Anyone having issues with Aerotech Igniters?

[n3tjm]

Anyone recently have any issues with Aerotech igniters? Just the past couple months, I had 2 Aerotech igniters just pop the pyrogen off the wires instead of igniting. These igniters seem to have more pyrogen than the normal igniters. I know some pyrogen formulas, this could be an issue if you "double dip." This happed to me with the igniter supplied with my I65, and then again with the igniter supplied with the G79 reload I fired yesterday.

 

[Steve Shannon]

I just saw 900+ rockets fly at LDRS in Utah. Many them were Aerotech, since AT is a Utah firm. Nothing I saw alerted me to problems with Aerotech igniters.

 

[Bill S]

I have seen a few of the Quest Q-Jet igniters right out of the box, the pyrogen was flaking off, but it isn't a lot of igniters. But considering the cost of a pack of extras, whew.

 

[0011001100]

I personally have a 50% failure rate with AT but I also barely fly any of their motors as I mostly flew CTI before getting into EX. Even still, I seem to always have to get an extra igniter when I try to flew both motors in a 2 pack.

 

[waltr]

I have gotten AT reloads where the pryogen on the ignited was cracked and flaking off.
This is what started me on buying some Procast from Quickburst and make my own igniters. Also then broke off loose pryogen from bad AT igniters and dipped them in Procast. All then worked.

I've never had an ignition failure with Procast dipped igniters.

 

[sebastianc]

Here in Argentina, I have seen failures in the Aerotech ignitors, but until today I have not had any problems.

 

[speed]

Anyone recently have any issues with Aerotech igniters? Just the past couple months, I had 2 Aerotech igniters just pop the pyrogen off the wires instead of igniting. These igniters seem to have more pyrogen than the normal igniters. I know some pyrogen formulas, this could be an issue if you "double dip." This happed to me with the igniter supplied with my I65, and then again with the igniter supplied with the G79 reload I fired yesterday.

Yup, last launch i had an igniter pop. Split the igniter in half. Used an old igniter....no problem. I160 if i recall.

 

[RoyAtl]

only on Q-jet igniters where pyrogen is either missing or flaking on about 1/2 of them

 

[JimJarvis50]

I have had 2 failures on igniters for L1000's. The igniter "fires", but doesn't seem to light the pyrogen. This is about 2 out of 5 (roughly). I'm not going to use them anymore as a trip to the pad to replace them is a pita.

Jim

 

[Walter Longburn]

I've had ignitors that came with L1000's with the pyrogen broken off but both times the plastic vials with black powder were also smashed to bits.
All in all I've had very few problems with aerotech ignitors.

 

[Buckeye]

I just saw 900+ rockets fly at LDRS in Utah. Many them were Aerotech, since AT is a Utah firm. Nothing I saw alerted me to problems with Aerotech igniters.

I had 5 of those flights, and 2 of the 5 failed to launch with stock AT igniters. One igniter still had continuity. At a big event like LDRS, failed ignition royally sucks, since you may have to wait an hour or more for your next chance to launch.

My wife, a non-rocket person, commented at LDRS: "A lot of these rockets fail to ignite."

 

[cerving]

They had a batch of bad igniters a couple of years ago, I got some J520's and every single one had a bad igniter. The lead wires were shorted at the head, so the pyrogen never lights... the wires actually melt if your launch system puts out enough current. These are the new thinner orange and yellow igniters... I never had a problem with the older all-yellow ones.

 

[BDB]

We had multiple issues with the small Q-Jet igniters at our last launch. I recently bought some MJG BP starters (they look like small e-matches) and I'm planning to dip them in the quick burst mixture. I'm hoping that's a viable solution.

 

[Antares JS]

I have had some problems with Q-jet igniters with pyrogen breaking off and the bridgewire breaking, but not with any high power reload igniters. That said, the last time I bought a large number of high power reloads was back in 2017. I'm only just now starting to run out.

 

[Jim Green]

I have seen igniters pop open when the launch control fire button is pressed too briefly. When the button pusher just taps the fire button instead of holding it down for a second or 2 the igniter seems to heat up just enough to break it.

 

[tab28682]

I have had a few failures recently with the small AT igniters included with the 24mm long burn motors. These igniters are about 5 years old. No sigh of pyrogen damage. They typically pop and fail to ignite the motor.

Not releasing the ignition button until well after the pop. Nozzle is taped over for a decent deal. (Caps not included with these motors)