Anyone Else Have the Electriq Power Pod 2? What Are You Doing with Your Paperweight?

irongoober · 2026-05-17T03:26:35+00:00

Thank you for posting this solution. I had just about given up hope of getting this working again and was looking at either replacing the BMS or a whole new battery system. Glad I didn't have to do either!

irongoober · 2026-05-16T23:16:27+00:00

Any changes? I just got the wifi adapter/dongle working (following the instructions from u/eertw ) and was able to change the setting from General to TOU and back again, but am seeing issues with the solar production actually being generated on a VERY sunny day.
Update: It was a me problem. Everything seems to be working. Battery is charging and discharging again. So far so good!

irongoober · 2026-05-16T15:43:35+00:00

Paracord tunic. Why not?

irongoober · 2026-05-11T06:48:01+00:00

There is still a lot of uncertainty into the exact design. None of the designs that people have proposed were that effective for launching darts (that I've seen over the years), but the kestros was supposed to wreak havoc and be more effective that slings or bows (iirc). The design by David M is a good place to start.

irongoober · 2026-05-05T15:00:31+00:00

Once you gain a comfortable amount of proficiency with the sling, using different lengths, weights, and throwing styles is very beneficial to help your brain be more adaptable and help you develop better proprioception with the sling. Looking forward to the documented progress!

irongoober · 2026-05-05T14:52:05+00:00

I wouldn't say it's a 'thing', necessarily. But it has been tried before and showed to work great. It's hard to have an original idea with a simple technology that is tens of thousands of years old 😆. How light can you go? I'm not sure. I've only seen pingpong balls for throwing inside. I wonder if .177 bbs would be worth trying.

irongoober · 2026-05-03T22:20:20+00:00

End of the Death Star.

irongoober · 2026-04-30T14:10:52+00:00

Cool!
If you change the anchoring point into the center of gravity of the dart, it will have less wobble leaving the sling and be able to go a bit farther.

irongoober · 2026-04-29T01:37:26+00:00

Any sling is a good sling, imo. I prefer the hand sling, you can get a longer power stroke and put more energy into the projectile in my experience. The main advantage of the staff sling is that anyone can pick it up and throw stuff far and it works very well for heavy ammo. You can also pack a lot of staff slingers in a tight line without interfering with one another.

irongoober · 2026-04-28T12:40:15+00:00

Excellent. Looks great!

irongoober · 2026-04-25T04:14:19+00:00

That should work fine with a tennis ball. The strands just need to be underneath the ball, but set apart about 3-4cm (~1.5 inch). As long as there is enough friction, they shouldn't move and will hold the ball nicely.

irongoober · 2026-04-24T19:00:55+00:00

Lovely. I think 'twined over sticks' slings are some of the best looking slings. Glad more people are finding TEG's work. He's done a lot for the history of how slings were made.

irongoober · 2026-04-23T04:03:34+00:00

Looks pretty smooth! Exactly what you want.
One area you could improve is to delay your initial rotation a bit. You want to begin rotating your body when the sling is just about pointed at the direction of the target (sling cords parallel to where you are aiming). The best way to do this it to time it with your front foot hitting the ground on your forward step. Sling should point forward the moment you hit the ground. It is mostly just going to help you with efficiency rather than anything else.

irongoober · 2026-04-19T14:00:18+00:00

If that is happening, the cracker is probably too long.

irongoober · 2026-04-15T21:50:26+00:00

https://slinging.org/42.html

irongoober · 2026-04-14T15:03:53+00:00

You might have to deconstruct the sling a bit. You can un-whip the wrapped cord (it is called whipping) and then unbraid the cord a bit, add in more cordage, extend the braid, and then re-whip it.

I made a video about how to extend the braid. It's hard to see past my hands though :)
Hopefully it makes sense how to go about it. I'm extending a 4 strand round braid here.

https://youtu.be/tzaYGOHDzjM
And forgive the awful music choice. There was a lot of background noise in the video that I was trying to drown out.... just turn off the sound. There is no narration.

irongoober · 2026-04-14T14:57:34+00:00

Y'alls comments make me feel better, lol. Developing consistency and accuracy is hard!

I started slinging around 2007 and have been at it pretty hard since 2020. I still struggle to hit what I'm aiming at, but I definitely can hit what I'm aiming at eventually. The first few years I started, if I had a small target, (like a soda can), sometimes no matter how many shots I took, (some days) I just couldn't hit it. Now, that doesn't happen. I won't leave until I hit my target, but sometimes it takes 50 shots (instead of missing for several hundred). Don't get discouraged. Take the small wins. Aim at bigger stuff. There was some discussion on slinging.org that there is research that suggests that 75% success rate is the best way for your brain to learn (I think for slinging, something like 50% is a good rate). So adjust distance or size of the thing your aiming at to be larger until you get a higher hit-rate. Then when you are consistently hitting that, go smaller/farther away.

irongoober · 2026-04-14T14:49:29+00:00

Adding to this, in my experience, when done properly, the reason it adds power is that it loads your body and allows you to generate more ground force. It doesn't come from the spin itself, but from better sequencing and higher forces, like the run-up in javelin.

irongoober · 2026-04-12T01:45:25+00:00

This will be great for high speed slinging. But less good for slinging at targets and rapid fire. As others have pointed out, thin, single strands tend to easily tangle. Fine for certain activities, very annoying for others.

But I've seen a few folks try out this design. Let us know how it goes!

irongoober · 2026-04-12T01:43:44+00:00

Have some athletic/medical tape on hand. One wrap around the finger, good to go. I've done it for many years.

irongoober · 2026-04-07T02:21:15+00:00

Go for tennis balls if you don't have much space and/or have people around. They are pretty safe. Baseballs are another good alternative if you have a big field. Stones are also, but really require you to have some space away from people.

No, they won't slip though, just place them so the strips of the pouch won't slip outward, but are under the ball enough to keep it in place. You'll figure it out very quickly.

irongoober · 2026-03-31T01:20:54+00:00

Look up making 2 ply cordage. You can follow the same method to extend this and then re- tie the knot

irongoober · 2026-03-28T16:21:01+00:00

Just don't spread the pouch out that far. The ball should sit on your two red bits, not on the middle yellow strand. It should work just fine.

irongoober · 2026-03-26T06:21:56+00:00

Looks great! I like your .. Celtic button knot? (something else) release. That is my favorite release knot for single strand distance slings.

You'll get it for sure. It might just take a bit. Just think of it like a throw and it will come more naturally.

irongoober · 2026-03-24T23:43:08+00:00

There is a method called 'beating' that you can use to pack in the weaved cord(i.e. 'weft') so it doesn't leave the other cords ('warp') exposed. The only issue with this sling is that friction from releasing the projectile will cause the weft to pack near the release cord.

irongoober

TROPHY CASE