Electric pre rotor Soft Start

A rotor becomes almost decent when it flies faster. But the lack of attention to the dead weight and parasitic drag is very expensive.
 
A helicopter rotor is almost decent JC; the efficiency of a mechanical transmission being 90%+. However, the pneumatic transmission of a gyroplane rotor, the product of propeller efficiency and rotor windmill efficiency being less than 50%, can never be decent.
 
Chuck, loss difference between helicopter and gyro seems no so great to me.

 
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Lots have happened on the Little Wing and in life.

The Little Wing 5 is tied down at the Lincoln Airport outside of Sacramento, CA.
Only one system needs additional attention.
The electric pre-rotation inline fuse.
I am up to popping 200amp ANL fuses. I have the correct size wiring for this amount of amperage,
the recommended auto starter and I am pulsing the switched heavy duty solenoid.
But it's the spiked initial amperage draw with such a high inertial load of the 28ft rotor disc.
Any suggestions???
 

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Pre-Rotation Circuit Breaker problems.
I just tried hand propping the rotor blades and pulsing the solenoid switch, I called it quits the second time I popped a 300A circuit breaker between the battery and the solenoid.
My current circuit is, positive battery to 300A breaker to HD solenoid to mast starter. Starter negative to battery negative. Solenoid on two cab panel switches in series.
I see a soft start diagram on this Forum. It looks like that individual ran a completely separate medium voltage line from the starter into the cab through a switch and then a non breaker-ed line thru the firewall to the solenoid. Then across the solenoid terminals he has a resistor wire.
I'm not an electrical guy, but ... If you only added a switch on the original hot lead to the starter and that switch was in the cab, then put a resistor wire across the main solenoid leads, You could switch the main hot lead in the cab and run the starter across the resistor wire on the solenoid, than switch on the solenoid and run higher amperage thru the solenoid straight from the battery???
I really don't want to put a high amperage switch and reroute parts of the hot lead in the cab on its way to the starter.
Is there another option?
If not, OK. What type of wire, gauge, material, length and it will need to be insulated, it's in on the fire wall.
Brad N954BH
 
Brad,

What type of starter motor are you using?

Does it have a built-in solenoid to carry the current?

Does it have a built-in mechanism to pull the Bendix into place or does it rely on motor spin to engage the Bendix?
 
If you blew a CB after giving the blades a flip you have either a locked or misadjusted bendix or the wrong kind of fuse (Should be a slow blow not a fast blow) or a bad motor or some other fundamental problem that won't be solved by a soft start. I'd suggest you take the blades off and try again. The motor should have no difficulty spinning without the rotor. I don't see any good reason for a fuse in the circuit, and in any case would put it After the solenoid and not between the battery and the solenoid.
 
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