What Battery Can I Use

[Murray67]

Good day everyone. 

My son has 2 guns. Both with the same batteries. Both of which appear to have failed after little use. 

Both weapons have a double pack. ASG li-po 1300mAh. 7.4v 25c. 

Do I have to buy the exact spec or can this be upgraded. 

Upgraded by means of more mAh and more v. 

Thanks guys

[Adolf Hamster]

couple of questions, what do you mean by "little use", and do either of those guns have mosfets in them?

 

reason i ask is a lipo battery will be killed by over-discharging, which in airsoft terms is continuing to try and fire until it just won't cycle.

 

some mosfets have built-in cutoffs that mean you can just fire away and the mosfet will stop the gun from running once the battery has drained.

 

whilst you can get away with running a gun on a lipo with no cutoff, it's really not recommended especially for newer/younger players as in the best case you'll kill the battery (as i suspect might have happened here), worst case burn something.

 

 

as for higher voltage/capacity there's 2 answers:

voltage it depends, the gun will run faster, which isn't bad in and of itself however it might push it fast enough to cause problems depending on the setup, often for a stock gun this isn't too bad but it is something to consider.

 

capacity there's really no drawback to having more, as long as the battery physically fits in the gun (generally more capacity tends towards a physically bigger/more expensive battery)

[EDcase]

Hi and welcome Murray

 

Those look like decent capacity batteries.  What charger have you got?

 

Its better to have two batteries and swap at lunch rather than use one until its completely flat.

If not using a battery for several weeks its best to select 'Storage charge' after the game day (if you have an intelligent charger)

 

I would advise to stick with 7.4v and as high mAh as will physically fit in the space.

 

11.1v will work, and be very snappy, but puts much higher strain on all the components in the gearbox so likely cause a failure more quickly.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by EDcase

[Murray67]

30 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

couple of questions, what do you mean by "little use", and do either of those guns have mosfets in them?

 

reason i ask is a lipo battery will be killed by over-discharging, which in airsoft terms is continuing to try and fire until it just won't cycle.

 

some mosfets have built-in cutoffs that mean you can just fire away and the mosfet will stop the gun from running once the battery has drained.

 

whilst you can get away with running a gun on a lipo with no cutoff, it's really not recommended especially for newer/younger players as in the best case you'll kill the battery (as i suspect might have happened here), worst case burn something.

 

 

as for higher voltage/capacity there's 2 answers:

voltage it depends, the gun will run faster, which isn't bad in and of itself however it might push it fast enough to cause problems depending on the setup, often for a stock gun this isn't too bad but it is something to consider.

 

capacity there's really no drawback to having more, as long as the battery physically fits in the gun (generally more capacity tends towards a physically bigger/more expensive battery)

These guns were basically bought for my son but never used outside the garden and have sat for over a year doing nothing. That was because they both stopped working. 

I have zero knowledge on these guns and have no idea what a mosfit is. Sorry. 

As for charger. See attached photo. Again, no idea about the setting on it. 

But last night I put the batteries on charge and 12 hrs later the green lights were still flashing, meaning not charged.  

[EDcase]

Yeah, if they haven't been charged in over a year they're probably dead.

There is a possibility to revive them with a NiMh/NiCd charger but must be done carefully to avoid a fire and they may never get to 100% so probably best to get new ones.

 

The charger looks OK but if you want the batteries to last as long as possible it may be worth investing in an intelligent charger. (Do a search for the thread talking about chargers)

Hopefully someone can confirm but I think the 'A' setting should be on 1A for batteries below 2000mAh

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by EDcase

[Adolf Hamster]

15 minutes ago, Murray67 said:

These guns were basically bought for my son but never used outside the garden and have sat for over a year doing nothing. That was because they both stopped working. 

 

so the batteries died before they were put away or have you only just noticed coming out of storage?

 

15 minutes ago, Murray67 said:

I have zero knowledge on these guns and have no idea what a mosfit is. Sorry. 

 

basically a lot of airsoft pews have very very basic circuitry in them- there's a switch which is the trigger, a fuse, and the motor.

 

a mosfet is an electronic switch which, depending on the make and model, will offer a bunch of different features.

 

in this case, a mosfet with a battery cutoff will make the pew much easier to use (as it'll just cut the power when the battery gets too low so you can't kill the battery by over-discharging), it'll also preserve the trigger contacts making them last much longer.

 

others may chime in with their own suggestions, but something like this:

https://gatee.eu/products/programmable/nanohard

has a battery cutoff

 

others may have better/cheaper recommendations from the other brands.

 

of course installing one isn't a trivial thing, requiring disassembly and some soldering skills, so getting a tech to install it would be the best option- folks on here might be able to suggest somewhere good based on your location.

 

as i mentioned previously you can get away without this, but i wouldn't suggest it for a kid who's not had much experience with these things.

 

12 minutes ago, EDcase said:

There is a possibility to revive them with a NiMh/NiCd charger but must be done carefully to avoid a fire and they may never get to 100% so probably best to get new ones.

 

whilst i've heard of this being done, it's not something i'd wanna try even myself, even if you save it you'll end up with a weakened battery.

 

25 minutes ago, EDcase said:

Hopefully someone can confirm but I think the 'A' setting should be on 1A for batteries below 2000mAh

 

yes (with a caveat).

 

the rule of thumb i generally go by is 1C charge rate, so whatever the mah capacity is in ma (in this case 1.3a), this gives a 1 hour theoretical charge time (bit longer in reality for the balancing stage).

 

batteries can sometimes take more than this (the rc guys for example tend to want faster charge rates when they're out playing) and the batteries can be rated to take it, although it does wear them out quicker.

 

for airsoft purposes though charge time can simply be solved by more batteries on the day and being organised enough to remember to keep them charged, so no benefit to pushing them harder.

[EDcase]

Yeah I meant for optimal charging to prolong the life of the battery.

They can be charged at a higher rate but since you're normally preparing things a day in advance I would always go gentle on the batteries.

[Murray67]

Many thanks guys. U think the best option is simply to buy a new set of batteries that are the same spec and see how it goes. 

Thanks again. I'll report back once I make progress

[Adolf Hamster]

10 minutes ago, EDcase said:

Yeah I meant for optimal charging to prolong the life of the battery.

 

in that case skip the caveats

 

[EDcase]

Two of the same spec should last a whole day.

You could try and find a higher mAh that will fit.

 

Having said that, THIS should last all day by itself. (Check physical size)

Still cheaper to get two smaller batteries like THIS and you have some redundancy.

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by EDcase

[Murray67]

So guys, a quick recap. Dont let the battery go totally flat and if you do, dont let it sit flat for weeks? 

Basically always retain a charge in the battery and it should last. 

Is that about right?

[EDcase]

7 minutes ago, Murray67 said:

So guys, a quick recap. Dont let the battery go totally flat and if you do, dont let it sit flat for weeks? 

Basically always retain a charge in the battery and it should last. 

Is that about right?

Yep,  but to complicate matters, its not good to leave batteries fully charged for long periods either.

Intelligent chargers can be set to 'Storage charge' which is 70%

Edited April 20, 2021 by EDcase

[Lozart]

7 minutes ago, Murray67 said:

So guys, a quick recap. Dont let the battery go totally flat and if you do, dont let it sit flat for weeks? 

Basically always retain a charge in the battery and it should last. 

Is that about right?

 

Pretty much.

 

Also - look into getting a balance charger. Something like this would be good https://hobbyking.com/en_us/accuell-s60-ac-charger-uk-plug.html

[Murray67]

This is what we have. We have 2 of them and TBH there is no  instructions with them. 

[Lozart]

21 minutes ago, Murray67 said:

This is what we have. We have 2 of them and TBH there is no  instructions with them. 

 

Honestly, if you're planning on keeping the guns for a while and using them get a better charger. The one I linked to is £25ish and it'll help your batteries last longer!