Which Battery to Use With recovery system

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Altay

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Istanbul, Turkey
We're designing a 1,500m rocket and we have a problem about giving enough current to ignite our igniter. And we have two options; using li-po battery or using li-ion battery. And we're not really sure which one is the best option for giving high ammount of current through igniter. Li-po battery is at least 5 times more expensive than li-ion batteries in our country.

If you have any idea about this issue please share with us, thanks.

Important Edit: This igniter is will ignite recovery powder.
 
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Is this a commercial igniter or home made?

It's home made.

I don't think you need anything that fancy. Unless you have some exotic igniter, a 12-volt lantern battery will probably be able to set it off.

As far as I know we're going to use same mixture in tip of a match . (I'm not expert of that topic, but I can ask details about the mixture if needed)
 
Are you using nichrome wire? It may need 12 volt system. Some can use 9 volt systems, really depends on construction. Need to ground test to see what battery is best. Most I have made required 12 volts but am no expert. Hopefully someone else will chime in.
 
I would suggest making a bunch of igniters and testing them to make sure they reliably go off when you hit the button, and make sure your ignition system works before your flight attempt. Like I said though, you probably don't need an expensive lithium battery. A lantern battery can set off almost any igniter commonly used in the US. People who use lithium batteries probably do so because they fly a lot and they want a rechargable battery.
 
All we're doing right now is reasearching because that's all we can do really. We can't test anything because of covid-19 outbreak. For now, What I understood from replies is using li-ion batteries is the best idea, they're really cheap and if they work, it's enough for us.

We will try li-ion batteries when we can. Thanks for the replies again, if there is anything that I got wrong or there is a thing should be mentioned please share.
 
12 volt car batteries will almost certainly work at far lower cost than LiPo. It's just kind of heavy to carry to the field.
 
12 volt car batteries will almost certainly work at far lower cost than LiPo. It's just kind of heavy to carry to the field.
What? We're talking about recovery system's igniter, sorry I didn't mention that.

By the way, I might have done a mistake about the naming. What I meant by "li-ion battery" is normal, consumer batteries we all know. Like this:

pr_02_847.jpg

EDIT: We're going to use this igniter for our recovery system.
 
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Whole new subject. We all thought you were talking launch batteries since you said igniter. I’ll change subject. How about a simple 9 volt?
 
What is the electrical resistance of your home made ignitor?
 
Whole new subject. We all thought you were talking launch batteries since you said igniter. I’ll change subject. How about a simple 9 volt?

I'm sorry, I forgot rockets have two type of igniters. I have same battery as this at my home:

9v-pil-guc-kaynaklari-cin-1268-48-B.jpg

This one is exteremly cheap, it's 9V Alkaline Battery. Can this thing do our job?

What is the electrical resistance of your home made ignitor?

We used dish wire to ignite the igniter in our previous tests. But we weren't able to test anything after that because of covid-19.

HTB1aBpRqh1YBuNjy1zcq6zNcXXa0.jpg_350x350.jpg
 
Why chance anything when a J-Tek E-Match cost you a buck and a 9v Copper Top 2.00, I've ignited hundreds of theses and I don't think I've ever! had the E-Match fail. Other things yes but never the E-Match, If it ain't broke?
 
I'm sorry, I forgot rockets have two type of igniters. I have same battery as this at my home:

9v-pil-guc-kaynaklari-cin-1268-48-B.jpg

This one is exteremly cheap, it's 9V Alkaline Battery. Can this thing do our job?



We used dish wire to ignite the igniter in our previous tests. But we weren't able to test anything after that because of covid-19.

HTB1aBpRqh1YBuNjy1zcq6zNcXXa0.jpg_350x350.jpg

I suspect your resistance is too low. But you have to measure that. Your 9V battery is current limited. If your igniter has too low a resistance it cannot cannot develop enough heating power at the current level the battery can supply. Plus your battery is a carbon-zinc battery, bad choice for delivering alot of current.
 
I always recommend Duracell 9V battery. They are very reliable. Less expensive 9V batteries may not be as well made and can fail under high acceleration. I have seen it happen. If you can use Duracell I highly recommend them.

OIP.BkEoawDf90VmTZItyKIK8AHaHa
 
I always recommend Duracell 9V battery. They are very reliable. Less expensive 9V batteries may not be as well made and can fail under high acceleration. I have seen it happen. If you can use Duracell I highly recommend them.

OIP.BkEoawDf90VmTZItyKIK8AHaHa

Best battery on the market for 9v, 2 E-Matches per flight and never! a problem
 
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A 2S LiPo battery of about 350 mAH or so will heat just about any ematch or nichrome wire igniter enough to ignite a black powder charge. If you use commercial ematches, you don't even need that... a 1S LiPo 100 mAH or more will light virtually every ematch on the market. Duracell 9V batteries work good for ematches, too.
 
Why chance anything when a J-Tek E-Match cost you a buck and a 9v Copper Top 2.00, I've ignited hundreds of theses and I don't think I've ever! had the E-Match fail. Other things yes but never the E-Match, If it ain't broke?

I actually had two different brands of commercial ematches fail on the same flight. The bridge wires opened but the pyrogen never lit.

Even with that, I would also highly recommend an ematch and 9V Duracell battery. I've also made my own igniters for use with 9v Duracell batteries. I have 34ga nichrome wire and wind it so I have a bridge of about 1/16th inch or about 2 mm long. The 9V sets that off just fine.
 
You have how many EE's on the team?

Your team is cutting costs to the bone by using your knowledge to roll your own
Your going to develop your own flight computer.
You expect your design to be in command on the first [maybe second] flight.

Yet you can't choose a battery?
 
All we're doing right now is reasearching because that's all we can do really. We can't test anything because of covid-19 outbreak. For now, What I understood from replies is using li-ion batteries is the best idea, they're really cheap and if they work, it's enough for us.

We will try li-ion batteries when we can. Thanks for the replies again, if there is anything that I got wrong or there is a thing should be mentioned please share.
I use a li-ion in my Aerotech ARCAS that I converted to dual-deployment. I chose li-ion over li-po due to the fact it doesn't have the tendency to puff up like li-pos do, and it also doesn't self-discharge while sitting on the shelf.

The downside to the li-ion is they don't dump power quite as quickly as the li-po packs do, so they're not quite as good in high current draw situations. Since my altimeter uses a charged capacitor to ignite my e-matches, the lesser current output is not an issue!
 
I always use LiPo exclusively nowadays. Cheap and plenty of grunt. Make sure you carry spares in your kit in case any get puffy.

On the topic of 9v batteries, check out this thread. If you are going to use 9V batteries do an autopsy on the same type you are going to fly to confirm construction.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/whats-in-your-battery.48342/
 
A lot of negative nellies again...

To the OP:
It doesn't take much of a battery to ignite an ejection charge. But, there's lots of tradeoffs to be made.

First, you need to decide what kind of igniter or e-match you're going to use. There are a number of threads on here about DIY igniters, there are a lot of commercial choices from rocketry vendors, there are a lot of commercial choices from fireworks vendors. Some of the choices require a lot of current (4 to 5 A at 6+ Volts), some don't require nearly as much (1A at 2V). Once you've chosen an igniter, you can look into batteries.

LiPo batteries are excellent for rocketry, because they're small, light, and can source a lot of current. From your perspective, the problem might be that you have to buy them, and a charger for them. You may be able to find them cheaply in the Radio Control hobby - for example, I've purchased these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MW2L96L and been quite happy with them; they provide plenty of power for my Eggtimer Quark computer and igniters. You may be able to find a similar product in your country, or on Alibaba. I would strongly recommend putting in a fully charged battery for each flight.

LiIon batteries will work fine also. They tend to be bigger and heavier for a similar level of power output, and share the same disadvantage that you may need to purchase them and a charger for them. One big advantage is that they tend to be more reliable long-term than LiPo - read the comments above about "puffy".

An Alkaline Duracell 9V battery is heavier and larger than either the LiPo or LiIon solutions. It has one big advantage - you can probably buy them anywhere. It has sufficient power to light just about any igniter out there, but I would use a brand-new one for every flight to make sure that your igniter lights. As a result, you might find that it starts to get more expensive than LiPo if you have a number of flights.

Good luck.
 
You have how many EE's on the team?

Your team is cutting costs to the bone by using your knowledge to roll your own
Your going to develop your own flight computer.
You expect your design to be in command on the first [maybe second] flight.

Yet you can't choose a battery?

We're students, not engineers. And competation we're going to attend is for students only. We're learning by doing and researching. And nowadays we can't learn by doing because of covid-19 so all we're doing is researching.

Again thank you to all of you for answers. You and this forum has been really helpful to us.
 
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