How to tell if your AEG is LiPo ready

[Ghillieman]

Place a fully charged lipo batter in your gun and run 10,000 rounds through it without stopping. Keep the trigger depressed even through your mag changes. The most important thing you can do is dry fire the crap out of your gun. If you make it to 10,000 rounds and your gun doesn't frag it's ready to go.

But in all seriousness there are a lot of posts asking how to make it lipo ready, hell, I have even asked the question. This is my answer. If you have a quality AEG you should have no problems running a lipo. If you are running a sub-par AEG spend the money that you were going to spend on a lipo and charger and spend it on upgrading your gun. Then think about your battery upgrade

[bigwavedave]

The biggest issue in running a lipo IMO is the trigger contacts.  If you are running anything more than a 7.4 you are going to arc/burn the contacts up in a short period of time.  This requires a MOSFET to overcome the issue.  If you are looking for a cheap MOSFET solution I have had good luck with these AB mosfets:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Airsoft-Active-Brak ... 439ff955ec

The only issue I've had with the MOSFET above is in my rear wired M4s which require a huge deal of PITA, to get the MOSFET to sit into the buffer while allowing for the Buffer tube mounting screw and washer to slip past.  

The only gun I've had the pleasure of owning that didn't require new contacts and has been trouble free + Lipo is the M249 which has a very easy to clean / replace trigger switch.  I believe ARES uses these in their M4's also.

[Crono0001]

Place a fully charged lipo batter in your gun and run 10,000 rounds through it without stopping. Keep the trigger depressed even through your mag changes. The most important thing you can do is dry fire the crap out of your gun. If you make it to 10,000 rounds and your gun doesn't frag it's ready to go.

But in all seriousness there are a lot of posts asking how to make it lipo ready, hell, I have even asked the question. This is my answer. If you have a quality AEG you should have no problems running a lipo. If you are running a sub-par AEG spend the money that you were going to spend on a lipo and charger and spend it on upgrading your gun. Then think about your battery upgrade

Holding down the trigger for that long is surely going to fry your motor, no?
Furthermore, the reason people ask is because they want to avoid fragging their gun

[Pick]

Place a fully charged lipo batter in your gun and run 10,000 rounds through it without stopping. Keep the trigger depressed even through your mag changes. The most important thing you can do is dry fire the crap out of your gun. If you make it to 10,000 rounds and your gun doesn't frag it's ready to go.

But in all seriousness there are a lot of posts asking how to make it lipo ready, hell, I have even asked the question. This is my answer. If you have a quality AEG you should have no problems running a lipo. If you are running a sub-par AEG spend the money that you were going to spend on a lipo and charger and spend it on upgrading your gun. Then think about your battery upgrade

Holding down the trigger for that long is surely going to fry your motor, no?
Furthermore, the reason people ask is because they want to avoid fragging their gun

I think he was being funny about it  :lol:

[Ghillieman]

I was trying to make light of all the lipo questions :mrgreen:

[TheBoy988]

Lol yeah... don't hold the trigger down.

IMO and a few other airsmiths the term "LiPo Ready" is simply a marketing gimmick. The voltage you run through your gun regardless of if its coming from a LiPo, NiCd, or NiMh is still voltage. Same with amperage draw, the motor controls how much amperage is drawn from the battery. Only thing i can think of doing considering LiPo is not going over 20c and get your gearbox properly shimmed before running a LiPo. Also something to consider, If you run higher voltage batteries your more likely to break and will break more often in a given amount of time.

Thats all i can think of for right now...

[Ghillieman]

And that's why mosfet chips are such an amazing addition to a tricked out AEG. Active breaking is pretty cool.

[Ranger_Robby]

The biggest issue in running a lipo IMO is the trigger contacts.  If you are running anything more than a 7.4 you are going to arc/burn the contacts up in a short period of time.  This requires a MOSFET to overcome the issue.

Explain "short period of time", I have been using an 11.1V LiPo for over 2 years in my VFC and over 3 on my Classic Army based gun, both of which do not have a MOSFET, do not run Deans, and are still using their stock switches. I think MOSFETs are great precautionary measure that will definitely improve performance, especially higher end ones with active braking, but i wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary or else you'll burn it up fast.

[VICTORIOUS]

I like the extreme-fire mosfets because they replace the trigger circuit so the current load for the motor isn't running through it. It goes from battery, through mosfet, to motor. Fun!!

[axisofoil]

I've found that many mid-range end stock motors won't hold up to a 11.1v lipo, even if the trigger contacts and gearbox internals will.

A mosfet will save your trigger contacts. If you just want a non-computerized mosfet, the "precision tactical" models from ebay are actually very nice. If you want burst fire, etc... then extreme-fires are nice.

As far as not destroying your gun... you want to limit your total available amperage. The C rate mentioned before is important... but a blanket statement of 20C isn't quite good enough. The amperage depends on the C rate, but the C rate is measured with respect to the total capacity of the battery at nominal current ratings. 20C means it will drain the entire battery in 3 mins. 1C means it will drain in 1 hour, and 2C means it will drain in 30mins AT THAT CURRENT. So, a 20C 1000mAh battery will put out approximately the same current as a 10C 2000mAh battery... all else being equal.

For max durability of your internals, keep the mAh*Crating/1000 under 30 or so. For maximum trigger response, you want that number as high as possible. Remember that if you use fuses... if this number is significantly higher than the number on your fuse, you may start blowing them like crazy.

[XavierMace]

Explain why you want to limit your amperage, other than so you don't blow out your fuse.  I've got a 3300mah 25C (82a constant) battery and several 5000mah 30C (150a) constant batteries that have been used for extended periods.  Your gun is only going to draw what it needs.  As long as your gun can handle the motors maximum draw, going past this doesn't hurt you in the slightest.

[axisofoil]

Explain why you want to limit your amperage, other than so you don't blow out your fuse.  I've got a 3300mah 25C (82a constant) battery and several 5000mah 30C (150a) constant batteries that have been used for extended periods.  Your gun is only going to draw what it needs.  As long as your gun can handle the motors maximum draw, going past this doesn't hurt you in the slightest.

If you aren't sure your gun can handle it, is is the situation I was referring to. Many guns (such as most ICS and better guns) will have absolutely no problem. Ever. A JG however, will burn out the stock motor if you don't limit the amperage for it.
Many stock motors will go ahead and pull more amperage than they can reliably run. They will for a time spin faster, but will quickly wear out... start shorting their coils and pretty soon they'll be burnt out... at least partially. This will then increase their resistance, which will increase their current draw, which will then increase the rate of decay... and basically it's one big pile of steamy poo spinning around in circles contained only with a wet paper bag.

Well designed (or even halfway decently designed) motors will of course have no problem with this, as they will be designed to handle the max current they can draw, instead of being quickly and cheaply put together. I do agree that your gun will only take what the motor will use... but lower quality motors found in most stock configurations won't like working at 100%.

And I'll go ahead and say it... a lot of guns won't handle their motor's maximum draw. Mind you, most gears break during acceleration, not during constant loading... which is when available amperage is the most apparent, during initial acceleration... which causes impact loading and severe stresses.

Don't use a low quality motor, shim your gearbox well, adjust your AOE, and use a half decent piston, and you should NEVER have a problem mechanically due to the lipo. Mosfet and good wires and you won't have one electrically... due to the lipo.

I'm sorry if I was unclear and vague (I try not to put these big long-winded posts unless someone asks... apparently I speak in engineer and most people don't understand it).

[XavierMace]

I understood exactly what you were trying to say.  As an engineer myself, with respect, that's still flawed logic.  If your motor can't run reliably AT it's max amperage draw, going over the max amperage draw isn't going to kill it any faster than being AT it's max amperage draw.  So, unless you KNOW exactly where your motor's draw peaks at (99% of airsofters don't) and what it can be RELIABLY run at (which you have no way of determining without burning out a mountain of motors) limiting your amperage is gaining you little or nothing.  Even so, said cheap motors are probably peaking at 20a or so in which case you are going to exceed that with any quality battery, LiPo or not.  At that point, you should just be expecting to replace your motor sooner rather than later anyways.

More over, what's the point in buying a GOOD battery if you have to buy an inferior "good" battery for fear of breaking your POS gun.  If you are that concerned about your guns electrical system, you shouldn't be running a lipo.  Period.

I'm also with Robby regarding the MOSFET's.  None of my guns have MOSFET's (save for the DMR which needed burst) and all are run on the previously mentioned LiPo's.  I've yet to have any electrical issue and I can replace a mountain of trigger contacts before I come close to the cost of a good MOSFET to say nothing of the time and effort of installing said MOSFET.  That's not to say a MOSFET is bad but they've become a part of this whole stupid "lipo ready" craze that's just a pile of crap.

[axisofoil]

I run a mosfet because I like active braking. That's all. They CAN slightly increase trigger response... but once again, if you have a good battery, it really won't. I've also never burnt out trigger contacts running 2800mAh 30C lipos for quite a while now, with or without a mosfet. I did fry a motor though (was a dboys motor... probably would have fried after too long on the 8.4 stick that came with it). That dboys motor drew over 40A when I replaced it... probably was only pulling around 20-25 when it was new though. They do pull more when they're on the death bed.

I also agree that buying an inferior good battery is stupid. But if your gun can't handle more than an itty bitty battery, and you want a lipo for space savings (there are people who care about looks more than performance, after all), then it is a situation you could possibly run into... albeit rare.

Basically, I agree with everything you said.    
Like usual, we seem to be arguing similar points from nearly the same direction... but still running into each other?

[CBDennis]

Are the new ICS M4s high quality enough for a Lipo?