Glow Plug heater question

[hanson357]

This is the second time I'm typin this, guess I forgot to hit the 'Post' button last time.
So I went out to run the T-Maxx this morning and I was disappointed to find that both of my rechargeable heaters were shot. I had them both on charge for a few hours before I went out, was this enough time? How many starts do you get out of a full charge? How long do you usually leave your heater on charge and will over charging cause any damage?
Thanks in advance for any info!
Hope everyone had a nice Turkey Day!
Hanson

 

[Lessen]

If it's a Nicd battery in there with a wall charger,a couple hours won't be enough. Many rechargeable glow heaters come with a Nicd cell and a slow wall charger. This charger will charge the battery very slowly and generally takes like 12-14 hours to completely charge a discharged battery. I'm not 100% positive but I don't think it would hurt the battery if it was charged longer than that. This type of "trickle" charging generally does not harm the battery if kept on for longer than the necessary timeframe.

I used to have one of those chargers and ditched it in favor of a heater that takes a standard "C" size battery. This way I have the option of using rechargeable Energizers/Duracells or standard alkalines if I don't happen to have anything charged up.

 

[hanson357]

Thanks Lessen,
Mine is the type which plugs into the wall, I;m gonna let it charge tonite and give it another shot tomorrow. I think I will pick up another one similar to yours as a backup. I actually took the Nicad out and tried using a C battery. Go figure that the Nicad was a hair smaller so the C didnt even fit!

 

[cuz]

was it for sure the ignitor, or could your plug be possibly gone?

 

[novak]

No.1: i always have two glow ignitor.
These things need to be cahrged a lot or they won't work because the glow plug filament does not need to be very hot, it needs to be super red hot. So at least 12 hours...

No.2: glow plugs depending on many factors can last a long time or a short time but are overall fragile. So always have spare plugs and do not hesitate to change them.

You can test one by pluging i onto the glow ignitor and if the filament (little wire) does not become bright red/orange within one second - discard this glow plug.

 

[RC Addict]

As an aside one should have a D cell igniter as a backup. I have two now and prefer them to my rechargeable.

 

[TWOCANE]

I have two charger overnight to be sure of a good charge. 10 thru14 hours on a dead one. And next I want one like Lessens to be sure.

 

[olds97_lss]

The C sized one will let you use sub-c or regular C cells. I had to stretch the internal spring a bit to make good contact when using a sub-c though. I have 4 of the dumb things... One that doesn't allow you to take it apart with a sub-c, one sub-c, one C and one D. I always make it a point to plug my heater in the night before I plan on bashing. About once a month (in the summer months) I hook it up to an old glow plug and run it dead. Then after it cools (the battery), I do a full overnight charge again.

However, I recently picked up a tamiya -> glow plug adapter for my normal charger that allows me to charge 1-8 cells. So, I don't have to wait overnight, I can throw it on that charger for an hour or two at 1amp after running it dead.

 

[BradZ_09]

My plug heater says charge for 3 hours and no more.?????

 

[Scrogg]

Read the output on the chargers.
Read the battery capacity. Divide the battery mah by the charger mah.
Example
1200 mah battery with a 150mah wall charger=8 hours to charge fully.