Cheap and or Rechargeable Batteries for Stock Stampede

Hi all,

Just got a Stampede from my sister and her boyfriend for my birthday last week. Not looking to mod it much, maybe the basics at a later date (with a OMW 4kg spring). I'm looking for a cheap way to power it, as paying $30 for 12 D cell Duracells from the local Woolworths is a bit pricey. I'd prefer to not have to cut anything in the battery compartment, which limits the choices. Is there any options, besides 14500s? I would rather not use them, cheap though they are, as I have a tendency to overcharge and over discharge things. I was previously looking at rechargeable D Cells, but at $37 a pop for a 2 pack from Jaycar, plus charger, that is very prohibitive. I also looked at using 2AA to D cell battery converters, which seem like a go, if I can find decent AAs with enough voltage to power the blaster. If someone can kindly recommend something, it would be appreciated.

RJBPrime

Theres quite a few things you can do, you can get a 4 battery holder with some alligator clips and power it with 4 unprotected 3.7v 14450s, or you can use battery converters using the 14450s.
Propably the most common ones used are the trustfire ones. You can get them off deal extreme, though you do need to get a special charger for them.

Do you want to up the voltage in the process or just find something rechargeable?

@Kat: With the 4 battery holder, do I need to cut anything in the battery sled? I would prefer to not do that, if I can, so I can have the option of D cell Backups.

@Jeo: I would prefer to just find something rechargeable, but if possible, a max voltage of around 12v to 13v would suffice, as I'm looking at getting the 4kg spring from OMW.

If you're going to go to the hassle of upgrading the spring, really don't waste your time with an OMW spring. Check out Servulus' sales thread, for a link to his ebay site, where you can pick up probably the best spring upgrade for the Stampede.

To power that, you'll need to run unprotected li-ion 14500's, or some form of li-po battery's (from memory 2 x 7.2v packs is recommended). Both of these power options don't require any alteration to the battery sled. Not that I recommend using croc clips, but that's the easiest way to connect them without modding the sled. The other option is using the 14500's in AA to D convertor's, with 2 x dummy convertor's.

Using either the convertor's or croc clips will allow you to still use stock D cell batt's, although you will have to remove the upgraded spring if you wish to return to stock power supply.

Cheers,

AA to D convertors are the easiest method.

@clunk07: Whats the likelihoods of wearing the motor, gears and such out with Servulus's spring? This blaster is to be primarily used indoors, so I don't want to damage things, and as some of the group I Nerf with wear glasses, don't want to damage those.

I'm not going to say it's impossible with Serv's spring, but from my experience, I haven't witnessed one die yet. I think I'm up to Stampede commission no. 17 or something, and at least half of these unit's have used Serv's spring, along with the li-ion power combination (admittedly, using a 4 x AA battery holder soldered directly to the battery sled), and haven't had an issue with any of them.

Range is about 80ft angled from the hip, using custom darts.

As for damaging things, a lot of that will boil down to the type of dart. Stock streamline's should be fine, and I'm fairly certain that heavy sili's would be as well. For the people wearing glasses, they should really wear either goggles, or there are certain types of safety glasses designed to fit over the top of normal glasses, and they're not expensive. Most prescription lens glasses don't offer enough protection as far as I'm concerned.

Better safe than sorry.

If you're really concerned about too much power, just remove the AR, and improve the plunger seal, and obviously pad the plunger head. Then get yourself some NIMH AA rechargeable batt's and charger, with some AA to D convertor's. It will be expensive though, which doesn't help you much.

I've not had much to do with OMW springs, as I already have good supplier's in Oz and Singapore, so I'm pretty much sorted. Not really sure what benefit you'd get from a 4kg spring though, or if it would even be a necessity for your type of gaming environment.

Cheers,

@clunk07: Which brand of Li-Ion batteries do you use? I looked at DealExtreme, and saw a few 14500 TrustFires, the "reviews" were promising, but on other sites I've seen, admittedly the other sites were related to torches, not Nerf, they said don't get those. I would like something that would last while both in charge cycles, and in Nerf, yet cheap to get on a limited budget. If I could walk into the local Jaycar, and get what I need, all the better, as I found a 4 X AA SQUARE Battery Holder on Jaycar's online shop for $1.65, and if I can get the required items before mid-Spring, then our group can have a decent private Nerf.

Mum's pretty handy with wiring stuff, as she runs RC cars and trucks, and when she wants a new one, she buys a kit she can build herself.

Okay, so I sell Trustfire's with my commissioned units, but personally, I only use them as a back-up for my personal gear. In saying that, I've never had an issue with the TF's, but they're cheap, so there's always a risk. To be safe, I'd buy 8 TF's so you have a spare set.

Torch forums will definitely be hating on Trustfire's or Ultrafire's, as for that application, they're definitely an inferior product. The 14500's I use are sourced from a guy who manufactures these batt's specifically for use in flashlights. They're about 300% more expensive than the DX brands, but worth it in my case, as I also use them in torches, along with some other sized li-ion batt's.

I'm not sure how succesfull you'll be in sourcing li-ion's within Australia, let alone from jaycar.

Cheers,

Looking at a review of both Keeppower 14500 Li-ion batteries @http://lygte-info.dk or EagleTac 14500 Li-ion Batteries @http://lygte-info.dk, if I can get either of these, would they work for my Stampede? Mum's got a fairly whizzbang hobby charger, which she may charge the batteries for me. Or will its protection circuits be a hindrance? Mum's charger is missing parts for some reason, possibly from when we went on holidays a couple years back.

Edit: What charger do people use for Trustfire type batteries? As I'm looking at the XTAR WP6 II, so I have enough slots to charge the batteries. Any recommendations?