Chute Release

Saved us lots of time and no lost rocket

I fly on a small field - delayed chute allows higher flights without drifting rocket. Set at 100' makes a fun "will it / won't it" flight. So far it always has deployed right on time.Best with larger diameter fusilages.I found that a square of baking parchment around chute and shroud lines make a tighter/cleaner bundle for Chute Release to hold & deploy.Worth practicing at home a few times - get the hang of it before being in field.Pricey - so you really don't want to lose it.

This is my second Jolly Logic Chute Release, as the first one was lost to a motor CATO and subsequent fire (oops). However, that was no fault of this product, which worked flawlessly, as does my new one. You simply set the altitude (after testing it to be sure it will release your parachute), shake it to be sure it doesn't fall off (some of our rockets fly at pretty high speed, and an early ejection puts the parachute into a serious slipstream), pack it into the rocket body tube, and launch. Oh, make sure you tether the Chute Release to the rocket, because if it falls free, you'll almost certainly never find it again!The idea here is to let the rocket descend rapidly to a lower altitude before having the parachute open. This way, your rocket doesn't drift as far away, making recovery much easier. It also allows you to increase the size of your chute, if you wish, again, without all that drift. Previous to this device, it took a small pyrotechnic charge connected to an altimeter to release your parachute at a lower altitude... lots of fun, neat to experiment with, but expensive and impractical for smaller rockets. I use mine in my Estes Ventris, which reached 500mph and 2432' during my Level 1 Certification flight (I set the chute to open at 300', and it fully deployed in less than 50' after opening), and in my Estes Big Bertha, which reaches about 800' with an Aerotech D reloadable motor. I set the altitude at 200' for this rocket, and the chute is open within about 35', making for a nice, soft descent.I'm having so much fun with the Chute Release that my next rocket is going to be built as a parachute tester, so I can see how well the Chute Release works on different size chutes, at differing deployment speeds, and even multiple chute deployment. I've included a picture where I was measuring and sorting out the inside bits of a customized, twin-engine Big Bertha so you can see just how small the Chute Release (and the Jolly Logic Altimeter 3) is.

Saved my rockets many a time by opening the parachute at low altitude before it could drift away!

Works well for me. I plan on using it more often

This device makes duel deployment a breeze and is a huge savings from traditional set-ups needed for the bigger rockets. That we used it on one rocket and later moved it to a 2nd rocket easily was a great plus. We first tested in hanging from a drone with a balloon on it. Set it at 200 feet, took the drone to 350 and as we brought it down, it released within 5 feet of what the drone data feed said was 200 feet above launch height.Rockets released at 700 feet and both made it down safely as advertised. It was very easy to set-up and use. We have the Altimeter 3 also and these two Jolly Logic products are really great and worth the price without question.Thanks so much !!William Baxter

The chute release did what it was supposed to do! Flew a scratch-built mid-power rocket on a G motor set to release the chute at 400 feet. After descending from an 1800 foot apogee. The device release the chute at the programmed altitude. Altitude was tracked using an Eggtimer ION Wi-Fi altimeter. This little chute release is awesome!

Im not quite at the high power stuff with ebays yet so this is a great solution for some of my bigger, higher flying stuff I want to reduce drift on. I run this along side the Jolly Logic Altimeter Three and love it!My only minor gripe is the split rings that come with the pins have sharp ends to them that can snag and damage your parachutes. Some rough file and sanding work should reduce that.Box had simple instructions, came with multiple rubber bands of two sizes, two lanyards and two pins.