Virtue Spire Constantly Pulsating Even when Full

retread · 01-21-2013, 10:08 PM

Hey folks...I bought a new white/green Virtue Spire Saturday and took it out to play Sunday with my Ego 11. It seemed like it was really doing a nice job right out of the box and the only thing I did to it was a recommended change to turn the power saving mode on (I guess the default is off which seems odd) to get a bit more life out of your batteries. I noticed at some point during the day that the Spire was continuing to pulsate like it was trying to feed paint even though the hopper was full and paint was in the feed neck of the gun. Pulling the trigger sent paint down range just fine...but then when I stopped firing the Spire would keep rotating.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen that and if anything is wrong. In all my searching so far I have seen one other complaint by one person outside of PB Nation but other than that I am not finding anyone saying this is common.

I did have some paint breakage inside the hopper towards the end of the day and I'm thinking it was a pre-fractured ball that perhaps I didn't notice. It was during one of my last games so the marker and hopper went back in the car and I didn't check again until I got home. When I went to clean everything up I emptied the spire and was shocked that there was as much paint at the bottom as there was and one broken but mainly intact complete paintball shell. I was shocked that the hopper was actually still feeding which and the marker would fire...badly and spraying enough paint to do some serious redecorating but it kept feeding and firing!

I have had hopper breaks in my rotor, pinokio, and prophecy and all of them gum up enough to basically stop functioning until you clean them. Anyway, it certainly didn't jam! So Virtue can hang on to the claim that it never jams at least a bit longer.

However, after cleaning the Spire, and I mean completely disassembling it. Removed the speed feed cover, removed the main tray, removed the batteries, removed the spire cone thing itself, the feed neck/feed ramp parts (for lack of a better description) and removing all paint I could find that had worked its way down in to everything. I reassembled (pro tip: be careful of the little black tab that allows you to pull the tray and drive out as when you disassemble down this far it pops out and the spring goes flying across the room so I don't recommend doing this at the field).

Everything was cleaned and reassembled and I let it dry out just to make sure before trying to put batteries back in and turn it on. I cleaned my Ego 11 and put the spire back on, added paint, aired up, turned the Spire back on...and same thing...even with plenty of paint...it seems to just keep pulsating. It seems to work fine, feeds and the marker fires without issue but it's just annoying and likely a battery drain that it seems like it keeps pulsing forever. Battery indicator still shows that it's good but will try fresh batteries just to be sure.

Otherwise everything is good. Anyways, just curious what the community's experience or advice/guidance might be in terms of what other users have noticed. I haven't used it enough yet by any means to form more of an opinion one way or the other for folks interested in that aspect.

xDarkk · 01-21-2013, 10:38 PM

Could it be a sensitivity issue? I am not very familiar with the spire but if I'm not mistaken they feed off the vibration of the gun when shot. If the sensitivity is set too high it may just try and feed constantly.

Did it do this with the power saving mode off?

ROCKNROLLA · 01-22-2013, 11:52 AM

happens to mine if you dont use quality batteries, and have the tension all the way down. Even with good batteries mine will pulsate for a couple seconds sometimes after turning it on/not shooting. Its worse when low on paint.

retread · 01-22-2013, 02:00 PM

Thanks for the replies...I sent in a ticket to Virtue to see if they had any suggestions. Trying new batteries (I always use Duracell) and going to set back to factory defaults and see what happens.

VPB-ChristianW · 01-22-2013, 05:12 PM

Turn the yellow setting down to 1. That should do the trick.

The long story is, every sensor is slightly different, and we have two competing "needs" to balance. Telling a Spire when to spin and telling a Spire when there is enough pressure it should stop. As the Spire drive is spring loaded and flexible, this affects how it "feels" a ball. In a sense we "err" on the side of caution and make sure the Spire does not stop too soon. That is to say, you wouldn't want the Spire to falsely assume it's loaded, and stop spinning when it really should keep spinning.

Long story short, in a lot of cases, a yellow drive setting of 1 is perfectly "safe", and is apparently the ideal setting for your setup. But because we didn't want someone else to end up with a loader where a setting of 1 is not ideal we went with a value of 2 for default.

I hope this made sense... it's hard to explain simply, but end result is, if you set your Yellow Drive Pressure setting to 1, it should be perfect.

retread · 01-22-2013, 08:45 PM

Thanks or the reply...I have made the change to the setting you have suggested. I just tested it out and while the issue has gotten a bit better it has not gone away. I just shot some video (it's dark now) but you can see an hear it I think so message me and I can send you a private link. So with the hopper full if I turn it on it will pulse maybe 3 times and then stop. Fire and then sometimes it will stop after one or two pulses but most of the time it will take quite a bit more than that or just seem to keep going again forever. If I lightly provide some resistance with my finger it will stop until I fire again or the shock sensor detects what it thinks is the marker firing again. Your help with this is greatly appreciated! Not sure if you guys got my request for service or not but I did put in for it today. Regards - Brian

VPB-ChristianW · 01-23-2013, 08:50 AM

Hey, I sent you a PM, but I'm just sending this for the record in case someone else comes across your thread with a similar issue.
------
That's certainly not normal behavior. Definitely give us a call.

631-617-5347

Ask for Tom. If you're at yellow setting of 1, and it still pulses there are only 3 possibilities:
- Spire drive arms damaged (or not seated all the way in place).
- New batteries needed
- Replace PCB needed. It could be your circuit board is just bad and we can send a replacement.

In either case, I'm really sorry that you're experiencing this issue. We'll get it worked out though! Just give us a call.

retread · 01-23-2013, 08:36 PM

Thanks for your help with this...due to work I won't have a chance to look at it again and call during business hours until Friday. Thanks again and Friday will post any new info for folks.

dubVballer · 01-24-2013, 08:42 PM

Try running energizer lithium batt's. I race rc and have tested pretty much all AA and 9v brands and they are by far the best

frenchy2475 · 01-25-2013, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dubVballer

Try running energizer lithium batt's. I race rc and have tested pretty much all AA and 9v brands and they are by far the best

Good tip that. I run lithiums and another thing worth noting they are about half the weight of normal batteries so there is another added bonus

gavdra · 01-26-2013, 10:07 PM

i have a friend that has the same problem all the time. thanks for all the help

retread · 01-29-2013, 04:21 PM

Thanks for your patience...I have tested again with two different markers and even with another loaner Spire from a friend. The new setting and the batteries helped but the orig issue still remains...Virtue sent me a name and number to contact for help so going to call in today and will report back.

dominantgazelle · 01-30-2013, 11:08 AM

Mine keeps pulsating too and there's a red light. Let me know what you do to fix it!

retread · 01-30-2013, 01:28 PM

I did some more testing and comparisons on two different guns with two different brands of paint and in conjunction with another spire that seems to be working flawlessly and I was able to reproduce it on both guns with the one Spire in question. I'm talking to Virtue and they said they would get me a new board if needed. Definitely try new batteries and the default setting recommended as that DID help this issue but for me it has not gone away completely. After speaking with virtue and resolving this I'll post up again!

Thanks again everyone.

dominantgazelle · 01-30-2013, 01:57 PM

How do you reset? When I old the light and on button nothing seems to happen? Am I pressing the right places?

MOTIVE101 · 01-31-2013, 12:55 PM

Mine is doing the same thing. I will try the recomended fixes and hopefully it will help.

retread · 02-01-2013, 12:24 PM

He folks...just an update...I got through to Virtue and went through the issue with their tech folks over the phone. They had one more thing for me to try which was to try this units tray/board in the shell of another unit that is working good (I had picked up another used one that works great). This did not help either unfortunately but eliminated the issue being the result of maybe the board and tray not sitting in the unit properly. I'm shipping this off today hopefully...will let you guys know and will post up the links here to the videos I did testing this...that way people on this thread can see if this is the same behavior you are seeing with yours.

First one (sorry is in the dark)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2dIEIeGpEE

This one is about 20 min long but was able to repoduce it on two markers with two different brands of paint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5sNOxC4zFs

retread · 02-01-2013, 02:44 PM

Based on the research, testing, and discussion done here Virtue is sending a new board out to me. It pays to do some testing and to ask for help nicely! I'll post up once it comes in and I can test. Thanks again everyone.

JRizEJ6 · 02-02-2013, 03:29 PM

ive also been having this same problem. ive had my yellow setting down to 1 for quite sometime and the issue still persists. ive been through 4 sets of fresh duracell batteries since buying the spire straight from virtue during nppl vegas. its murdering batteries because it wont stop pulsing even though the ball stack is full. i know this isnt normal because my other team mates spires dont do the same.

H4ZE · 02-02-2013, 08:24 PM

I have a brand new spire that I just got ( White & Blue) I took it out today and it is doing the exact same thing that you are describing.

JRizEJ6 · 02-03-2013, 07:59 PM

on top of this constant spinning issue, my spire will also occasionally stop feeding mid stream. this has also been going on ever since i first got it. some days itll perform flawlessly (other than the popcorning), and other times (such as today) itll just up and stop feeding while im shooting. ill have to smack it in order to activate the sensor and get feeding again. batteries are also fresh. im really starting to get fed up with my spire. i know its an excellent loader, but mine just isnt working like its supposed too.