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Red Wolf Battery and Charging Upgrade

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Lewis

Lewis

Member
May 2, 2015
2,456
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Eureka, California, United States
I've never been happy about the charging process for the Red Wolf. I hate disconnecting the flimsy little connector each time. I'm also not thrilled with the battery configuration itself.
My particular gun had a GCU 1 in it and when I upgraded to the Heliboard I was able to move up to a 11.1v battery from the factory 7.4.v. I found a round 11.1v battery that was just exactly the proper diameter and length to fit the cavity in the stock. The new battery also has a 2000mah capacity which is double the factory unit.

Next I turned my attention to the connection. I chose to install a small 4 pole magnetic connection. It is now flush mounted on the bottom of the plastic grip allowing the gun to be charged with an external connector, never again needing to open the compartment or fiddle with the small feeble connector. I made a short adapter to fit the factory charger and all is well.

The battery and short cables were all found on amazon. The magnetic connections were on Alibaba, but can probably be found at a local electronics store if you have one handy.



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nervoustrig said:
Very nice workmanship!

Is it possible to short circuit the battery if something conductive bridges the contacts on the buttplate? If so, is there a fuse protecting the battery? Protection could also be achieved with a FET.
Click to expand...
It would be possible in theory but pretty unlikely in practice I believe. The connections are very slightly recessed. If I intend to use it in a wet environment, I can disconnect the battery from the quick connector. The regular connector is still on the battery under the cap. I agree, a fuse of some type would be added safety.
 
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Csbrown5 said:
I really like your setup, When I bought my Helliboards Jack never told me that you could upgrade from 7.4 to 11.1 but that is good to know, I do have a HP that is 11.1 my question is can I use whose battery’s in my HP? And do I need the red and black Connector at all
Click to expand...
Email chain,

Me...
I recently purchased a Heliboard from you.
I wanted to get a spare battery for the Redwolf but I see they have now changed from a 3 wire to a 4 wire battery. The 3 wire is rated at 7.4v the 4 wire is rated at 11.1.
Will it make a difference if I use the 4 wire battery?

Jack...
Hi
You can use the 3 cell 11.1v battery as well.
The 4 wires has to do with the charging - balancing
procedure.

Regards

As for the red and black wires; you do not need to use them but you will need to tap off of the outermost posts on the 4 wire balance connector. I found it convenient just to make an extended wire straight to the black and red. 11.1v either way.
 
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rigbymauser said:
Great solution.

Why doesn`t Daystate figure these things out?..
Click to expand...
In today's world, it really feels out of step. The Alpha/Delta Wolf addresses this through a USB connector, which is much better than my patch. I was limited by space (and wanted to play around a bit). The bigger issue is the very old programming and interface. I would love to see USB or even Bluetooth phone connectivity with an easy to understand interface. There only needs to be a few variables available to an average user like myself. An advanced mode would let more sophisticated folks be as specific as they like. Safe boundaries could be factory set. It seems odd that I can get a drone for under 100 dollars that has control over 4 independent motors, GPS, Bluetooth, a camera and avoidance detection but a $2500.00 air rifle needs a $400.00 programmer and a degree to adjust a single solenoid. Genuinely not hating on DS but it feels out of date. I'm sure I am missing something.
 
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Lewis said:
In today's world, it really feels out of step. The Alpha/Delta Wolf addresses this through a USB connector, which is much better than my patch. I was limited by space (and wanted to play around a bit). The bigger issue is the very old programming and interface. I would love to see USB or even Bluetooth phone connectivity with an easy to understand interface. There only needs to be a few variables available to an average user like myself. An advanced mode would let more sophisticated folks be as specific as they like. Safe boundaries could be factory set. It seems odd that I can get a drone for under 100 dollars that has control over 4 independent motors, GPS, Bluetooth, a camera and avoidance detection but a $2500.00 air rifle needs a $400.00 programmer and a degree to adjust a single solenoid. Genuinely not hating on DS but it feels out of date. I'm sure I am missing something.
Click to expand...
I want a Datstate RW Safari in .177cal. I asked Krale if they could ask Daystate to program the Safari their powersetting HP to 38 ft/ibs?. Krale returned to me with a reply from Daystate that their engineers doesn`t recommend this.

When the RW came out the .177cal was set to 30 ft/ibs on HP setting with their GCU1. However when the RW Safari came out with their new GCU2 Daystate advertized that unit would deliver more power...but apparently not in .177cal.
There are Daystate people here on AGN that knows more about Daystate than Daystate...:LOL
As much as I love certain guns from England like doublerifles, it seems the british mindset only go so far. Daystate don`t use slugs to test their guns either. Its like they don`t know its available. Maybe the internet has been cut of around the british isles or no satelite positions itself over Britain?..
 
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Man, that is TRICK! Good job dude.

I also thought the whole battery charging fiasco was a little cheezy considering what the gun costs and how good they shoot. Not to mention that flimsy electrical connections don't look confidence inspiring to most people "on the fence" about going from a mechanical to an electric gun. I know I wasn't impressed.

Real slick solution. I wish they would do something like that on future guns.

And while they are at it, maybe put the battery in the buttstock so the wrist can be left mostly solid and much stronger?
 
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Csbrown5 said:
I really like your setup, When I bought my Helliboards Jack never told me that you could upgrade from 7.4 to 11.1 but that is good to know, I do have a HP that is 11.1 my question is can I use whose battery’s in my HP? And do I need the red and black Connector at all
Click to expand...
Lewis said:
Email chain,

Me...
I recently purchased a Heliboard from you.
I wanted to get a spare battery for the Redwolf but I see they have now changed from a 3 wire to a 4 wire battery. The 3 wire is rated at 7.4v the 4 wire is rated at 11.1.
Will it make a difference if I use the 4 wire battery?

Jack...
Hi
You can use the 3 cell 11.1v battery as well.
The 4 wires has to do with the charging - balancing
procedure.

Regards

As for the red and black wires; you do not need to use them but you will need to tap off of the outermost posts on the 4 wire balance connector. I found it convenient just to make an extended wire straight to the black and red. 11.1v either way.
Click to expand...
Your thinking I am Jack? Jack is the person that I orderd my Helliboard from,
My name is Steve, sorry for the confusion
 
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I apologize for any confusion as well.
I did not think you were Jack, I was just posting the email chain between Jack and I to show his endorsement of the 11.1v battery on his Heliboards.

I replaced a 7.4v battery with the 11.1 after replacing the factory board with the Heliboard. I'm not sure if the factory GC1 board would accept 11.1 or not. The Heliboard will work with either. The recovery time is much shorter with the 11.1 battery though.

I believe, the Heliboard is the best upgrade you can do for a Red Wolf. It gives you 12 settings instead of 3 and lets you retain the factory GCU as a spare. It can also be tuned without an additional programmer.

Another member here, DaystateRebel is working on a Bluetooth board and controller that has me VERY excited for the future of the platform. He is using much more modern components.

WiFi Wolf

I've spent a bit of time hacking on the Daystate GCU v5.0 (the "electronic brain" in the Pulsar & Red Wolf) and I was thinking about writing an open source replacement firmware for it. The problem with that is that it's based on a PIC microcontroller which dates back to the 90's, has limited...
www.airgunnation.com www.airgunnation.com
 
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The board is only 2 pins, black and red. On my battery there is a separate black and red connector. I just soldered in a female connector with a longer lead wire for convenience. If your battery does not have the secondary connector, or if you don't wish to use it, then you just use the outer 2 connectors on the 3 or 4 pin connector on your battery. They are the primary positive and negative. Of course, making sure your polarity is correct.
 
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