"Old Days" with Kwik Klips yet again!

(RE: Kwik Klips yet again!) I don't think I can edit the message title after the first version of my reply goes in, darn it.

However, I did ADD a P.S. in favor of NiCad twist-on boosters by McDaniel for "non-Combat" convenience.

1. The name Kwik-Klip belonged to the type Steve wrote about

2. and was later mis-applied to the plunger style I have no liking for.

3. There was no "center" section out of which something might come loose. The very earliest such were similar to a particular type of TV antenna clip, with red or green plastic "clothes-pin like" spring loaded finger grips.

There were two other varieties. One was somewhat more compact, to fit smaller engines, including Coxes. The other, which I don't like very well, was a deluxe style with an added "cup" device for the plug's top pole to fit up into. The original type (and I am looking at one right now) just had a depression for that end. All three had a sort of shallow "Vee" end as the other prong that went between a couple of fins.

DuBro, I think, was (at one time, not any more) packaging the one with the deep cup piece; in a Combat pit, that one wasn't liked because it didn't yank off as easily, unless you melted some electronic solder and filled most of the center, to create just the shallow depression like what this one I'm holding has. Mine is red, fairly new, but slightly used, marked on both sides with three lines of stamped-in text that says "Air-span Kwik-klip 2928067".

K.

P.S. When I'm not trying to be the first out of a pit to make the most air time points in combat matches, I also prefer using a McDaniel NiCad "pocket" booster (don't put it in a pocket with a coin). I have two of them, and only recharge when one or the other is totally flat. I also have one of the plunger-style booster NiCads, also don't like it much. But my last prior clothes- pin style clip disappeared, so I was pleased to find a replacement, even a used one.

Carry two McDaniels nicad twist on/off with you at all times. If you want to go downmarket a little, get a Dubro, which uses the not-as-good plunger design.

But anything is better than clip-ons.

No wires.

Easy twist on.

Easy twist off.

You get a good positive connection.

You get a good negative connection.

What's not to like?

Say goodbye to wires, because therein lies the Low Voltage Demon.

And other embarassments.

There are several reasons why I like it. First, I get the quick disconnect needed for combat. Second, the voltage is adjustable for the different glow plugs I might come across. Third, it measures the voltage across the plug and compensates as necessary for long or skinny wires and for floods. Fourth, it avoids excessive current in the event of a short, yet resets instantly when the short is removed. Fifth, it displays both the voltage across the clip and the current drawn so that I get quick feedback in the event of problems (blown plug, internal short, bad connections, flood). Finally, I can use very large meters, enabling the combat pilot (in the center) to check up on the pit crew!

Howard got Paul Walker to use it on the B-17. In the old days, Paul would use a simple system based on a wad of D-cells soldered together. Was simple and reliable, but didn't help when a plug went out. On the B-17, there are 4 plugs, so this was a real consideration.

Of course, I was limiting my opinion to commercial products.

Well, I was pretty sure Leonard was wrong (who wants to lug around a big battery?), built a nice light system that wasn't too reliable, and guess what I am running now?

I am running a 12 V motorcycle / lawnmower battery through a Tower Hobbies panel, and a simple DuBro snap-on clip. No hassle, and it works.

My memory doesn't provide me any details on packager names.

> I soldered a 3' length of lamp cord to the Kwik Klip.

My length of (#18, I think) wire was at least that long, maybe longer. I had a 2 Volt wet cell on the other end, with a small rheostat to drop the voltage varying amounts (determined with a volt meter and marked on the outside of the project box that had the battery and rheostat in it), but I had 1/4" phone plugs and/or phone jacks on the box and the cable.

>At the other end I soldered an antenna clip. The antenna clip
>bites on to a hobby battery (or door bell batteries in the 50's)
>very well. I was a bit sad when my last one broke.

After the plastic finger grips broke, and they always would, eventually, we would screw the metal ends onto wooden clothes pins. But my crowd kept trying different options to replace the 1 1/2 Volt dry cells that seemed to be comparatively short-lived after the middle of the 1960's, as if they weren't made as well as previously.

I cut up a military surplus multi-cell NiCad and several of us used a single NiCad wet cell, or from a smaller multi-cell that someone else cut apart, two cells.

> I also tried the newer Kwik Klip (push on) with success, but
>never really liked it.

At some point a few years back, I had half a dozen types of plug connectors on lamp cords with that phone jack on the other end; a pretty purple push-on from Kraft was spring-loaded inside in some way to eliminate both using plungers for release, and twisting. It is an L-shaped item, and now is equipped with twin banana plugs.

> Now use a twist-on metered glo driver.

I have a pair of those. They are very handy to use.

> Never tried the power panel.
>
A majority of the Texas Combat Contingent uses 12 V gel cell batteries just like the RC fliers use, with power panels and plug-in glow plug clip sets. This "new to me" Kwik-Klip of the old type will soon have banana plugs on the other ends, instead of the alligator clips it has now.

When you need to know right away what the plug is doing, and if the engine might be too wet or too dry for a fast start, you can develop familiarity with the meter readings from the panel for your usual engine/ fuel/ plug combination, and know what you have in a second.

Incidentally, the power panels used by those very serious Combat Pilots are mounted in a fairly wide variety of equipment, which includes a couple that are on the sides of Rubbermaid combination stool and tool box devices. These stools have a concave shape on the outside of each leg that is a very close match to the syringe sleeves that some of the fuel syringes come in. A couple of wire ties to each leg straps on one of those sleeves, and the stool now has convenient "holsters" to carry (filled or empty, whatever) syringes around the pits.

Kiwi