Glow Bee Fire plug battery

My glow Bee blew its internal fuse due to a shorted battery cable (the insulation failed).
The battery is rated at 2 volts 5. amp hrs
As parts are no longer available, could some one calculate the proper fuse rating.
Dariel,mikey and I tried, but couldn,t do the math
I really don,t like clip on battries as thier too close to the C.F.
prop.
I would also be interested in alternative replacments that others are using.

Thanks

Fuse rating, I don't know. The cell is fairly easy to get. It's made by Hawker-Cyclon, and you can find it in most electronics catalogs (try Digi-Key, or even ask at Radio Shack). You might be able to find used ones really cheap at ham fests.

Plugs generally don't draw more than 5 amps, so a 10 amp fuse SHOULD work, I think..

A 10-amp fuse sounds good. You can get in-line fuse holders at car parts stores.

As an alternative to the Fireplug, two or three alkaline D cells soldered in parallel work fine and should last a whole flying season. One local yokel uses this setup, and he flies a lot.

I did this for a while. It works for sport flying, and if your plug leads aren't very long. Not great when you're using the 6 foot leads Combat fliers like. In the end I put EIGHT alkaline D cells in a 2S4P configuration, taped it all up in duct tape, put a dropping resistor in series with the lot. That one lasted 2 or 3 years, and worked with the long leads, but it was heavy. Looked rather suspicious, too - probably not a good idea to try to carry it on board a plane.

Hello Charlie,
I had the reostat go out on my battery and went to an electronic supply house and they checked and found what I needed and corrected the problem..
You might be able to do the same..

Howard is right about the "D" cells wired up parallel and then wrapped in a big wad of tape.

When coming to CL Stunt I had been using--in RC Pattern and CL Combat--sticks of sub-C nicads, six cells total, mainly as I had, and still have, hundreds of the things. Series/parallel wiring to give 2.4 volts at the pack. Fairly long leads, wire-wound resistor home-made and inserted in one line, tapped just past the point where a Fox plug would flash-bulb into oblivion. (The best use ever for Fox plugs, in my opinion.)

I actually chuckled to myself when asking PW what batteries were in the wad of plastic electrical tape. "Dry cells!! That boy ain't as smart as I have been lead to believe..."

Shortly thereafter, actually *very shortly* thereafter, and with a different matter entirely, I came to see the error of my assumption.

Dry cells are much preferred today, I'm not even sure I can find those old nicad-based packs from yesteryear. Dry cells deliver plenty of power for our Stunt engines and plugs, they are exceedingly reliable over an entire season of heavy use, back-ups can be kept in the tool box or purchased at any convenience store.

Best of all, **they need not be charged, nor do they inexplicably work one minute only to "fall off the knee" of discharge cycle and not working the next flight**.

The Gary Letsinger-built flight box I use contains four "D" cells, driving though 0-5 ammeter.

How y'all can stand those silly single-nicad glow battery units, *and* not having a meter of some sort to indicate continuity, flooded engine, dry engine, I will never know...

But I do know that plain, old-fashioned "D" cells handle my every need when it comes to CL Stunt models of any kind.

I agree 100% with Dan wrt rechargable batteries. I have been using 2 AA wired in parallel in a Radio Shack battery holder. A set will not last for the season but at less than 30 cents each, I can carry a few spares. They are much more reliable and consistent.

>
>Shortly thereafter, actually *very shortly* thereafter, and
>with a different matter entirely, I came to see the error of
>my assumption.
>
>Dry cells are much preferred today, I'm not even sure I can
>find those old nicad-based packs from yesteryear. Dry cells
>deliver plenty of power for our Stunt engines and plugs,
>they are exceedingly reliable over an entire season of heavy
>use, back-ups can be kept in the tool box or purchased at
>any convenience store.
>
>Best of all, **they need not be charged, nor do they
>inexplicably work one minute only to "fall off the knee" of
>discharge cycle and not working the next flight**.

They work better in the cold, too.

>The Gary Letsinger-built flight box I use contains four "D"
>cells, driving though 0-5 ammeter.
>
>How y'all can stand those silly single-nicad glow battery
>units, *and* not having a meter of some sort to indicate
>continuity, flooded engine, dry engine, I will never know...

Not much of an issue. I can't recall the last blown plug, and dry/wet is easy to tell by sound. And I can't recall the last time I ran one out unexpectedly. One charge is plenty enough to last a season.

But dry cells will certainly work.

Charlie,

I went to an electronics store to replace the battery in my glo-bee. They were out of the Cyclon batteries and the guy sold me a Gates Battery of the same rating. Been chugging for about 4 years since the replacement. The fuse in mine is 10-amps.

>Charlie,
>
>I went to an electronics store to replace the battery in my
>glo-bee. They were out of the Cyclon batteries and the guy
>sold me a Gates Battery of the same rating. Been chugging
>for about 4 years since the replacement. The fuse in mine is
>10-amps.

Gates invented the Cyclon, later to be bought out by Hawker.

My biggest problem is -- is a 10 amp fuse at 12 volts, a 10 amp fuse at 2 volts ?(blow at same amp draw).
Or simply put; will a car fuse work with a 2 volt battery?
Thanks for the input.
As for you other guys Pie is a ratio; or 3.1416 pies : 1 Belly Ache

>My biggest problem is -- is a 10 amp fuse at 12 volts, a 10
>amp fuse at 2 volts ?(blow at same amp draw).
>Or simply put; will a car fuse work with a 2 volt battery?

Amps is amps.

There might be an issue with the resistance of the fuse, though. 0.2 ohms, say, might not matter if you have 12 volts, but since we're using 1.5, a voltage drop across the fuse at 3-4 amps might be significant.

Incidentally, a D alkaline cell has a whopping 18 amp-hours in it, if I recall correctly, which is why it lasts so long. But for all their good qualities, Howard and Paul Walker weren't using them for the B-17 - Howard built a 4 headed "Electronic Nicad" for that:

http://www.clcombat.info/enicad.html

A set of D cells might work to moderately cold temperatures, but I sure wouldn't use them below, say, 40 degrees unless you keep them warm. The only cells I've seen that work well below freezing are the ones all the Chicago fliers use - the 25 AH Cyclon "BC" cells. 20+ years of the Frozen Finger Flying Festival has weeded out all the inferior cold-weather batteries.

As to the B-17s, it must be noted that Howard built the cool starting box for reasons which have little to do with a discussion of dry "D" cells versus nicads or whatever super-cool accumulators were sourced from Magic Widget, Inc., in the most remote spot on the planet, C.O.D. only and we don't even want your business...

For what it's worth, a great many times I saw--even assisted in the process a few times--four wads of "D" cells laying under wing trailing edge of the B-17s, each with a lead running to an engine.

Left to his own devices, Paul does indeed prefer "D" cells and I have learned to shamelessly copy his every move. Even some of the stuff that doesn't work for me, in some cases that I don't even understand.

Insert some sort of smiley face here...

Brett
The guy at radio shack agrees.
A 2amp fuse is a 2 amp fuse; voltage does not apply
I guess Ill have to take it on faith as I just don,t quite understand why.
What I did was purchase a thermal fuse; good to a temperature of
262 degrees before blowing.It also has an amperage rating of 10 amps.
It is about the size of a 1/2 watt resistor or smaller ,and fits right in the unit ;Just insulate and put leads on each end.
The unit is back together and kicking with the same old 15 year old battery and works good as new!

Thanks Guys: :

Zeke,

Could be. Mine says Gates in black letters on a red and white battery. But not Cyclon (or much of anything else except specs). Interesting.

I was just talking to a manufacturing rep for EnerSys here at work today. Apparently they purchased the Hawker/Cyclon product line. If you want all of the technical details on their batteries, try www.enersysreservepower.com.

So now all we need is someone to find a supplier for the GloBee case....

>My glow Bee blew its internal fuse due to a shorted battery
>cable (the insulation failed).
>The battery is rated at 2 volts 5. amp hrs
>As parts are no longer available, could some one calculate
>the proper fuse rating.
>Dariel,mikey and I tried, but couldn,t do the math
>I really don,t like clip on battries as thier too close to
>the C.F.
>prop.
>I would also be interested in alternative replacments that
>others are using.
>
> Thanks

I someone gave me a bunch of replacement from "takeouts" used in aircraft radios. They must be replaced after a period of time, and they have a lot of life left in them. They are hawker X cells.

Our local american science and surpless had some huge (like 4 inches in diameter and 12 inces tall) gates cells.

For fuses. The fuse isn't going to protect anything except the battery, and prevent a fire, (and in your case it worked!)

The rule of thumb I use is 2x the worst expected load, then go one size up. A glow plug pulls 2.5- 3 amps, So any 6-10 amp automotive fuse will be fine.

I'd like to find a source for a tough 5A dc meter that doesn't cost $50.

>I'd like to find a source for a tough 5A dc meter that
>doesn't cost $50.

Shurite 8203Z costs about $13 from Allied.
Nitro will melt the plastic, so cover it with Fascal or some such.

You can also build a solid-state voltmeter displaying
via an LED bargraph, and make an ammeter out of it
by sensing the drop across a small, stable resistor.

I've made them from cheap panel meters I got from various sources (generally hamfests, electronics surplus stores and cheap battery testers). Since I use the Hawker/Cyclon/Gates X cell with a dropping resistor, I use the dropping resistor as a shunt. Some meters require a resistor (I use a small PCB potentiometer) in series with it to decrease sensitivity. You can calibrate these ammeters, but you don't have to for glow driver use. If the needle moves to somewhere from 25% to 75% of the range when you hook it up to a glowplug, that's good enough.

You can make a voltmeter out of these, too - for this, you add a resistor (or a pot, if you want calibration) in SERIES with the meter.

I've used Glo Bee Fireplugs for about 25 years. The fuses in all three of mine blew about 24 years ago. I bypassed them (no fuse at all) and have never had any problems, right up to several flights today. A good place to get the batteries, by the way, is Batteries Plus, a chain that has stores in many cities.

--jt

IF anyone has one that they want to get rid of I'LL TAKE IT. I'm looking for another one to have and use.

I = E/R ..... then E = I x R ..... and R = E/I

E = voltage
I = current
R = resistance

E = M x C^2

Pie "R" square...no, pie are round, cornbread are square.

I like pi, it's easy.

Great!

..as in, "easy as ..."

George
AMA 23454

LOL !!!!

SoHawaii
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka 'Aina I Ka Pono
("The Life/Sovereinty of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness")