Solar Launch controller
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NTP2
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How can a panel from what looks like 40 years ago put out enough current to fire a igniter?
It’s just a switch and a battery, as are the new ones.
NTP2
Well-Known Member
Ohh I thought it was solar powered.
I did have to do some sanding on the contacts, and track down with the voltmeter where I was losing contact. But I plugged up an old igniter and it lit it right up.
Ohh I thought it was solar powered.
it take a damn big solar panel to generate enough current to fire off an igniter. "Solar" was just Estes Buzz Word that year.
Yeah and Estes documentation back in the day was really great.Ohh I thought it was solar powered.
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NTP2
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false advertising!
They called their new ignitors Solar Ignitors as well at that time.
Before they were just a strip of nichrome with three spots of coating on them. You cut them in thirds and put the coating part in the nozzle.
Before they were just a strip of nichrome with three spots of coating on them. You cut them in thirds and put the coating part in the nozzle.
Initiator001
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I bought one of these controllers when it was first released back in 1972.
I did not use it much as I had plenty of the 'old' igniters which would not work with the Solar Launch Controller. I still have it.
One neat feature was on the back of the box was listed all the Estes rocket models in production at the time the box was printed along with a 'check box' next to every model. Every time the box went through a reprint the models listed on the back of the box changed. You can tell the 'vintage' of your controller from the models listed on the back of the box.
As for me, I only need an original K-20 Mars Snooper kit and I will have checked off all the boxes on the back of my package.
I did not use it much as I had plenty of the 'old' igniters which would not work with the Solar Launch Controller. I still have it.
One neat feature was on the back of the box was listed all the Estes rocket models in production at the time the box was printed along with a 'check box' next to every model. Every time the box went through a reprint the models listed on the back of the box changed. You can tell the 'vintage' of your controller from the models listed on the back of the box.
As for me, I only need an original K-20 Mars Snooper kit and I will have checked off all the boxes on the back of my package.
I have my original Solar Launch Controller from my first rocketry period. I still get it out when we have a "Classics" launch as we fly off of classic GSE as well. It still works fine, though I've replaced the incandescent lamp with the usual LED-based substitute from Pinball Life that I use in all the old GSE.
I've gotten a couple of others in various eBay buys over the years and one of them is my backup controller (for when I forget the PSII controller) when I go flying on my own.
@NTP2, the Solar Launch controller was the first of the 4-AA-cell-powered Estes controllers and the direct ancestor of the Electron Beam still sold today. Electrically there is essentially no difference between them, though the Electron Beam in recent years has had an LED-based continuity indicator as sold.
The Solar Igniter is the direct ancestor of the Startech Starter sold today and was made, I expect, on the same amazing little machine in Penrose that is used to make them today.
I've gotten a couple of others in various eBay buys over the years and one of them is my backup controller (for when I forget the PSII controller) when I go flying on my own.
@NTP2, the Solar Launch controller was the first of the 4-AA-cell-powered Estes controllers and the direct ancestor of the Electron Beam still sold today. Electrically there is essentially no difference between them, though the Electron Beam in recent years has had an LED-based continuity indicator as sold.
The Solar Igniter is the direct ancestor of the Startech Starter sold today and was made, I expect, on the same amazing little machine in Penrose that is used to make them today.
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