Board Operation:
To activate the board, locate the power switch on the left side of the circuit housing. The rear position is off whereas the forward position is on. When you turn the marker on, the LED will light a colored sequence (usually green-orange-green) then the marker is ready to fire. To deactivate the board, flip the switch back to the rear position. Each time you fire, the LED will flash green.
Impulses with Vision have a toggle switch on the rear of the circuit housing. The right position is Vision enabled; left is Vision disabled; center is the Vision adjustment mode (see Vision sensitivity below). Rate of fire is also adjustable if desired (see ROF section). This is where the Vision mode switch is located:
Dwell:
Dwell is one of the settings adjustable on the green/amber boards. It will effect a number of things, including but not limited to, velocity, consistency, efficiency, and maximum attainable rate of fire. Dwell is the amount of time the solenoid remains open, thus the time the hammer remains forward opening the valve. So long as the valve is open, pressurized air will be released through it and down the barrel to propel the paintball. Because of this, increases in dwell generally cause increases in velocity, and vice-versa (however there are working limits to this).
Dwell adjustment for the green/amber boards is accomplished by adjusting the "potentiometer" on the board, or simply pot for short. This is a small electronic dial-like device on the surface of the board. Observe the following diagram to locate the dwell pot:
To adjust the potentiometer, use a flat-head screwdriver to rotate the pot to the desired setting. This diagram demonstrates:
You will find that increases in dwell will generally increase velocity, just as increasing operating pressure will. Because of this, if you decrease the operating pressure, you can compensate by decreasing dwell time, and vice-versa. However, most countrary to popular belief, there actually is an optimal dwell setting for Impulses (and other markers) to use. Know that [in most cases] too low of an operating pressure or dwell will cause inefficiencies, and too high of an operating pressure or dwell will cause inconsistencies. These statements are derived from the natural tendancies from the gas, and in some cases they can be circumvented however the design such as employed by the Impulse does not allow many of these modifications. Unfortunately the method by which one should use to determine his or her Impulse's optimal dwell setting depends on whether your solenoid is operating with or without an LPR / whether your operating pressure varies from your pneumatics pressure. If you want to know, the general idea is that you are looking for the point in which the marker will deliver higher volumes of air without compromising velocity. This will maximize the efficiency and consistency of the marker. If, then, you so desire to tilt the dwell/operating pressure one way or another, feel free to do so.
Impulses without LPR:
Set your Max-Flo output pressure between 180 and 200-psi (my recomendation). Set your dwell to 15 chirps (or the minimum setting of the dwell pot) and fire one shot over the chronograph. Now increase the dwell (one chirp with Cricket, small adjustment of the pot without Cricket) and fire a second shot. If the velocity increased, increase the dwell again and fire another shot. Keep doing this until the velocity levels off. Then, if using a Cricket board, drop the dwell setting down two to four chirps (leave it alone if you don't have a Cricket board). This will be your dwell setting at whatever operating pressure you had the marker set to. Now decrease your operating pressure and use it to control your velocity.
Impulses with LPR:
Set your Max-Flo output pressure between 140 and 180-psi (again, this is my recomendation), and also turn your LPR all the way up, as far as it'll go. Set your dwell to 15 chirps (or the minimum setting of the dwell pot) and fire one shot over the chronograph. Now increase the dwell (one chirp with Cricket, small adjustment of the pot without Cricket) and fire a second shot. If the velocity increased, increase the dwell again and fire another shot. Keep doing this until the velocity levels off. This will be your dwell setting at whatever operating pressure you had the marker set to. Now decrease LPR output pressure to find whatever velocity you desire. In the future, also use your LPR to control velocity.
ROF:
You can adjust the rate of fire for your Impulse via the potentiometer on the surface of the board. You will have to separate the circuit housing from the body to access this; the pot is labeled "SEMI". Use the above diagram to adjust the potentiometer. Clockwise rotation will decrease the time between shots (known as recharge), which will increase the rate of fire. Counterclockwise rotation will do the opposite.
Vision Sensitivity:
Green/amber boards use a somewhat less-developed version of the Vision anti-chop eye system, and must be properly-tuned for your paint color. Specifically, the boards can only view paint shell colors within a defined window of the spectrum. When you adjust the sensitivity, you are moving the window of color detection across the spectrum of colors (in this order: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red). To enable the Vision adjustment mode, you must first move the Vision mode switch on the rear of the circuit housing to the center position. After doing this, locate the Vision sensitivity potentiometer (or pot for short) on the side of the circuit housing. To adjust it, you need a flat-head screwdriver.
This is the Vision mode switch on the rear of the circuit housing:
With the barrel installed, drop a paintball into the breech and rotate the Vision pot clockwise as far as it will go (this will increase the sensitivity to the highest wavelength). Then, slowly rotate the pot counterclockwise while watching the LED on the gun. Once it turns orange, the board has detected the ball in the chamber, and that is the sensitivity setting to use.
If you are using two-colored paint shells, rotate the paintball around to the other side. If the LED turns green, you will need to adjust the Vision pot further counterclockwise until it has detected the shell.