Need advice with broken gun

[Jabbatwo]

Hello,

I am new to airsoft & not sure what is wrong with my gun, all help is greatly appreciated! So I was out shooting the gun pretty much all day with my friends & had no problem with the gun. Then, left it to charge at night for 7 hours (recommended 8 hours) and then when I woke up in the morning the gun wouldn’t fire when I put in the battery. Does this sound like a case of broken battery or something else?  Keep in mind the gun is only couple of weeks old and hasn’t been overcharge.

thanks.

James 

 

[Monkeywrencher]

What gun? what battery? what charger?

 

[Jabbatwo]

Don’t have the box anymore but it’s an AK-74u if that helps.

Battery is SC 1800mAh 1.2V J.G.Works, 14-15HRS for @ 180mA / 2-2.5HRS @ 900mA

Charger is RIKO Ni-Cd. Output 12v - 150 mA.

Not too sure what information is important so just wrote it all. Thanks!

 

[EDcase]

You sure about the 1.2v ?

That doesn't sound right

 

[Jabbatwo]

Yeah that’s the only voltage given on the battery 

 

[Rogerborg]

That'll be 7.2V.

That battery would charge in 12 hours at 150mA from empty.

But it wasn't empty.  1800 mAh is pretty chunky, so it was probably still mostly full unless you put many thousands of BBs through it.

Chances are that it's cooked, and you're lucky you didn't burn your house down (never charge batteries unattended) but we can't tell without more information.

One thing I always keep to hand is a basic digital multimeter, which takes so much of the guesswork out of batteries and electrics.  Even a £6 meter from eBay will do the job.

Personally though I'd suggest slinging that battery in the recycling and buying two 7.4V lipo batteries from https://hobbyking.com/ (no larger than the dimensions of your current battery) along with a SkyRC B6 charger and power supply.

You can cheap out and buy more nimh batteries, but that charger is probably going to keep wrecking them and/or killing you, so I'd suggest it's a false economy.

At the very least, you'll want some sort of "smart" charger that cuts out automatically, whether you stick with obsolete nimh or go to lipo.

 

[EDcase]

^ What Roger said

One question: Was the battery hot when you unplugged it in the morning?

Go with a couple of Li-Po's 7.4v and as high mAh number as possible that will fit in the battery space.

The SkyRC B6 is the best and will keep your batteries in top condition for a long time.

Minimum would be something like this

 

[Jabbatwo]

Thanks Roger & ED! Yeah gonna definitely get what you guys recommended. Can’t remember too well but don’t think the battery was hot. Thanks again

 

[Rogerborg]

I know the B6 (you'll need a power supply with it) looks expensive, but you'll only have to buy once.  I made the mistake of buying another nimh battery, and a basic smart nimh charger, than a basic smart lipo charger, all of which was ultimately money wasted.

All that said, it depends what you're doing with the AK.  If it's just for casual plinking larks (on private land, I hope) then you might be as well getting another cheap nimh and being more cautious about charging it - stop when it warms up!

However, if you're planning to buy more guns, or are skirmishing at a paid site, then you don't want your batteries crapping out on you, and a decent charger and lipos are the way to go.

I'd suggest two lipos because:

1) Swapping over half way through the day will help to ensure that you don't over-discharge one.

2) If one does die, your day isn't over.

3) At HobbyKing prices, you might as well.

 

[Philby21]

Another vote for the B6 (or any equivalent charger), great bit of kit and charges pretty much anything - even loaned it to a friend to charge a 6V battery for a classic tractor!