I have recently bought IMR Batteries and have only put about 30 rounds through my Stryfe before the Thermistor shut down my blaster. I will rewire my Stryfe over the weekend, but I was wondering: Is it safe to run a Stryfe on four IMRs for long term usage? I'm using the stock motors. Thanks!

I would not there is a rather steep curve upward on noise from these motors. I would run on 2 or 3 but personally i run 2 and keep 2 charged for when the first 2 are exhausted.

If you need a battery blank i made my own using a sheet of paper and a solid core wire down the center with a coil on either end. I simply rolled a piece of paper around a wire until it was as thick as a AA then put glue on either end then stripped the wire ends and coiled them to form terminals... i have 2 one that is 2 AA end to end long one that is a single AA long removes and sits just as a battery would.

try spinning the motor it might be stuck... or burnt out another thing would be make sure all the locks are actuated...

Also kill leader... dont you need a custom Rapidstrike or stryfe/rayven for that these days...

my brother had put away his rapid strike for a couple of weeks, and now the clip lock button is stuck in the release position making it impossible to keep a clip in it. if anyone has had this problem or knows how I may be able to fix it that would be a lot of help.

try actuating it a few times or take it apart.

I have recently modified some of my blasters, the mods include AR and lock removal and I was wondering if it is a good idea to put felt pads on the plunger head in order to make the blaster a bit quieter and safer to dry fire. if any one has any info on this topic what so ever please reply. thank you.

yes it is somewhat common Self sticking craft foam is typical it does help plunger life and makes it a bit quieter... If you filled the plunger head with hot glue first some dead space would be removed too.

alright thanks for that.

Well there are two locks involved one in-front of the trigger next to the mag lock and one on the bolt sled itself i removed both from mine and i have no issues you can tell if you are primed by the feel of the trigger too it will feel heavier than non primed with no locks...

the plunger tube may be in upside down that is really the only way the lock on the bolt sled can malfunction

The protection PCB should keep them safe. That's kind of the entire reason it's there.

That said, ultrafires are very unfit for this purpose. A brief google search fails to find their official safe discharge rate. Similar li-ion cells are rated to about 1-2C, which means these can really only deliver about 1A continuous. Those motors ask for 2.8-3.8A at 2.4-3.0V. You're feeding them 11.1V, so they're actually probably drawing somewhere in the ballpark of 10A or more at times. This is for one motor, you're driving two, so double that. 20A is something that even unprotected ultrafire 14500s will never, ever be able to do unless you run something like 10 or 15 of them in parallel.

Ultrafires and their cousin trustfires have their place, but driving motors is not it. Feeding 11.1V to motors rated for 3 is not a good place to be either. Sure, the Tamiyas might be able to handle it, but I'd be very careful. What you really should do is get a 1S (lithium) or 3cell (nickel) battery pack that can deliver enough current.

So back to the beginning question. Are your batteries safe? I'd say probably, but you're abusing the hell out of them, and I'm really not sure how the protection PCB will react.

When higher than normal current is drawn the protection shuts down the cell that cell that is not taking a charge either got discharged below or tripped the circuit. If you must go up to at least imr batteries they will be better off than the ultrafires which i would dispose of at this point or store them in a fire proof box. It sounds like the op over discharged them.

The best option would be a lipo 1s with the highest amperage he could find. Next a single purple efest 18650 30A. after that efest v2 14500 if possible 2 in parallel i have been toying with the idea of reworking my stryfe's battery box to have 2p2s efest 14500 v2 also i would recommend a voltage monitor addition to prevent over discharge in the future.

1. If I run a 2s 25c LiPo, will it be weaker than Ultrafires or not? (High Discharge but low voltage)
A. It will be equal to running 2 ultrafires
2. If I run a 3s 20c LiPo, is it necessary to change my rev switch into a high current micro switch?
A. Maybe the original switches are rated much lower they will eventually burn out and don't pass as much current but stock motors on 3s you can skip the switch upgrade for now you should think hard about doing it eventually.
3. If I run a 500mAh pack and I'm playing for 5 hours, do I need to bring 2 packs? (don't want to cut shell)
A. depends on motors and play style how heavy handed you are on the rev switch. From what i have found 800-1000 is the biggest that fits in a stryfe with a little bit of modding as in removing dividers and support ribs on the battery door
4. Can anybody give me a link for tutorials on how to charge LiPos using a smart charger? (maybe an IMAX B6 Balance Charger?)
A. Google youtube then "how to use imax b6. first result
5. My LiPo has a JST discharge plug and a JST-XH balance plug, if I want to plug both into my Stryfe or my balance charger, what terminals should I use for the Stryfe and the charger? (Male/Female)
A. The stryfe wont have anything you will need to install something to plug into the balance port and the discharge the jst is what you will plug into the stryfe you will need something like this
6.Do stock motors spin fast on a 2s LiPo? (Related to Question 1)
A. I find they do fine on 2 IMR which would be like a 2s 700mAH 10c
7. How do I solder a Female JST plug to my wire to plug LiPos in? (if you have a link, it's fine)
http://www.amazon.co... plug connector
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqV2xU1fee8
it should be pretty self explanatory you run the two wires into the guts of the stryfe and where the 2 wires connect to the battery tray you connect the jst

google and search will both give you numerous how to on modding the stryfe most commonly a rewire mod first result on google search https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4AR9fvwlYw ONLY thing i have to say about the video is those "resistors" are not resistors they are Transistors they drop voltage and increase amperage but are not needed.

odd how all of your questions are not yes or no...

another useful bit of knowledge is here is a listing of max acceptable amperage for a given wire size we would be looking at both chassis is more short bursts and what we would use primarily but for longer use the transmission is important too as at a given amperage the wire will heat up and eventually melt

AWG max Amp chassis  max Amp power transmission
10	55	      15
11	47	      12	
12	41	       9.3	
13	35	       7.4	
14	32	       5.9	
15	28	       4.7	
16	22	       3.7	
17	19	       2.9	
18	16	       2.3	
19	14	       1.8	
20	11	       1.5

So would those motors work with IMRs or trust fires?

yes but not as well as a lipo pack the 180s tend to pull a bit more stall amps than IMR provide the stock motors are not so bad with 2 IMR i tossed 2 IMR 18650 in my battery tray the gun is a whole new beast and the balance it toward the center rather than forward. Mind you mine is stock.

There are a lot of threads on motors it uses the same motors as the stryfe ANY 130 size will fit in the stock spot the pusher motor can be replaced with out modding the shell with a 180 you need to mod the pusher tray. Honestly i want to put a brushless set in mine Mainly due to liking the start up sound some make just think you are getting ready and it is time to start so you flip the master on deet deet doo deet then those motor sounds...

Ebay is a bad source a lot of fake batteries

Stock motors run fine on IMR cells but these are expensive
Nitecore i2 charger
Nitecore d2 charger with car adaptor and battery storage box
Nitecore i4 4 slot charger
d4 4 slot (i have this)

these should fit in a rapidstrike tray in place of the c-cells with the center divider gone
18650 30A discharge
10A imr efest 18650

14500 10A efest


for lipo hobby king has excellent prices and sells through amazon...
charger

The only thing i can think of is your going to have to trial and error with a universal tv remote there will be 2 codes one to move the launch angle one to launch a disc. It is somewhat complicated but i would try a tv remote see if any buttons or combo of buttons triggers anything.

Other options involve much more complicated methods involving making a new control board with an arduino. It would not be overly complicated to control a 3 position servo a variable speed motor and the launch solenoid. It is beyond my skill but it would be possible.

A easier method might be to buy a second one with a remote they are 65-130 on ebay or find someone with the remote willing to let you record the pulses from it you could then program a select few remotes perhaps even a tv be gone diy type unit you would just need to use the 2 codes from the actual remote instead of the on/off db they flash on the diy chips.


http://www.instructa...e-with-Arduino/

Also, If i use a microswitch rated for .5 amps, will some nimH cells or a 2 amp lipo burn it out when i get some crazy stall motors?
and i dont get why lighter flywheels can be dangerous

Normal NiMH can only push at best 1500mA Normal AA can only do .5A or 500mA. If you use a microswitch rated to .5A only .5A can pass through it without generating heat over that can go through it but it will heat and can fail. Example of what can happen you have a stryfe you have blades in it low resistance wire and use a 25-50c battery pack then you use the switch that came with the stryfe the motors will attempt to draw up to 10A when a jam or dart hits the flywheels the only thing your gun has that cant handle that type of load is the switch. When the motors start pulling the amperage the switch passes it as best it can as it exceeds the switch it gets hotter and hotter until thermal failure occurs something burns or melts.

Stock motors with better wires and cleaned up circuits will have little issue with the stock switches and amperage under 3A if you upgrade the brushes/motor and raise the voltage a better switch might be in order.

This is why i feel unless your going for the full rebuild you dont need a lipo pack if your doing wires, motors and a lipo pack why keep the old switches might as well change them too.

What is better? Mabuchi FK180SH 3240's or these? http://www.ebay.ca/i...=item234020055e

The axle are a bit long you will need to cut them probably.

i donno i think i would have gone the high road and put zombie instead of ebola. Ebola is something very real right now and yes it is hard to actually catch it you need to have contact with infected feces or blood.

Is that possible yet to grind your own plastic up and extrude filament for a 3D printer? If so the idea of getting a 3D printer might be moving up on my list.

LGN

not all 3d printers use abs

making filament is not too difficult you just need to heat the material evenly and precisely until it gets to a uniform consistency then it gets pushed through a die

Been meaning to find the time to post my tray

https://www.dropbox....032247.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox....032304.jpg?dl=0

I am going to eventually open my RS and when i do I may add another method of transferring power from tray to gun im thinking of mounting a xt60 connector to the occupied side of the gun so i could open it without cutting the negative terminal again... If i ever do make this modification ill make my own thread on how i did it.

like he said ^ MANDATE eye ware at my last event i did not bring my eye wear and got hit in my eye with a stock retaliator it hurt like hell even though it was stock.

I would place certified stock or under 110 fps with stock darts only as my rules 80-110 fps will still shoot over 100ft

I used my calipers a while back to measure mine it is about 28mm deep 117mm long and 54mm wide you should be able to fit 2 26650 batteries side by side if you cut out the center support and the 2 end supports you will have about 1cm at each end of the battery you would need to adjust for...

Ill redo my measurements later tonight and repost but those are the numbers i remember from when i measured mine. you do get a bit more room by dropping the tray and just using the front. But I like to keep my nerf guns semi stock and would like to if i have to drop back to stock.

Videos I can not make. With a quad shot it is easy to get 30 feet of distance...with about as much spread as a standard width door.

The spread is going to be pretty dependent on how you make your shells. Where you point the barrels determines where they go. I made all mine as straight as possible.

EDIT: I am also bumping as I have added a list of all the mods I've done to this baby.

how far does the single go and did you do anything to the launcher piston

I've got no idea how far the single goes. The quad shells are much more useful.

And I only lubed up the launcher piston. Nothing else.

i saw a mod where they teflon wrapped the piston 4 times and put a thicker o ring in his demo and got his missiles to go 45 ft his he also showed all of the compression was in the last inch of the launcher.

This motor:
http://www.tamiyausa...h-3-motor-15477

3-4 ultrafires is too much voltage and not enough current and will shorten the life of the motor. Run it on 1s IMR / Lipo, or a 3 or 4s NMH pack.

Also, unless someone posts chronograph numbers after coating the flywheels, I wouldn't mess with it at all. Anything you put on them will increase their weight which will increase the time it takes to spin up the motors. It will also decrease battery life from the increased load and will increase the amount of heat being generated in the motor which will shorten the life of the motor.

the op could run 3 in parallel to increase the amperage and capacity that could be pulled from the cells.

That's what I thought too. It seemed to have worked better stock. I'm going to get some better batteries for it and see if that helps at all, if not maybe a new set of motors... Kinda disappointed with the performance of it. I've done other battery upgrades and restrictor removals before and always the blasters have worked out much better in the past. Don't really know what the deal is with this one...

My guess is that the flywheels are spinning up at a much different RPM and tossing the dart either up or down into the barrel and giving it the wonky performance.

Humm you had to rebuild the end bell of one motor i wonder if that has anything to do with it try moving that one to the pusher?

Or replace both flywheel motors.

To me it seems like they are not going far enough over all like mine blasts a spray of foam out much further than yours did it seemed some went sideways in the barrel and lost energy really quick.

To me it sounds like your plunger needs to be replaced the front edge came off and that is what kept that plunger from getting up over the ridge stop in the piston chamber.

What i would do is grease it up to see if it helps if it solves the issue great if not i would say that you removed too much dead space you could trim down the hot glue slowly until the issue gets fixed.

Just remember that without the AR dry fires are not recommended they will break parts.

Why would you buy cells when you can rescue them from laptop batteries? I have easily 60 18650 cells for very little investment.

but those cells are only able to provide about 3 amps... no better than a trust fire. you would need to make a pack out of them for anything beyond flashlights or stock+ blasters.


IMR not typically used in laptop batteries is much better than any li-ion.

people do 14500 in stryfe due to the clean look and in the case of rapid strikes they stick them in AA to C adapters and get drop in upgradability you are into heavy mod territory you might as well go full bore.

the rapid strike has alot more options especially if you don't shorten it.

The only mod i have done to my rapid strike is in the battery tray i put a 18650 2p1s battery tray in and soldered it to the contacts.


you could potentially go up to 26650 IMR in the stock tray and as long as you dont run more than 2 the stock pusher will only go slightly faster than 4 c cells.


*fire anything sucks and is likely a clone. i like my efest "IMR" 18650. there are 3 types of 18650 out there lifepo4 3.2 volt these are rare and expensive but take abuse readily and keep going. the normal trustfire li-ion cells these are not what your looking for same thing in laptop packs but the laptop packs might be better quality slight fire hazard... then what you want IMR Li-MN these are high discharge slightly less capacity than the li-ion might melt the gun a bit when they fail but not fire.


18650 would have about 2400mAh of capacity 14500 have 700mAh this means longer run time a 26650 would have about 3800mAh for double the run time of a pair of 18650.

The main question is, are 2 14500 efests enough?

the 14500 are only available in 700mAh and only about 9.85A max draw per cell fine for stock not 180s

by jumping up to 18650 you can get 2400mAh @ 30A per cell 180s can do fine a 2s li-po is cheaper sort

jump up to 26650 you can get 3500mAh @ 64A purple efest per cell or 4200mAh @ 50A green efest


mAh = run time

figure adverage of 5 amps while spinning then 10-20A on start up for a split second

There isn't. People just don't want to buy the LiPo pack and the appropriate charger since it ends up being a bit more expensive. It's probably for the best since LiPo's are actually kind of unsafe for the average user who isn't taking care when using them. Individual cells have their place for that reason.

I cant be the only one that has devices that use the numbered cells. I have 2 flashlights that run on the 18650 3 that run on 14500 and a cell phone charger that takes 18650s

now i have a stryfe and a rapid strike that uses them...

i have 0 drones 0 remote control vehicles that use the li-po why should i invest in li-po when i already had the cells...

IIRC from a Drac video, the 7kg spring is required to drive the stage 3 extended barrel (it induces too much barrel drag otherwise).

yes but it also makes the blaster alot harder to prime.

Also about that extended barrel it sucks the attachment point it has is a slight upgrade but the barrel itself sucks if memory serves omw went back and tweaked it to be bigger around so it caused less drag... I felt this was a shame as i liked the look of the stage 3 kit but when i found out the drawbacks and that the 7kg spring + the barrel ended up with worse ranges and speeds than stage 1 and 2 i decided not to bother with stage 3... And guess what i don't have any issues with my retaliator lockup all locks removed and it works perfectly it is gathering dust as i have moved onto a stryfe and rapid strike but my advise to solve the lock up issues is unscrew the barrel and use the 5kg spring after making sure the trigger and catch springs are the upgraded ones and did not slip out of place...

If you absolutely need to use the extended barrel i suggest brassing it make sure you get big enough brass. To widen the barrel a dowel with a piece of sand paper wrapped around it then chucked in a drill will make short work of opening it up then push a brass 7/16 size tube down it if it ends up too loose you can glue it but it should fit so snugly it wont need anything. It will be wider and it should solve the issue with the barrel reducing the distance and speed.

Can the Catch move freely? Also, Is the prime-length correct and and is is pushing the plunger all the way back to meet the catch?

I have the #1 and #2 kit on my retaliator did you use the supplied spring for the catch or the old spring. The supplied spring is of a higher strength than the old spring. I also suggest going with the 5kg spring vs the 7kg spring that comes with the 3rd stage kit. The 7kg does not improve it that much over the 5kg just makes it much much harder to prime.

Hello Nerf Haven,
I have done all the basic mods to my strife (taken out electronic/mechanical locks and rewired) as well as replaced the stock motors with the Solarbotic's RM2s (This was a while ago, I realize now that it was a possible waste of money.)
I am now looking to buy the standard ultrafires/trustfires to up the voltage. I'm in Canada, so because of weird rules/lack of website support/Canadian import taxes that I'm definitely not an expert on, I (think) I need to order them from ebay.ca or amazon.ca. I have tried ordering a couple before but long story short I didn't receive them. There is also a lot of fake ultrafires that are being sold.

I came to ask my fellow Canadian's if they could give me a link(s) in order to buy 6 ultrafires/trustfires with a charger, and a dummy battery.

I would prefer for these to be tested sellers so I don't get scammed again. The number of batteries the charger supports doesn't concern me, I just need the correct batteries (size/voltage/capacity) in order to run in my stock AA battery tray.
Your help is very much appreciated.
Thanks, eh?

i would not go for anyfire...

amazon ships to canada
this site apparently stocks the but is oos right now http://www.canadaeju...ttery- Flat top

I use a pair of 18650 IMR in my rapidstrike a pair of 26650 would fit too and not need a tray of their own. and you can get 26650 that can do up to 30-60A with a rather high capacity.

alternately the lipo pack would also fit all you do is remove 2 screws from the stock tray the front plate comes off and you then shove the lipo in the stock area and put the plate back...

my friend got one of the storm trooper ones for 31 dollars at our local walmart...

A dremel to build a brass breech isnt exactly machining hardware.

Anyway, the cheapest possible mods are probably rebarrels for single-shot blasters and spring spacers. Buying replacement springs isnt too expensive, but is usually as much as/more than the material for a brass breech.

It seems to me that springer mods can be cheaper than flywheel mods, but that doing a full workover on a springer is usually going to cost more/take more time than a full workover on a flywheeler.

If youre starting from nothing and dont have the cash to build up a stash of mags, a magnum superdrum or Zuru turbo advance are probably good blasters to start back up with.

I disagree a stryfe or rapidstrike or other flywheel with 18650 or 26650 or 14500 are by far easier than doing any springer mods... and the rewards are instant... pop a pair of 26650 into a rapidstrike with a inch thick spacer or mod the tray and dump a 2s or 3s pack of choice in the rapidstrike night and day better... and from there you can jump to a rewire, motors, cages, flywheels, and li-po mods, motor controllers.

 

My first mod was to drop a pair of 14500 IMR into a stryfe with a dummy battery i made out of wood glue paper and a copper wire in fact i made 2 dummies one 2 batteries long one 1 battery long. My next step was a semi rewire where i removed the thermal fuse and all the extra safety switches. Sometime after that i added a voltage monitor and hooked it into the jam door switch. My next step is upgraded wiring and perhaps flywheel and cage swap there is an aluminum set i was eyeing.

 

14500 IMR's cost as much as to more than a LiPO, but aren't rated to handle the current draw of even stock motors. Using them is risking venting or burnout in the blaster (!). The other sizes might be fine, but aren't drop-in solutions anymore. Also problematic is the fact that IMR's aren't in the upgrade chain toward LiPo/NiMH/packs - if you use them, you'll just need to throw them away if you want to use upgraded motors/wheels/cages because they cannot sustain power to those systems safely.

 

A rewire with a LiPo (or NiMH, for the safety concerned who don't care about their batteries fitting stock trays) is actually really inexpensive if you can borrow a soldiering rig (likely) and either use an inexpensive charger or go in on one with friends. My first rewire cost $15 for everything I needed to use the stock cage/motors/wheels properly and within safe current draw for the battery pack.

 

Didn't bring those up though because $15 is still more than a spring swap, and opening a blaster, removing all the parts, and soldiering them in a different order is more skill than opening a blaster and replacing some of the parts.

im a bit late on my reply but...

 

when I rewired to remove locks i had enough wire in the stock wiring to double up and omit the locks bigger NEW wire is better but worked in a pinch. As for how much power li-mn can provide... 6.5 A and 9.8amp in a burst vs the 3A burst the stock motors pull...you need 2 that is 14 dollars it used to be A LOT easier at the time of my post to buy these batteries. But still 26650 which fit in a rapidstrike tray with modification and a spacer will deliver 30A constant... Now as for the mod to use 26650 in a rapidstrike two balls of aluminum foil on the springs to space forward the 26650 and you are good. 7.4v is not enough of a over volt from the 6v it is stock that the gun is not very functional. From there you can get into more in depth mods but 10$ for a pair of IMR batteries and .20 cents of foil get you started.

Exotics are just fine. I just want to know are there any better ones.


Torque is the focus, not rpm!

Why do you need super high torque... The fps comes from rpm the load of the darts comes from torque. So heavier darts would be the only benefit and it might hit harder but it would not go as far and would have greater slippage on the darts.

I just want to know. Torque is for the efficiency. That doesn't mean I don't want rpm.

EDIT: The flywheels I'll use will make slippage more minor of a problem.

there is only so much you can do vs slippage i suppose the torque would help with heavier wheels too...

was saying that for the purposes of you likely have hundreds of darts where as just getting into the zeus you would only have the ammo it came with if you were to pick this up for modding a fundamental expense rises across the board new ammo stock pile new mag stock pile if your purposes are for a nerf war with shock and awe factor i dont see it being all that useful that said i can see nerf phasing out darts for this. engineering can only take the darts so far.

Wait a second... this gives me an idea! If the Zeus has 380 motors, and Xtreme Productions (home of the xtreme pro 180) makes 380 motors... You see where I'm going.

different ammo as far as i know few mods there was one that was full auto at 11v looked beastly

Did you even see what he said? Imr's cost 14 euro's where he lives for just a pack of 2. Then you also have to add a special charger to that.

I recommended 8 AA's because they are cheap and accessible. In Addition, the current from 8 AA"s is greater than 2 Imr's, which will lead to greater performance and less damage to the motors.

Umm no alkaline can not provide more current than imr.

Alkaline can at most do 3 amps but most can only do 2.5A and they last 40 minutes tops so piss through those batteries like water and how long does it take to burn 14 euro in alkaline.

NiMh can do 5 amp discharges and last for 2.1 Ah so at 2 amp discharge you get maybe an hour.

IMR 10-60A depends on grade and size of cell most 14500 do 10A.

Now 8 AA in series is 12v the stock motors were rated for 6v we over volt them at a cost to life at a given voltage the stall current increases. It does not matter if it is an imr or if it is alkaline 12v will kill those motors just as well from either source.

http://www.amazon.de...rds=efest 14500
9.90 eur

http://www.amazon.de...rds=nitecore d4
charger does li-mn, NiMh, LiFE, li-ion, NiCD

or
http://www.amazon.de...rds=nitecore i2

Thanks for your very detailed feedback. Luckily I had a soldering iron and already took out all the junk from the inside of the blaster. Unfortunately your ebay seller doesn't ship to Germany I,ll try to solder the battery holder in place and feed the wires through the back of the stock mount, so that I'm able to close the original battery holder again. I will also mount the new battery holder with something more durable. I don't play that often (2-4 hours a week) so the alkalines should last relatively long. In fact 4 of the 6 batteries that I'm currently using are still the ones that I put in when I bought the blaster about 4 months ago, so they should still be cheaper and if I really need to I can still swap them for IMRs.

Have a good day!

the links i gave were for amazon in germany... 9.90 euro for a pair of imr you only really need 2 and a bypass for the other 2 cells you can run 3 safely 4 will burn out the motors.

and the same charger for li-ions works with imr.