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Glow plug igniter max voltage

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    #32
    workaccount
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,460 ✭✭✭workaccount


    Right just tested it with one cell there and it's sound! Glow plug lights right up and no brownout after running it from one cell for about a minute.

    So that means if my onecell is capable of lighting up the glow plug nice at 2 amps what happens if I stick two aa's together? Will the glow plug draw the 4 amps and give me the same amount of time as one cell ie. 2300mah! or will it just draw the 2 amps still and give me 4600mah. (twice as long lasting)


    Also this cell I was testing with isn't fully charged. I think when they are fully charged they go up to 1.4v - I wonder could 1.4v damage my glow plug. When they discharge they go under 1v aswell so I suppose this could be a problem also.


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    #33
    loopingfred
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭loopingfred


    Putting the cells in // wil increase the capacity...

    So :
    1 cell is 2300mah
    2 cells in // is 4600Mah and so on...

    The "tricky" bit is the charging...

    What we use to do a while ago, is charge the batteries like is 1 cell with the matching capacity (for the total of cells).
    And from time to time, to balance all the cells, charge the cells individually, one by one...
    I was not very good at keeping track of all that, so I charged the cells one by one maybe once a year... Never had a problem.. And no fancy electronic chargers at the time, all that with a really basic one...


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    #34
    loopingfred
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭loopingfred


    OOppss, forgot, 1.4 volts will not blow your plug.

    1.5v will still be ok


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    #35
    coolwings
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 3,455 Mod ✭✭✭✭coolwings


    workaccount wrote: »
    .... or will it just draw the 2 amps still and give me 4600mah. (twice as long lasting)...

    Correctamundo ! :D

    If the cells are different sizes leave the tabs in such a way as to be suitable to charge each one individually.
    If they are the same size, you can charge your parallel pack as a whole. In this case a balance is beneficial like Fred said.
    An alternative to a balance is to leave it on trickle charge (as opposed to delta peak charge) at 1/10C and a low cell will be able to catch up while on trickle. (only works with nimh/nicad)


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    #36
    workaccount
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,460 ✭✭✭workaccount


    loopingfred wrote: »
    Putting the cells in // wil increase the capacity...

    So :
    1 cell is 2300mah
    2 cells in // is 4600Mah and so on...

    The "tricky" bit is the charging...

    What we use to do a while ago, is charge the batteries like is 1 cell with the matching capacity (for the total of cells).
    And from time to time, to balance all the cells, charge the cells individually, one by one...
    I was not very good at keeping track of all that, so I charged the cells one by one maybe once a year... Never had a problem.. And no fancy electronic chargers at the time, all that with a really basic one...

    I wonder does it matter which setup I use
    batterysetupna2.th.jpg



    I would prefer setup 1. I was thinking I'd have to join the batteries with some sort of battery bar or battery bridge like coolwings soldered to his cadnica above.

    Obviously then though I would never be able to charge them as individual cells. Even with setup 2 though I would have to stick them together somehow which would prevent me from being able to charge individually.

    I can't think of anyway to stick them together as to be able to seperate them. It would be nice to have this option. EDIT: Just thinking actually of pulling the battery box from something like radio or something might work - I recall these to be cheapo plastic usually though - be nice to have something tougher. Something like this maybe - http://www.polycase.com/images/cache/vm-batt-category--.jpg or http://www.maplin.co.uk/images/full/cl151118.jpg

    The trickle charge is good but the rate of charge would be so low it could turn out to be very frustrating.


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    #37
    loopingfred
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭loopingfred


    Setup 1 is the correct one.
    all the + together, all the - together.

    Check with the voltmeter at the end anyway.

    To join the batteries, you can use wire ! A 2cm piece of wire, remove 5mm or the insulator at each end and solder that on the battery.
    Glue the batteries together with hot glue (better) or cyano.
    Easy and cheap. I should have a picture somewhere if you don't see what I mean.

    For the balance, you can solder an extra wire on each cell, but I will not really worry about the balancing, this is for a plug igniter :p


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    #38
    workaccount
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,460 ✭✭✭workaccount


    loopingfred wrote: »
    Setup 1 is the correct one.
    all the + together, all the - together.

    Check with the voltmeter at the end anyway.

    To join the batteries, you can use wire ! A 2cm piece of wire, remove 5mm or the insulator at each end and solder that on the battery.
    Glue the batteries together with hot glue (better) or cyano.
    Easy and cheap. I should have a picture somewhere if you don't see what I mean.

    For the balance, you can solder an extra wire on each cell, but I will not really worry about the balancing, this is for a plug igniter :p

    That picture would be handy. :)


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    #39
    loopingfred
    Registered Users Posts: 351 ✭✭loopingfred


    Sorry, delayed answer.. Bit busy this week end ! :(

    So, here you go... The wire :

    battery1001.jpg

    You can glue the batteries with hot glue... Neat and strong !

    battery1002.jpg

    And the wire, soldered on the pack (4cells here...)...

    battery1004.jpg

    Easy to do, strong and reliable too !
    You can solder another wire for individual charge at this stage, same lenght as the first one, or longer if you want...

    Hope this help


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    #40
    workaccount
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,460 ✭✭✭workaccount


    I picked up a battery box this evening similar to this one http://www.mutr.co.uk/images/DSCN0247.jpg but for only 2 aa's.

    Do you see the connectors on the top left of the batt box in the picture? My box has the same connectors. It's the same connector as would go on one of these 9 volts. http://www.legacyhomemedical.com/imgs/406/Enegizer%209v.jpg
    I suppose the ideal situation would be a connector that fit's onto that battery box. I saw some of these in Maplin but the cables coming from them were too small - tiny infact.

    Anybody know where I could get these with 16awg on the net? The other option is to solder wires to that battery box directly - Not sure how I would go about this yet.


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    #41
    coolwings
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 3,455 Mod ✭✭✭✭coolwings


    Hmmm ...
    Solder tabs onto the battery box end? That could be done.
    Buy cheap battery boxes with "good" cable? Probably available somewhere on the planet if you google all night.

    But: Watch you don't melt too much plastic while soldering it. That type of plastic has a low temp it distorts shape at.
    I have rewired those battery boxes in the past - it is difficult to solder the steel neatly and not damage the plastic.

    And:You will also have to cut the connections at the other end, and rewire it as a parallel not a series connection. Because the one in the picture is an inline wired battery box,and it puts out 4 cells x 1.5V = 6V, a similar 2 cell version would have 2 x 1.5V = 3V. Both will pop your 1.5V glowplugs instantly.

    Happy soldering.

    Does anyone else think 41 posts on how to heat a glowplug is excessive?
    Still requesting yet more advice on such a simple topic, while at the same time ignoring the good advice already given willingly by many different helpful posters above seems a little strange to me, and somewhat dismissive of other peoples freely given help and knowledge.
    You are welcome to ask questions of the members of the forum, and we are very willing to help, many times, but we are aware of when our help goes unheeded, and therefore was a wasted effort giving it.

    I'm finished with this thread.

    Next thread: how to repair glowplugs .... Coming soon :rolleyes:


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    #42
    workaccount
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,460 ✭✭✭workaccount


    coolwings wrote: »
    Hmmm ...
    Solder tabs onto the battery box end? That could be done.

    But: Watch you don't melt too much plastic while doing it. That type of plastic has a low temp it distorts shape at.
    I have rewired those battery boxes in the past - it is difficult to solder the steel neatly and not damage the plastic.

    And:You will also have to cut the connections at the other end, and rewire it as a parallel not a series connection. Because the one in the picture is an inline wired battery box,and it puts out 4 cells x 1.5V = 6V, a similar 2 cell version would have 2 x 1.5V = 3V. Both will pop your 1.5V glowplugs instantly.

    Happy soldering.

    Does anyone else think 41 posts on how to heat a glowplug is excessive?
    Asking for yet more advice on such a simple topic, while at the same time ignoring the good advice given willingly by many different helpful people already seems a little strange to me.
    I'm finished with this thread.

    Next thread: how to repair glowplugs .... Coming soon :rolleyes:

    What advice have I been ignoring? :eek:

    I've been taking on advice and coming to the best solution for me. First I thought the only solution was a 12v, then figured out I could use one cell. Then decided that aa's would be most suitable for me and then decided that I wanted to be able to charge them individually so figured a battery box was most suitable. I think that there is probably plenty of people out there who would be interested in the same solution as I have come up with.

    btw I don't think that the next thread would have been "how to repair glowplugs" because I knew the way that box is wired it will double the voltage as per looping fred's advice.


    I'm not sure I'll ever feel like asking for advice on this forum again. Thanks very much.


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