Chasing ghosts A little recap....
Factory (my initial, prior to any programming baseline fps gathering) fpe:
HIGH with JSB 25.39 = 44.48fpe
MEDIUM with JSB 18.1 = 38.04fpe
LOW with JSB 18.1 = 31.68fpe.
After all the programming:
HIGH with JSB 25.39 = 42fpe.
MEDIUM/FT with JSB 14.35 = 19.99fpe.
LOW with JSB 18.1 = 29.8fpe.
Through all the programming, the only power level that I have messed with is MEDIUM. But you'll also notice that I lost about 2.5fpe on HIGH, and about 2fpe on Low. I've commented here and there that I'm curious where those extra couple of FPE went. So this installment is essentially the hunt for those fpe, not because I'm power hungry, but mostly just curious (although a little more horsepower is never a bad thing when shooting the Redesigns or slugs).
Battery? The first place my ART buddy suggested to look was the battery. He asked me a few questions and my responses made him suspect that I had a faulty battery. That was mostly because the third light on the charger wouldn't turn blue. Like this:
He explained that these batteries are 3 cells. Each cell is represented by one of the lights on the charger. Four wires on the batteries mean that one is the negative, and each of the other wires correspond to one of the cells. So, no third blue light = suspected bad cell. He also taught me that a volt meter could be used to check the battery health by holding the probes on each of the terminals of the wiring harness. The outermost terminal should be over 11.1volts, and each of the other terms (cells) should be about 4 volts different. (ie. something like 11.5, 7.5, 3.5).
I didn't own a volt meter, so quick stop for a cheapy volt meter on the way home from work last week to nab one.
In the mean time, as soon as ART buddy told me he thought I had a bad battery I had shot my AOA contact a text asking if they could get another one headed my way. Boom, within a few hrs I got an email from AOA with a tracking #.
On Sat me and a field target friend did some pesting. He had brought up his RW charger so we hooked it up to the original battery that came with the review RW while we went shooting. When we came back all three lights were blue. This was the battery that I couldn't get all three to turn blue on with the charger that came with the gun.
At this point I also did the volt meter trick on both batteries and they both looked fine. One was about like the example I had given a few sentences ago, and the other was about 12.5, 8.5, 4.5. So, it seems the batteries were/are fine. Hmmmmm....
(A few notes on the batteries/power source for the RW, and what I learned about them in the researching of the missing fpe.
They are an extremely common item in the remote control cars/planes/etc world. These same, and very similar batteries, can be purchased from Amazon as well as just about any RC hobby shop, online or brick and mortar. It's nice that Daystate chose to go this route vs coming up with a Daystate branded battery/charger system. Because they decided to use non-proprietary batteries/chargers, replacements and/or extras can be sourced quite readily, and for a very reasonable price. Sometimes it makes sense to use existing supply chains and technology vs reinventing the wheel. Good call Daystate.
The batteries should not be depleted too far or they'll be goners, so I'm told. If that highest cell goes below around 7.5 volts, that battery is likely toast. The shot counter in the programming said this gun had been shot 2200 times before I got it. I doubt it had been charged in those first 2200 shots, so they'll go that far. I'm hearing that a charge is supposed to be good for a couple thousand shots on HIGH. I'm kinda thinking that a good rule of thumb might be to recharge around every 1500-2000 shots.)
Charger? Next thought is that the charger that came with the gun is a dud. So I ordered the "Amazon's Choice" LiPo charger some time last week. It was $14 and got here today. What lead us to think the charger was faulty was that I had left the batteries charging for about 2hrs, 2 different times. I was being told that they usually only take about an hour to get a full charge.
Sometime in the last few days I decided to leave the charger that came with the gun hooked up to a battery for a while and see if it would eventually turn blue. Yep, took over 4hrs, but would eventually turn all three lights blue. So, the charger that came with the gun is slower than most, but will still charge them, eventually.
Full charge:
At this point, it doesn't appear to be the battery or the charger.
Programming? There seems to be some debate about whether or not the power levels are completely independent from one another. From what I knew prior to today, I personally had gotten the impression that they were independent from one another (at least from my programming sessions). The kicker was that I'd already ruled out the battery, and the charger, I was running out of ghosts to blame for where those couple fpe went. So, I was starting to think maybe my reduction of power output on MEDIUM had influenced the other power levels.
Something else? ART buddy texted me yesterday to tell me that he and AOA have been discussing/troubleshooting where those fpe went on this particular gun. The AOA contact was thinking maybe the PEEK valve seat, while ART buddy suspected the little oring that constitutes the valve stem seal. There was also a thought that a bent valve stem could have kinda wallowed out the valve seat, leading to abnormal wear on the valve body and valve seat, and eventually dropping fps/fpe and inconsistency. All of these are quite rare but have happened on a couple of guns. So, ART buddy asks if we could meet up today at their weekly testing/shooting/having fun session at a third mutual friends place so that ART buddy could take down the RW and investigate. Heck yeah, I'll be there was my response. It went according to plan and he had it torn down in short order. Nothing was obviously amiss but he replaced the valve stem seal. Hard to tell in this pic but they're very tiny. We got it in the sunlight and used magnifier and couldn't find that the old one was split or damaged. This is the one that came out of the gun:
The replacement was a "cast polyurethane" oring. Not a necessary upgrade, but worthwhile to do if you're already that deep into tearing the gun down. I wouldn't recommend opening it up just to go to this type of oring because it's a pretty in-depth disassembly and requires the gun to be completely taken apart.
He got it put back together and went to his truck for the Labradar........................uh, no Labradar in the truck. "Did you bring a chrony?" "Nope." "Hey John, you got a chrony?" "Nope." Ha ha oh well. I just had to wait til I got home to check the fps. But I didn't pass up the opportunity to hang out for the day and shoot a bunch!
Back home at the classic ole red Chrony I got home and got unloaded and did the whole bed-time routine. Youngest filled his diaper right before bedtime. My wife is a stay at home mom and honestly works harder than I do. We're fortunate to be able to make ends meet with just my income. The ongoing joke about diapers is that I deal with metaphorical crap at work and she deals with the real stuff at home. After getting to go hang out and shoot all day, I somewhat begrudgingly decided I needed to take this turn on the dirty dipe. So, got that all taken care of and kids asleep and I headed out to the garage, just dying to know if that valve stem seal replacement seal did anything.
5 shot averages....
HIGH with 25.39s = 41.48fpe
MEDIUM/FT with 14.35s = 19.95fpe
LOW with 18.1s = 29.81fpe
Hmmm.....EXACTLY where it was prior to the tear-down and valve stem seal replacement. I scratch my head for a minute (it's 30min after midnight at this point). Dammit, I'm finding out of it's the programming changes I made, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!
Took the action out of the stock, hooked up the programmer, and reverted the MEDIUM back to OEM settings. Skimmed through all the screens for to verify that I'm back at OEM programming settings, yep.
5 shot averages again....
HIGH with 25.39s = 42.07fpe
MEDIUM with 18.1s = 35.66fpe
LOW with 18.1s = 28.85fpe (one pellet chambered real loose and was about 20fps less than the others and lowered the average)
Okay, it's not the programming I did. The power levels for HIGH and LOW are the same, whether MEDIUM is programmed for 20fpe or for the OEM 38fpe.
hmmmmmmmmmmm
Decided to put MEDIUM back to my 20fpe parameters and chronograph again
still 5 shot averages
HIGH with 25.39s = 42.34fpe
MEDIUM/FT with 14.35s = 19.96fpe
LOW with 18.1s = 29.01fpe
Well, it's dang sure consistent if nothing else.
Take-aways from all that fun The power levels in the Daystate Red Wolf are 100% independent of one another. Having "MEDIUM" at a lower power than "LOW" will not adversely affect HIGH and/or LOW. The programming parameters are extremely and repeatedly consistent. The 5 shot average for MEDIUM before I messed with the programming tonight was 791.08. Then I went back to factory and shot some, and then went back to FT settings on MEDIUM and 5 shot average was 791.42. Pretty reliable that those parameters are going to produce that fps/fpe.
Every gun is a unique individual, and this particular one lost 2ish fpe. I do not know exactly why, but I'm kinda thinking it just broke in.
Also, just in the last few days, the official Daystate Facebook page had a post saying the new GCU2.0 board increases the fpe 20%. Well, the Standard config with the GCU1.0 was advertised as 35fpe on HIGH. 20% of 35fpe would put us right at the 42fpe that I'm now seeing. So, for whatever reason, it was shooting a little hotter than expected for those first 2500 or so shots, but has now calmed down to be right in line with what Daystate says is to be expected with the GCU2.0.
I had the Donny Tatsu on it today, and for a overall length of just a smidge over 42 inches, it's a nice little rifle.
I also felt pretty cool making the bell target go "DING" at 100 yards (two kzs, one was about 2.5inches and the other maybe a bit bigger than an inch. Larger one was obviously easier, but I stuck a few through that 1" kill zone too, and the wind was WHISTLING-36mph gusts were predicted, and they sure felt it).
ART buddy passed on some lighter NSA slugs to me that were supplied to him by AOA, there's some 17.5?s and 20.2?s that were showing some SERIOUS promise on HIGH power. This weight is probably more appropriate for the power level of the Standard. So, reports on those will be forthcoming.
So, conclusion, a SWEET 42.25inch rifle doing 42fpe. Maybe I'll call this bad boy the "42/42."
(I was pleasantly surprised to hear that AOA was parallel troubleshooting my lost fpe, consulting with their RW expert and ART tester. It's cool to know that they're concerned about how their rifles are performing for the end-user. I kinda know a couple of the employees and even the manager and owner of AOA, mostly through my Field Target activity. (They'll occasionally shoot a match.) One thing about them, that I'm not sure a lot of us airheads realize, is that they are shooters themselves. AOA actually exists because of the owner's personal love for airguns. It'd be naive to not realize that AOA is a business and makes money, but the driving force behind that is a love for airguns. I've seen a handful of different people from AOA get giddy and giggle just like the rest of us when they see a really cool airgun, see somebody make an excellent shot, or do so themselves. They're in it for the same reason we all are, the sheer enjoyment and challenge of seeing and chasing extreme accuracy and reaching for the next level of what airguns are capable of.)
). Complete acknowledgement that there's a big difference between the big comps like EBR and RMAC that you hit up, and the monthly FT matches that I take part in.
