[virusxero]

I had thought I had this all sorted out before... but I guess not.

What's going on is when I power the pack up via the wand (after the initial red power switch), sometimes flipping the activate switch on the wand simply shuts everything down.

I've already tried the ring of tape on the outside of the female end on the pack-to-hose connector. I tried adding a bit of aluminum foil to the contacts to entire a solid connection. Yet neither of these has seemed to do much of anything. I've checked the batteries and they're still got a good charge (not close to needing to be recharged).

The worst part is that there seems to be no consistency to whether the activate switch will function properly or just shut down the pack. Sometimes it'll shut down the pack 3x in a row then the 4th it'll work with no rhyme or reason, nothing will have changed (the pack never moved, the hose never moved, the batteries are still the same, etc...)

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Nighty80]

Sounds like a power draw issue; what rating are the (presumably rechargeable D cell?) batteries you’re using? Same issue with alkaline batteries? (Apologies if you’re using a Talentcel and I missed it).
Do you have the pack vibration motor turned on? If so, any better with it turned off?
If you haven’t already, it’s also worth checking the battery terminal connections inside the pack and make sure the battery plug is firmly seated on the Controller.
Good luck!

[virusxero]

Right now I'm using EBL rechargeable D cell batteries (10,000mah per battery, 1.2v). When the Spongface keepalive mod comes out I'll be using that to switch to a 12v option instead.

I have the rumble on the pack set to off (never really liked the sound of it when it's running. If it didn't sound like a sick cow I might use it.)

I haven't checked the board inside itself, but I may have to do that to confirm it's seated fully.

[Nighty80]

It’s getting late here, so a bit cross-eyed, but off the top of my head there’s a 1.2v difference between fresh alkaline batteries and yours when fully charged (6 vs 4.8v). I’ll check out the amperage/draw tomorrow, but wonder if those batteries are truly up to it - particularly when <~90%. If you haven’t already, I’d suggest you completely rule them out is with a fresh set of decent alkaline batteries - you never know

[kahuna900]

I've been running the Pale Blue, Lithium Ion 1.5v 5000 mAh D Batteries with the motor running since the get go without issue. Now that I have the keep alive mode install, I going to do a test to see how long the pack will last on a single charge.

[virusxero]

So to report back... batteries made no difference for me. I tested with 4 Procell D's rated at 1.5v (all of which tested good). With them installed it still did the same thing (pack would activate, thrower switch 1 would turn on, activate switch would shut everything down).

I think it might be that the hose itself has a bad connection inside it because I moved the hose and the pack shut down on me. I was able to replicate it a few times by moving the end closest to the particle thrower.

At this point I'm not entirely sure what I want to do next. I'm torn between seeing if I can hardwire the pack and thrower together or maybe fixing the Haslab connection. I kind of like the idea of having the thrower and pack detachable but I don't like the looks of the connectors a lot of people use (the Neutrik ones).

[Nighty80]

Sorry to hear you're still having the same issue(s).
So there are two ways to make it fail - activate switch and moving the hose around on the pack side. When moving the hose, does it happen only when some/all the wand switches are turned on, or even with them all off?
If you haven't already, it might be worth speaking with Hasbro - it could be a bad connection (IE too much resistance or even a short) on one of the wand lines? In which case a replacement hose might be possible. If you know someone else with a Hasbro, could you borrow their hose to check?
If no joy with Hasbro (and no access to an alt hose), before pulling your hose apart you could try making a test article out of the original battery holder and some wire. Bypass the pack connector by going straight to the controller. If the fault remains at least the hose and connection are ruled out and can look elsewhere.

[jonogunn]

I plan on doing gpstars mod in the future so I’ll have no use for my hose connector. I haven’t really played around with it much to ensure it’s a fully functioning one or not. Where abouts do you live?

[virusxero]

Nighty80,
As for making the pack fail when moving the hose, I've only tested it with the first switch on to light up the wand and all the wand switches on. I'm not sure if it feeds power to the wand and would shutdown if the wand is already off. I'll have to test that to be sure.
So far I haven't reached out to Hasbro though I may have to try that.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone else that has a hasbro pack so I can't borrow another hose to try it. I'm going to try modifying the original battery sled to try using that to bypass the hose and link to the pack that way.

Jonogunn,
I'm in eastern Canada. (Forgive me as I don't want to give exact address on a public topic. I'd give it via DMs though.) But if you're sure you won't need once you're done with gpstar's mod and it don't mind shipping then that might be an option.

[virusxero]

So for a bit more information...

I've fabricated a very makeshift connector. I took the old Spengler wand battery sled and used a small wire to hook to the negative terminal and another small wire to hook to the positive wire. I fed the two wires out the back (though I did not modify the sled at all) and jammed the sled into the thrower until I know it made contact with the posts inside. I connected the positive end of the terminal to the positive end of the pack (and negative to negative). Using this setup I can get the pack to fire up from the thrower... but once again soon as the activation switch is hit it goes dead. Which is what the Hasbro connection does sporadically. Except this time is every time and I know my connection isn't very good. (I'm kinda tempted to open the pack up/thrower up and just wiring them up directly to see what that does...)

For kicks I checked the voltage going to the wand and it's:
- 4.38v with everything off.
- 4.31v with wand switch 1 on (slo-blo light only)
- 4.27v with wand on, switch 2 to light the bar-graph up on (2 lights on).
- 4.23v with wand on, switch 2 on (5 lights)
I can't get a reading for the activate switch because it just shuts down when I try it.

But the readings seem to be in line with what gpstar posted over in his mod thread.

[Fang333333]

I too have the same issue. And I too am using the exact same JBL battery. The only time it works is after I play with the hose. But the funny part is its not the hose. Hose never loses power through gently wigglem. Plus, I tried using a replacement hose straight from factory and it made no difference. I can get it going with a little luck, and then it seems solid at least for power down and shut on within at least 40 minutes (back to when I have to recycle the pack battery switch to "on" in order to get wand to do it.) But at some point overnight it breaks itself even without movement. Battery doesnt seem to be issue.
No drops. Spills anything of the sort. One outing with the pack. It work fine when it came home. Then somehow just sitting in the room this problem arrived, and has gotten worse. Again just sittting.