Question about arcing

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Copterstyle

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Hello Reoville! I have been struggling to eliminate the arcing from the firing pin and battery. I am running @ .37 ohms with duals (on a grand that is weeks old). It seems no matter how well i try to protect from arcing it still occurs. With the grand door off and looking at the firing pin while firing arcing happens upon the release of the fire button (not like fireworks, but just a tiny bit. only when the connection is broken).

This happens on all my grands (which are in the shop for 510 replacement). They are clean (ultrasonic cleaner). I mainly use flat top batts (mnke imr, samsung, and vtc4). About every 10 days or so the battery ends are first rubbed down with a mechanical pencil eraser then swabbed with DeocIt D100L and wiped off. I apply DeoxIt Gold to the tip of firing pin and top of spring.

Is this normal for a build like mine (not avoidable)?
 

Sloth Tonight

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I've had a similar issue with my button tops, but I've found that being quite liberal with deoxit gold makes it cease. My solution is to apply deoxit gold to the firing pin after cleaning the mod, but then to also apply it liberally to the positive contact of my battery immediately before putting it in the mod. Yes, every time I put in a new battery. I guess if I were leaving for a while and taking extra batteries with me I'd take my deoxit with me or make sure to do a damn good job before leaving.

I know flat tops are more prone to arcing. Switch to button tops maybe?
 

Papa_Lazarou

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It sounds like you're doing pretty much all you can do, aside from putting deoxit directly on the battery terminals. I run some .3ohm builds with button tops and the arc'ing deposits and pits are negligible (although I don't think you can outright eliminate it) - just have to keep up the regular attention.
 

JetMac

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I don't use deoxit, instead I've just used the noalox Rob sells in the small vile and it's been working to eliminate arcing on all my flat tops. I'll dab some on the firing pin and apply some to my battery contacts weekly or when ever I notice it arcing again. I've heard deoxit is better, but like I said I get by with noalox.


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Quigsworth

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You can't stop arcing, if you somehow did, you'd be defying the laws of physics, and flat tops don't arc more than button tops, it's just because you can see the pin make contact with the surface of the batt. where on a button top it's up higher behind the delrin cover...also, Noalox is not eliminating arcing, it's just dispersing it and hiding it in goo :D

The thing peeps really need to understand is slight arcing is not a sign that something is wrong, the contacts Rob has in his mods are designed for and more than robust enough to handle it...if it makes you feel any better (or worse) you should see what happens inside your toaster or blow dryer when you turn it on/off...now that's arcing :p

It's just the way it is
 
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JetMac

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I'm the type of person who has to see it to believe it, therefore when I don't see any arcing, I believe it's not arcing. And to be honest, I really don't care if it is or isn't, as long as it doesn't hinder my mods performance. When it does start to cause problems, I apply the noalox cause that's what I got and know works, so I use it to eliminate my mods firing problem. You don't have to go all Bill Nye the science guy on us, we get it and you could of said yes, deoxit works and good luck with future arcing issues.


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supertrunker

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Presumably you play hide and seek by covering your own eyes and therefore think you are invisible to everyone else too?

You might be interested to know that Quigs also mods a few Reos and uses relay switches to do so. That's about as heavy duty as switches go. They still arc.

For those of us of a lazier disposition, the best advice is to keep the Reo clean, use Noalox or Deoxit and hope the firing pin doesn't break down too quickly.

T
 

Quigsworth

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Apologies if I've offended you JetMac, certainly not my intention...but for the sake of others...

I'm not trying to go all Bill Nye on anybody (I'm only an electrician :blush:, no where near as cool as Bill Nye), I was just trying to dispel any fear or angst some peeps get when they see their Aluminum Reo arcing...

I get it, electricity tends to freak some people out...plus there's a lot of emphasis on battery safety which is a good thing, so when people see their mod arcing, (especially when they're running it at really low ohms where there's significant current flow), just try to take comfort in the fact that it's a totally normal occurrence that nobody can do anything about...and that's the case whether you use Deoxit, Noalox, or whatever...

I could give the "25 words or less" explanation what arcing is and why it's normal but I think I've Bill Nye'd enough :)
 

JetMac

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Presumably you play hide and seek by covering your own eyes and therefore think you are invisible to everyone else

LOL, I don't even know how to respond to that.

I don't freak out if I see arcing, I get frustrated when it effects my mod firing. It really does make a huge difference applying dielectric grease to it.

Quigs, sorry for barking back...that was uncalled for on my part and understand your explanation. I had a really bad day today dealing with hospitals and terrible doctors. My wife's been sick all week and I took her to the ER and those effing doctors/hospital staff literally did nothing for my wife to help her with her chronic pain/sickness for 3 hours. We were finally able to get some help when the staff changed shifts. I truly don't understand how you can work in a position like that where your job is caring for people and completely ignore patients. Rant over.


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Quigsworth

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LOL, I don't even know how to respond to that.

I don't freak out if I see arcing, I get frustrated when it effects my mod firing. It really does make a huge difference applying dielectric grease to it.

Quigs, sorry for barking back...that was uncalled for on my part and understand your explanation. I had a really bad day today dealing with hospitals and terrible doctors. My wife's been sick all week and I took her to the ER and those effing doctors/hospital staff literally did nothing for my wife to help her with her chronic pain/sickness for 3 hours. We were finally able to get some help when the staff changed shifts. I truly don't understand how you can work in a position like that where your job is caring for people and completely ignore patients. Rant over.


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That sucks JetMac...no worries bud and I hope things get better for you :)
 
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