Battery holder cracked on Perfectflite Alt15K

[Zeus-cat]

My Perfectflite Alt15K has developed several cracks on one end of the battery holder. Can I use something like Testor's glue for plastic models or should I use epoxy? Is the plastic battery holder a form of styrene or is it that other kind that model glue doesn't work on?

 

[Pantherjon]

I think it is a plastic that model glue doesn't work on..Why don't you shoot a message to Perfectflite and see? support at perfectflite.com I am sure it would be a quick and easy fix for him and then you would KNOW that it would be right and probably would only be a few bucks to get fixed..

 

[Zeus-cat]

I sent them an email a few days ago and have not heard back yet. I thought someone here might have tried repairing their own and would know what to do. Just looking at the plastic I assume it is not styrene based and model glue will not work.

 

[Gillard]

Same thing happened to my 15K.
the spring is quite strong, i now wrap tape around the battery holder to prevent it from cracking further. my other to 15Ks are okay and don't seem to be suffering.

 

[sylvie369]

Mine cracked on (IIRC) the very first flight, and has since flown at least another 20 times without any problem. As the previous poster said, the spring is quite strong.

I know it seems odd, but it seems to have worked just fine.

 

[n5wd]

Can I use something like Testor's glue for plastic models or should I use epoxy?

When this happened on one of our school's Alt15KW2's, we used a Kevlar thread, wrapped around lengthwise around the battery holder 15 or 20 times (making a band about 1/2 nich wide), then coated with epoxy, to keep the holder together. That's been three years ago, and it's still flying today.

 

[Zeus-cat]

I have another idea I might try first, but if that fails then I think I will go with the Kevlar thread.

 

[hardinlw]

I didn't see this thread earlier.

Last year the TARC team I mentored eventually broke the battery holder on every altimeter they flew, both Perfectflite and Adept. The cause was the rather sudden arrival from undersized streamers. It took a lot of test flying to find the right size and folding technique to get an acceptable descent time and apparently that's putting stresses on the altimeter that are pretty much at the limit when all goes well. The only good solution is to send the Altimeter back to Perfectflite and let them replace the battery holder. Don't hold your breath waiting to get it back. This is TARC season and they will be busy.

With the repaired altimeter, install with the spring in the battery holder facing up. That way you will not lose continuity on liftoff because of the spring compressing, but you will have it to absorb some of the shock on a hard landing. Pad the altimeter. We were installing both soft and stiff foams to progressively cushion the altimeter, but make sure the foam does not cover the pressure sensor. Basically, we mounted the altimeter in a BT50 tube installing things in this order : soft foam, stiff foam, altimeter, stiff foam, soft foam. The stiff foam was cut into plugs that fit the tube. This is pretty much what the instructions tell you to do.

 

[DaveHein]

I have the same problem with my Alt15K. I use a cable-tie to keep it together.

 

[Handeman]

My Alt15K broke the same way, surprise surprise :y:

Obviously a design/manufacturing problem.

I bent a small piece of metal to wrap around the broken end. Drilled a number of indentations in the side of the holder and small holes in the metal. Bent the tips of the metal piece so it fit into a couple of the holes, then epoxied everything to gether with JBWeld. The indentations and the holes in the metal keep the JBWeld in place.

Two flights later I had a lawn dart that stripped the componets off the altimeter. Oh well...........