Has anyone successfully used Firefox "Davey-clones"?

I've tried them, I could see the wire glow faintly and then burn through - but like you, I've never gotten the chips to actually ignite the pyrogen. I gave up, and bought the conductive pyrogen. All you need to do is strip the wires and put them parallel and close to each other, then dip in the conductive and then dip in something stronger like pyromag. Those work great, and are easier to make too. You can also adjust the resistance to suite your needs by changing the width of the gap and the length of the stripped section. I've got a pretty reliable way of making 8-10 ohm igniters that I use for clusters.
-- David

resistance to Unfortunately, I need low-current igniters that are reliable enough for staging.
n

wrote Have you put any thought into making your own? I make a nice conductive primer that consistently lights on a single AA. And with 50gauge nichrome meal primer can get two to light of a single AA. I've never had a failure on a tested igniter.
-cat

Have you tried them with a PP3 or a '23A' 12v lighter battery? AA's are quite good for current, but people don't tend to use them as much as PP3's.
Be interesting to see anyway,

Do you prep the "50gauge nichrome meal primer" yourself or buy it in that condition?

"Jerry Irvine" wrote I had no idea that pre-primed material existed?
Actually what I was referring to is a NC meal primer dip. This would then be coated by a hot burning pyrogen. 50gauge will burn through pretty fast even with just a AA; without the primer it wouldn't light what I would consider a *safe* pyrogen.
-cat

"Niall Oswald" wrote If a pp3 is a normal 9 volt battery, yes both work well with them if it's fresh. I don't have a 23A (like this? , it may work.. I have a 12Gel-cell at 20Ah and most of the time they will not light the nichrome, as it just bursts the wire before getting hot enough to light the meal. On the other hand it will almost always ignite the conductive primer. Again, design your primer/pyrogen for your needs.. I wouldn't change my battery/electronics I'll just play with the formula until I get something that works.
-cat