A guide to the Polarstar Fusion Engine

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If anyone is interested in the pinout for the polarstar FCU it is...

blue = trigger line (5V indicates released, 0V indicates trigger pull)
black = nozzle solenoid (5V when active, 0V inactive)
white = poppet solenoid (5V when active, 0V inactive)
brown = ground
red = Auto select (0V indicates auto, 5V indicates semi)

I did some data collection tonight for a little project Tank and I are working on

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More interesting data for everyone... (TC;DR at the end)

I've found that the claims regarding how many shots you can get out of the polarstar batteries are pretty overstated. Before I get started I should mention that Polarstar makes no claim as to how long the battery will last and for good reason. So this isn't a criticism of them, but more or less of reviewers who are not seeing the big picture. The claims that I've seen and calculated myself is roughly 20K shots for a 250mah battery. This is done by taking the current that their solenoids consume while driven. This is 1A. The solenoids are driven (at default settings) for ~40ms. Doing the math you learn that you can drive a 1A load 22,250 times and consume 250 mAh. This is where the shot counts that are coming from. The problem is that they are not including the amount of current that the control circuitry consumes at an idle state.

The FCU draws 10 mA during it's "sleep" state. It draws 18 mA during it's awake state. The FCU is awake for 3 minutes after the last shot fired. So what does this mean? Assuming that you never fired a single shot the entire game the board will kill the battery in about 25 hours. So now you might be thinking OK so it can last over a full day, again not an issue. Not so fast though let's create what I believe is a typical use case. These numbers I sort of pulled out of my ass, based on experience and not real numbers, but I think they are at least somewhat close to a typical airsofter.

Time spent airsofting: 10 hours
Percent of that time actually shooting at people: 20%
Shots fired that day: 3500

Now you might think that since you only shot 3500 rounds that you have another 19,000 rounds worth of juice still in the battery (~75%). This is isn't true though. You actually have about 38% of your battery remaining. This wouldn't be enough to get you through another game. Keep in mind if you are shooting more than the typical case outlined above you will have consumed more energy.

TC;DR (too complicated; didn't read):
The FCU consumes more energy than some people realize. Assuming a 250mAh battery, for a typical day you're probably good to go, but make sure you charge your battery before every game. For a 24 hour event plan on switching out the battery half way through the game. Of course bigger batteries last longer.