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Support Equipment For PCP/HPA/CO2 and springers ,rams => Support Equipment For PCP/HPA/CO2 => Topic started by: null on January 22, 2021, 12:19:22 AM
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Well... a friend surprised me with a ReadyAir (not mine to keep, but to try and review) during this fine eveningtide...
First, he picked it up for $467.00 out the door (free shipping and no tax) directly from Umarex using a 15% off coupon code in December. Awesome deal if you ask me.
My take and impression on it:
Looks:
It's a neat looking compressor, the digital display is much nicer than most (at least the analog ones). The UI is intuitive and straightforward. The buttons are made for people with small fingers and I don't see them lasting. It's small and is pretty lightweight for a compressor. Fit and finish is OK. Nothing to be impressed about. Noticed the paint had some blotching in certain areas if held to light in a certain angle. Handle is made of some cheap ABS plastic, from my hidden scratch test, it doesn't appear to be glass fiber reinforced -- so watch those toes.
Noise:
At idle, there is just a small fan running on low. When you start pumping, the pump motor is noisy, but not too bad. At 87F the fan kicks in high speed and it sounds like it's going to take off. I noticed that the fan was still at high speed when it was below 87F. We let it keep going for a half hour when the temp display said 74F. Not sure when it's really supposed to turn off -- or even if it does. According to the manual, at least the way I read it, the fan should turn off when it gets back below 87F. It's about sound of a shop vac running. I might keep it running for longer to see if and when it does actually automatically turn off.
Accuracy/Calibration:
Noticed that the cutoff is at least 200psi too high. So to fill a gun to 3000psi, subtract 200 psi, and set it to 2800psi. Compared it against multiple airguns. Likely every one will be different off the assembly line.
Fill Times:
65cc - 2 min, 150cc - 4.5 mins, 500cc - 13.5 mins. - Slow and steady all from about 500 psi...
Heat dissipation:
Seems to get hot quick. Fans kicked on after 30 seconds of it filling the first airgun, which was a 65cc cylinder. So about a minute in, and it was past 87F. When filling a 500cc airgun, it hovered around 130F towards the end. Room temperature was about 70F with 25% RH.
Things it comes with:
Compressor itself
Short fill hose with female QD
Male QD test plug
Owners Manual
Card that tells you not to oil anything
110v Non-Polarized Power Cord (seems quite thin/Chinesey)
12v leads with clamps (BEEFY thick/proper gauge!)
Extra charcoal filter
1 entire rebuild kit (less spring and check ball)
Issues I have with it:
Short fill hose
No hour meter for service intervals - You can buy a stick on vibratory meter
Fans don't want to shut off after it supposedly cools down below 87F.
No water separator - does have charcoal filter.
My take:
It's better than a hand pump. Will it outlast a newer gen Hill hand pump? I don't know... too new and just from the mechanics, it has me questioning when I had a look inside the compressor at the seals. How does it compare to say a Hill EC-3000? Only time will tell, but I can tell you, my Hill EC-3000 has been through thick and thin and no issues. Another note, the videos I've seen on here and other places seem to market hype this device. It wasn't well discussed... the bottom line: It's a compressor that is meant for the novice airgunner. For someone that shoots a lot, like I do, I don't think it would last a year -- maybe a half a year.
With that said -- if anyone would like to send me a UX ReadyAir (I'll pay shipping) for me to fully document and abuse one of these by filling (not air tanks, but using it for it's intended purpose), and try to kill it let me know. PM me!
Some calculations:
Using your average .22cal airgun, based off the fill times, you can get around 22,000-25,000 rounds per 20 hour service interval give or take some. I'm sure mileage will vary.
Electrical:
Now for those that saw my other posts about electrical separation and noticing it had a two pin plug in the adverts; non-earthed plug. My buddy is going to think about it overnight and give me the yay or nay to tear into it and possibly run tests for electrical separation. I'd have to be careful not destroy the electronic wizardry.
From star gazing between the magic smoke vents I could see what looks to be some kind of aluminum heat sink of sorts, some zippy tied wiring, an open (obviously) oil-less compressor piston.
If I get the shaman's OK to open yonder, I'll add to my review below...
Caveat: I know I've gotten some manufacturers in a tizzy in the past because I expose/share too much inner workings of their product on the public interwebs, there might be some content that I might need to redact if they track me down, and try to be shall I say "annoying".
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I was allowed to carefully tear into it, but not take it completely apart (at least not allowed completely apart)... I think my friend wants to wait until the 1 year warranty is up... which I don't blame him at this point.
Anyhow, here's what I found:
The chassis is NOT grounded as a I suspected. The mains voltage is also literally wire nutted to the 12v power supply. So if one or both of those wire nuts comes off and the wires come in contact to the metal casework, it will be live at mains voltage. In which the wire nuts and the wires are about 1/4" from the metal where they sit. What gets me, here they know it's a device that has a lot of vibration, why they use household wire nuts?! Not even taken the attempt to use some electrical tape either! Shame on them... I would have done things a lot different to protect the consumer.
The mains cord that comes with it, fails insulation resistance test at 217 volts. I suggest investing in a new (thicker) cord; it's a IEC-60320-C7. This device says it pulls 350 watt, but the one I tested at full load at about 4000 psi was pulling about 410 watts. I tested it using a thicker cord and I got it down to 390 watts. All in all, it was about 3.5 amps draw. I didn't test 12v - but can analyze it if someone inquires.
After the mains wiring goes past the wire nuts, it then goes straight into an unmarked aluminum box that is a power supply (appears to put out multiple voltages), which again, is directly mounted to the metal casework. I didn't open it up, but I know I will eventually be able to. I was able to test isolation, and it appears as if there is isolation. I didn't get anything back on the meter (I used low voltage not to kill the electronics). However, again, if the board and or step down transformers aren't well protected, you can then have a fault to the metal casework, which then becomes live at mains voltage. Also, there is no inline fuse on the mains. There is a 40 AMP ATC Fuse on the 12 side on the positive line, which goes to power supply. The negative 12v rail is chassis grounded. Verified on casework.
After the power supply, there are wires that go to the control board (with LCD module on top), and to the motor. The only markings on the motor I could see was "Rui Hang Motor". It's a purple motor. It appears as if it might be a 12v motor. I tried to do some researching, and came up empty handed. It's likely some kind of proprietary motor. If I'm correct in my assumptions, that transformer is converting the 110v mains down to 12v to power the motor, same as if the it was connected to a 12v battery through the other set of 12v terminals. It is relay controlled on the top control board. There is a pressure sensor on the output of the pump and a few temperature sensors all throughout the unit. Once his 1 year warranty goes out, I'm going to reverse engineer that control board and possibly pull some data off some of the chips.
The pump is really not much different than your standard oil-less air compressor design, just built up for higher pressure. you can see the piston at bottom dead center. The wrist pin is slightly lubricated with what appears to be moly grease -- I didn't touch it, because it looked like it needed all the lubrication it could get. I can see debris/dust getting into the pump mechanism overtime, especially with the roaring fans over time.
Fans... your typical Delta brand brushless DC computer fans -- there are two of them. One at the bottom of the casework where the motor is horizontally, and the other is up vertically pointing towards the compressor. There is another smaller fan in the aluminum power supply. So a total of 3 fans in this device.
So the take aways and what can be done if you are stuck with your compressor:
1. You can take the back panel off, and minimally use some electrical tape to make sure those wire nuts aren't going to fall off one day. I personally would used leaded solder and heat shrink the connections.
2. Get rid of the two prong plug, and get a Dremel or vibratory tool and make the opening larger for a normal 3 pin IEC320-C14 plug and ground the chassis; there are plenty of places to attach a ground wire to with a ring connector.
3. Periodically check the inside for dust build up and use compressed air of sorts to blow it out. Try not to use it in a dusty workshop or what not.
People will ask... is it really that bad?! Well... it all depends on that risk appetite you got. ::) Me, I like to make sure that I know my equipment has some kind of step potential to earth, and not utilize me as it's earth...
Is it easily fixable? Yep. I would've rather have seen the price a tad higher, than what it's listed at, for a safer product.
For now, that's all I got, till I get my hands on it again -- or if someone donates one to me.
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Good review, mine runs about the same times as you found, my fan will shut off after it cools down but at a cooler temp. .than what is in the manual, I was a little worried at first but stood there till it did. I filled my Gauntlet from empty to full with no problems and my Kratos was setting on around 2600 and it didn't take long at all to go to 300psi. So far so good but will watch it to make sure its running correctly. Just an idea and it's what I did to mine but since the meter does show you the run time that has operated when you use it each time I just wired one of those cards to the handle and write down the minutes it ran for a running total.
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I received mine today. Unboxed it and aired up my origin, but that's all I could do with it before I had to go to work I'll look at it more in-depth tomorrow and Saturday on my day off
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It kind of seems like you looked into this expecting top of the line quality. To me its like buying a harbor freight compressor instead of say a rolair or quincy. Its a affordable option to not hand pumping. Will it work absolutely are there higher quality pumps out there absolutely. That's the way i take it.
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Double post..
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Thanks for the review. Leaning toward Benjamin Traveler Gen II or continued hand pumping for now .
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The non grounding, surrounded by metal cage is scary. As said easily fixed IF you are aware. maybe deadly if your not
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Well, here's the thing -- it's safe as long as no malfunction and as long as those wire nuts don't come off. But dealing with electronics for as long as I have, there has been some very odd things that I've personally experienced. No joke, I learned the hard way twice. 120v is not cool -- can stop your heart. Now I treat everything as hot, even if it comes out of the packaging.
What drives me crazy, is the fact that they could've changed the plug and made it grounded for a few bucks more to make it safer. How many of these units will get bought by young adults that have absolutely no clue on what electrical safety is? How many times do you think these units will get used outside where it's damp/wet?
I just don't get it...
Ah, enough ranting... ::)
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Airgun Depot processed my refund today for the Umarex compressor. Meanwhile the Air Venturi Nomad 2 is working splendidly and has no problems filling up any of my air guns
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Thanks for the review. Leaning toward Benjamin Traveler Gen II or continued hand pumping for now .
I ended up with a GX CS3 PCP Air Compressor and am happy thus far.
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Airgun Depot processed my refund today for the Umarex compressor. Meanwhile the Air Venturi Nomad 2 is working splendidly and has no problems filling up any of my air guns
I'm glad to hear that everything worked out well! PA/AGD have very good customer service.
Sometimes there prices are a little higher, but it's the quality customer service is what keeps people returning.
It's unfortunate they needed to deal with this, but hey, you ended up with a better compressor!
Thanks for the review. Leaning toward Benjamin Traveler Gen II or continued hand pumping for now .
I ended up with a GX CS3 PCP Air Compressor and am happy thus far.
Awesome! Glad you are happy!
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bump ;D
Anyone have a Umarex ReadyAir long term review or experience to share (maybe also the GX CS3) ?
Wondering if it's possible to find the "Rui Hang Motor" on Ebay or Aliexpress.
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Don’t have the gx 3 but I do have the gx cs 2. It has been working great since March. I know the cs3 has main board issues. They have been known to arrive dead. Good thing is that target forge in cali has the parts to fix. To me it wasn’t worth chancing and I really didn’t need the auto stop. The ready air is quite expensive these days. Seems north of 600 and I don’t see that compressor in any way shape or form being worth that.