Yeah, Dave S. My charger has a 55amp engine start that will give it to them. the problem is, according to the chargers instructions, the engine start on the 55 amp setting can only be used for about 12 seconds at a time, then it must sit for 4 minutes. I can test how quickly they heat up with the 55amp, and test longevity with the 10 amp.

Will that work?

 

Great video Fishin76, I sent the 1109 and 1110 out yesterday. Sorry, I couldn't find my 12G. If you have an infra red temp meter, use it to show the heating rate as far as it will indicate. As far as Dave S's comment on voltage or current whatever floats your boat, by limiting the curraent to 10 amps, the heating rate may be affected, but the final temperature after a 3 minute soak should not be. A sample of 1 is rather small, but it still shows what I have been trying a tell everyone. There are temperature limiting GPs that will not burn up. One last comment: I recommend preheating every GP before installation because I had a bad experience with a set. Thay swelled up with the first heat. I think they absorbrbed moisture from the air and when heated they expanded and burned up. My recommendation isut an oil film on the sheath using a slightly oiled paper towel to wipe them off. Then heat them until the oil burns off, let them cool then run the tst. That way infant failures can be reduced. The manufacturer waranteed the GPs that burned up since they were never installed. The requirement to operate with the OEM controller is far overshadowed by the temperature limiting feature in my book!

 

OK,

so now I will have in hand in a few days the following.

DieselRx '88's , autolite 1108, 1109, 1110, (2) zd9 and (2) ZD1-a's and a couple AC's I think.

Thanks everyone that is participating,

 

I did three of the 8 wellman GP's that I had, All survived 3 minutes. drawing about 7.5 amps, fully heated up. From Full hot to cool, Ohm reading started at >140 ohms, and you could watch it fall as the GP cooled. Even at the 10 amp setting, the wellmans were hot enough probably at 10 sec to start the engine. They do heat up faster on the 55amp start setting on the charger, but I can't test the 3 minutes like that. I'm probably going to install the wellmans this weekend and make a video of the truck starting before (1 working gp) and after with all the GPs in.

I wonder if these could be like Hi-Po light bulbs, and not like fingerprints and stuff on them. Our skin oils can cause wierd stuff to happen. Probably not, but a thought none the less.

On the IR thermometer, I have one, just doesn't read high enough. . stops at about 800*F

 

The aluminum works its way to the outside where it oxidizes to form a protective coating on the sheath.Stainless Steels do not hold up to chlorines or sulfurs. As far as the temperature created by wicking up the fuel, is concerned, inconel can stand up to combustion temps. I’ll bet an analysis of the failure point will show a vibration failure, not a temperature failure.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

So your tellin me that the black color after heating is Aluminum alloy oxides?

 

Y u p!

 

12 volts with .5 ohs resistance = 24 amps each
The draw for 8 glow plugs is 192 amps.

The only way you are going to get 12 volts at that load is with a very large charger, or a battery.

And if you are doing this on the kitchen table, I hope you have a metal sheet protecting the table top.
The wife will not be happy if something drops off a glow plug and burns the table top.

The failure from just applying power for a length of time is only part of whay a glow plug goes through in the engine.
Vibration and pressure changes from intake to power stroke as well as air flow around the hot tip will be impossible to duplicate out of the engine.



In that picture you can see the opening in the pre combustion chamber insert at the top of the picture.
At top dead center, about 50% of the air in the cylinder at bottom dead center is forced through that hole to where the glow plug tip is located.
Once combustion starts, the air is then forced back out into the cylinder.
At say 2000 RPM, that event is happening 1000 cycles every minute with another 1000 cycles of lower pressure changes because either an intake or exhaust valve is open.

 

were my timing is eats the plugs tips, and i need to post the video but i recorded me cranking my truck with a hair dryer

 

YouTube - DAVID IDI! WATCH THIS!

 

Ok, I understand your points made. Dave S. So If i hooked up two fully charged batteries in parrallel, you would agree that they would be getting all the current they would need?

Beyond that, that whatever plugs burn out, would show a failure effect that would mimic an old system contoller that has failed in the on position, (engine not running).

Like I said before, I cannot duplicate or conduct a durability test. The idea is show (under extreme length 'power-on' tests) that either the new style plugs won't fail early, or if they do, what the failure mode is, swell, explode, pinhole, break apart, whatever it may be.

Short of putting all these plugs in my engine and running for 10,000 miles, what do you suggest for a 'out-of truck experiment' to educate our fellow members that there are other choices, some good choices, IMO for glow plugs?

I am going to put the wellman plugs in my truck, and durability test those, until they die, or the truck does.

After 26 years of these low tech engines, technology has caught up, and made better stuff for them. I respect your opinion on this matter, and want to work with you, and not against . I hope that nothing i have said here comes across as sarcasm, as I am listening to everyone's advice and opinions to make this test the best i can, within the limits of my capability. If anyone else wants to do this test their way, and has the resources to do it better, (and are truly serious about do the test). I'll send all the GP's I'm receiving to them and step out of the way of progress. I'm not self-righteous, and am very open minded, and realize that I may not have the resources that others do.

On the kitchen table, I took a risk with those plugs, and they did what they said. If i had been using a autolite 1108 or `1107, a bosch 80024 or 80033, I would have had double cookie sheets under them and cardboard on the sides to deflect any pieces to the metal pans below them. As it was, i wasn't totally unprepared. I had a fire extinguisher just out of camera view. I appreciate your concern though..

 

Sorry I have been out in the snow so I never got to respond any earlier.

If you figure the voltage drop you normally see in the IDI glow plug harness when all the plugs are good, I figure each plug is getting anout 16 amps.

Since you are testing one plug at a time, 10 amps is a little low.

I don't think two batteries in parallel would be required, but one small one with a reserve charge in it will probably get the amperage up, and make your charger last longer.

That said, doing the test the way you are does provide an even platform for all of the glow plugs.
And short of installing one of each plug in a cylinder of an engine and running them for the test, it's probably about as good as any of us could do to get any closer to actual operating conditions.

Way back when, one thing that came up in the forum was how the glow plugs are packaged.
The Motorcraft plugs are shipped in a sealed package from the factory.
Some of the others are not.
And one of the things that was considered was the glow plugs may have absorbed some moisture while they were sitting on the shelf in some warehouse.
And if I remember right, someone had posted that they test heated the glow plugs before they installed them.
One the firdt heat cycle, some did swell and blow a pinhole in the sheath as if the moisture turned to steam and blew the hole in the tip.
And if that happened, then the plug was swollen and did fail to heat again.

I am not against anyone running any plug they choose.
I just know what works for me, and so I am sticking with what has worked for years.
As for all of the rest, my knowledge is limited to what I read here.

Glad you were thinking about safety concerns, no glow plug test in the world is worth something going wrong blowing a 2000 degree piece of metal on you or your house.
You may be interested in this color to metal temperature chart, orange yellow is about 2192 degrees F.

colors of heated metals

 

not to resseruct a old thread, but...

Thanks for doing this test, as I just stumbled upon the DieselRX glowplugs and -was- considering the GP's AND their controller, which would save my broke butt a bundle IF the product was good. That and supporting a company in america is also a plus.

now to get the cash for the Gp's before the ac delco Gp's nuke themselves on a whim