LIPO questions

[paparker21]

So i'm pretty sure i'm going lipo, but as i look at the expense of it all, im second guessing myself a bit. just a couple quick questions

1) How necessary is an electrical solution to preventing over-discharge of the cells? IE: do i *REALLY* need a warning circuit that either gives me an audible warning or locks my gun out of firing if i approach the 3.0V / cell cutoff? or is it actually really simple to tell when the voltage is dropping out and may be getting close to charge time. Honestly i've never run my guns battery all the way down in a match so I don't know that i really know how drastic a change it is as it just begins to get low.

-----Aside: What options for overdischarge protection do you guys recomend? from what i can tell, the wolf-dragon PCBs are sorta the go-to option but i'm unclear if i can pair that with a plan ol, non-AB fet, or if i *MUST* have a computerized fet to employ that board.

2) In looking at chargers, it seems like the best deal i can find on one is about 45$+shipping; its got an AC power pack an assortment of connectors (including deans) and can handle between 1-16 cells of either lipo, life, nimh, or nicad batteries in series. Its charge and discharge rates are pretty standard from what i've seen on other chargers as well. Does this seem about right or am I overlooking some very good, cheaper options?

3) I can't decide on which specific pack to get. I really would like to get one that will fit either my KWA SR10, or in the future, a G&G UMG. This makes me lean towards either a nunchuk or a mini type. I've seen a 2200 mah, 25C chuk style on cheapbatterypacks or there are lots of minis- 1450s @ 20c, 1300 @ 35c, and on and on. The minis seem much more affordable but i'm a bit curious how much shorter a charge-life is say 1300 vs 2000 in terms of lipo. I know that's quite a big deal for NIMH, but i don't know if its a direct comparison or not.

4) I know that for anything over a 9.6 it's STRONGLY recommended to use a fet otherwise i risk burning up the trigger contacts... with that in mind... if i ignored this sound advice... how long might i expect my contacts in a basically brand new KWA 2gx box to last? I'm not necessarily opposed to replacing the shuttle and contacts down the line if I might be able to put off some up-front costs.

[trevorst]

If you want to keep your contacts keep around 15C, with that said I have ran off about 25k rounds through my KWA DMR before I got a MosFet in it and my contacts looked fine (and that was with an 11.1v 25c... but then again I am a lazy old man and dont waste bb's and burn up my trigger due to being so damn cheap but still use expensive bb's ..).

If you are worried about damage a 7.4v lipo will still have more ROF than a 9.6v and last you all day.

I don't use a lipo protection thing... although my mosfet in my DMR beeps when it gets low but honestly never has in a full days shooting...


Chargers I like the Thunder AC6, very nice for the money.

[Smartkid312]

Anything over a 20c in airsoft isn't required for you to get a a good rate of fire off them I highly reccomend a 20c lipo and a charger like you said. A MOSFET isn't necessary but highly reccomended if you don't want to burn your contacts up. Extreme fire and infected armory (good cheap one trevorst will tell you) ab MOSFET, will also increase rate of fire. Thanks and hope to see you guys on the battlefield.

[Dannick]

As for your concern of not being able to tell when the voltage drops, trust me. You'll notice it. If you actually manage to shoot it that long, you can definitely hear the ROF drop.

[mtmlegit]