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  • Estes Rocket Will Not Launch

    From [email protected]@21:1/5 to Richard Goldthwaite on Wed Nov 16 18:38:24 2016
    On Tuesday, April 23, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Richard Goldthwaite wrote:
    Wondering if someone can help.I Bought a estes Alpha III starter set
    for
    my son.I tryed launching but nothing happens,I checked the igniter and
    made sure that the wires were not touching,and that there was good
    contact with the propellent.My guess is that the launch controller that
    comes with this kit does not have enough juice.This controller only takes
    4 AA batterys,is this enough?
    -
    RICHARD G [email protected]

    Please make sure your igniter clips aren't touching the pad that will cause a short circuit and the igniter won't get current. Im just a 12 year old that knows a lot about model rocketry.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tom@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Nov 17 15:32:21 2016
    On 2016-11-17, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 23, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Richard Goldthwaite wrote:
    [...]
    Please make sure your igniter clips aren't touching the pad that will
    cause a short circuit and the igniter won't get current. Im just a 12 year old that knows a lot about model rocketry.

    Helpful advice, but you are replying to a 20 year old post...

    OT: Nice to see younger generations on USENET. Please do continue to participate, it is what keeps USENET alive...try to limit replies to
    postings from this century! :)

    You might consider a web search on USENET to learn more about what this
    thing is and investigate some of the NNTP providers (such as eternal-september.org) as a replacement to the Google Groups interface.

    Tom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From [email protected]@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 31 18:59:20 2017
    I'm having the same problem. I think I'll try a new alkaline battery and see if that works.

    Jody

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From [email protected]@21:1/5 to Richard Goldthwaite on Sat Oct 7 22:09:07 2017
    On Tuesday, April 23, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Richard Goldthwaite wrote:
    Wondering if someone can help.I Bought a estes Alpha III starter set
    for
    my son.I tryed launching but nothing happens,I checked the igniter and
    made sure that the wires were not touching,and that there was good
    contact with the propellent.My guess is that the launch controller that comes with this kit does not have enough juice.This controller only takes
    4 AA batterys,is this enough?
    -
    RICHARD G [email protected]

    I've read not all, but quite a few of the answers here, but nobody so far has clarified whether it was the igniter that failed, or if the igniter did fire but the engine didn't start when the igniter flashed. Divide and conquer. That's the first step.
    If the igniter won't fire, then eliminate the motor from consideration for the time being. Have you tried more than one igniter? Sorry to ask such an obvious question, but in the interest of rigor, it needs to be asked. If more than one igniter fails,
    then and only then, can you be certain that the problem is generated by the electronics. I'm a retired biochemist, and my experience has always been that you can expect a successful resolution to a problem if you ask obvious questions such as the above
    very systematically. It's a little like asking the old question, "Did you plug it in?" and the answer is "Ooops!"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Scott Schuckert@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Oct 15 10:42:36 2017
    Ah... You do know the problem you're attempting to solve is eleven
    years old? I rather expect he's solved it by now.

    In article <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> wrote:

    On Tuesday, April 23, 1996 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Richard Goldthwaite wrote:
    Wondering if someone can help.I Bought a estes Alpha III starter set
    for
    my son.I tryed launching but nothing happens,I checked the igniter and
    made sure that the wires were not touching,and that there was good
    contact with the propellent.My guess is that the launch controller that comes with this kit does not have enough juice.This controller only takes
    4 AA batterys,is this enough?
    -
    RICHARD G [email protected]

    I've read not all, but quite a few of the answers here, but nobody so far has clarified whether it was the igniter that failed, or if the igniter did fire but the engine didn't start when the igniter flashed. Divide and conquer. That's the first step. If the igniter won't fire, then eliminate the motor from consideration for the time being. Have you tried more than one igniter? Sorry to ask such an obvious question, but in the interest of rigor, it needs to be asked. If more than one igniter fails, then and only then, can you be certain that the problem is generated by the electronics. I'm a retired biochemist, and my experience has always been that you can expect a successful resolution to a problem if you ask obvious questions such as the above very systematically. It's a little like asking the old question, "Did you plug it in?" and the answer is "Ooops!"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From [email protected]@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 25 20:47:10 2018
    I had a similar issue with the launch controller. everything was set up and in place. Did a countdown and... nothing! Pulled apart the controller and it appeared to be functional. New batts new rocket kit. The light would turn on and push the button but
    nothing. So we cut the wires from the controller, hooked up the igniter without a motor to the clips and went driect to a 9volt. The test worked and we launched two rockets multiple times.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)