Virtue Spire Constantly Pulsating Even when Full

retread · 02-04-2013, 10:03 AM

My recommendation for others with this issue or other issues is to call Virtue. They are on the east coast so I recommend you call them earlier if are on the west coast like me.I made sure to try to call before 12 noon PST. I got a couple of busy signals when I tried once but once I got through I got a live person that walked me through some additional steps. They have told me they are shipping a new board out to me. I'll post up again once that comes. It may help for you to try to do some videos like the one I did as well if you have, or have a friend that has a camera you can use. I know my local large camera shop also rents cameras if you don't have one. It can help because sometimes these issues seem to not want to be reproducible when you're trying to demonstrate to someone.

retread · 02-04-2013, 10:05 AM

From the Virtue Website:

http://home.advantagepb.com/contact.html

Hours 9am to 6pm EST
631-617-5349
info@VirtuePaintball.com

Virtue Paintball, LLC
30-14 Oser Ave
Hauppauge NY 11788

H4ZE · 02-04-2013, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retread

From the Virtue Website:

http://home.advantagepb.com/contact.html

Hours 9am to 6pm EST
631-617-5349
info@VirtuePaintball.com

Virtue Paintball, LLC
30-14 Oser Ave
Hauppauge NY 11788

The number you listed is their fax.

631-617-5346 is their phone

locomex4life16 · 02-07-2013, 09:49 AM

Turn the yellow setting down to "1" and the red setting down to "3" per Virtue tech support over the phone. Im gonna test it out when I go play this weekend and see how it works. It seems to be doing a lot better than before.

retread · 02-07-2013, 12:36 PM

The yellow setting of 1 and fresh batteries definitely made an improvement for me but not enough to make it go away completely. I am awaiting the new board and will retest again once it arrives and post up results. My other Spire seems to work well. Don't get me wrong...these things seem MUCH more active than a normal hopper in comparison and when I'm shooting I can hear and see them actively preventing jams and continuing to feed as fast as I can shoot. But with NO shooting and a full hopper they shouldn't just like get in a loop where they keep running and don't stop as in my videos. Per Virtue, the reason for adding in the yellow setting in the first place is that this particular sensor comes from the manufacturer either more or less sensitive and they set these on the setting that is typical MOST of the time to ensure proper function. Therefore, some hoppers will need some adjustment. Whether there is an issue beyond that or not you will have to test and see and contact them as needed. My only advice on that remains to call early in the day! Again, will post up again when I get the replacement board. Thanks everyone...hope others are getting good info here on this.

retread · 02-07-2013, 09:20 PM

Woo! Hoo! Replacement board arrived today from Virtue! Will test tomorrow when it is light out!

locomex4life16 · 02-07-2013, 10:23 PM

Awesome make sure you post it up. I want to compare with my spire.

H4ZE · 02-08-2013, 05:03 PM

I also contacted virtue about my problem (same problem as you) I got my new board in the mail today. I installed it and went ahead and put in fresh batteries and set the yellow setting to "1" SAME PROBLEM (this sux)

locomex4life16 · 02-08-2013, 06:55 PM

Did you turn "red" setting to 3??

H4ze

Nevermind, my hopper is still doing the same crap. Sticking to my Rotor, F this.

retread · 02-08-2013, 07:29 PM

I'm testing and taking more videos but it is raining on and off :-(. SOOO...one thing to note is that my Spire with the issue has a board that says v7.0 and the board Virtue sent me says v 6.6. That may not mean anything because we don't know what sort of version control or manufacturing runs and processes they have but it would be interesting to see and good data to collect as to what folks reporting this issue have in terms of version number on their boards. I can see at least one resistor and a plug socket that also appear to no longer be on the v7.0 board but what other changes there may have been we just don't know. I'm hoping the data is valuable to both Virtue and the community. Let me know what version numbers you guys have. If you pop out your tray and look at the circuit board where the power button is facing you...it should be in the far lower right corner of the board. When I get my video up hopefully you can see it but let me know.

H4ZE · 02-08-2013, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retread

I'm testing and taking more videos but it is raining on and off :-(. SOOO...one thing to note is that my Spire with the issue has a board that says v7.0 and the board Virtue sent me says v 6.6. That may not mean anything because we don't know what sort of version control or manufacturing runs and processes they have but it would be interesting to see and good data to collect as to what folks reporting this issue have in terms of version number on their boards. I can see at least one resistor and a plug socket that also appear to no longer be on the v7.0 board but what other changes there may have been we just don't know. I'm hoping the data is valuable to both Virtue and the community. Let me know what version numbers you guys have. If you pop out your tray and look at the circuit board where the power button is facing you...it should be in the far lower right corner of the board. When I get my video up hopefully you can see it but let me know.

I also noticed the board version and I saw the socket in the v6.6.
My original board was a v7

H4ZE · 02-08-2013, 08:33 PM

My Spire▼

New board that Virtue sent me (installed)▼

Original board that came in the Spire new.▼

baggedbirds · 02-10-2013, 06:40 PM

mine is V6.6 I am guessing I got it about 2 weeks after world cup last year.

retread · 02-11-2013, 09:08 PM

Ok...sooooo....after some very extensive testing with three different brands of paint, both the v6.6 board that Virtue sent me and the orig v7.0 board with fresh batteries and I even tried lithium batteries the issue would only appear to get slightly better but I was still able to reproduce it. I DID also reproduce it on the "working" used Spire that I had picked up BUT once I put fresh batteries in that one the issue went away and I was able to play with that orig all black unit both Saturday and Sunday all day long with ZERO issues.

So the brand new white/green Spire that had me start this thread continues to have the issue and now I'm thinking it may not be the board (unless maybe the firmware on them is different or something we may not know about). Which leaves maybe the drive motor? Is it possible that comes set from the factory and these units may be set slightly too high? I also thought perhaps there might be some break in needed but I've probably put at least a three to four cases through the white/green one by now.

I'll post more of my videos if I have a free moment tomorrow between the 9-5 job ;-)

Interesting to see the results from other folks. You know I am SO happy with the used black one I have and that thing works REALLY nice...it was shooting paint over the weekend that was jamming up on folks with Rotors and I didn't have one problem feeding paint.

frenchy2475 · 02-12-2013, 05:44 AM

Come on Virtue just swap it over with a new one. Sounds like he has just got a lemon. There are plenty of Spires that work perfectly mine included.

retread · 02-12-2013, 11:08 PM

Working on posting videos here between the 9-5 job and a big paintball event I am the organizer for this coming weekend...soooooo....anyway....here is the video I did comparing the boards/hoppers and how to remove and install the new board. I'll get the new shooting vids up as soon as I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9OVa...ature=youtu.be

retread · 02-13-2013, 06:29 PM

This is the testing I did after replacing the board with the one Virtue sent out. I am going to do one more I think today with a different gun, different paint, and another set of lithium batteries I picked up. So far...the issue still exists unfortunately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpu9E...ature=youtu.be

baggedbirds · 02-13-2013, 07:06 PM

mine does this also, my thought and just a thought, is do you think the rubber paddles could be a little oily? Paint never perfectly dry. On mine it seems to get under the paint too easily and not be able too hold the pressure on the ball stack.

I might clean the rubber paddles with some alcohol and see if it changes things for me.

retread · 02-13-2013, 07:17 PM

That's a good hypothesis...see how it works for you and let us know. I know this green one was brand new when I started using it and noticed the issue. First day I played with it. I always wipe them down with a microfiber also but will take a look at mine as well. Also the other one I have seems fine...the only time I saw it have the same behavior so far is when it was low on battery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by baggedbirds

mine does this also, my thought and just a thought, is do you think the rubber paddles could be a little oily? Paint never perfectly dry. On mine it seems to get under the paint too easily and not be able too hold the pressure on the ball stack.

I might clean the rubber paddles with some alcohol and see if it changes things for me.

retread · 02-15-2013, 04:15 PM

Ok cleaning the paddles and more fresh lithium batteries still no go for me.

baggedbirds · 02-15-2013, 04:43 PM

bummer, I haven't had a chance to try mine with the paddle cleaned. Even with this goig on, I've never had a feed issue or an issue with it keeping up.