How Does an Electric Paintball Hopper Work?

Paintballs

Electric paintball hoppers are an integral part of your paintball gun setup. These hoppers agitate and move paintballs, resulting in a higher rate of fire. Shooting a paintball gun quickly without an electric hopper will result in jams and broken paintballs. When you purchase a hopper for your paintball gun, purchase one that has the fastest loading speed while staying in your price range.

Function

Paintball hoppers attach to the feed neck on the top of the paintball gun. They typically hold about 200 paintballs and feed paintballs as you need them. Once the paintballs are emptied, hoppers are easy to refill by simply lifting the cover on the top and loading more paintballs. Without the use of a hopper, a paintballer would have to constantly reload paintballs into the feed neck of the gun.

Power Source

Electric hoppers use 12V batteries. These batteries provide a steady stream of current to allow the internal parts to move the paintballs. These batteries typically last several games, but it depends on the brand of hopper that you use and the amount of paintballs that you shoot each game.

Agitation

Some electric hoppers agitate the balls to increase feed rate. These hoppers have propeller-shaped objects located next to the feed tube that spin around every time the paintball gun is fired. This propeller pushes around the paintballs inside the hopper and this prevents paintballs from getting clogged up. These hoppers are good for about 10 balls per second.

Force Feed

Force feed electric hoppers actually force paintballs through the feed tube. Every time the paintball gun is fired, these hoppers turn on and push a paintball down the feed neck. These hoppers are some of the more expensive hoppers on the market and usually have a feed rate of 10 to 20 balls per second.

Warp Feed

Warp feed hoppers are the most expensive hoppers on the market. These hoppers push paintballs into the feed neck of the paintball gun similar to a force feed hopper. However, the key difference is that warp feed hoppers are placed on the side of the paintball gun and have a soft flexible piece of tubing that attaches to the feed neck. Warp feed hoppers first feed paintballs up the tube, then down into the gun. These hoppers can maintain a feed rate of 20 balls per second.

References

• Airgun Designs: Warp Feed
• Paintball-Hoppers: Choose your Hopper