Workaround for the RF chip Pulse issue on A1

[jt526]

Sorry if anyone has posted this before, or someone else solved the problem, but I just got an A1 and a Pulse this thursday and had to solve the RF chip issue at a 24 hour game this weekend, otherwise I would have been really ticked that it worked on my IR3 and not the new A1. Anyway, to get the RF chip to work on an A1 you need a 3 dollar part at radioshack.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062478&cp=&origkw=5vdc+relay&kw=5vdc+relay&parentPage=search

(after thinking about it, someone should try using a transistor, it is probably a better, smaller, more elegant solution, if any one finds one that works, let me know, thanks, Jake)


Wire relay in parallel to solenoid circuit, wire 9V straightfrom the battery in series with rf chip using the switched circuit on the relay. Basically the old intellifeed halo idea, only this time you're firing off the rf chip, not the loader itself. Pulse chip fits into space at top of grip resting on board, and you can fit relay sort of between the usb port, and the battery, but it only barely fits and slightly deflects the USB port about 1 mm, and right now the grips bulge out a hair. If you can't figure out how to wire the circuit I've described above, you probably shouldn't be soldering on the board, no offense.

Pull trigger, noid output trip noids and trips the reed relay, relay dumps 9v from bat through chip. Pulse loader turns. Problem solved.

There may be better ways to fit the parts, or smaller relays available, but I shot 3.5 cases through the setup over 2 days, with no issues whatsoever, and as soon as I get some heatshrink tubing for the wiring harness, I'll be trying to fit the parts a little better.

[Jeroensplash]

Sounds good brother !!!

Could you make a schematic of this please ?

Jeroen

[crownsk8er]

damn it. i was going ot do it first.

[jt526]

ok, but don't say I didn't warn you about soldering on or near your board, and don't short out anything, the connection posts for the relay are really long. Also, no comments on my artistic ability. Thanks, Jake


Updated to actually show the parallel wiring of intellifeed connector.

[Jeroensplash]

Thanks

Jeroen

[paco2838]

Oh ok i get it, very smart.

Ken or bob is this ok?

[RickA4]

It's might Void your warranty with the board. it's genius! great job. can't wait for the MT's to clear it. I'm sure there's smaller relay out there also. but let's wait. none the less. OUTFUC%INGSTANDING!! please show us a step by step process when it's approved. also you shold throw in a disclaimer to cover your A$$. peace

[jt526]

It's might Void your warranty with the board. it's genius! great job. can't wait for the MT's to clear it. I'm sure there's smaller relay out there also. but let's wait. none the less. OUTFUC%INGSTANDING!! please show us a step by step process when it's approved. also you shold throw in a disclaimer to cover your A$$. peace

Warranty? Bought used, so no worries there, and this whole concept of having a warranty on a paintball gun is way to new for me to wrap my head around it. In 18 years, I've never even considered warranty work on a gun, I'm not so sure there was such a thing when I started. Also, I never touched the board, not during the testing phase, too much trouble to keep doing and undoing until I got every thing working. I used an old intellifeed kit wire laying around toolbox for the connector, and soldered two new pins to wires to insert in the noid connector itself, and just pinned the 9VDC wires with the battery itself. Reason I put that in was because I know people would have started soldering to the board or directly to the noid wires, since that is the info going around on the internet. Initially I wasn't going to do a schematic at all, figuring if you couldn't get the concept, you probably shouldn't be doing the work, and should wait some indeterminate time until a manufactured solution was properly tested and produced. I am not that patient, and don't even ask about my issues with this lack of the barrel expansion kit. (Honestly, .691 the smallest? Are you kidding me? Would it have killed them to make one in the .687 range? I am one lathe away from boring one out for freak inserts, probably the, in my opinion, completly useless .695 one, it's damn near big enough already) So mine is completely removeable, and I doubt I will ever bother to actually solder to the board, too much hassle working around surface mount electronics, and who knows how sensitive the components on that board are to heat. I'll just be cleaning it up slightly with heat shrink, shortening the wires, etc. Only real danger I see is added pressure of the parts around the board, but with that plastic cover, should be fine, we'll see how the final install shakes out. Proof of concept works fan----ingtastic.

You find me a 5VDC relay smaller than the reed relay at rat shack, and an install will go much better. The basic problem is that there is plenty of space for the pulse chip, or the relay, but with both, it is a little tight. Having only had the gun for 3-4 days, I haven't had a chance to really get to work on it, but I am pretty sure that the piece that holds down the noid is plenty wide and thick enough to be milled out for the RF chip (which really isn't all that small about 1/4X1/4X3/4 maybe) to fit in, and the wiring loom for the chip should fit neatly in the little gap in front of the solenoid (I hope). I am not quite ready to take apart the RF transmitter and make a smaller unit that combines both until I have a spare . If anyone has the schematics (it shouldn't be anything more than a small radio crystal, and maybe a diode or something) let me know.

So to end, you shouldn't even consider doing something crazy like this, you will most likely void your warranty and don't blame me when you $250 board goes up in smoke. If you don't know the difference between serial and parallel wiring, then please move along, nothing to see here. Also, it may not work for everyone, perhaps my board is out of spec, or your board does something differently, you never know, which is why a factory solution is going to take forever, they have to test under a variety of conditions, with different boards that may use components from other manufacturers, etc. If a "real" solution comes out I will probably buy it, since it'll be a cleaner install than mine. Most likely though, any solution that doesn't use something like a relay would take a complete redsign of the A1 board and if I was a betting man, I would say it probably won't be a free replacement RF capable board, more likely a quite expensive board. The best bet is that an A1 specific pulse chip could incorporate a relay in it, but it would have to be designed around fitting in the grip. The most likely thing to happen is that nobody ever bothers to fix the problem until a new generation of angels come out. Probably not enough profit in creating a gun specific line of chips, and WDP's already spent their money coming up with the A1 board and setting up those manufacturing lines. Also consider that if draxxus can defend a patent on the RF technology, they are going to make WDP pay through the nose to incoporate it on future boards. So I will continue to giggle happily everytime I pull that trigger and watch the loader spin because of a 3 dollar relay from Radio Shack. I did it through 6500 rounds in two days, and enjoyed every single trigger pull, I assure you.


By the way, the thing is really fast, but I haven't compared it to the halo I just cheetah'd. I was too busy enjoying the pulse. I suspect it is just as fast or slow as all the others, but it does so effortlessly, with no popcorning, jamming, nothing but smooth. The design of the feed area and the drive cone itself is just some damn good engineering, the design team got it just right.

Jake

[eddieme2u]

nicely said!

[crownsk8er]

so it works right? with the schematic you provided? if so im doing it today

[jt526]

Works just like it should. Make sure to get the 5VDC relay, there is a 12VDC that looks identical, and I've found that the trays at Radio Shack are always unorganized. If you do it, do it gently, don't trash your board trying to force parts places they won't fit. I'll probably be messing around with it tonight, and trying to clean it up a little.

[crownsk8er]

yeah. i got cha. i have the part number in my hands.... well lap. and also i am going ot get some quick disconnect crimps whime im there. make it look better

[jt526]

I'm not sure QD's are going to fit in there, but you might get lucky. My recommendation is to use old intellifeed board connector which is the same size as the noid connector, that way there aren't any changes at all to the board. You can solder everything off gun together, and just plug it in, and jam the pins you solder on the new harness into the connector leading to the solenoid, plug in the old intellifeed connector you use into the board, and pin the wires to the battery terminals between terminal and battery, and good to go. Make sure to use heatsinks on the reed relay when soldering, it just seems like the internals would be very sensitive to heat, especially if you don't have lots of soldering experience. Good news is that they are pretty cheap, so you can toast a few.

UPDATE: The RF chip fits in the body tray where the eye ribbons travel if you shave off enough of the black plastic to clear the solenoid connection (be careful of the eye ribbons), then bend the rf chip pins about 30 degrees towards the front, and the relay will fit right under it with no interference to the grips as long as you spin it just right. The eye ribbons and the noid wires coming out of the board should curve over the top of the relay. Doesn't interfere with anything, and the grips fit flush. So my install is 100% complete now, and I am very happy with the results.

[KEN CRANE]

just a heads up though. the pulse loader is not the revoloutionary loader of all times. we still have the best most reliable results with the velocity. some have great luck with the pulse and some are having no luck at all. so i would use caution trashing your halo or velocity just yet.

[crownsk8er]

is your version going to include an rf chip? and when is around the date we are lookin at?

[Carapace]

just a heads up though. the pulse loader is not the revoloutionary loader of all times. we still have the best most reliable results with the velocity. some have great luck with the pulse and some are having no luck at all. so i would use caution trashing your halo or velocity just yet.

STILL doesn't change the fact that the VLocity looks like str8 poo... :|

I'm trying the pulse out because it looks most like a halo and doesn't remind me of the evil §§§§ i took this morning when i woke up...

[RickA4]

jt, show us some pics when you get a chacne man, sounds like a pretty sweet a$$ install and it would help alot with a Visual.

[jt526]

Will do when I get a chance

[crownsk8er]

whats your dwell at?

[leadfoot100]

ok, so your telling me the RF chip can withstand a 9v surge?

if you want to jsut to be safe... it would be much better to throw on a resister on teh path to the RF chip.. that would regulate it down to about 5v with the right resistor, Probably around 4k ohm but i didnt do a calculation, so i dont know exactly what size resistor to use

[triumph_013]

i heard the pulse is going through some legal issues...it had the top of a halo and the bottom of a velocity, which i guess were copyrighted...any news on this or is it just gossip?

[crownsk8er]

nope. not that i knoe of

[triumph_013]

i play at Insane Paintball in Chattanooga...thats what the guy that runs the proshop said

[crownsk8er]

ok. well im sure that walter from prostar would have told me if their was. cause he would know. or the guy from pulse would have told me in my emails. and im doubting that procaps would release something that they would lose money oin

[triumph_013]

true, true...well maybe this guys just an idiot...i just started practicing down there and havent really had a chance to get to know him...but im sure youre right

[jt526]

for the two questions, dwell is joy settings, not sure what input is, but lpr is at 57 (my old IR3 gauge works on LPR plug). Pulse transmitter can take the 9v hit, at least through 10K cycles so far since installed. Battery runs nowhere near the 300K cycles WDP claims, not sure if that is consequence of running relay and the pulse transmitter, and the solenoid, or more indicative of marketing hype, since every troubleshooting thread on here begins or ends with "are you sure you have a new battery in there", and one would assume their 300K trips of the solenoid would include the gun being on, not the theoretical number of solenoid trips possible out of a 9v sans powering other things. So far I've got about 2 bars left on the battery display.

Thanks for the tip with resistor, I thought of that, and in my initial buying frenzy on the way to play, I included a baker's dozen of resistors if I needed to set up a two resistor voltage divider circuit. I suspected at the time that the transmitters would be pretty robust, with all the different boards out there, they would have to operate over a widespectrum of conditions without burning up. To others doing an install, I would recommend considering it, and one could use the formula Vout=9V*R1/(R1+R2) to get the right output voltage. For me, since it ain't broke...and my doctorate will be in criminology not electrical engineering, I'll probably quit while I am ahead.

[jt526]

Pics of the different parts. Still working fine.

Pic 1 - Side shot of shaving off of RF chip
Pic 2 - Sloppy first try with chip in body cavity
Pic 3 - Wiring harness, under the elec tape is the reed relay, could still use some shortening of the wires, but I am lazy
Pic 4 - second try, slightly repositioning of reed relay, doesn't interfere with switch/trigger, but it certainly looks like it does. Relay does not interfere with grip cheeks at all, no bulging or pressure on the board.
Pic 5 - top shot of shaved rf, need to shave it so it doesn't hit the solenoid connector on board when tightening grip frame.

Grey/white wires are old IR3 intellifeed, but I am pretty sure that Wake on Lan connectors for network boards are identical, or you could tap directly into solenoid wires.

[crownsk8er]

ok. so what does the old inteli wire go to>?

[crownsk8er]

how does the noid connect to the board?

[crownsk8er]

do you have aim? if so pm me

[RickA4]

good Job Jt!! thanks for the pics Bro!!!!!

[jt526]

Crownsk8er, the noid connects to two pins you need to solder to the ends of the relays. I actualluy just snipped about a .5cm pin off of the reed relay terminals to use, the terminals on the relay are pretty darn long. Then you push those pins into the female noid connector. You can see the pins on the wiring harness on the left side, the red and black wires on the left. The black wire and white wire hanging to the lower right are connected to the battery terminals (doesn't matter which way). New intellifeed female connector plugs into male noid port on board. Again, you could just solder to the noid wires themselves if you don't have an intellifeed connector laying around, or can't find a connector to fit. Important thing is that relay is wired in parallel to the firing circuit. However you want to accomplish that is your choice. I like the intellifeed connector, and not soldering to board, but I happen to have had one laying around, otherwise I'd have done it different.

[crownsk8er]

why would you have to solder to the board? so what you did was solder the noid wires to teh relay then solder the inteli connector to the relay on the same spot with the noid connectors?

[jt526]

Essentially yes to your description, intellifeed to relay terminals, the I used short pieces of wire that I soldered the aforementioned pins to to make the connection to the noid connector. The pic below shows the connector leading to the noid, and one of the small pins inserted into the connector, I used heat shrink tubing over the solder points between the wire and pins, and then wrapped it up in electrical tape to keep the connections secure. Not an elegant solution, but a simple one.

[crownsk8er]

i thinki got you now. instead of cutti the noid wires you pluged it into the old inteli thing? correct? then soldered the ends of that to the relay? then soldered the other ifeed vires to the relay where you soldered the others. then you plug it into the board?

[jt526]

Nope, intellifeed connector is soldered to the relay terminals, and then plugged into board. That is its only job, the intellifeed connector doesn't do anything else, just links the relay to the board. Then two new wires are soldered to those same two relay points, and those are inserted into the female noid connector. This completes the firing circuit and will trip the relay as well. Then, pulse chip, other two relay points, and 9v are wired in series.

Also, the intellifeed connector is identical to the noid connector, it is just that little plastic connector. Also, there are a bunch of people, destructive customs being one of them, that are making rf harnesses. I suspect that in the near future draxxus would probably provide a similiar harness, since it probably would cost next to nothing to mass produce. Picture below is one I found on another site

[crownsk8er]

ok. i have you now

[the_kwa]

jt526, thanks!

I followed your diagram on the first page and everything works perfectly...

[crownsk8er]

well. i picked up one of these, and im waiting for it tro come in. i want it to look less hectic http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?p=29458072&posted=1#post29458072

[jt526]

jt526, thanks!

I followed your diagram on the first page and everything works perfectly...

Glad to hear it, with all the comments about not working on an a1, I was a little shocked that no one was doing it yet. Fun, isn't it? Where did you put the chip?

[jt526]

well. i picked up one of these, and im waiting for it tro come in. i want it to look less hectic http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?p=29458072&posted=1#post29458072

That ought to work just perfectly, good call. I am still thinking that the better, smaller solution is using an el cheapo radioshack transistor. It should work, as the whole point of a transistor is to control another strong current through itself. I'm pretty sure this would be the basis for the smaller MT solution that Ken Crane mentioned, and using a harness like the one crownsk8er bought above. Hook one of the firing cicuit wires to "base" leg of transistor, and then wire everything else in series just as if you were wiring the relay in the circuit, except the transistor would only need one of the firing wires to it. I'm just too lazy to find a transistor that would work. One the plus side, transistors are cheaper than reed relays, and I suspect that the cheap ($2.59) pack of 15 of BJT NPN transistors would work just fine without burning anything up (or they could spectaularly melt, although melting someting smaller than a pencil eraser isn't very spectacular, but they do stink), but it might require a small MOSFET, or one of the larger NPN transistors. I might give it a try when I stop travelling this week and let you know.

[the_kwa]

i'll post pics later tonight hopefully...

[the_kwa]

interesting......

when i set the pulse to recieve a signal from the gun, it reads it every time... but then when i turn the gun on to use, it's like it looses the signal, but not every time. sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't... the sucky thing is, no matter what it stops working befor the hopper is empty...

don't know if i did something wronge or maybe my relay is bad?? (i did use the 5vdc relay..)

[pballfreak22]

looks like fun but i think i will stick with my speedfeeded vlocity :D

[RickA4]

Hey, has anyone got the Drop in harneess from destructive paintball yet?

[jt526]

interesting......

when i set the pulse to recieve a signal from the gun, it reads it every time... but then when i turn the gun on to use, it's like it looses the signal, but not every time. sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't... the sucky thing is, no matter what it stops working befor the hopper is empty...

don't know if i did something wronge or maybe my relay is bad?? (i did use the 5vdc relay..)

A couple of trouble shooting things I ran into:

1. Angel won't fire if the laser trigger is exposed to light, so make sure that the grips are on when testing. This baffled the hell out of me for a while, since I kept forgetting it did this in between testing.

2. Battery should be a full one, I ran into the problem where the battery was too low to trip the RF chip when it got to < 1 bar.

Does it work on Pulse (Red) mode? I got condensation on my board the first time I used it, and the board itself fried, luckily the Draxxus VP was at the game, and he replaced it for me.

Have you re-registered the chip with loader after installing?
Is the chip in the body tray like I did it?

You should be able to hear the relay trip regardless of the pulse turning, for testing, I would use demo mode, no air, make sure bolt is back, and put a piece of black tape over the laser trigger to keep light out and leave the grips panels off. You should be able to hear the relay and the noid tripping at the same time. If you can't hear over noid, unplug noid from firing circuit. If the relay is tripping, check wiring to battery on RF chip circuit.

Post some pics and I will take a look. Change the battery first, though, and check the connections to the battery for the RF circuit

[the_kwa]

Vid. of the pulse working, then not.. *Click* (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unE4ZyMnFc4)

pics of my install..
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/9906/s5000473nc2.th.jpg (http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s5000473nc2.jpg)

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/921/s5000480iw3.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=s5000480iw3.jpg)

[jt526]

Sure looks like it isn't getting signal. Can you test with the RF chip closer to the loader? With extension wires or something? Just sort of hang it out the grip closer to the loader?

What is the series of events? You load the loader, turn on Pulse mode, It runs its initial pulse, you shoot about 50-75 rounds, then it stops reading pulse, you shake it, and get a few to fall down the spout, then still not turning. That is about right right?

One question I have is the 2 second mild pulse still working when this happens, i.e. if you wait the two seconds does it spin on its own after it stops receiving RF signal?

What do you do to make it work again, turn off gun or turn off loader?

What happens when you just turn off loader, and not the gun?

Does the chip work again for a little while and then stop?

Does the loader function normally in pulse mode?

If you write out the steps you do, I might come up with something.


Nice job by the way, way better looking than mine, don't know why I didn't try reversing my original install with relay on top, chip on bottom.

My initial problem with the pulse was the board shorted after getting condensation under the window for the board. It essentially behaved the same way yours seems to be doing. In RF mode, I would shoot about 30-40 shots, and then it would lock up, and not respond correctly to button input. Only way to fix it was to "reset" it by breaking connection to battery pack by pulling out drive mechanism, and putting it back in. Run back to front line, fire until it locked up, run back fix it again, and repeat. New drive unit from Draxxus guy synced right up, and worked fine. I cannot remember how it worked in pulse mode at the time, I am not sure I was trying it then.

[jerryco911]

I'm running the same setup as you JT526. Thanks for the information on how to do it!!!!! When I first hooked mine up I had the exact same problem as The FWA. I had a friend that also had an RF chip, and we swapped them out, and the chip worked fine. I called Draxxus, and they had me send in the bad one, and replaced it. Now it works perfect. So you might try and find another RF chip and test to see if yours is bad. Just my 2 cents.

[jt526]

Glad to hear it worked for someone else!!! I was getting worried no one would have any luck except me.

[arevir909]

http://www.angel-owners.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=42756&stc=1&d=1168316499

[jt526]

Much cleaner than my layout, and nice job on the heat shrink, I think you've done about as good as an install can be done. Looks great. I'll have to change mine around next time I tear mine down. Glad it worked out for you.

[AirAttack]

Can the MT's say one way or another if the A1 will/will not be supporting Pulse RF in the not too distant future (w/o voiding the warranty)?

Yeeah...that'd be grrreat... thanks.

[Carapace]

The very SECOND bob or ken says they have an "OFFICIALLY SAFE" workaround for the rf chip, i'm ditching my cheetah for SURE...

[JHCinSC]

So does anyone know of some enterprising person who is building and selling this setup for the Angel One to use the Pulse RF chip?

[MVS1]

I finally got tired of waiting for dxs to get around to producing a A1 compatible chip and finished the reed switch install, have to say it works better than I had expected. As for somebody making a kit, most of it could be pre-fab but to install it right you need the marker, unless you can do the basic soldering portion yourself.

[jt526]

To JHCINSC,

if you buy a tadao or dc pulse harness for angels, I'd build you one free if you want. Only takes a few minutes. The only reason I'd need the harness is I don't have any more board connectors, but I've still got spare reed relay's laying around from when I did my first ones. PM me an email, and we can do it that way. If you order a harness, you can send it to me with a buck, and I'll send you back a harness. You would still have to trim the pulse chip slightly to fit in the upper body, and solder two wires to the corners of the battery posts (or just jam them in between post and battery).

Try building one yourself, it is fun!

[jt526]

http://www.jakebratton.com/ir3/front.jpg
<BR>
http://www.jakebratton.com/ir3/back.jpg

Very good layout for fitting in relay, and chip I did using tadao harness for another AOG'er. Can use this without putting chip in body, and is completely removeable, no soldering. Contact strip shown is from radio shack, and breaking off three of the 5 points they come with. Bend contacts, and insert between battery and board. It flushes out perfectly with battery, and grips keep it solidly in place, with no bowing out of the grips. Works great.

Stay tuned for schematic for a transistor version mounted directly to contact strip, no relay needed, and will be much much smaller. Will be up when I think it is stable enough to post.

[Jeroensplash]

Can't wait to see it JT526.

Jeroen

[Fargbollen]

Somebody should market these or something like it but smaller.


http://www.jakebratton.com/ir3/back.jpg

[Gamester17]

BUMP! Any news if a small transistor worked instead of the relativly large relay?

I have a Angel G7, and a Speed 06 GAT, hopefully this will work on those as well?

PS! Hope someone will sell an no-solder adapter for existing RF-chip in the future?

[Fargbollen]

^Hey Gamester!
All the older Angel models before A1 work with the RF unit without any workaround since they operate their solenoids on paintball-standard voltage. Just attach it to the solenoid cables or perhaps more practical -get an adaptor harness.

[BoB]

Very hit or miss other than with LED, LCD, iR3 and early model 03 Speeds as they used 6v solenoids. The late model 04 Speeds, A4, 05/06 Speeds and G7's all use a 3v solenoids and the results with the RF are no where nere a 100% without the work around..

[Gamester17]

Like BoB said; the RF-chip do not work with the 06 Speed nor with the G7 for the same reason it does not work with the A1 (by the way, I already got adaptor harness for both). So I have to use the Draxxus Pulse hopper in pulse mode which is not optimal.

[Fargbollen]

I've used the RF with a GAT (PL milled Speed 06) with Tadao board, An A4 with S-board and A4 FLY with Lucky board & Virtue chip. Those all worked perfectly. I just assumed it was fine with the stock boards too but I guess not? Only stock board I tried the RF on is for IR3.

I guess the GAT worked because of the aftermarket board having a higher output to the solenoid?
Bob, have you tried this one? Does it work or was I just lucky?

[Gamester17]

oh, I got the angel stock board in the G7 but a Predator V3 board in the GAT

[Fargbollen]

So I have to use the Draxxus Pulse hopper in pulse mode which is not optimal.
Not optimal is an understatement. To be honest (and yes I own one of these hoppers), it barely works in pulse mode as it often turns itself off mid-game and uses up batteries like crazy. It only works properly in RF mode in my opinion. But even then it's not nearly as fast as my Reloaders.

So does the GAT with V3 work with RF for you?

[Carapace]

Farg, can you guage how "often" a full set of batteries last w/ constant use?

either by case(s) or day(s)?

Approx. of course...

[Fargbollen]

^Depends a lot on how frequent you set the pulse on the board and how forceful you set motor power on the small board on the side under the tray.
But at full pulse and force -not even a case of paint for a normal battery. At least my hopper does that, I haven't tested any other Pulses for how long a battery lasts.
Of course if you use longer-life batteries and/or set the hopper to use less power then it will last longer.

On RF mode it clearly lasts a lot longer, probably because it only pulses after comparatively long idle intervals or when you actually pull the trigger. Although the DXS commercial statement of days on end is definitely far from the truth. On RF you can just about play a full tournament day but the hopper is starting to get real slow at the end. I'd recommend changing batteries well before then. So about the same as a Reloader?

In my experience no electronic hopper can really use one set of batteries for games several days on end and be fully and optimally functional. It just can't. Most will actually stop functioning long before then.
But sure, if you play a couple of games, turn off the hopper and save it for another day, then it can last for longer. But that's something quite different. Anyway, I don't belive in economy paintball. Set up with fresh batteries for every single time you play to be sure everything works, you invest so much in a day of walkon in terms of cash for paint and fee and the time you spend, a small additional sum to have fresh batteries is worth it every time.

[Carapace]

^Depends a lot on how frequent you set the pulse on the board and how forceful you set motor power on the small board on the side under the tray.
But at full pulse and force -not even a case of paint for a normal battery. At least my hopper does that, I haven't tested any other Pulses for how long a battery lasts.
Of course if you use longer-life batteries and/or set the hopper to use less power then it will last longer.

On RF mode it clearly lasts a lot longer, probably because it only pulses after comparatively long idle intervals or when you actually pull the trigger. Although the DXS commercial statement of days on end is definitely far from the truth. On RF you can just about play a full tournament day but the hopper is starting to get real slow at the end. I'd recommend changing batteries well before then. So about the same as a Reloader?

In my experience no electronic hopper can really use one set of batteries for games several days on end and be fully and optimally functional. It just can't. Most will actually stop functioning long before then.
But sure, if you play a couple of games, turn off the hopper and save it for another day, then it can last for longer. But that's something quite different. Anyway, I don't belive in economy paintball. Set up with fresh batteries for every single time you play to be sure everything works, you invest so much in a day of walkon in terms of cash for paint and fee and the time you spend, a small additional sum to have fresh batteries is worth it every time.

Well said Farg, Well said indeed...

I'll be looking forward to getting a pulse and collecting rf chips and such for my other guns... hopefully a harness and/or safe workaround for the a1 will follow in the near future....

[Fargbollen]

Carapace, when you get the hopper, just let me know if you want instructions on fine-tuning it. There's very little in the manual and it doesn't even mention the motor force/speed adjustment.

Just to be fair, the good points of the Pulse is that it works similar to intellifeed, it has more ball capacity than a HALO and can be set to be very soft on paint (but relatively slow) similar to the Vlocity. And of course that the removable tray makes it very easy to clean.
However, it is not really more durable than a HALO, it is not faster than a stock Reloader -even on RF mode and is a little larger and bulkier than its' Odyssey and Viewloader counterparts.
But I would really like to see how this hopper performs with a quality aftermarket board, similar to how the HALO really works best with aftermarket or REloader boards and Vlocity is just so much better with an aftermarket chip, I think this design also has yet to show its' full potential.

[Carapace]

I would DEFINITELY like that, Farg... I'll most DEFINITELY hit you up when i get it but to no surprise... the whole non-US Sales w/ pulses lawsuit kinda has me leary for a moment... my stuff tends to break because i'm snake bitten so i don't think i'm gonna get one 'till the lawsuits settled or something happens w/ that... i wanna be able to get my stuff warrantied if i buy one...

[Fargbollen]

i wanna be able to get my stuff warrantied if i buy one...

Don't we all. :smile:

[Carapace]

Yeah, especially w/ my heavy handed nature and breaking things... ask bob how many ram shafts i've gone through trying to remove a hammer w/ a pair of pliers :|

[Gamester17]

So does the GAT with V3 work with RF for you?Nope, not that either (still the same voltage)

[Aznrevlazn]

just a note, do not use those reed relays from radioshack, they are extremely low quality and are not rated for that kind of abuse when firing fast. You'll want to go to www.newarkinone and get an indsutrial relay.

[skilz]

just a note, do not use those reed relays from radioshack, they are extremely low quality and are not rated for that kind of abuse when firing fast. You'll want to go to www.newarkinone and get an indsutrial relay.

More specifically, this one:

http://www.newark.com/jsp/Electromechanical+&+Industrial+Control/Relays/COTO+TECHNOLOGY/2200-2301/displayProduct.jsp?sku=50F4926

[Aznrevlazn]

yup thats a good one, i had one on my halo when i intellifed my autococker.

[Madukes]

anyone know if there are any pre-made no solder harness's out there? or is anyone making them? also, why can't you just add the rf chip in parallel with the noid w/o using the relay? just splice and solder them in parallel with the noid wires? i dunno, i didn't really put all the much thought into that idea, just first thing that came to mind. i would prefer to just by a harness thou.

[MVS1]

mostly because there's not way of making a pre-fab kit that will connect to the 9v terminals to power the chip. You either have to ghetto rig them (bare wire pinched b/t the + and - battery posts) or solder them onto the battery terminal posts on the board. A pre-fab kit could be made with those 2 wires left for the owner to attach however they wanted. Since DXS got tied up in the suit and sales where frozen there wasn't much of a market to do stuff like this, since most ballers (except for us faithful few) passed on getting a pulse and deal with broken shells, long repair turnarounds and no aftermarket upgrades.