Sorry for the bump, but I have a quick question.

To those who removed the rod that the dart fits over--How did you remove it? It seems like it would be hard to get a cutting tool down in that tiny barrel, and so far I can't figure out how. I need to remove it for it to be able to shoot my Stefans with little or no hole in the back.

Thanks for the help.

EDIT:

Actually, I managed to get it out. Not in the "best" way, but it ended up turning out well.

I just took a cylindrical object (in this case, a head-changeable screwdriver minus the head) and pushed down on the rod until it snapped off. When it came off, it incidentally left a little bit of the reinforcement plastic on the barrel, so the darts won't get shoved too far down, but still without the rod. This enabled me to use my Stefans in the clip with no jamming and great amounts of power (I also took out the air restrictor, obviously) The Stefans I made are about as long as the foam part alone of the Streamline darts, so about 1/3 or so of an inch shorter than stock. But I'm pleased that they work so well. I can see where ones that were too short (maybe less than 1.5 inches or something) wouldn't get pushed far enough into the barrel to create a good seal and thus not work as well.

Anyway, just thought I would share my results.

AA and AAA batteries do not last the same amount of time with the same power. The voltage is the same, but the amperage, which determines how long it can handle a load (basically, don't nitpick, I know the difference), is different. D batteries last much much longer.

Actually, I don't know about regular Alkaline, but NiMH rechargeables for both AA/AAA and D both seem to have about the same current-time rating (~2500 mAh) so in that respect they should have about the same power.

One question I had, which I wasn't quite able to discern from your writeup, was whether or not you were connecting the two 7.2V batteries in series or parallel. Also, what kind of battery life are you getting from that setup? When I get my hands on a Vulcan I'd like to do a similar battery mod, but I was wondering if it would be better to just get a higher voltage battery (9.6V or something) rather than buy two lower voltage ones.

AA and AAA batteries do not last the same amount of time with the same power. The voltage is the same, but the amperage, which determines how long it can handle a load (basically, don't nitpick, I know the difference), is different. D batteries last much much longer.

Actually, I don't know about regular Alkaline, but NiMH rechargeables for both AA/AAA and D both seem to have about the same current-time rating (~2500 mAh) so in that respect they should have about the same power.

One question I had, which I wasn't quite able to discern from your writeup, was whether or not you were connecting the two 7.2V batteries in series or parallel. Also, what kind of battery life are you getting from that setup? When I get my hands on a Vulcan I'd like to do a similar battery mod, but I was wondering if it would be better to just get a higher voltage battery (9.6V or something) rather than buy two lower voltage ones.

Typical capacity of a single (decent quality) D battery is about 12,000 mAH (link).

Yeah, I looked it up a bit after I posted and found that was true for alkaline batteries, though the consumer-grade rechargeables (Energizer, Duracell, Rayovac, etc) seem to only have around 2500 mAh apiece, which seems kind of lame, to be honest. To get something around 10,000 mAh you have to get industrial-grade NiMH, which cost a fortune (~$20 apiece).

And thanks for the info about the connection. I figure it was probably series, but I wasn't sure if running the motor at that high of a voltage was a good idea.

Quick question(s):

I did the basic mod (sealed air hole in barrel piece, cut away extra plastic in bladder, and sanded down OP nub) and with 35-40 pumps I can only get something like 1.5 clips off before it runs out of air. Did I do something wrong, or do I just need to pump it more? I don't hear any stress sounds or air leakage. Also, would plugging the hole in the plunger help? Because I didn't do that, but maybe that would give more air per pump, I'm not entirely sure how that part works.

Thanks.

I guess I am still a bit confused, since the original mod write-up seems to have not been fully updated with all the new(ish) information.

So do you need to sand down/reverse the green OP valve thing *and* add constant tension clamps/O-clamps? Or can you just do the green plug reversal and call it good?

Also, would hot glue work for plugging the OP valve or is plumber's goop a better choice?

Sorry for adding more questions to the thread, but I've read through it fully about 3 times now and can't quite figure out the final verdict on some of these issues.

Pretty nice ROF on that thing now.

Good music in the video, too.

Thanks for the replies. It's not a huge deal if I just have to pump it a few more times, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to exceed the bladder's capacity or something. Sounds more like it's an issue with the pump not making a great seal though, so that's ok.

Tried that technique over an electric burner, and also above an open flame (Zippo) with no success. The only thing it did was start to melt the plastic a bit, but the "glue" or whatever didn't loosen one bit.

Thread is still over a year old. You could PM someone to ask a question rather than resurrect the thread.

There must be a huge variation because, like I said, I went to each store and took a variety of darts with me, and none of them fit well enough to use. 1/2" Sch. 80 PVC is way too big, and 1/2" CPVC is way too small (i.e. can't even force the dart all the way in)

So far the only success I've had with CPVC is by reaming it out with a 1/2" spade bit. Pain in the ass but at least it sort of works then.

Except among the darts I tried in the store, even stock darts wouldn't fit. My white FBR is a little fat, but it works fine in stock barrels.

I guess the only option is to order from someplace that has better tolerance control, like McMaster.

EDIT: The CPVC I bought from ACE is almost exactly 15/32, a full 1/32 too small to even consider using a dart in.

1/2" CPVC is way too small (i.e. can't even force the dart all the way in)

Sorry if you've already tried this, but when I first tried using cpvc as a barrel material I also thought it was way too tight. I, however, was just trying to push it in, instead of twisting. If you haven't already, try twisting the foam into the cpvc.

Sorry if that doesn't help you.

Yeah, that does help, thanks, but that's even only after drilling out the CPVC with a 1/2" spade bit, and even then it won't twist in all the way. It's just really, really too small.

To everyone saying you can get working PVC/CPVC from Home Depot, Ace, or Lowes, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I went to both of my local ones and took some darts with me. NONE of the 1/2" CPVC I've found will fit darts comfortably (they're all way too tight), and the 1/2" PVC is obviously way too big. Do you guys all just buy it on McMaster now? Because without drilling out the CPVC with a 1/2" bit (which is a pain in the ass), none of it is workable as a barrel.

Looks awesome, but does the mag actually feed and fire properly? We haven't seen that in a video yet...

Thanks for the info. And yeah, I've noticed the same about Streamline accuracy. It's pretty awful with the Stampede and other blasters in general.

Latest Important Update in the Mod Guide:

:: Aftermarket Spring Replacement ::

Note that the above voltages are tested with TrustFire 14500 unprotected Li-Ion rechargeable batteries. These unprotected Li-Ion batteries have high discharge rates which are necessary to provide the required torque to the motor to handle heavier spring loads.

Be advised that regular Alkaline batteries may not have high enough discharge rates to be able to produce the same results even at the same voltage.

Yeah, I've actually noted that even at around 8v, my batteries can power the Stampede with the 9kg spring, because they are high-drain (something like 38A) battery packs. Low RoF at that voltage, but it still has enough torque to fire.

SGNerf:

Would it be possible for you to post the dimensions of the O-Ring and spring(s) that you used?

I'm thinking that without replacing the gear mechanisms/motor with stronger ones, a stronger spring would probably cause the gun to malfunction and potentially break. I guess it all depends on how much strength the motor and gears really have beyond how they are normally used.

Sooo...People have this thing. How long until we see some mods? Or at least an AR removal with new ranges?

Didn't see this posted yet.

http://www.crunchgea...tampede-ecs-50/

Yeah, I watched the video shortly after posting. Pretty sad, but fun to see more footage of it "in the wild," I suppose.

Hey quick question, sorry if this has been said before, anyone know the size of the stampede sheild vs the manta ray?

It is exactly one foot (12") wide and, at it's longest point, 9.5" tall. The actual height from the rail to the top of the shield, though, is 4.5".

Does anyone know where to source those AAA to AA adapters for making the "empty" battery cells? The ones on DealExtreme look like they don't have a bottom piece (making them worthless for this applications) and they're out of stock anyway. I haven't been able to find ones like SGNerf uses online anywhere.

If I can't find any, I guess the only option is to find a bolt/wire to jam/solder in between the contacts in the gun itself with no casing.

I would just use a piece of wire and etape.

I don't know much about electonics, but would using two unprotected and one standard battery just lower the voltage or bring it up to 9.9v? SGnerf said that 12.6 was too much and the motors didn't work, and this might be the happy medium.

You typically don't want to mix battery types and voltages.

If any real electronics experts out there can elaborate further on how the safety feature works, it would be helpful to us all.

If someone took a close-up detailed picture of the PCB I might be able to figure it out.

Does anyone know where to source those AAA to AA adapters for making the "empty" battery cells? The ones on DealExtreme look like they don't have a bottom piece (making them worthless for this applications) and they're out of stock anyway. I haven't been able to find ones like SGNerf uses online anywhere.

If I can't find any, I guess the only option is to find a bolt/wire to jam/solder in between the contacts in the gun itself with no casing.

I just bought a few of them... let me see if I can dredge up a location... I'll edit this post once I get the name of the company.


EDIT: I found the source: Click Here (2 Pack for 2.26 USD)

UPDATE:

So, after I ordered these (at least a couple weeks ago, in fact), I never heard anything until I finally got them today. And as it turns out, they are NOT the enclosed type with the spring that are shown in the picture, but rather the same as the ones DealExtreme makes (with no spring and simply an open bottom for the negative terminal). Obviously these don't work for the Barricade, so I'm kind of upset. I'll email the company, as you must have gotten the correct ones (I assume anyway) and they gave me the others.

Batteries in parallel is not a super-great idea. If you are going to do it, though, make sure they are *identical* (and I do mean identical). Also, make sure they are at the same charge level.

And like SGNerf said, using 9-volt batteries isn't a good idea for this application because they have really low capacity, especially in a relatively high-current situation like this.

Does anyone know where to source those AAA to AA adapters for making the "empty" battery cells? The ones on DealExtreme look like they don't have a bottom piece (making them worthless for this applications) and they're out of stock anyway. I haven't been able to find ones like SGNerf uses online anywhere.

If I can't find any, I guess the only option is to find a bolt/wire to jam/solder in between the contacts in the gun itself with no casing.

I just bought a few of them... let me see if I can dredge up a location... I'll edit this post once I get the name of the company.


EDIT: I found the source: Click Here (2 Pack for 2.26 USD)

Excellent, just what I needed. Thanks. Free shipping, too!

...... Anyone have any insights as to what the deal is? I have double and triple checked the voltage/current with my multimeter. If we can figure out how to make the Stampede work with increased voltage running the correct way through the blaster it might completely solve the auto-run issue.

In Reference to your "autofire" ... I have 2 Stampedes, both can run the 16.8 setup just fine after using SGNerf's Upgrade kit. I strongly reccomend it to anyone with the "autorun" after jumping the voltage. I'm just waiting on a second shipment of batteries and converters from hong kong so I can have both up and running at the same time.

I did the conversion with SGNerf's kit as well and still get the auto-fire issue when using thicker (LogHome white foam) darts. I think it has to do with the black return spring, but none of us are sure.

Possibly related...the stock motor is rated at 6 volts. I am going to ax man soon, looking for a 12v and a 18v. which of these would perform better?

6 volts? Wat? The Stampede operates at 9 volts stock.

The motor is rated at 6 volts. Assuming Hasbro used the same motor supplier for all the stampedes built thus far, every motor you find in every stampede should have "6 Volts" and an SLN on the side of it. A child could calculate 1.5x6=9.

Not to be rude, I haven't had my coffee yet.

A couple of reasons this doesn't make sense to me:

1. While they could step down the voltage from 9v to 6v in the circuitry, it makes no sense to do so when you could just as easily require 4 D batteries instead of 6.

2. Why would Hasbro intentionally overvolt a stock blaster?

UPDATE: I've installed the two 7.2v battery packs in series, and I'm having a problem where the blaster will fire quickly but then when I let go of the trigger it will continue to fire until I switch it off manually. Not sure what is causing this.

So actually, in response to my previous post, the battery charger did NOT come with the correct adapters I needed. It had two female connectors instead of the two male ones I needed to connect the female ends which are on the batteries. So it looks like I'll be getting two male connectors soon and trying again, lol.

Also, @SGNerf: What kind of battery life are you getting out of those 3.7V 14500's? Seeing as they're only 900 mAh or so.

Also, thanks for the new info regarding voltage. I wonder if it would work well to get a 9.6v pack connected in series with a 7.2v pack, for a total of 16.8v, which is right around your recommendation. I was considering getting another 9.6v pack in series, but that would be closer to 20v and probably too fast for the darts to load reliably.

Just a heads up to anyone considering this, mixing batteries is generally a BAD idea. Especially true for rechargeables. Try and keep them the same (Voltage, Amp-Hours etc.). When you are using mismatched batteries, they can drain at different rates and can "empty" at different times. This can confuse the sensors built into the batteries and cause all kinds of unpleasant surprises. They most likely aren't going to blow up, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Go higher than what you want with your voltages, then bring it down to where you want in your circuit.

Can anyone with a Multimeter check the current draw on the stampede? I'm a bit curious.

Yeah, I wondered about this as well, actually. I went ahead and purchased two 7.2v battery packs of identical capacity and build to test with the Stampede, should get them on Friday. I will post my results when I test with them.

I will try to get some current draw readings as well, if I can.

EDIT: Just did some current tests. In my test, using 6 well-charged alkaline D batteries in the battery sled, the current draw was anywhere from 1.0A to 1.6A. It was not very consistent, though in fully-auto the first shot seemed to be closer to 1.6 Amps, while the subsequent shots were closer to 1.1 - 1.3 Amps. Sometimes there would be a random spike of 1.5 - 1.6 Amps after a few full auto shots were fired.

So for example, a readout while firing fully auto would be (each readout is about a 0.5 second time interval):

1.6
1.4
1.1
1.1
1.3
1.2
1.4
1.1
1.5
1.6
1.2

Something of that nature.

Question: What about this: (Laptop Battery) Toshiba SATELLITE PRO A210-16V 9 Cell

- Type: Li ion
- Capacity: 7200mah
- Cell: 9

Is this possible?

or this?

I would be wondering what the max current draw is on those batteries...

Keep in mind the stock Stampede needs like, 2 amps.

Possibly related...the stock motor is rated at 6 volts. I am going to ax man soon, looking for a 12v and a 18v. which of these would perform better?

6 volts? Wat? The Stampede operates at 9 volts stock.

So it seems like it might just be a better idea to get two lower-capacity battery packs for the same cost and cycle between them if needed. I wonder if the power draw is really the same for the Stampede as for an Airsoft gun, though. Don't they typically have much smaller plungers?

EDIT: Actually, after further testing, the issue remains, but with one interesting fact.

If there are no darts being fired, the gun will fire just fine in semi- and full-auto modes at 15-16v with SGNerf's upgrade kit. However, if I put in darts to fire, it will fire continuously until all darts are exhausted.

This is interesting, because it means that something about the way the darts chamber or the pressure on the bolt is what is causing this issue to occur. Any ideas on what might cause the gun to fire uncontrollably with darts, but work fine without?

Also notable is that most of the time it will fire all darts with one trigger pull, but occasionally it will stop. Something about the interaction with the dart itself is causing this.


EDIT 2: It appears that using Streamlines works fine, but using my own homemade slug darts with white LogHome foam (fits tighter than Streamlines) causes the issue to occur. I'm guessing maybe it has something to do with the bolt not being pushed forward all the way and somehow not triggering a "stop" switch? I don't really know, because the darts fire just fine with any dart type, but using thicker darts seems to make the blaster fire uncontrollably until all darts are exhausted. It's not a length issue, either, because my slug darts are shorter than Streamlines and therefore length shouldn't be an issue.

I thought I might post an update on my situation.

It appears that adding the 9kg load spring purchased from SGNerf, as well as the improved O-ring and plunger catch spring, my Stampede will now operate at ~15-16v without the continuous firing. I haven't done much testing, but so far it looks promising. It also fires a lot quicker from trigger pull to actual dart firing. I'll do more testing and report back.

Just FYI for anyone interested:

I just recieved my 3000 mAh 7.2v battery packs and charger from Amazon. To my delight, I found that they both will fit easily in the Stampede battery compartment. Not sure about the battery sled itself, but it might be able to to be modded to hold them. In any case, I am charging the batteries now and will let you guys know when I get results, probably with a write-up and pictures.

Here's what I bought (for reference):

Two of these: http://www.amazon.co...&sr=1-1-catcorr

One of these: http://www.amazon.co.../ref=pd_sim_t_1

Also, it looks like the charger came with two female adapters which I can modify to use with the Stampede, without having to buy extra connectors (they come with the charger as adapters, but since I will only be using the one type of plug, I can just use the adapters for what I want)

--EDIT--

So, these two battery packs won't fit in the Stampede battery sled, even modded. But that's okay! Because all you have to do is take the battery sled apart, which allows you to basically disconnect the back screw cap of the sled from the rest of the sled. All you have to do then is jam the battery packs into the back (with padding so they don't roll around too much if you want, though they fit pretty nicely in there) and then screw the back cap back on. Works perfectly.