seen some myself. But if anyone else has had a good delay experience it might be wroth posting.

 

[uncle_vanya]

At our launch yesterday I saw an H165R fly with motor ejection - successfully. I saw an H268R fly with backup motor ejection without issues and I saw a J420R fly and crash but this was not due to the motor or the delay grain.

So three for three - All successful. The H268R was an O-L-D motor and took 3 igniters - you'd have thought that these attempts would have used up some delay and made for an early ejection - but it all held together nicely.

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I've flown several Redline motors and I have never had a problem with the delays.

The most recent was an I366R in my Binder Raptor. I had used the provided medium delay and in fact, the rocket coasted up through the entire delay and it appeared like it was slowly climbing when the chute deployed.

I have also flown a total of three I285R's in my Binder Stealth, my favorite load for that rocket. No problems with any of those either.

In fact, Redline is my favorite AT propellant.

No Redline delay issues here.

 

[jraice]

with any motor the accuracy of the delay is better then the accuracy of the estimated delay... Or about the same. So it is really luck...

That is why I see no reason to use a timer for deployment when you can use something that actually detects apogee. The timer may be more reliable then the motor ejection (but motor ejection is pretty reliable and is simpler) but I dont think it is any more accurate.

 

[uncle_vanya]

I find it interesting that the responses are equally distributed between early, spot on and don't care/other. No one has said Late.

 

[WillCarney]

Well, I have had bad luck with the delays.

Not too long ago I had a J420 and a I285 fail with in a week of
each other. One just outside the one year warranty and the
other I don't have the proof of purchase. The previous one's that
failed took quite awhile to get a response and replacement from
AT.

In my opinion the delays are still problemantic. The days I had
the J420 and I285 fail there were also at least five to six other
failures of the same type all with Red lines. That is motor ejection
just about at motor burn out or just after. NOT drag sep, but
ejection failure.

I like red lines and will continue to buy and fly them. But I will
NOT trust them were I need a chute to deploy. I fly them with
saucers and dual deploy rockets with electronics as plugged
motors.

A tip for those who fly them. Buy only what you need for a
season and use them with in a year. Keep all receits. If any does
fail then keep ALL the parts. Only in this way will they be covered
under warranty and you won't have issues like I have had.

William

 

[Tedman]

I flown an h210 no problem and have seen a lot of others fly without any delay problems. Redlines are awesome fast motors keep flying them.

 

[blackjack2564]

I have had 6 go early in the past year. The first a K185 blew ejection before motor burn out. I have seen 2 other k185's do the same thing! I was using motor ejection as backup to DD on that flight. It almost proved fatal to that rocket. It was fatal on the other two. After that I ceased to use motor back up. So how do I now the other 5 [ 2white 3 red]were early? Well do to the fact there was no tracking smoke, I assumed the delay was completley burned by the end of motor burn. The remaining flights to date clearly have shown tracking smoke. And I have seen 4 other Redline flights deploy way early, like right at motor burnout, that were not mine. The record for this was 7 in one day at Orangeburg, all redlines. Just ask anybody from that club we have all experienced it personally or been an eye witness to way too many of these in the past year. On a footnote, all have been larger motors,no 29's or small 38's 240or 360 case's stuff.

 

[loopy]

I've flown several G77's, a couple of H165's and an H210, and all have been as advertised. *knocks on wood*

*edit*
Oh - and an H148.

 

[Batman]

I flew a G77 two days ago and it blew the laundry about 2 seconds after burnout. Luckily my PML Io was not damaged. Tough little rocket.

 

[jcsalem]

I've had early ejection on several redline loads including I218, H210 and H148. I think these were all loads I bought before Aerotech fixed the propellant/delay interaction problems. [See related TRF thread.]

Jim

 

[Batman]

I should add that my delay was packages in that shiny silver staticly sealed (i think) bag. Of course, since all G77's are new that may be obvious.