Flying Information
Bulletproof Your Glo-Driver
By MHTjef
Every Glo-Driver I ever owned had one huge problem. The wires would always work
loose at the plug connector end and leave me stranded on on the one day that I
had to squeeze in a flying session! Those add-on things that the heli carries are
one problem that is easily dealt with ... I stopped using them ... but on the driver
side you have no choice.
Last year I bought the ultimate Glo-Driver at the Weak Signals RC show in Toledo.
It’s made by the good folks from Radio South, and is called the Pro Driver 3. This
thing is ideal, with interchangeable connectors of different lengths to fit virtually
every situation. Even with this design the weak link is the wire fatiguing at the
connector end leaving me stranded yet again.
However, I wasn’t going to let this plague me anymore, especially considering that
I now had the best in ignition control. The following is a step by step procedure that
anyone can do with simple tools and it will render whatever driver you use,
bulletproof. In this case, the connector is a 1/4 turn type, but even the squeeze and
release types are prone to wire failures. So here is my proven home made strain
relief system.
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Wires always seem to break here.
So cut then both off , strip the ends and tin them
with solder. |
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1) First open up the hole in the screw-on cap. We are going to be putting a very
thick build of wire and shrink tube through that hole and it needs to be opened. |
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2) Chamfer the cap’s edge so there is no chance
for it to cut through the strain relief as it gets used
and abused. |
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3) You’ll need some lengths of shrink tubing. I made mine
about 1.250 long each. If you can get the stuff that gets
sticky when heated, get it! That kind will glue itself to both
the wire and to itself. The single larger piece shown will
cover both wires together. The complete “stack” of shrink
tubing makes for an excellent strain relief. |
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4) If you do not assemble the parts so that they look like this BEFORE you
solder and shrink you will be swearing a blue streak. Why? Because you’ll
have forgotten that the other side of the wire is still attached to the unit and
you’ll not be able to slide the stuff from that end ... will you? |
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I like to use this propane powered soldering iron. It was
the subject of a past ToolUp in MHT. An important apart of
it’s usefulness is the hot gas that escapes out the exhaust
... which you can just see on the shoulder of the tip. That
escaping gas is perfectly placed for shrinking. |
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5) Solder the wires in. Note that the shrink is still not shrunk. Do
that after the wires are secured to the connector so that the
shrink goes OVER the joints. It just makes everything more
secure. |
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6) Shrink up the wires over the joints. Here it is obvious why I like to use
the self-adhesive heat shrink tubing. It sticks to itself and makes a two
wire cable. Neatness counts! |
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I have these two systems that go with me to the field at all
times. Not much weight here so I consider this to be
cheap insurance.
The Radio South piece is terrific, especially the differing
length interchangeable connectors. I adapted that system
to my ancient and very reliable Ofna/10cell glo-driver (its
battery pack also doubles as a starter battery for 30s and
50s). Both have had the connector ends modded. In fact
the Ofna was the prototypes for the Pro Drive mod. |
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7) Slide the cap down and screw it on and you’re done. Now doesn’t that look
nice and neat too? You can control the amount of flex by how much shrink tube
you build up and how long the tubing itself is. Above the assembled clip is the
connector itself. Radio South has saved me much grief by allowing me the
privilege of three different lengths of connector. I have all three and use them.
For that last bit of ultimate, you could change out the stiff and cheap vinyl wire
that comes with the unit for some silicone multi-stranded stuff like the RC car
guys use. Silicone wire would also provide you with some cold weather flexibility
as well. |
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8) You can do this all day long ...
for a hundred years...
... well maybe at least five. |
The Enya #3 Secret!
Okay ... so now you have this awesome built and
blueprinted Glo-Driver, but it fits every plug on
the market except the Enya #3. Unfortunately,
this is totally Enya’s fault. Their plugs are great
but they do have the dubious honor of being
tough to get a connector attached and detached.
The problem is that there is just not enough
space between the end of the connector and the
plug’s gasket for a clean and smooth push to
release (or install).
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1) The Enya plug and the Connector can be a
bear to install and remove. The plug has a
taller hex shoulder - to gasket dimension
than say, an OS #8... |
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2) ... which is best shown here, in this cutaway.
OS #8 below and Enya #3 above. They
are shown with the top edges of their
individual hex sections aligned. You can see
that the washers do not align. I know it’s a
wee difference but that difference is what
makes the Enya a tough task. That dimension
is within the manufacturing tolerance of the
connector, which is why we have to fix this
ourselves. What it that dimension? Dunno,
But .. |
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3) .... which is why I turned the edge down
until the plug fit. If I had to guess, I’d say that
between the three connectors I modified, I
took off about .004 - .008. That’s all! You can
do this with some sandpaper, but turning is
much more accurate. |
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4) Now there is plenty of room for the
connector to push down to the gasket, make
the 1/4 turn and back out ... or push on. It
works easy every time! |
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