Mueller micro-clips versus small alligator clips

Maintenance day not schedule yet. Discussion for next meeting?

As the person that does most of the cleaning, repair and replacement of the clip leads, I can lend some insight. There have been one or two suggestions that alligator clips were preferred. My own experience is that the Mueller clips are more prone to abuse, especially from mid and high power fliers using non-Estes starters. Some tend to bend the ends up or down and wrap the stater leads around them. I try to clean the clips in vinegar and straighten them back out as often as I can get to it. Alligator clips are much more difficult to mangle, and seem to be a little less prone to binding up, which I believe is at least partially why the Mueller clips sometimes get bent out of shape in an effort to make better contact. For the high power pads, I have some even larger stainless steel alligator clips that I have started using that seem to help alleviate both issues.

BTW, I was unaware that the flat clips were called Mueller Clips.

Guy.

As Guy said, the smooth jawed micro clips do get beat up pretty quickly. Wrapping the starter leads around one side of the clip helps with the physical hold and electrical connection. Just making a loop in each lead and clipping across that works well, too.

The alligator clips used to be the club standard, as I recall. They didn't work too well with the Aerotech Copperhead igniter if you didn't have the special clip that acted as the go-between from the clips to the ignitor. With the use of paper or tape to insulate each side of the Copperhead, we needed the smooth jaws that wouldn't bite through the ignitor and short it out.

With a loop in each lead, the alligator clips will work very well with even the Estes starters.

Bending back the wires of an Estes starter/initiator so that there are 2 contact points for each clip is what I do no matter what the clip looks like. Works very well for me.