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Empire hopper problem

Mad Monk

DOG SOLDIERS!!
Oct 8, 2009
10
0
0
Mighty Stoke On Trent
I have a empire loader B hopper which i have just brought 2nd hand, it works of 6 AA batteries i think there is a problem with either the battery holder or the connection to the battery holder,does anyone know if you can get these parts replaced?? and also is this hopper any good in general.

Thanks for your help much appreciated as i'm new to paintball :)

John
 

Marcus Geezer

Platinum Member
Before you think about replacing any parts get hold of a multimeter and check to see whether the batts are good, and if so, whether they are giving the voltage to the connectors as they should.

If your stuck where to get a multimeter from, ebay do a basic one for about £6. Great for checking if batts are duds or not.
 

PreacherMan

Like a moth to the flame
Nov 2, 2006
429
38
38
Midlands
Yes they are good hoppers


let us know what the problem you are having is and someone may have the answer ;)

Q. for example you may say I have turned it on and it doesnt feed?

A. it is noise activated so won,t feed till you attach it to your marker and fire your gun (noise = activation) or shout into the loader :D
 

Gee Tee

1/2 man - 1/2 pogo stick
Mar 21, 2007
3,172
786
148
Dartford, UK
Yes they are good hoppers


let us know what the problem you are having is and someone may have the answer ;)

Q. for example you may say I have turned it on and it doesnt feed?

A. it is noise activated so won,t feed till you attach it to your marker and fire your gun (noise = activation) or shout into the loader :D
I've got a mental picture of someone shouting at thier hopper now

"FEED YOU *******!!!"

Hope you get it fixed. I had a similar issue on my Halo B, which turned out to be a loose PP9 clip on the battery pack. Kept shutting to power off mid game - and yes I did shout at mine quite a bit too :D
 

tech

Active Member
Jul 19, 2006
106
0
26
Open her up, lots of vids online to show you how.

Pull out the drive train (the blue catch cup with the paddles in), the board and battery harness.

Check :

1 ) are any of the wires pinched, ie flattened, as they may be broken.

2 ) is the wiring loom plugged into the board the right way up, it is not keyed though !

3 ) are the batteries dead, use a multimeter or if your me pop in on your tongue and see if they're live.

_________________________________________________________________
Now:

Put fresh batteries in the harness.

Try and turn it on in a quiet place. The board takes the ambient sound level as a base reading so if you happen to be listening to some rather loud tunes at the time it wont spin unless it ' hears ' something louder than your music !

Do you get any pretty lights , sequence of red, orange and green, depending on the board revision ?

Tap the microphone on the board or shout at it........ does it spin ?

If not connect the loom the other way round and repeat shouting at it. Does it work?

Does it sound like its trying but not spinning? turn over the catch cup and undo the three screws. Check the cogs, are they they jamming?

If the motor is spinning but the cogs are not is the pulley o-ring worn and loose or has someone greased the darn o-ring, that was a trend a while ago !

Does the rip drive, the cog on the underneath that you spin to spped manually, spin but the drive cone, thing with paddles on in the catch cup, not spin? You may have a broken drive cone. They have a small plastic tab that engages with the cup and spring beneath it. If this breaks you wont feed.
Again ring Kee or post up on here for a replacement, again I have one for sale ;-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your good with a multimeter you can check if juice is reaching the motor too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now reloader B2 boards have the option of running off 4 or 6 battery packs. They can be picky about which they like. No idea why, mine prefers 4 packs !

Try a 4 pack if you have one or short the 6 pack with a bit of wire if you know how.

Does it work?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you think the wires are good and you are getting juice from the harness you may have a dead board. Ring Kee and get a new one or buy one off the forums, I'm selling a few ;-) .

If the board is powering on but spinning real slow try out the different battery packs if you can. This is a bizarre fix since they should run of either but hey try it anyway.

If the board is powering on but spinning slow change the boards settings.

You can enter the settings by turning the board on then quickly holding down the button again for a second when the orange light shows.

Find the manual online for your version.

A few here:

http://paintballsolutions.com/pdf/manuals/empire/reloaderb_manual.pdf

http://info.paintball.ru/files/manuals/loader/b2.pdf

You will be able to alter:

1 ) the speed the motor spins

2 ) the sensitivity of the microphone

3 ) spring tension monitoring

Max out the first two and set the latter to 1 (ON)

If after all the above you have exhausted my ideas.

Anyway I hope this helps you getting things up and running again.
 

Care_Bears

Bluey .. ... ...Teams :- Care Bears UK
Jul 7, 2007
1,791
598
148
Wiltshire
hopper

hey matey,just a thoght as it`s happened to me a few times, the grip on the wire to hold the battery harness sometimes needs a grip, as the batteries are going in and out the claw that holds it all sometimes opens up too much leaving a bad connection. also this hopper is a great hopper for up to about 80 cases of paint, then you need a new motor put in as it wears out or slows down.
.....Bluey
 

Sid Sidgwick

Tinkering ain’t easy
Bluey I agree about the battery connector part but the hopper is fine for much more than 80 cases, ive used a reloader as a spare for 3 years and its had at least 150 cases ran through it with no motor issues (only issue had was smashed shells)

As Lump said speak to Dave T he is the ma for bits and bobs
 

Care_Bears

Bluey .. ... ...Teams :- Care Bears UK
Jul 7, 2007
1,791
598
148
Wiltshire
hopper

you must be very lucky with yours as I`ve gone through loads, I`ve just gone to my gun room and found 11 duffers to which had the same problem as yours then taken to bits to make a good ones, now ending up with all the new types
of different makes on the market, the only one I haven`t got is the Prophesy..............yet..Bluey