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before your flight. Fortunately, it's easy to monitor the battery voltage of your WiFi Switch, so
this shouldn't happen.
Regarding the battery voltage monitor, we recommend that if you're using a LiPo battery you
don't fly if the battery voltage registers under 3.5V per cell. 3.7V is the nominal rated output
voltage, but the reality is that a fully-charged LiPo cell will read 4.2V or near. That's a lot of
leeway, so if it's already drained down that far before you fly it may end up going dead (below
3.0V) if you have to spend a lot of time looking for your rocket. As always, the best policy is
to charge your batteries completely before each flight, and/or use a fresh battery.
Note: We strongly recommend that you do NOT use a 9V alkaline battery with your WiFi
Switch, unless you connect it shortly before launch and do not reuse it. Most 9V alkaline
batteries are only good for 100 mAH, so you may get less than 60 minutes of use out of one.
We realize that they ARE easy to get and they ARE convenient because you don't have to
mess with charging them, but having an expensive rocket lawn-dart into the ground because of
a weak battery is not something we like to see.
Loosen the screws on the INPUT side of the screw terminal block, and connect your battery
connector to it. Usually, the "+" side of the battery will be RED and the "-" side will be
BLACK; if you are not 100% sure, use a DVM to confirm the polarity BEFORE you connect a
battery. Tighten the screws firmly. If you are using stranded wire, you may want to tin just the
very end of the wire to prevent it from fraying; a loose strand of wire can short out the battery,
which can cause a fire if you're using LiPo batteries, so check your connections carefully to
make sure that there are no shorts.
Connecting To Your Electronics
You will be hooking up your electronics to the OUT terminals of the WiFi Swich. The WiFi
Switch basically replaces the battery input on your altimeter, which is why you want to be
using the same battery that you'd be using for your altimeter. Connect the "+" side of the OUT
terminal to the "+" battery input on your altimeter, and the "-" side of the OUT terminal to the
"-" battery input on your altimeter.
Since the Altimeter is going to be switched on and off by the WiFi Switch, you will need to
shunt any separate switch input that your altimeter may have. Generally, all you need to do is
to connect a short piece of wire between the two switch terminals. When you turn on (and off)
your WiFi Switch, it will then power on (or off) your electronics.
The continuity connections are a little bit trickier. There are two sets of continuity terminals,
marked CHA (-1 and -2) and CHB (-1 and -2). To get these to work properly, you need to
connect the channel between the switched side of your igniter and either GND ("-") or +V
depending on whether your altimeter switches GND or +V. Confused? Read on...
Deployment channels work as a switch, basically connecting the igniter to the battery. Some
altimeters act as a switch on the GND side of the battery, and some altimeters act as a switch
on the + side of the battery. In order to tell if you have continuity, you need to connect the
CHA (or CHB) leads between the side of the igniter that's on the OPEN part of the switch and
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