Replacing the wiring in my SCAR-H, what type/gauge size would be best?

[paradoxum]

Still on the way but was reading some reviews here; https://www.evike.com/product_reviews.php?products_id=32613&page=3

And a lot of mention the poor wiring, infact some youtube reviews also talk about the very thin wires breaking or coming off what they're soldered too - I'm handy with a soldering iron but any suggestions on what gauge wire to get, roughly how many colours are used? probably half a meter of each should do I guess but without opening it up first I don't know and I don't wanna have to open it up too many times - I'm planning to replace the motor, barrel, and hopoup unit, and now the wires while I'm at it - I think someone said anything more than that and you don't really need it just play with it and figure out what it needs etc.

Thanks in advance guys. Hoping this comes this week so I can show it off.

Edit:

Oh I forgot, this is the barrel I got: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Madbull-Tightbore-Barrel-285mm-Python/dp/B00J4M4VHI

Hopup unit: https://www.maxxmodel.com/cnc-aluminum-hopup-chamber-sv-vfc-scar-lh.html

Getting this motor when back in stock: https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/zci-motor-high-torque-long?search=zci 22 TPA (not ordered yet)

this piston: https://www.evike.com/products/62386/ (not ordered yet)

this spring: https://www.evike.com/products/31457/ (not ordered yet)

Just to double check though is there anything else worth adding while i'm in there because I think I gotta strip the entire thing. I'll remember to actually play with it first before then incase I break it and then get sad I never even got to play with my new gun. Are these things simple enough for someone technically/engineer..l minded and ok with tools etc to do or should I really send it to a shop to have them do it?

Thanks in advance.

Edit2: 

"ConsOne unforgivable, unforgettable con is the Rear wiring, it utilizes a car style fuse, very outdated and takes up space"

Surely this is something that can be changed with a couple bits from ebay?

 

[PopRocket123]

The great thing about the SCAR stock is that there's this utterly useless screw you can take out. Dremmel out the hole a bit more and with some careful dremmelling and rewiring hardwire the loom through the hinge instead of the awful articulated contacts. I'll have pictures when I get it done on mine

View attachment 47576

 

[Iceni]

V2 gearboxes can be funny when you rewire them depending on the style of gearbox shells.

The more open designs are easier to work with, The ones with the large blocked-out cast areas are much more of a pain to get right. 

In all cases, the most problematic part of the rewire is the motor and more specifically the pinion as it will hook and cut wires when you remove the motor if those wires are not reasonably tight the shell walls. 

Firstly you need to inspect the shells and decide if you are having a mosfet or not. A mosfet adds extra wires and you have to account for that.

If you have an open style casting and are not bothering with a mosfet you only have 1 wire to worry about, And can go reasonably thick. 16awg.

If you want a fet in that open casting then you have to balance the trigger wires and motor wire to the space, You can stack these up the shell wall and tie them in with wire if you drill some very small holes. 16-18awg + 2x 24awg signal wires.

If you have a tight space casting things can get frustrating quickly, It's easier to do a non-mosfet rewire, but even so on some castings, you might find the wire channels themselves are limiting to wire thickness. Sometimes it's easier to buy new castings if there problematic. 18awg.



My last V2 got 16awg silver plated wire and 2x 24awg wires for the mosfet. Tied with 30awg stainless wire in a stack to the shell wall. The casting was very open for the wires but even so, I had to remove the pins that push the wires down on the upper shell and drill holes for the stainless tie wire. So it wasn't a drop in solution. Now it's done those wires are safe and I can remove the motor without any problems. If space were tight I would have used 18awg and not bothered with a mosfet at all.

Colours are not a problem in airsoft. You can visually trace the wires. I cut some small bands of heat-shrink and mark the + wire all the way through the system most of the time. It takes seconds to do and saves having to buy 2 lots of wire. Heat shrink is a key component to getting the loom right. You use it to bind your wires together in neat pairs down the open lengths of wire to the battery, as well as using it to protect exposed contacts ect. 

For the fuse you can go electronic. There are loads of solder in mosfet units that have an electric fuse inbuilt. Not all are budget breaking.

https://www.gatee.eu/products/product-comparison

Most of the gate range have an electronic fuse. It's just the 2 most basic that don't. The nanohard at £30 and nanoASR at £20 both are fused.

http://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/parts-c8/internal-parts-c98/gate-nanoasr-3rd-generation-mosfet-p7513





 

 

[Lozart]

Still on the way but was reading some reviews here; https://www.evike.com/product_reviews.php?products_id=32613&page=3

And a lot of mention the poor wiring, infact some youtube reviews also talk about the very thin wires breaking or coming off what they're soldered too - I'm handy with a soldering iron but any suggestions on what gauge wire to get, roughly how many colours are used? probably half a meter of each should do I guess but without opening it up first I don't know and I don't wanna have to open it up too many times - I'm planning to replace the motor, barrel, and hopoup unit, and now the wires while I'm at it - I think someone said anything more than that and you don't really need it just play with it and figure out what it needs etc.

Thanks in advance guys. Hoping this comes this week so I can show it off.

Edit:

Oh I forgot, this is the barrel I got: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Madbull-Tightbore-Barrel-285mm-Python/dp/B00J4M4VHI

Hopup unit: https://www.maxxmodel.com/cnc-aluminum-hopup-chamber-sv-vfc-scar-lh.html

Getting this motor when back in stock: https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/zci-motor-high-torque-long?search=zci 22 TPA (not ordered yet)

this piston: https://www.evike.com/products/62386/ (not ordered yet)

this spring: https://www.evike.com/products/31457/ (not ordered yet)

Just to double check though is there anything else worth adding while i'm in there because I think I gotta strip the entire thing. I'll remember to actually play with it first before then incase I break it and then get sad I never even got to play with my new gun. Are these things simple enough for someone technically/engineer..l minded and ok with tools etc to do or should I really send it to a shop to have them do it?

Thanks in advance.

Edit2: 

"ConsOne unforgivable, unforgettable con is the Rear wiring, it utilizes a car style fuse, very outdated and takes up space"

Surely this is something that can be changed with a couple bits from ebay?

Be wary of basing your expectations on reviews from the US, especially reviews on Evike. Bear in mind that sites in the US have higher FPS limits so the expectation of US buyers is different than that of UK buyers. Honestly, you would have been way better off buying the gun and using it before you committed to spending money on "upgrades" that you may not even need.

Having said that the Maxx hop units are good but you've not mentioned a new bucking so you'll do well to look at that (I'd suggest either a Prometheus purple or a Maple Leaf Macaron 60 with an appropriate nub).

The Madbull barrels I would advise against but you've bought it anyway so there you go.

The spring will push you way over the limit for an auto AEG so either you're planning on locking it to semi or you need a different spring.

The piston is good but get it from @ak2m4 not Evike.

As @Iceni mentioned, if you're going to rip it to bits then you may as well fit a mosfet while you're there. If it's a standard V2 box then you should be able to fit a Titan in there but if you're on a budget any of the Gate hardwired mosfets will be fine.

 

[ak2m4]

Good advice from @Lozart, maybe use it for a few times to gauge what needs replacing etc.  16 AWG silver plated teflon coated is great, make sure you get the 2.1 OD, if not available then the 17AWG is pretty decent.  Lot of people talk about how FET's have built-in fuses however this doesn't protect against battery and motor.  Jefftron posted about this recently, how true or necessary, can't hurt to have something but then again takes up space in the stock tube. 

I've seen the 5mm X 20mm Fuse Holders on ebay super cheap, smaller than a car fuse, again is it worth having one?  

 

[paradoxum]

The great thing about the SCAR stock is that there's this utterly useless screw you can take out. Dremmel out the hole a bit more and with some careful dremmelling and rewiring hardwire the loom through the hinge instead of the awful articulated contacts. I'll have pictures when I get it done on mine

View attachment 47576

Thanks, I heard about the wires and the crappy stock - this youtube video shows a guy doing some cutting on the stock to easier fit a bigger batt in;

 

[PopRocket123]

Just now, paradoxum said:





Thanks, I heard about the wires and the crappy stock - this youtube video shows a guy doing some cutting on the stock to easier fit a bigger batt in;

I'm currently working on a 3D printed stock that has a lot more battery space and uses the existing fittings. That plan is a similar style to the Magpul DRS stock that can still fold. Should have plenty of space for bigger batteries

 

[paradoxum]

I'm currently working on a 3D printed stock that has a lot more battery space and uses the existing fittings. That plan is a similar style to the Magpul DRS stock that can still fold. Should have plenty of space for bigger batteries

Cool any way I can follow when that's done?

I've got 2x Vapextech 9.6V 1600mAh nimh mini batts for it and a dremel so should be simple to make the cutting there nice and smooth to get them in.

Be wary of basing your expectations on reviews from the US, especially reviews on Evike. Bear in mind that sites in the US have higher FPS limits so the expectation of US buyers is different than that of UK buyers. Honestly, you would have been way better off buying the gun and using it before you committed to spending money on "upgrades" that you may not even need.

Having said that the Maxx hop units are good but you've not mentioned a new bucking so you'll do well to look at that (I'd suggest either a Prometheus purple or a Maple Leaf Macaron 60 with an appropriate nub).

The Madbull barrels I would advise against but you've bought it anyway so there you go.

The spring will push you way over the limit for an auto AEG so either you're planning on locking it to semi or you need a different spring.

The piston is good but get it from @ak2m4 not Evike.

As @Iceni mentioned, if you're going to rip it to bits then you may as well fit a mosfet while you're there. If it's a standard V2 box then you should be able to fit a Titan in there but if you're on a budget any of the Gate hardwired mosfets will be fine.

Thanks, first few posts scared me a bit - not even heard of a bucking I just thought it'd be a disassemble, swap the other hopup unit in, put back together - the spring I guess I'll forget about that then.

Piston sure thanks.

I might just change the barrel first and get the rest of the stuff and have someone who knows what they're doing do the rest, I'm too clumsy for my own good to be honest.

And yeah I've got loads of heatshrink myself, I'd want it all neat and tidy, glue gun the wires down etc, but like I say I think I might just do the barrel and save the rest for a professional.

Found this terrible potato video of a guy taking the inner barrel out the scar, just ..try to 'follow' this (noticed some comments correcting things etc) and use it with mine to swap the barrel with the madbull one?

 

[ak2m4]

I'm currently working on a 3D printed stock that has a lot more battery space and uses the existing fittings. That plan is a similar style to the Magpul DRS stock that can still fold. Should have plenty of space for bigger batteries

What kind of finish can you get with 3D printers these days?  All the stuff I've seen is just so rough looking, miles away from any PIM stuff

 

[paradoxum]

Good advice from @Lozart, maybe use it for a few times to gauge what needs replacing etc.  16 AWG silver plated teflon coated is great, make sure you get the 2.1 OD, if not available then the 17AWG is pretty decent.  Lot of people talk about how FET's have built-in fuses however this doesn't protect against battery and motor.  Jefftron posted about this recently, how true or necessary, can't hurt to have something but then again takes up space in the stock tube. 

I've seen the 5mm X 20mm Fuse Holders on ebay super cheap, smaller than a car fuse, again is it worth having one?  

I found this wire; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173942424795?ul_noapp=true

Asked the seller says the O/D is 2.2 - 2.25, will that do or really need 2.1 O/D for fitting / routing it through tight spots?

 

[PopRocket123]

What kind of finish can you get with 3D printers these days?  All the stuff I've seen is just so rough looking, miles away from any PIM stuff

A well set up printer with say .25mm layer height printing PETG will give a beautifully smooth matte finish. Search for James Tongue on some of the 3D printing groups for an idea of the quality you can get out of a relatively inexpensive printer

 

[Prisce]

What kind of finish can you get with 3D printers these days?  All the stuff I've seen is just so rough looking, miles away from any PIM stuff

Straight off the printer.

View attachment 47609

 

[ak2m4]

@Prisce that looks super smooth, 

 

[Prisce]

@Prisce that looks super smooth, 

It is mate. Guys I use print stuff for McLaren F1, so as you can probably imagine, the work is superb. 

 

[paradoxum]

@Prisce that looks super smooth, 

Good advice from @Lozart, maybe use it for a few times to gauge what needs replacing etc.  16 AWG silver plated teflon coated is great, make sure you get the 2.1 OD, if not available then the 17AWG is pretty decent.  Lot of people talk about how FET's have built-in fuses however this doesn't protect against battery and motor.  Jefftron posted about this recently, how true or necessary, can't hurt to have something but then again takes up space in the stock tube. 

I've seen the 5mm X 20mm Fuse Holders on ebay super cheap, smaller than a car fuse, again is it worth having one?  

I found this wire; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173942424795?ul_noapp=true

Asked the seller says the O/D is 2.2 - 2.25, will that do or really need 2.1 O/D for fitting / routing it through tight spots?

Sorry if you missed this but what do you have to say about this?

Thanks again