Is it possible to make a solar powerd Airsoft gun?
- Thread starter teragaxu
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Sako
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- Jan 19, 2014
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You would be better designing a solar powered battery charger as opposed to actually having the gun solar powered.
there is limited area for the solar cells to be mounted, and they would also have to be quite small which would be unlikely to provide sufficient energy to power the motor/gun through the amount of cycles you’d need to make it practical.
its certainty an interesting thought for your project though, but maybe just needs a little diversion from the original idea if you see what I mean.
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Samurai
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How sci-fi that would be!Plate carrier and helmet covered in solar panels
Anyway, even weak airsoft guns need at least 20 amps and around 8V. An 1000mAh battery lasts a few hours of airsoft.
Rogerborg
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State of education today.
Directly powered off of wearable PV cells? No, not even remotely.
An AEG motor draws (ballpark figures) 8V and 30A, with maybe 25A back-EMF. To sustain fire it would draw ~40W, but to get it spinning needs a brief burst at the full 30A.
What are you going to get from wearable panels? 9V x 0.33A =~ 3W from 280mm x 210mm (~9" x 8")
http://www.selectsolar.co.uk/prod/431/3w-flexible-solar-charger
What's your best case? Maybe 4 of these on your manly chest and back, 2 of them producing full power, 2 of them maybe half power under ideal sun conditions. 9W at 1A. Nowhere near the 40W sustained draw or 30A inrush current.
So as suggested you'd have to use the panels to charge a small battery or a capacitor capable of delivering that 30A current, and start the day with it discharged to prove the concept.
Your best case scenario is 1 second of fire (at 40W) for every 4.44 seconds of charging (at 9W). But that's wildly optimistic given that we tend to play in shaded woodlands. I'd be surprised if you got a second of fire for every minute of basking.
The best way to prove nay-sayers wrong is to go ahead and try it, but if you produce a usable charging system from it, I'll eat my 2nd best lid.
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Well it is theoretically possible.
What sort of project is it? Do you need to actually make it work to pass? Or do you just need to try and design it and find it’s short falls and record them for marks?
You could make a gun run off of solar power, it probably wouldn’t be skirmishable.
You could also perhaps use renewable sources to charge the batteries to make it “solar”.
Depending on how technical you are, you could design ERS for your gun(Energy recovery system), would be complicated and fiddly, but not impossible.
What sort of project is it? Do you need to actually make it work to pass? Or do you just need to try and design it and find it’s short falls and record them for marks?
You could make a gun run off of solar power, it probably wouldn’t be skirmishable.
You could also perhaps use renewable sources to charge the batteries to make it “solar”.
Depending on how technical you are, you could design ERS for your gun(Energy recovery system), would be complicated and fiddly, but not impossible.
Rogerborg
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- Aug 22, 2017
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Not entirely sure. Would depend on the gun i guess. I’m typing without thinking it would seem, I was thinking of a sort of mechanical precocking, but then there’s a mosfet that does that.
Wondering if there is a way to reuse some of the energy made when the motor turns the drive chain.
I did say you’d have to be technically minded!
Heck, he could make his own pre-cocking mosfet!
Wondering if there is a way to reuse some of the energy made when the motor turns the drive chain.
I did say you’d have to be technically minded!
Heck, he could make his own pre-cocking mosfet!
What is the project anyway? Can you provide more details? I don't know about a solar powered gun, but what about an optic? Much more managable.
Do you think your college would allow you to bring a replica firearm into class in the first place? I'm genuinely curious. Not sure mine would.
Do you think your college would allow you to bring a replica firearm into class in the first place? I'm genuinely curious. Not sure mine would.
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jcheeseright
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Short answer;
no.
no.
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As already stated by @Rogerborg solar just isn't power-dense enough to be able to service an airsoft gearbox unless you're pre-charging a battery (in which case it's not really so much a 'solar powered' airsoft gun as it is any old airsoft gun that's had its battery charged through solar).
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EDcase
AF-UK patch owner
- Jun 24, 2017
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Yeah, as stated, unfortunately solar doesn't provide enough current to run a high torque motor.
You'd need a very large panel to make it do anything.
Maybe your project could revolve around the magnus effect and bb flight theory...
Perhaps you can finally answer the question of which barrel diameter is best
You'd need a very large panel to make it do anything.
Maybe your project could revolve around the magnus effect and bb flight theory...
Perhaps you can finally answer the question of which barrel diameter is best
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EDcase
AF-UK patch owner
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Methinx there may be a flaw in the theory of using solar for something that can only be seen in the dark....
Nuclear to the rescue again... We just need Radium BB's
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Sako
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- Jan 19, 2014
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(pedantic mode)
Technically possible to make a true solar powered airsoft gunYes, but it would only work if there was sufficient panel and light to produce the full power output requires
(non pedantic mode)
Theoretically possible to have an airsoft gun with solar panels to top up as it goes
As mentioned by others practicality would go towards a solar charger and two sets of batteries, play one charge the other
For a true need, spare batteries per charged are best, but for prolonged use
Despite the fact that I’ve got multiple power packs, ( > 34000mah). I take a solar panel for weekends & weeks in fields, but I am running technology most of the time, photographing and publishing online, running card payments, watching videos and charging other peoples gear. No matter how much power I have available it will get used
That setup managed to keep 9 adults and 6 kids connected to the world for 8 days in a field last year, though most had a powerpack of some kind that doesn’t last long
I’ve also been saved more than once when I’ve discovered that I hadnt properly checked all
my spare camera batteries were charged, and saved me from embarrassment when photographing a weekend event. It’s a bad feeling when you change battery and only one bar comes up. Even when you’re staying in a hotel and can charge everything overnight it doesn’t help when you’ve a few hours ahead of you
Technically possible to make a true solar powered airsoft gunYes, but it would only work if there was sufficient panel and light to produce the full power output requires
(non pedantic mode)
Theoretically possible to have an airsoft gun with solar panels to top up as it goes
As mentioned by others practicality would go towards a solar charger and two sets of batteries, play one charge the other
For a true need, spare batteries per charged are best, but for prolonged use
Despite the fact that I’ve got multiple power packs, ( > 34000mah). I take a solar panel for weekends & weeks in fields, but I am running technology most of the time, photographing and publishing online, running card payments, watching videos and charging other peoples gear. No matter how much power I have available it will get used
That setup managed to keep 9 adults and 6 kids connected to the world for 8 days in a field last year, though most had a powerpack of some kind that doesn’t last long
I’ve also been saved more than once when I’ve discovered that I hadnt properly checked all
my spare camera batteries were charged, and saved me from embarrassment when photographing a weekend event. It’s a bad feeling when you change battery and only one bar comes up. Even when you’re staying in a hotel and can charge everything overnight it doesn’t help when you’ve a few hours ahead of you
Rogerborg
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- Aug 22, 2017
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Huh, somewhat to my surprise, the claimed power of flexible PV panels is going up.
So if you cover yourself with a canopy of about a square metre of PV like a sort of Mecha-Gamera, and stand in bright sunlight, and have enough capacitance to deliver the 30A inrush... it's not completely inconceivable that you could sustain fire.
I'm surprised by the prospect, and a little bit aroused. Intellectually.
So if you cover yourself with a canopy of about a square metre of PV like a sort of Mecha-Gamera, and stand in bright sunlight, and have enough capacitance to deliver the 30A inrush... it's not completely inconceivable that you could sustain fire.
I'm surprised by the prospect, and a little bit aroused. Intellectually.
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