FireFly Igniter Field Test

How many times can you reuse a FireFly igniter?

Added on September 25, 2021
Category: Firing Systems
Last updated: May 12, 2022

One of the headline features of FireFly is that it ships with 15 reusable igniters. These clip on to the visco fuse (the green safety fuse) on your consumer fireworks, just like Talon igniters.

Unlike Talons however, which are single use, FireFly igniters are intended to be used again and again. In this field test I attempt to put a figure to the number of times FireFly igniters can be successfully fired before they fail.

Background information

There’s a few reasons why I am keen to stress-test these igniters to destruction. The first and most important is that FireFly make no mention about the number of times these igniters will fire, either on their website, FAQ or the product packaging.

I may be wrong and this is just me thinking out loud, but putting a definitive figure on this might be problematic for the manufacturer; play it safe with a conservative figure and people might not think it’s good value, put too high a figure on it and those who mistreat their kit and fail to make that number will complain. They probably can’t win here!

The second reason is to get a sense of value and whether reusable igniters offer a saving over throwaway ones. With FireFly’s online shop showing a set of 5 igniters for $25, that’s $5 each. So if, as an example, they work 10 times, that’s 50 cents each and not a saving compared to Talons.

Prior to doing this test I intentionally refrained from checking YouTube or Google for any similar tests, so I wasn’t going to be prejudiced either way.

Watch a video of this test

If you prefer you can watch a video of these field tests. Otherwise, scroll down to my write-up of the tests and the results. I will also include a full list of each firing round and more info about the cleaning products used.

A more detailed look at the igniters

Each igniter is a plastic case about 3.2cm x 4cm x 1.5cm. Access is via a clip-on door. Inside there’s a heating coil in the centre with two metal terminals either side.

The terminals are to allow connection of standard (single use) igniters; a reminder here that these igniters are multifunction and can continue to be used with normal ematches and Talons even after the heating coil has stopped working.

The heating coil glows red/white hot when fired. After use (with fuse) the insides of the igniter look suitably charred and you have to get used to this, but during my testing at least they didn’t melt or catch fire. They’re also well insulated, the repeated firing in these tests never took the external casing to the point where you could not touch it.

Here are some shots from the video so you can take a look around an igniter:

Manufacturer suggested cleaning regime

FireFly suggest that after every live firing (with fuse) that you then fire the igniter with no fuse in – which I will refer to as an air or a dry firing – to burn off any debris. On their website there is also a video showing cleaning of a coil with an alcohol soaked cleaning bud, plus a gentle lifting of a coil off the igniter bed to put its springy shape back.

There is also a cleaning function in the app. This goes through each igniter dry firing it for 3 seconds or so, helping to burn more debris off. Due to time restraints I did not use that function in these tests, preferring simply to dry fire two or three times where required to get the same result.

Igniter Test 1

For the first test I am using four igniters as follows:

Igniter 1: This will not be cleaned after each live firing, other than being opened, tapped to remove the ash and then reloaded with fuse. The logic behind ignoring FireFly’s advice is as follows: What if you forget to clean an igniter after a show, will it fire again? If so, how many times? And if/when it does fail, would it work again if it gets a clean at that point?

Igniter 2: This will be tapped out as above to clear the bulk of the ash, then dry fired as per the cleaning instructions after each live fire.

Igniter 3: This will, in effect, be completely refurbished after every firing. It will be tapped out, dry fired and rubbed with an alcohol soaked cleaning bud. If required I’ll use a precision screwdriver to gently scrape off any stubborn debris and to raise the coil if it starts to flatten.

Igniter 4: This is a control igniter. Should any of the above fail, this igniter will be fired to see if it works OK first time. If it does we can rule out the batteries as being the problem.

A live “firing” in each case is setting off a short length of standard 2mm visco fuse to simulate a firework’s fuse.

What are your expectations of the above igniters? Mine was that igniter 1 would fail pretty quickly, igniter 3 would go on forever and igniter 2 would be somewhere in between.

Test 1 results

Not entirely what I was expecting! The first igniter to fail, as predicted, was igniter 1 but it lasted 13 firings! That in itself is pretty amazing considering it was never cleaned.

The next igniter to fail was igniter 2 which lasted only one more round, for 14 firings. In round 15 it required two attempts to fire. However this was not the end of igniter 2 as I will explain below.

The big surprise was that igniter 3 broke during cleaning, lasting in total for 15 firings.

After cleaning igniter 1, it fired again in rounds 15 and 16 – so cleaning did bring it back to life – before the coil broke.

After igniter 2 failed to fire after two attempts in round 16 (but still showed continuity so the coil was sound), I gave it a servicing and it did manage to limp on, firing first time in round 17. But in rounds 18, 19 and 20 it required two attempts each time. The control igniter was used here to check the batteries were OK and they were.

Igniter 2 fired first time again in round 21 but needed four attempts in round 22 and despite cleaning was erratic including requiring a mammoth ten attempts in round 29. It finally died after round 33.

Although igniter 2 did plough on somewhat, requiring more than one attempt to fire would be catastrophic in a preprogrammed show. Therefore in these tests I am counting the time to first failure as the lifespan of the igniter.

Test 1 then results in 13, 14 and 15 firings per igniter before first failure.

This is an average of 14 firings.

Here are the full results of each round of firing.

Each successful firing is shown as ✅. Each failed firing is shown as ✖. Each dry run cleaning firing is shown as #. No further firings are attempted when the coil is clearly broken and not showing continuity.

A reminder that igniter 1 is not cleaned after each firing (save for tapping out the ash) until it fails the first time and is then serviced. Igniter 2 has a dry firing to clean after each round until it starts to fail then is serviced occasionally. Igniter 3 has a dry run and full service after each firing.

Firing Round	Igniter 1	Igniter 2	Igniter 3	Notes
1	✅	✅#	✅#
2	✅	✅#	✅#
3	✅	✅#	✅#
4	✅	✅#	✅#
5	✅	✅#	✅#
6	✅	✅#	✅#
7	✅	✅#	✅#
8	✅	✅#	✅#
9	✅	✅#	✅#
10	✅	✅#	✅#
11	✅	✅#	✅#
12	✅	✅#	✅#
13	✅	✅#	✅#
14	✖✖	✅#	✅#
15	✅	✖ ✅#	✅#	3 broke being cleaned
16	✅	✖✖ ##	✖	2 serviced
17	✖✖	✅#		1 now broken
18		✖ ✅#
19		✖ ✅#
20		✖ ✅#
21		✅#
22		✖✖✖ ✅#
23		✖ ✅#
24		✖✖✖ ✅####
25		✖✖✖ ✅##		2 serviced
26		✅#
27		✖ ✅##
28		✖ ✅#
29		✖✖✖✖✖ ✖✖✖✖ ✅#		2 serviced
30		✅#
31		✅#		2 serviced
32		✅#
33		✅#		2 broke during cleaning

Igniter Test 2

With the initial test showing that a cleaned igniter lasts longer but risks being broken by the cleaning of it, for the second test I decided to focus on improving how I approach the cleaning.

My first idea was to try a completely hands-off approach to cleaning, using a can of compressed air. Unfortunately this was a complete disaster. The air was not powerful enough to blow the debris out of the igniters and to make matters worse the freezing action of the spray was making a previously white hot coil brittle. To prove a point, one of the igniters in that test failed on firing number 2!

So I then decided to simply try a variety of cleaning products to see which worked best. Based on the early demise of the cleaned igniter in test 1, I decided not to clean after every firing, but to fire three times without cleaning (other than dry run cleaning) then service the igniter and continue on that basis until they failed.

I would also, when needed, use a wooden skewer to gently scrape any debris off the coils which tapping and dry run cleaning would not shift. This replaced the metal precision screwdriver I used in test 1.

The format of test 2 then was as follows:

Igniter 1: This would only be cleaned by a dry firing after each round, plus when needed a gentle prod or scrape with the wooden stick. I would also dry fire more than once after a live firing if I think it needed it.

Igniter 2: As above but after every three live firings, it would be cleaned with an electrical contact cleaning spray.

Igniter 3: As per igniter 1 but the cleaning after every three firings would be with a WD-40 branded 3-in-1 degreaser.

Igniter 4: As per igniter 1 but the cleaning would be with pure acetone.

Igniter 5: This would be fired the same number of times as the igniter that lasted longest from igniters 1 to 4, including mirroring the dry firing runs, but would never have a live fuse inside. In this case I am going to see whether an igniter will at some point fail simply from being fired, even without a fuse.

Test 2 results

Quite a marked improvement this time around.

Before I get to the first failure, I should point out that spraying cleaning products into the igniters was causing problems in soaking them and then wetting the next fuse. Ideally you would spray the coils and let the cleaners disperse the debris then rinse them and leave them to dry, but the nature of this test meant I had to clean/dry them with cotton buds to get them ready quickly for the next firing otherwise this test would have taken many weeks! So from the second servicing or so onwards, I changed to spraying cleaning buds with the cleaner, then using this to wipe the coils.

All of the igniters broke during cleaning. In some ways this is preferable to breaking during use because at least you know where you stand! The first one to break was igniter 2 which was cleaned with contact cleaner. I was a little disappointed here as I thought the cleaner was working well and perhaps was a little heavy-handed with the stick poking. However it managed 19 firings which is already better than the average from test 1.

Igniter 1 broke next after 25 firings. This didn’t have any cleaning products used on it, simply the act of poking with the stick was enough to eventually break it. Igniter 4 went next – cleaned with acetone – but not until after 30 firings.

The star of this test was igniter 3 – cleaned with degreaser – which lasted 39 firings! Even then, I’m gutted not to have extended it further; I went back to spraying directly with the foaming degreaser and sadly this meant I had to dry it off with the cotton bud which I think pushed the coil too far.

Test 2 then results in 19, 25, 30 and 39 firings per igniter before first failure.

This is an average of 28 firings.

Here are the full results of each round of firing.

A reminder of the igniters:

Igniter 1 – dry clean only plus picking out/off residue when needed.

Igniter 2 – as above but serviced after every three firings with contact cleaner.

Igniter 3 – as 1 but serviced after every three firings with 3-in-1 degreaser.

Igniter 4 – as 1 but serviced after every three firings with acetone.

Igniter 5 – no fuse – dry firings only. Not serviced.

Firing Round	Igniter 1	Igniter 2	Igniter 3	Igniter 4	Igniter 5	Notes
1	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
2	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
3	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	Service
4	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
5	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
6	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	Service
7	✅#	✅#	✅##	✅#	##
8	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
9	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	Service
10	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
11	✅#	✅##	✅##	✅#	##
12	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	Service
13	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
14	✅#	✅#	✅###	✅#	##
15	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	Service
16	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
17	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##
18	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅##	##	Service
19	✅#	✅#	✅#	✅#	##	2 broke during cleaning.
20	✅#	✖	✅#	✅#	##
21	✅#		✅#	✅##	##	Service
22	✅#		✅#	✅#	##
23	✅#		✅#	✅#	##
24	✅#		✅#	✅#	##	Service
25	✅#		✅#	✅#	##	1 broke during cleaning
26	✖		✅#	✅#	##
27			✅#	✅#	##
28			✅####	✅##	##	Service
29			✅#	✅#	##
30			✅#	✅#	##	Service. 4 broke during cleaning.
31			✅#	✖	##
32			✅#		##
33			✅###		##	Service
34			✅#		##
35			✅#		##
36			✅###		##	Service
37			✅#		##
38			✅#		##
39			✅######		##	Service. 3 broke during cleaning.
40			✖

Conclusion

I had no expectations of igniter lifespan coming into this test either way. Test 1 resulted in at least confirmation the igniters were reusable as stated without perhaps making a good case for themselves in terms of cost per firing.

FireFly’s website lists spare igniters at $25 per 5, so that’s $5 each. An average of 14 firings would be a cost per firing of 36 cents which is a little cheaper than buying Talon single-use igniters but not by much.

Test 2 though was significantly better. At an average cost of 18 cents per firing this is much cheaper than single-use igniters. If you do the same maths with igniter 3 then it’s just 13 cents per firing.

Remember the above comparison is based on buying replacement igniters; you already get 15 supplied with the system. At an average of 28 firings per igniter that’s the equivalent of 420 single-use igniters before you need to buy any replacements.

A casual back yard user then, displaying say twice a year, using all 15 igniters on each show, could expect on average 14 years’ worth of use from the supplied igniters if they’re looked after. Even if never cleaned and assuming you only get a dozen firings per igniter, that’s still over 5 years of firing two shows a season.

Based on the way the igniters did break in test 2 I am convinced they can last even longer. I think the trick is to avoid touching or prodding the coils as much as possible. I hope to replenish my igniters soon and run some different tests where I’ll use cleaning products but then rinse the igniters and leave them to dry. This will be a (very) long term test and I will update this article in 2022 if this comes to fruition.

In case you missed it above, in addition to the heating coils on test here, each igniter has two terminals inside. This allows the connection of standard single-use igniters (ematches or Talons), whether the coil is functioning or not. Aside from facilitating multiple firings per cue it allows the igniters, when broken, to function as “break out” connectors to normal igniters.

PS. Wondering what happened to igniter 5, the control igniter? After nearly 100 firings (39 + 39 + extra cleaning runs to mirror igniter 3), it was still glowing white hot with no signs of breaking. This is why I am convinced that no contact cleaning could extend lifespan further.

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