Starting battery and solenoid

[frank marriott]

"Another useful little wrinkle for easy starting on cold mornings is to pour a mugful of boiling water over the carburettor."

 

Further to this suggestion: I have a 12v hairdrier , useful anywhere when you may not have access to 240V. Works a treat, not necessary in NQ, but great for those trips to the cold south.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Frank Marriot Quote~..Further to this suggestion: I have a 12v hairdrier , useful anywhere when you may not have access to 240V. Works a treat, not necessary in NQ, but great for those trips to the cold south.

 

Frank, I was wondering why your hair always looked good on those fly-out trips, now I know why !!!!........Maj...

 

 

[Yenn]

I am up for the second replacement of my Odyssey PC680 for the Corby. That is 5 years for each. The battery I have would not turn the Jab engine over, but would turn a Lycoming o-320. Jab engines are hard to turn, because of the lightweight prop. take the prop off and even a large 4WD battery will not turn a Jab engine past TDC.

 

One trick to extend the life in cold conditions is to remove the metal cae from the Odyssey, it will give you an extra year of life.

 

Batteries Direct seem to have the best prices, less than $300 delivered to the door. battery World wanted $330 and I would have to collect it.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I am up for the second replacement of my Odyssey PC680 for the Corby. That is 5 years for each. The battery I have would not turn the Jab engine over, but would turn a Lycoming o-320. Jab engines are hard to turn, because of the lightweight prop. take the prop off and even a large 4WD battery will not turn a Jab engine past TDC.One trick to extend the life in cold conditions is to remove the metal cae from the Odyssey, it will give you an extra year of life.

Batteries Direct seem to have the best prices, less than $300 delivered to the door. battery World wanted $330 and I would have to collect it.

What weight is your Odyssey, Yenn? I am cranking the same engine, but want to keep my weight down. Yuasa make an almost identical-sized sealed battery rated at 140 CCAs. They have a good name, and the price is about $130. Before it fizzled, the Dekka AGM (120CCA) started the Jab reliably, provided I loosened up the engine by hand, and got it right first time. It only seemed to have about ten seconds of fast cranking in it. The cold start kit is due on Friday; it should allow even a slow cranking battery to start it. Even more important to ensure coils are earthed when hand-cranking.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

I've used standard Yuasa wet batteries now for years, and they've never let me down. Great value for the money and I generally get 4-5 years of reliable usage out of them, with the occasional water check and top up. keep it simple stupid. The key of course with any battery is regular usage, they don't take kindly to being left sit idle for too long. Damn good reason to make sure you get that fly in every week at least !..................Maj....

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...The key of course with any battery is regular usage, they don't take kindly to being left sit idle for too long. Damn good reason to make sure you get that fly in every week at least !..................Maj....

That's the advice I keep hearing, Major. Trouble is I spend too much time making improvements, which keeps it out of the air for months at a time. Regular re-charging is all I can do. I have given the battery a "vacation job" by installing it in the motorcycle, which should have kept it happy.

 

 

[frankmcm]

Just a thought. Is there an optimum angle to position the prop, to assist with starting in marginal conditions? My jab rarely fails to start, the only episodes due to condensation on a cold foggy day with sub zero temps... However I use an electric start on model aircraft engines, and it is noticeable that the starter motor will fail to swing the prop if it is engaged late in the compression phase. I ensure that the prop is " wound back" so that the first few milliseconds of rotation is not trying to compress anything. Once rotation is established it is easier to maintain. Don't know if any of this would translate to a 4 stroke 4 cylinder, but in marginal conditions anything that can help initiate rotation and take some load off the battery should be useful..

 

 

[AVOCET]

Just a thought. Is there an optimum angle to position the prop, to assist with starting in marginal conditions? My jab rarely fails to start, the only episodes due to condensation on a cold foggy day with sub zero temps... However I use an electric start on model aircraft engines, and it is noticeable that the starter motor will fail to swing the prop if it is engaged late in the compression phase. I ensure that the prop is " wound back" so that the first few milliseconds of rotation is not trying to compress anything. Once rotation is established it is easier to maintain. Don't know if any of this would translate to a 4 stroke 4 cylinder, but in marginal conditions anything that can help initiate rotation and take some load off the battery should be useful..

Talking about frost & condensation ,

 

I left a jab outside at Wollongong in winter one year , when I tried starting in the morning , turned over all right but wouldn't start , it turned out to be heavy condensation on the flywheel & the coils ,

 

I wiped it dry with a rag and started up ok .

 

I've also used cup of hot water over the carby

 

Works well and you get to have a nice hot cuppa before you go ,& then 1/2 hour into the flight , you have to go !

 

 

[Yenn]

Old K. I can't remember the actual weight of the PC680, 13kg spring to mind but I could be way out. It is an easy one hand lift, just squeezing each side of the case.

 

Have a look on the Odyssey website.

 

 

[AVOCET]

If that's the same size ones they use in jabirus

 

Their 6kg

 

I've got 2 in the front of the avocet , ones for ballast.

 

By the the way , I had my first 2 flights today , bit nerve racking ,

 

Anyway after about 10 small hop flights up the runway at 20/50 ft agl I bit the bullit and took advantage of the perfect conditions ,

 

All went well and now looking forward to some test flying around the strip .

 

Cheers Mike

 

 

[AVOCET]

If that's the same size ones they use in jabirus

 

Their 6kg

 

I've got 2 in the front of the avocet , ones for ballast.

 

Just had a look & I've got odysey 625 and there 6 kg

 

By the the way , I had my first 2 flights today , bit nerve racking ,

 

Anyway after about 10 small hop flights up the runway at 20/50 ft agl I bit the bullit and took advantage of the perfect conditions ,

 

All went well and now looking forward to some test flying around the strip .

 

Cheers Mike

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Glad to hear all went well there Mike, certainly an interesting stage to be at. I've there myself and it's steady steady. Did you put the other batt up front to achieve static balance ?..............Maj...

 

 

[AVOCET]

Glad to hear all went well there Mike, certainly an interesting stage to be at. I've there myself and it's steady steady. Did you put the other batt up front to achieve static balance ?..............Maj...

Maj , yes I put the other battery so when the planes on the ground it has more weight on the nose , these center mounted engines are a bit of a juggle to balance with no pilot .

 

It works pretty well with 25 kgs on the nose

 

It works out that 1/2 the weight of the pilot goes onto the nose .

 

I moved the wings forward 70mm on this one , avocet 1 had only 15 kgs on the nose , made it easy to fall on its tail ,

 

It won't feel as nose heavy with a passenger this time round as well.

 

The extra battery gives a nice start .

 

Buy the way , I just got one of those new battery chargers 7amp that does agl , gell ect.

 

Question , can you charge them both at once ? Or is it better to only do one at a time ?

 

Hope this makes sence

 

Cheers

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Hmmm, I guess it would depend if they were hooked up in series or in parallel . Either way it would probably confuse the smart charger if doing two instead of one. I have been using my new charger a lot lately. Did a count and it turns out we are a ten battery family ! ...when you consider the plane, ride on mower, golf buggy (used only on property, I don't golf) daughter and wife's cars, and my two vehicles , plus a spare battery that I keep alive. The smart charger is very through, but fast charge it is not. You must be prepare to give it time to do it's thing, and then you are rewarded with a very well charged battery.....It is a very nice unit though, and I am very happy with it.....Doug Evans, who has lots of toys, has been using one for five years and has had no problems....Maj..

 

 

[AVOCET]

The charger I got is the Projecta ic 7000

 

Yes I think you can only do one at a time unless its wired in series ,I think ?

 

Just had a count of all the batteries , up to 8

 

Just put a new one in the landrover disco

 

$ 240 .00 .you end with a large investment in batteries , pays to look after them .

 

Cheers .

 

 

[frank marriott]

"Yes I think you can only do one at a time unless its wired in series ,I think ?"

 

No mate, series is 24 volts. Parallel is still 12V but larger capacity.

 

 

[AVOCET]

"Yes I think you can only do one at a time unless its wired in series ,I think ?"No mate, series is 24 volts. Parallel is still 12V but larger capacity.

Yes I realize its 24volts , I was talking about charging 2 batteries at once ,

 

You see I've got 2 odesy batts in parallel ,

 

and I've put a remote Anderson plug to charge ,jump , run a tyre compressor ect , but I don't think you can charge the two at once with these new smart chargers .

 

Cheers

 

 

[frank marriott]

I was only referring to series and parellel.

 

The "smart charger" referred to I don't know [although I have one too] - I believe it should work but but I don't know what is in the electronics that test battery condition. So I can only repeat that I don't know, haven't tried it, thinking it should and knowing are quite different things of course.

 

 

[Ron5335]

Old Koreelah.

 

My Oddessy came with the plane, 6 years and still going strong.

 

Other flyers at the field are using AGM Batteries sourced from a local supplier (around $100) and are still going strong after a few years.

 

All are in Jab 2200's

 

Contact me if you want the link