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  #31  
Old 03-28-2016, 10:02 AM
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Doug Sams Doug Sams is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
The old Estes Electro-Launch system had provision for connecting a second battery pack (another Electro-Launch pad base containing four D batteries) to the "stock" Electro-Launch system (for a total of eight D cells), for igniting clustered motors.
I don't recall that option (not saying it didn't exist, tho) but there was a 4-to-8 cell upgrade kit which we acquired thereby converting our Electro-Launch to 12V. But all that meant was that, when we got ready to fly, we had a launcher with 8 dead batteries instead of 4

A bit more seriously, 8 weak D cells could still fire nichrome and Astron (?) igniters, but 4 weak D cells wouldn't do squat.

So not long after the 4-8 upgrade, we bought the hookup kit to use the car battery instead. I can still vividly recall my dad pulling his 88 Olds down the driveway in our backyard so we could set up the pad just in front of it. RIP, Dad !

BTW, I'm still using that car hookup kit, but using it with a 12V gel cell.

Doug

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  #32  
Old 03-28-2016, 12:31 PM
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My main launch duties are still handled by two 40 year old Astron Launch controllers.
I use the same battery in my flight-box for my R/C planes that powers my RC power-panel, R/C fuel pump, and R/C Sullivan Hi-Tork starter.
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  #33  
Old 03-28-2016, 02:38 PM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Sams
I don't recall that option (not saying it didn't exist, tho) but there was a 4-to-8 cell upgrade kit which we acquired thereby converting our Electro-Launch to 12V. But all that meant was that, when we got ready to fly, we had a launcher with 8 dead batteries instead of 4

A bit more seriously, 8 weak D cells could still fire nichrome and Astron (?) igniters, but 4 weak D cells wouldn't do squat.

So not long after the 4-8 upgrade, we bought the hookup kit to use the car battery instead. I can still vividly recall my dad pulling his 88 Olds down the driveway in our backyard so we could set up the pad just in front of it. RIP, Dad !

BTW, I'm still using that car hookup kit, but using it with a 12V gel cell.

Doug

.
Many memories of my father also involve him hooking up the 12 volt Estes FS-5 launch system http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/69est086.html to the battery, in his 1965 Chevrolet Suburban. But I'm glad that the new low-current igniters freed us from dependence on big wet cell batteries; it's nice to be able to walk or bicycle to a flying site! Also:

I never had an Electro-Launch (we used Estes' wooden Tilt-A-Pad when I was growing up), but you're right that it could be converted to 12 volt operation by adding four additional D batteries (I hadn't read all of the hard-to-read [on my screen] text here: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/69est086.html ). Here's the additional battery pack (an extra Electro-Launch base, sans launch rod and blast deflector: http://www.ninfinger.org/rockets/no...a/69est090.html ). I imagine it might have been used--along with an Electro-Launch pad--by schools and clubs who liked to fly a lot of clustered models, or (by itself, with a Tilt-A-Pad) by people who didn't need or want to drive to a flying site; it provided a portable if rather heavy "mobile launch" option.
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  #34  
Old 03-28-2016, 03:26 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackshire
I can't begin to count the number of times I've thumbed thru those catalog pages and spotted that on the upper left. Yet despite those many looks, I don't think I ever realized that was being sold as a supplemental or separate battery pack - I think, out the corner of my eye, I always saw it as being a replacement base for an Electro-Launch system.

Thanks for posting that

Doug

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  #35  
Old 03-28-2016, 04:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Sams
I can't begin to count the number of times I've thumbed thru those catalog pages and spotted that on the upper left. Yet despite those many looks, I don't think I ever realized that was being sold as a supplemental or separate battery pack - I think, out the corner of my eye, I always saw it as being a replacement base for an Electro-Launch system.

Thanks for posting that

Doug

.
You're welcome. Never having had either an Electro-Launch pad or the battery pack, for many years I made the *opposite* error--I'd thought that the battery pack was some different item (maybe a battery holder case made for some other purpose) that Estes had bought and included in their catalogs, like the other electrical parts that they used to sell.
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  #36  
Old 03-28-2016, 11:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Sams
If one likes fiddlin' with clusters as I do, then a good 12V system is a must.

Doug

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