85 usd, only 100 and they are sold out. Seems he will do more batches
I bought one.
I have little doubt that mods will be all over the place on price.
I could see a complete electronics overhaul kit with lights, sound, and vibration replacements being $300 based on offerings for other packs. Even though LEDs and vibration motors and speakers don’t cost that much.
I could also see mods being $30, particularly if they require self-installation, maybe $50 for the pack and the wand? But this not only requires experience, it requires sacrificing some degree of control. If somebody makes a mod that requires replacing both the pack and wand microcontrollers, you have to change both. You only get the mod that’s being offered, as good as that is and with the features its designer wanted it to have.
Here’s what sold me on Noah’s:
He’s an electrician.
He was critical in his videos of people doing something that works once for a video but won’t necessarily work if you leave it on for 12 hours.
He tested it for 3 weeks and demonstrated with two packs.
It’s plug and play.
While he has a compatible wand mod, he’s insisting on installing it himself and having people mail wands in if they want it so only he is responsible if anything breaks. I respect that. It’s how I’d do it.
It does what I want. Not more, not less.
It doesn’t have a break in the power after two minutes.
It works with the vestigial switch on the pack and can be turned off.
It doesn’t require messing with the wand. It doesn’t alter the wand. It no longer reacts to the wand aside from powering the wand. I especially don’t want wand heavy mods because I know from build quality that the wand WILL break before the pack will and the wand is harder to repair than the pack is. I want to have a spare wand in my closet and just switch wands someday when my wand breaks. And I can probably buy a third wand for under $400 when that one breaks, as long as I don’t care about tip color. That isn’t going to be that easy if my wand needs to be modded. These wands are nice but they’re absolutely the weak link. They jam. They slice wires. They have multiple failure points and are annoying to disassemble. This pack will be fine in 25 years assuming I don’t get assaulted with it on or fall down some stairs. The big liability with the pack is that the wires can come out easily and get lost and can’t be replaced currently. The hardest repair with the pack will be replacing the LEDs when they go.
Overall, I’m impressed with the reliability and build quality of Noah’s mod from his demos. I don’t think I’ll need to replace it every six months. It’s unobtrusive. It’s thoroughly tested. It’s reversible. He demonstrated it live on two packs. It doesn’t have features I don’t want. It has the features I do want. It’s easy. He says he’ll stand behind it for life.
$85
Same here. Ordered one. Almost seems too good to be true. I did specifically request to pay with PayPal goods and services and tacked on an additional $5 to cover his fees. Just so I’d have some buyer protection, and he was fine with that. Hopefully in 2 weeks or so, we’ll have our hands on them.
@Spongface - Will you still be doing a pack keep alive version? I need one before the end of March for MegaCon Orlando.
The other guy sold out 2 runs = 200 units with no solid date for a possible third run.
Thank you very much for your kind words. And it looks like you did your research thoroughly. I appreciate that.
I made those informational video so that they would answer everyone’s questions. But that didn’t seem to be enough for certain people. lol
I’m making a limited edition, special version of these for a few select people. And I want you to be one of them. Please message me on my Instagram.
I would love a board that has just a couple hidden music tracks like the spirit board, and better sequences of the lights. The power cell animation on the spirit is so cool. Also the display on the Spengler wand, defaultly nothing really animates when firing.
Other wishlist items, a speaker mount, magnetic v hook, and a solid rumble motor replacement!
In all fairness I haven’t spent much time on the boards to see options out there, but love my spirit pack with your upgrades. Thanks!
This thread looks like it has taken a different direction than I first intended.
I will move over to a for sale thread in a couple of days when I have pictures of my boards installed in a pack.
Wand KeepAlive Board:
A small board that is installed in the wand that can keep the wand and the pack alive. This may be all you need. ~$20
Requires soldering.
Pack KeepAlive board:
Can keep the pack alive with or without a wand. Still working on parts cost…
Plug and Play, no soldering.
If the wand also has the KeepAlive board installed then the wand can control the pack, otherwise the pack will ignore the wand. The Wand KeepAlive can also wakeup the pack even if the pack is off for more than 5 minutes.
12V power connector for battery support (does not require a USB capable 12V rechargeable battery)
Stretch Goal: Support for a vent relay in the pack.
LOL, that seems to happen as everyone has different “wants” or “needs”.
Put me down for the first option as I’m okay with soldering a few wires. It shouldn’t be too difficult.
It still baffles me WHY Hasbro thought that a time out feature on the pack and wand was a good idea.
And here we have some real geniuses fixing all of these issues that shouldn’t have been an issue to begin with. :sigh:
Amazing, thank you for all your hard work! Can’t wait to get an order in for the wand keepalive!
If it runs on the dcell batteries, would it work running off USB power? I assume yes?
Thanks for your work on this!
So, your mods will still work using the same D batteries? I’m running some PaleBlue D batteries that seem to be working out great and I really don’t want to do the talent cell swap.
If so then I’m in for both!!!
I made a JST “y” splitter so I can use either D batteries or a power bank.
No splitter or USB connection needed. The Pack KeepAlive board works with either the D Batteries (2 pin XH connector) or a 12V Battery (5.5mm x 2.1mm dc power jack).
Interest thread in the For Sale section: https://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50623
Also a link to a Pack KeepAlive install video of sorts on that page.
Noah ran some tests on his Always-On mod that he posted about on Instagram.
These were stress tests to see how long the vibration motor would continuously run before overheating. He bought two motors identical to Hasbro’s and let them run continuously.
One overheated in 16 hours. One overheated in 74. He estimates that some of these will overheat in 6-8 hours based on his assessment of their quality control and experience with electronics.
He’s advising buyers of his always-on mod to turn off the vibration motor in general to be safe and prolong battery life.
If the motor overheats, the board ordinarily kills the motor and shuts down. But an always-on mod will force the motor back on and could damage the board, the motor, the pack, etc.
So, in general, best not to combine the rumble motor with always-on mods.
It might also be worth thinking about whether mods such a replacement microcontroller even attempt to kill the motor when it overheats or supply the proper amount of power to it, as I’d think you might kill it faster.