I'm in the process of making a ammo counter for my paintball gun and being a new guy wanting to create electronic stuff, I don't know where to start. I bought a number display to display the ammo in my gun. I would like to know what are the basic things I should know and what should I buy. If you need any other info just post it. Thanks if you can help.

 

Don't tell me you bought a frequency counter to count paintballs!!

Nah, surely you wouldn't spend that kind of money.

Just what kind of counter did you buy? Can you describe it, or give some specifications? Do the numbers light up? Does it have wires going to it? Do you push a button to count something, or does it just count, and count, and count?

Tell us more, please!

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http://www.electro-tech-online.com/e...-problems.html

This is just one of them.

kv

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Electronic loaders use a small microphone to detect when a shot is fired. This would trigger your counter but you would have to tune it so that it doesn't detect other things.

Electronic loaders will activate if you hit the side of them, although that is useful for if you reload from empty and have to get the spring wound again ..

 

What am I missing here? All I read was that he bought a display. Where did you get freq counter?

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Ill get a pic for you.

http://www.canakit.net/images/Items/UK127.jpg

Its the same as the two counters on this circuit.
Ill try for the microphone (what should I buy for this and how could I tune it? If you can answer.) and then see what the other guy did for his 555 counter though I'm not sure what 555 means. I'm a logic person; I can build electronic stuff but the only problem is I need to understand what I'm doing. Thanks guys, I'll try that.

 

I would have A IR configuration inbetween the hopper. That way you could sense when a paintball would go through. You would need an exact number of paint balls to be accurate. When a paintball went through you could take one away. This would be easy with a MCU.

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Here is a real simple and cheap ammo counter:

Use a pocket calculator (usually given away free if you buy 10 bricks ) and wire the '+' or '-' key to a microswitch. Subtracting (to know how may rounds are left) you must set the correct value before firing. To add you just clear the calculator.

Hi Krumlink,

I don't even know what a paintball gun is. However I'm curious to know how many thousand rounds of ammo such a thing has in its magazine, just because of the MCU you suggested.

Hans

 

Thats a pretty good idea, only problem I see with your idea is this. Paintball wars are like simulated war, therefore it is used in rugged terrain and is exposed to mud dirt and even paint. With that in mind, the setup would have to be fairly rugged and durable. Also switch placement would matter as you do not want to impair your trigger or such. I agree a MCU is not needed, rather a simple down counter and some sort of switch detection, but like I said. Has to be rugged for outdoor wargames. I found a link for a 3D model paint gun, hope your aluminum rod internet connection will allow you to view it

http://www.howstuffworks.com/paintball-3d-gun.htm

Cheers

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WHy all this stuff about IR and microphones? Just connect an electrical contact to close along with the trigger (and if you have an electronic trigger just wire it in).

But it's all kind of pointless if you don't know how many paintballs are in your hopper, and no one counts when you're refilling in the midst of a firefight.

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Depends on how you fill it up, most packs hold an exact number or at most only a few off.

At the paintball site I used to work at, we used to use a 100 paintball tube from a pack to measure the paintballs out.

 

Hi Mike,

of course using a microswitch salvaged from a computer mouse wouldn't be a good idea. They can stand just 100,000 clicks and after that they only switch occasionally because of tired springs. (I have piled up a collection of about 20 mice all working fine with the exception of the left button - you need it a lot using Eagle and also for wargames.)

Using a microswitch rated 250V/5A (as used in toploader laundry washers to detect the "kneeling position" of the washer - to block the wheels) there shouldn't be any problem concerned with mud or dust. They are well sealed. In order not to impair the trigger it might be connected via a small bowden cable as they are used in model airplanes. Those bowden cables have the inner cable made of nylon and the embedding hose is teflon coated, meaning the cable slides easily even when dirty.

Hans