The Electronics of Airsoft: Part 3: Choosing a Battery Voltage

Military obligation has kept me away for several weeks, but I'm back now and full of information. I will go over what attributes make a replica "LiPo Ready," but I will save exactly how to max out your own replica later on when I go into the world of Teching.

There is a lot of information surrounding batteries when it comes to airsoft. In my last post, Batteries, I went over the different types of batteries and how they perform. In this post I will go over how batteries of the same type can differ, and what battery you should choose for your own replica. There will be a little bit more technical information, but I will save most of that for my final post in this series.

Here is some information on how to choose a battery's voltage.

The first thing you need to ask yourself when choosing a battery is “How much stress can my replica take?” The biggest thing that voltage changes in an Airsoft gun is how fast the gun shoots, which means a higher voltage is much harder on the gearbox components than a lower. The answer to that question will determine what kind of battery you should choose, and what voltage it should be.

There are a few tiers of guns, corresponding nicely to the levels of player experience I go over in Getting Started with Airsoft, Part 2. Each level of gun has its own ability to handle different types of batteries, ranging from perfect capability to instant explosions (figuratively, of course).

Entry-Level:

These are AEGs of nearly any price that are stock or poorly upgraded. The internals of these come poorly tuned, if at all,

and cannot stand up to the stress of higher power batteries. This tier may include some very expensive stock guns, even some top of the line companies that don’t bother to tunes their gearboxes before shipping. To be clear, this will include most, if not all AEGs out of the box. The good news is that it is very easy to get to the next tier, if you have access to a Tech.

Mid-Level:

These are the replicas that are tuned, but still do not have the durable upgrade parts or electronics necessary for high-speed

builds. These are safe to use with higher voltages of Nickel and lower voltages of Lithium. The difference between these and entry level replicas is as little as correct shimming and motor height, corrected angle of engagement, and proper cleaning and lubing of gears and compression parts.

LiPo Ready (Veteran):

There are only a couple Airsoft guns on the market that can truly be called “LiPo Ready” out of the box, and even these

usually have one thing or another that should be tuned for maximum durability. In my opinion, for a gun to be truly LiPo Ready, it must have all the tuning that a Mid-Level AEG has, plus the more durable parts to ensure the gearbox can withstand the stress of a high-power battery. These parts include metal piston teeth (at least half), good quality gears, good quality motor, low-resistance wires, and a MOSFET. Without any one of these parts, your gun could fail rather quickly under the stress of a battery as powerful as an 11.1V LiPo.

Choosing a Battery:

Selecting your Voltage:

Once you have determined What level your AEG is, you can decide what battery to get.

Entry-Level: stick with NiMH or NiCd, 8.4V or 9.6V. Anything more powerful risks damage to the gearbox.

Mid-Level: Once tuned, most replicas can take 10.8V and 12V Nickle batteries and any capacity 7.4V LiPo, as well as 6.6V and 9.9V (this is pushing it) LiFe.

LiPo Ready: Only once all the necessary parts have been upgraded, installed and tuned can you move on to the most powerful batteries. These include 11.1V and 14.8V LiPo, as well as 9.9V and 13.2V LiFe.

A Few Notes:

I would like to point out that every gun should be tuned to this Mid-Level, regardless of what battery you decide to use. You can still plug an 8.4V NiMH into a Veteran-Level gun, as long as the spring is not too strong. You will see a marked increase in rate of fire over an out of the box replica due to the lower stress of proper alignment of the drive train. Another effect of good tuning is lower draw from the battery, which means more shots before the battery dies. Always a good thing.

Another thing: when dealing with high-power batteries is the increased wear and tear on the gearbox. The time that parts within the gearbox will last, as well as the lifetime of the gearbox itself is related to the number of cycles the gearbox turns. The more shots you fire, the closer you are to wearing down a part to the point of breaking.

Keep in mind that increasing the rate of fire on a replica will increase the speed at which you meet that breaking point. You will reach it eventually with an 8.4V NiMH, but using an 11.1V LiPo will make that time come considerably more quickly. It's always a good idea to have some money set aside for when parts break, because they certainly will. Fortunately, this rarely means the gun is down for the count, only out for a bit until a Tech can fix it up.

One more thing to note is that Batteries are not used solely for increasing rate of fire. Sometimes you must have a more powerful battery to pull a stronger spring, or to reach the minimum voltage for some MOSFETs. Never forget that you must have all the other parts in place before you plug in a high-power battery, or something else will break.

Next time I will go into Selecting Your Capacity, and will cover things like battery space, how play-style enters the equasion, and battery drain. See you then!

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Thank you!