New N Charge battery pack from Virtue for Spires and Rotors at World Cup

aarospoon13 · 11-02-2017, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshisanalligator

49% need...51% want...

100% yes

karl_eller · 11-02-2017, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aarospoon13

I imagine if this dies and you don't have a method of charging it, you could plop in some AA's to get you by until you get it charged up.

Yes and no. It looks like you'll need to remove the AA battery holder in order to fit the LiPo battery pack, and while it's not a particularly difficult task, it does mean partially disassembling the underside of the Spire's tray. It's not quite as trivial as changing some AA batteries.

EKKsoldier622 · 11-11-2017, 08:14 PM

I really want to like and buy this but it’s hard to convince myself when you can get a 24 pack of AAs for $15. When you compare that to this, which is apparently said to have a life of 5 times that of set of AAs in the Spire (but for around three times the price of a 24 pack of AAs) you’d have to use your Spire enough times to change out regular batteries 24 times (x3 24 packs) before you begin to save money. That’s a LOT of use before savings

karl_eller · 11-12-2017, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EKKsoldier622

I really want to like and buy this but it’s hard to convince myself when you can get a 24 pack of AAs for $15. When you compare that to this, which is apparently said to have a life of 5 times that of set of AAs in the Spire (but for around three times the price of a 24 pack of AAs) you’d have to use your Spire enough times to change out regular batteries 24 times (x3 24 packs) before you begin to save money. That’s a LOT of use before savings

I really want to know how they got to that "Lasts 5 times longer" number, because it just doesn't make sense. 4.2v battery at 1300 mAh is about 5.5 watt hours, 3 Energizer AA batteries is 4.5v at 2000 mAh, or 9 watt hours. Even adjusting for voltage drop from Alkaline battery chemistry, the Energizers are still going to outperform this.

And really, $40 and all Virtue can give us is 1300 mAh? Come on, I'd expect at least double that.

I'd also love someone to pull one apart so we can see what cells they're using, and what other electronics are included.

soccerguy243 · 11-12-2017, 07:12 AM

why buy this over rechargable AA that I can use for anything? Rechargeable AA have worked fine for me in my Z2 (haven't used in spire3 yet) and they can be used around the house.

diehli · 11-12-2017, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soccerguy243

why buy this over rechargable AA that I can use for anything? Rechargeable AA have worked fine for me in my Z2 (haven't used in spire3 yet) and they can be used around the house.

This really makes sense for guys running M2s or Luxes as they'll just need an extra cable & a multiport USB charger to get both gun & loader charged, not needing to carry or purchase batteries.

For those like me with a CS1 as a primary marker, sticking with AAs in my Spires makes just as much sense.

yuik · 11-15-2017, 07:49 PM

seems silly the rotor already has great battery life.

I left batteries in my rotor 2 years ago and it still fed.

trance34 · 11-15-2017, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aarospoon13

I imagine if this dies and you don't have a method of charging it, you could plop in some AA's to get you by until you get it charged up.

You cannot just plop AA's into it. You must remove the battery tray and in order to do that you have to snip the wire thats soldered to the board.

karl_eller · 11-15-2017, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trance34

You cannot just plop AA's into it. You must remove the battery tray and in order to do that you have to snip the wire thats soldered to the board.

On the Spire, at least, it's a plug that can be pulled out. I'm not sure about the Rotor.

Spyder Ftw · 11-16-2017, 02:01 AM

Neat idea .. but for $40 there's no chance of actually purchasing one. I can buy 40 sets of duracell AAs for that. I can honestly say I will probably break my loader before going through 40 sets of AAs, let alone keep it for that long.

Novelty items are fun, though.

**John** · 11-16-2017, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trance34

You cannot just plop AA's into it. You must remove the battery tray and in order to do that you have to snip the wire thats soldered to the board.

That's not right.

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

That's not right.

For the Spire it sure is. You can also pull on it until it comes out, but would recommend snipping it off.

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karl_eller

On the Spire, at least, it's a plug that can be pulled out. I'm not sure about the Rotor.

I have no experience with the rotor so I cannot say.

**John** · 11-16-2017, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trance34

For the Spire it sure is. You can also pull on it until it comes out, but would recommend snipping it off.

Have a picture?

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

Have a picture?

I don't have a picture of the 2 metal wires that connect the battery tray to the board via soldered points on the board that need to be snipped in order to take the tray out.

**John** · 11-16-2017, 09:29 AM

Interesting. So you really can't switch back and forth on yours.

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

Interesting. So you really can't switch back and forth on yours.

Not on a Spire 3 no.

paintballcapt062 · 11-16-2017, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trance34

Not on a Spire 3 no.

So the spire three did completely away with the screw that holds on the battery pack or did they add the solder?

I remember going through this with A.O. and N.O. at cup and they made sure that for the 260, 200, and other additions any pack sold came with hardware because some of the packs happened to be missing the hardware.

Chris just needs to put together a drop in video for all versions of the spire.

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paintballcapt062

So the spire three did completely away with the screw that holds on the battery pack or did they add the solder?

I remember going through this with A.O. and N.O. at cup and they made sure that for the 260, 200, and other additions any pack sold came with hardware because some of the packs happened to be missing the hardware.

Chris just needs to put together a drop in video for all versions of the spire.

Spire 3 used a screw and nut to hold it on also, but the board is still attached via solder points. This is how the batteries provided power to the board.

I just looked at the 200/260 and you could reuse your battery pack as it is connected via the harness and screw/nut only. You would just have to have it stashed in your bag or something.

I don't think they were missing the hardware, it was that the screw was a little to short and the thickness of the battery pack wasn't allowing enough threads to catch the nut.

paintballcapt062 · 11-16-2017, 12:33 PM

Trance - Thanks for that. I am having problems getting the screw to catch in my 200 and 260 so I just have the battery pack sitting in the baggy it came in and I am trying to figure out how to make use of the pack at the moment.

trance34 · 11-16-2017, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paintballcapt062

Trance - Thanks for that. I am having problems getting the screw to catch in my 200 and 260 so I just have the battery pack sitting in the baggy it came in and I am trying to figure out how to make use of the pack at the moment.

I would just run to Ace hardware and get a small screw and nut that fit to size.