Moving to Lipos. Whadda I need to know?

[ImTriggerHappy]

24v lithium ion is the way to go.

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

Alright, found some I can get that fit my stock. Now, about chargers...

 

[Sitting Duck]

Genuine B6 charger as said at beginning

Well impressed with my clone one and tbh the price HobbyKing do them for

you may as well get a gen B6

(I found out what a good price they offer AFTER I bought my snide ones)

Charges quick - even at a modest charge setting

Them slow cheapo ones I used before will be included on any future gun sales

(if I can bare to part with my toys - no they are mine for keeps, always hated getting rid of my stuff but I'm hoarding way way too much)

anyway - back on track - Genuine B6 is what you want

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

OK. charger sorted. Back to batteries... How important is it to use deans?... I know they offer less resistance compared to mini-T (or whatever the benefit it). The issue is, I can't solder in my room (really sensitive fire alarms), and I cant exactly take my guns down to the campus workshop to do the change-over there. It's still doable, but if I could get by with mini-T, then id rather do that. Also, one final time: 11.1 or 7.4? For a stock VFC XCR

 

[Sitting Duck]

DEANS !!!!!!

 

[Sitting Duck]

ahem - deans is best if you can solder

Solder in kitchen where it should be more solder or grilled cripy bacon sandwich friendly ???

loads of guides on you tube - BUT ONE WIRE AT A TIME !!!!

cut both and you will see what a punch them lipo's can privide - BANG !!!!!

cut 1 wire (fit shrink wrap) solder - when done and insulated move onto second one

At a push if mini vice/helping hands ain't available......

push both connectors together, tape to worktop to keep deans steady etc...

scratch the connector a bit to key it up, if possible use some flux but decent solder

I reckon deans offer a 10% increase over small tamiya

(when rewired fully and fetted this goes up to about 15% I have found)

to use lipo's on small tamiya is kinda like driving along motorway/freeway in 4th gear instead of 5th

yeah you can stay in 4th but wiser to move up a gear if possible

7.4v 20c to 25c on stock guns

11.1v is gonna push a stock gun a bit

boring maths bit coming up.......

stock gun firing at say 13 or 14ish on small tamiya - ok say 13.5rps on 7.4v

deans it and you could get another round or nearly 15rps on 7.4v

now chuck in 11.1v and that is another 3.7v cell so a 50% increase = 22 or 22.5rps

quite an increase but long term you may get......

carbon build up on trigger

piston failure from pick up tooth pulling off (most stock pistons are plastic with 1 to 3 metal teeth)

little bit more wear but should be ok - though bearings might start to fail quicker than bushings

Now you could say wtf - and go for 11.1v and look to rebuild stuff as n when

However - this 15 or 22.5rps is a ROUGH GUIDE on stock ferrite motors pushing 13-ish out of box

you could have a neodym motor that gives a bit more kick in that vfc

Rule of thumb see what it fires like on 7.4v first

then add on 50% if thinking of 11.1v but for us lot in UK with a 350fps limit

25rps onwards with a m100/105 and guns may start to overrun or double cycle - fire 2 shots sometimes on semi

Not that are near that but 30rps & risk of Pre Engagement may start appearing

BUT - being USA your gun may have a m110 or m120 spring in there so some of the above stats and warnings may not apply just yet

Though 11.1v is really gonna need some tweaks like mosfet AoE etc in the long term of things

Phew

 

[djben9]

so we ok to send to you SD for soldering

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

Ok, deans it is (I'm getting a feeling duck may like that best...), and 7.4 it is. I'll find somewhere to solder then. And I can get deans batteries, just need to rewire my gun. I've retired both guns and batteries before, I know the dangers... (Once accidently hooked myself up to the UK power grid when changeling a light switch - I had to sit down and focus on breathing for a few minutes after that :-/

 

[Sacarathe]

How do you charge the battery if the ports on the charger are female Mini-T? Can you just rig up a Deans to Male Mini-T to put on the charger first and safely?

 

[Sitting Duck]

You don't need to rewire the gun - just cut off tamiya & fit deans on the present wiring......

(if at any point you rewire later on - you can desolder the gun's connector & fit to 16awg rewiring)

Male connector on gun, positive is the "top" of T

(some connectors do have a " + " marked on them)

Female on battery - see Google & YouTube for more info/clarification

yup you could fit any end you wish but may as well follow the standard wiring spec on the connectors

(in case you get a new battery pre-wired with deans already)

I'm no soldering mofo guru, done bits n bobs & repairs on consoles/toys/electronics in the past

I'm ok but deffo not what I'd call great when I've seen some people who do rework & stuff

decent solder and maybe flux really helps - cheap $hit solder from Poundland/Dollar Tree is not ideal

 

[Sitting Duck]

How do you charge the battery if the ports on the charger are female Mini-T? Can you just rig up a Deans to M Mini-T to put on the charger first, safely?

You can knock up an adapter quite easily as you said

The B6 comes with a few leads - or my clone B6 did....

You get a bannana connectors to male deans lead that does the charging to deans battery

and the lipo's balance lead goes into the same side of B6 (right side)

On the other side (right) you got what I think is a 2.5mm / 5.5mm socket for psu.....

(centre of psu jack is positive polarity btw - but like most electronic stuff if unsure get a nerdy tech to check polarity first)

On mine I got a 2.5/5.5 lead with crocodile connector leads that can be used/spliced for a psu input

(if say a 12v to 18v psu's connector isn't correct one)

Plus I got a few other leads with female deans connectors on them to plug on the male charging lead

These can be spliced and used for tamiya adapter or just ripped off and fitted to a couple of lipo batteries if needed

These should be supplied - or failing that a lead can be bought or knocked very easily

Any splicing/adapters should be done properly or well insulated with little connecting blocks blah blah blah

Not rocket science - just easy basic common sense like most stuff

(says the guy who sets out to puncture lipo's and wonders why his hall is on fire - seriously don't be that stupid)

If unsure get a geeky m8 to help check it all over - better safe than sorry

B6 charges them lipo's through the deans connectors and even at a modest 1A charge

it charges much quicker than the basic cheaper chargers that charge through just the thin balance connector

(kinda understandable when you compare the difference in wire thickness for charging)

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

That's what I meant duck; not the whole gun (although I have done that before as well), just the connector. I looked at B6 chargers on hobby king, but they don't seem to include an adaptor... Any help on this?

 

[Sitting Duck]

eh ???

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__36905__IMAX_B6_50W_5A_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_GENUINE_US_Warehouse_.html

top right window of main pic shows a bunch of wires n bits n bobs.......

croc leads - so should have the psu connector if needed

watch video and box has a flap with bits bobs leads in there I'm 99.999% sure

(they show you difference in clone vs genuine ones etc...)

as for getting a deans - small tamiya adapter, yup should be able to get one off the shelf

(should be a female deans to uhmm ergh - damn not used tamiya for a while so not gonna say for deffo which adapter is required)

maybe this would charge most batteries if you aren't confident in knocking something up yourself:

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__43762__MEGA_ADAPTER_Connect_almost_anything_to_anything_US_Warehouse_.html

so the B6 should then charge almost anything with tamiya xt60 deans etc....

and it charges lipo's, LiFe's & old skool nimah's etc.....

(read manual/youtube guides for selecting correct battery type etc)

mofo charger at a good decent price - numerous others paid more money and got clone B6's instead

(I paid £10 for my clones but thought gen B6's were like nearly £30 or more, would of got gen B6's if I'd known better)

Actually it still ain't as bad as me buying a smart nimah charger & 2 x 8.4v 1600mah old skool batteries

when I first started at about £16:99 a pop x 3 plus shipping - over £50 gone :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

Haha. What I was talking about was that it says power supply not included. Is it talking about a battery like a lipo or nimh, or something else?...

 

[Sitting Duck]

oh right - well did say about psu needed but they do one with a built in psu - B6 AC mofo.....

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__53900__IMAX_B6_AC_Charger_Discharger_1_6_Cells_GENUINE_AU_plug_.html?strSearch=b6%20ac

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__58285__IMAX_B6AC_V2_Professional_Balance_Charger_Discharger.html

just a transformer plopped inside the bigger case

more money but I guess if the transformer craps out you can still use a seperate psu like the normal B6

heck even I guess a car cigarette lighter 12v power lead to charge batteries whilst driving to game

 

[Sitting Duck]

Oooooh just noticed something interesting...............

these B6 chargers genuine and fake ones

plus Turnigy chargers seem to come with XT60 charge leads

(bananna plug from B6 to XT60 plug)

so you WILL need that adapter thingy majig:

http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__43762__MEGA_ADAPTER_Connect_almost_anything_to_anything_US_Warehouse_.html

coz it won't have the male deans charge lead but a XT60 type

my snidey clone one came with a male deans charge lead plus female deans to others adapter leads

(the clones voltage is not always as accurate as a genuine B6 btw but on one of mine if was 0.015v lower - I can live with that)

weird that I got all deans leads etc.. but others gen/fake may ship with XT leads

well I guess it is RC shop and XT connectors are quite popular for RC's

but never thought of this until I was looking at leads n stuff supplied on the AC versions

soz best double/triple check on the EXACT leads you get in the box - maybe get the charge anything lead set

ignore my specs of what leads came with mine as I bought it from fleabay along with some universal laptop chargers

(does the job cheaply but then that is me all over)

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

Meh, its $6 more... Ill just get the set anyway. Now to find 7.4V lipos that fit in a buffer tube that are wired to deans (if possible so that I dont need a crane stock). Neither Evike nor AirsoftGI has anything that fits all 3 catagories, I must go exploring (gasp!)

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

OK, batteries ordered, charger order, all is done... now lets hope they dont explode...

 

[Sitting Duck]

OK, batteries ordered, charger order, all is done... now lets hope they dont explode...

only if you are dumb ar$e to think.....

ooh that looks a little puffy (was an old brand X lipo btw not a pukka zippy/turnigy)

I'll let a bit of air out of that plastic wrapping with this pin...........

FIZZZZ FIZZZZZ SPARK SPARK FIZZLE FIZZLE SPARK SPARK......

WTF !!!!! - drops it in the hall.......

WOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFF - FLAMES N $HIT

OPEN THE DOOR - OPEN THE F*CKING DOOOORRRRRRR !!!!!!

BOOOT - phew it went out perfectly, could of clipped the frame and rebounded into front room

Yeah - as far as dumb ar$e things I've done this year or two - that has gotta be in top 3

Decent brands, a little puffy is ok but don't think of maybe letting air out

I own up to being a massive bell-end - more than usual

as a stark warning of the dangers of being a dick with lipo's or really any battery

they are safe - as long as you don't attempt to try voodoo on them

Honest, they are fine as long as you don't f*ck about with them

(stupidly funny now but absolutely $hit myself, missus screaming, smoke alarm going nutz, scorched carpet - yeah not one of best ideas)

THIS IS A BIG BANG VIDEO - like they said they never seen one go like that

mine fizzed and sparked for about 5-10 secs then a modest fire about 12 to 18 inches high

but this is what I mean don't be a dick with lipo's:

 

[SeniorSpaz87]

So basically, don't poke it