83 replies to this topic

[MavericK96]

TantumBull, on Sep 14 2010, 06:18 PM, said:

He has a much stronger spring that slows down the bolt. No idea about the continuous firing, though.

Well, except he tested the 16+ volts before the spring mod and it worked fine. He mentioned getting the continuous firing problem himself, but only at 24+ volts, whereas I am getting it at 16. Something is obviously different about his Stampedes versus mine.

[themessiahpsg1]

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?

[MavericK96]

themessiahpsg1, on Sep 14 2010, 08:07 PM, said:

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.

[Ironhead]

SGNerf can you tell me if these batteries will work as well as your trustfires?

http://www.all-batte...e37v900mah.aspx

I know they are listed at 800 mAh rather than yours at 900, but I don't think that will really hurt me much. I'll always have extras if mine get low.

I'm planning to use them in AA to D battery adapters in my stampede (if I can find the adapters).

Thanks in advance for your help.


I'm also on the hunt for an online site that will sell springs that match the specs on yours (the middle strength). My ACE has springs but none of them will work for nerf guns so I'm forced to hunt online. If anyone has any place they like to use to order them let me know!

Thanks again folks!

[SgNerf]

Ironhead, on Sep 18 2010, 03:01 AM, said:

SGNerf can you tell me if these batteries will work as well as your trustfires?

http://www.all-batte...e37v900mah.aspx

I know they are listed at 800 mAh rather than yours at 900, but I don't think that will really hurt me much. I'll always have extras if mine get low.

I'm planning to use them in AA to D battery adapters in my stampede (if I can find the adapters).

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm also on the hunt for an online site that will sell springs that match the specs on yours (the middle strength). My ACE has springs but none of them will work for nerf guns so I'm forced to hunt online. If anyone has any place they like to use to order them let me know!

Thanks again folks!

Well, i've not tested those exact brand of Li-Ion rechargeables, so i can't really confirm if they work the same. I guess you could get a set to test out and post your findings.

As for the springs, i've replied to your PM.

[Ironhead]

Yes, I sent you a reply back, thanks a bunch!!


I guess I'll give them a try. I have a timer/counter from my competitive shooting days so I should be able to get an actual rof to list, if the stampede is loud enough to register on it.

I can't wait to get this thing modded up, I love my longshot, and it's pretty tricked out (mod wise), but essentially it's a bolt action rifle, not a great rate of fire.


Thanks again for your help and I'll look forward to your reply on the spring!

[ice]

I've currently got mine hooked up to 12 volts, and has an additional spring (I think it's a chain blazer?). Now mine hase the problem of getting darts stuck in the dart tooth. The motor gear line up seems to be off, cause I think the plunger has started releasing as the whole chamber moves backwards..... has anyone else had this problem?

[themessiahpsg1]

http://www.all-batte...ttery11711.aspx

I think we have a winner. a bit over the 'reasonable' price margin, but nontheless, I would like to see if this would work...

What about 10 of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item255d3ace11


Now, what to do about the motor. now THAT I need ideas on.

Edited by themessiahpsg1, 19 September 2010 - 04:25 PM.

[ice]

This also looks promising for a battery.
Link
For those of us that only wish to use 12 volts.

[wespelarno]

themessiahpsg1, on Sep 15 2010, 01:07 PM, said:

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?

Avoid those. They have high enough capacity and high enough voltage, but will seriously not appreciate being run around with nor the stop-start use that Nerf will put them through. I've seen a guy use a set of something similair in a RC car and it melted down. I doubt they would melt as you are using them at a fairly low amp draw, but you will get a really short lifespan out of them. In general avoid cheapo batteries, especially LiOn or lithium Ion as you really get what you pay for with batteries in terms of run-time, average voltage and recharge life.

Anybody chasing batteries, check out Towerhobbies.com for quality cells. Cells can be bought individually or pre wrapped and all are designed for rougher and higher amp use than we will put them through.

Pick a capacity and voltage you desire and make sure to use the same type of batteries if more than one is being used in a circuit.

Edited by wespelarno, 22 September 2010 - 02:46 AM.

[Zorns Lemma]

A common laptop battery mod is to open up the casing (doesn't work with Macs for obvious reasons) and replacing the stock batteries with much more durable ones after the originals start to die. So to reemphasize what wes said, avoid doing the reverse and putting laptop batteries into a much harsher environment. Low quality batteries quickly deteriorate under stop-and-start drain/recharge.

Edited by Zorn's Lemma, 22 September 2010 - 11:41 PM.

[themessiahpsg1]

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?

[MavericK96]

themessiahpsg1, on Sep 23 2010, 08:26 AM, said:

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.

[MavericK96]

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.

[MavericK96]

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.

Edited by MavericK96, 05 October 2010 - 12:46 PM.

[themessiahpsg1]

MavericK96, on Sep 23 2010, 08:30 AM, said:

themessiahpsg1, on Sep 23 2010, 08:26 AM, said:

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.

[MavericK96]

themessiahpsg1, on Oct 11 2010, 01:19 PM, said:

MavericK96, on Sep 23 2010, 08:30 AM, said:

themessiahpsg1, on Sep 23 2010, 08:26 AM, said:

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?

[SpectreX]

Once again I have a question for those who know more about electrical systems than I do.

Why are the unprotected Trustfire 14500s only working in battery powered blasters when they are inserted backwards?

I am using an identical setup to SgNerf where I have 4 of the 14500s in a 4-AA holder that is alligator clipped to the inside of the battery tray for the Stampede. If I have the connections hooked up so that the current is running the same way that it would with just the regular D-cells nothing happens when I pull the trigger. All you can hear is the internals twich slightly, but nothing else happens.

However, if I simply swap where the clips are connected it runs fine aside from having the auto-run problem, which I think may be at least partially caused by the current being run through the blaster in the reverse from normal.


I have observed essentially the same problem in the Power Strike 48. Putting 14500s in the normal way causes nothing to happen when you hit the power switch, but if you put them in backwards the motors come on like they should. However, the motors are of course running in the reverse direction in that case, so instead of firing you just get mangled darts.


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.

[NerfHunter03]

SpectreX, on Oct 14 2010, 11:31 AM, said:

...... 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.

Edited by NerfHunter03, 16 October 2010 - 10:58 AM.

[MavericK96]

NerfHunter03, on Oct 15 2010, 07:01 PM, said:

SpectreX, on Oct 14 2010, 11:31 AM, said:

...... 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.

[NerfHunter03]

MavericK96, on Oct 16 2010, 02:34 AM, said:

NerfHunter03, on Oct 15 2010, 07:01 PM, said:

SpectreX, on Oct 14 2010, 11:31 AM, said:

...... 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.

I have been using the stock ammo, as that is what everyone else at school uses, so I cannot speak for custom darts.

[MavericK96]

NerfHunter03, on Oct 16 2010, 08:54 AM, said:

I have been using the stock ammo, as that is what everyone else at school uses, so I cannot speak for custom darts.

Yeah, it seems to work fine with stock ammo, though I will still sometimes get the occasional double-fire. I just want it to work with my tighter darts, though, since they fire a LOT better.

[SgNerf]

SpectreX, on Oct 14 2010, 11:31 PM, said:

Once again I have a question for those who know more about electrical systems than I do.

Why are the unprotected Trustfire 14500s only working in battery powered blasters when they are inserted backwards?...

That's a really odd issue you got there, so far i have worked with more than 20+ Stampede users locally who have done the exact same mods with the same modding materials and using the same TrustFire batteries... barring some odd units which were faulty (ie. erratic firing performance or weird circuit issues) which were simply exchanged at the store... all worked perfectly with the batteries installed in the correct direction.

I'd have to ask a rather obvious question just to narrow down the causes, did you place the batteries in the battery holder with their polarities facing the right way in the beginning? And were the wires from the battery connected to the correct polarity contacts in the battery sled?

Have you tested using AA to D battery converter shells instead? Did you encounter the same "need to be reversed then work" issue?

Do you have a volt multimeter with polarity indicator? If so, test the polarity of your TrustFire batteries, put the red test lead at the + tip of the battery and the black lead to the - tip of the battery, does it show the voltage without a "-" symbol next to the voltage reading?

Any chance you can exchange your current Stampede with a new one at the store, or test the batteries in someone elses Stampede and see if the phenomenon still occurs?

I'm quite curious 'cos you mention that you also face the same issue with your Powerstrike 48, which could indicate some sort of mis-matched polarities in the batch of batteries that you happen to be using too.

[SpectreX]

The Stampede may have to be chalked up to gremlins or I had missed something major ( <--- probably this), because of course it starts working fine once I ask the question. I ran through or already had run through everything you said and I'm posting the answers just incase this happens to someone else.

SgNerf, on Oct 16 2010, 02:10 PM, said:

I'd have to ask a rather obvious question just to narrow down the causes, did you place the batteries in the battery holder with their polarities facing the right way in the beginning? Yes And were the wires from the battery connected to the correct polarity contacts in the battery sled? Yes

Have you tested using AA to D battery converter shells instead? Did you encounter the same "need to be reversed then work" issue? I had tried it and it had the same issue at the time, but works fine now.

Do you have a volt multimeter with polarity indicator? If so, test the polarity of your TrustFire batteries, put the red test lead at the + tip of the battery and the black lead to the - tip of the battery, does it show the voltage without a "-" symbol next to the voltage reading? All of the polarities on the Trustfires are correct, and I tested a regular AA right after for comparison just incase I had the wires backwards, but it's all fine.

Any chance you can exchange your current Stampede with a new one at the store, or test the batteries in someone elses Stampede and see if the phenomenon still occurs? I did the draw-catch battery compartment mod already, so returning it may be problematic. However, aside from the auto-run it's working properly, so I think it'll be ok.

I'm quite curious 'cos you mention that you also face the same issue with your Powerstrike 48, which could indicate some sort of mis-matched polarities in the batch of batteries that you happen to be using too. I'm not sure what the deal with this was, but I fixed it by opening up where the motors are and swapping the wires at the motors. I don't know why reversed batteries and reversed motor wires work, when just regularly inserted batteries wouldn't (AA's would work but the 14500s wouldn't). Maybe there was a contact issue I didn't diagnose with the batteries inserted the normal way. In any event, it works great all modded up now, so I won't worry about it.

[Nakey Boy]

SgNerf, if it's possible, can you test the current draw in your Stampede?

i have serious concerns about using unprotected Li-Ion cells in my Stampede and would rather get some Protected ones.