batteries

[ronin677]

Is it me or are 9.6v (2000 amh or greater) nun-chuck batteries not that common? I've been searching and not really come up with much.

 

any advise?

[Adam3088]

7.4v lipo nun-chuck.

[ronin677]

7.4v lipo nun-chuck.

I am a bit dumb when it comes to all this. What exactly is a lipo battery? I've heard people mention them. are they really that good? I've also heard you can't let them run down completely or they are screwed

[Adam3088]

They do require a bit more care then Ni-Mh batteries, but they are an easy and very effective upgrade to any electric gun.

 

A 7.4v lipo wont increase your rate of fire over a 9.6v Ni-Mh, but it will make trigger response much faster and they don't require any internal gun upgrades to use (unlike 11.1v). They also have the benefit of having a higher capacity for the size of battery.

 

 

The downside is that you need a smart charger suitable for LiPo's, a good one can be found for about £35. You also need to do a little bit of reading beforehand to make sure you understand how to safely use them as an improperly charged battery can explode/catch fire, but as long as you charge it properly and don't puncture the battery, they're safe as anything.

In regards to running them flat, if you get a decent capacity I very much doubt you'll ever run in to this. I use a 7.4v 2200mah mini type lipo in my FN2000 and after a full day it's never got anywhere near dangerously low levels.

 

 

Edit: You may want to consider changing battery connectors at the same time if you're using tamiya types, it's not really necessary but either Deans or XT60's can handle a higher current and may provide a very small performance increase.

[Happy]

Just be careful with a lipo mate, they can catch fire a lot easier than most other batteries if mishandled.

[Esoterick]

I don't get what all the fuss is about with LiPos. Charge them and then use them without running them flat, also don't put them in your mouth.

[Adam3088]

I don't get what all the fuss is about with LiPos. Charge them and then use them without running them flat, also don't put them in your mouth.

 

Most of the problems seem to come from people accidentally charging them using the wrong settings, if you try to charge them as a NiMh they tend to go bang.

[Esoterick]

Yeah or as one of the guys in a shop was telling me the only time he'd seen one catch fire was when the user damaged the wires slamming the butt plate back on carelessly. Years ago I nearly blew a NiMh battery up using an adapter that apparently messed up the trickle charge capability :S

[Adam3088]

I saw an entire box of NiMH's go bang which was pretty impressive. Used to be part of an RC car racing club, some guy had made the bright decision to store all of his batteries in one of those smart looking metal briefcase things with electrical tape on the inside to insulate it. Tape got worn away, battery shorted and caught fire which in tern made the others catch fire and explode. Proper mullered the box!

[BrightCandle]

In many ways I think the lipo's are a lot easier to look after. You put them in your gun, go by the rule that 600mah is good for 1000 shots and keep a rough idea of how many rounds have gone through. Once you start getting close to the limit you swap the battery. A 2600mah battery is good for about 4000 rounds so you'll kind of know once you have gone through an entire bag/bottle and are starting the next one that its basically time to change after that game.

 

But once you get back home all you have to do is charge the battery in your smart charger. Leave it there until its done and then do the next one. You don't have to discharge them to avoid memory problems or anything like that.

 

I have been having a look at the voltages of my batteries with a amp metre and I was kind of surprised to find (confirmed on other sights) that actually 7.4V is the minimum they put out. At full charge its more like 8.4 volts, 7.4V is the point at which you change the battery. Most of the time it will perform very similar to the 8.4 nimd all be it with more current which supposedly speeds up trigger response (I have only ever used lipos).

 

If you physically damage the battery you can certainly have problems with them, you need a lipo smart and balance charger but other than that they aren't really any more fragile. They are basically a lower maintenance battery with much higher capacity in the same space, I can't honestly think why people would honestly choose nimd over lipo these days, they are basically superior in every way for airsoft purposes.