Battery Blues
 

I use a FireFox 15C 11.1V LiPo in my gun. Its only about a month old and has only been used like 7 times. I balance charge it.

The other day I was shooting my G36 and suddenly, it just died. So i go to charge my battery up and it shows up as DONE after 7 minutes. First WTF?

So i try using it, and all I get is a click that usually happens when I am low on juice. Now I am clueless about what battery to get. I have heard that FireFox batteries are good, but this one has just crapped out on me.

This is really ticking me off because I have other batteries that I use for R/C and I don't even balance charge those. Yet, they have lasted for over a year and a half. One of them has lasted me 3 years! So what the heck!

Did I just get a lemon or should I use something else? Also, I must use 11.1V LiPos because my gun's been upgraded. Anything less will not work.

If anything less will not work then there might just be an underlying issue. Even my dmr at 480 fps doesnt need my 11.1. its just much more responsive.

could it be because my guns upgraded?

well my dmr is highly upgraded, i am not saying this IS the reason but it may be something to look into. really sounds like a bad lipo, what kind of charger? have you tried a discharge/charge cycle? I would highly suggest only trying if you have a lipo bag though. If there is an issue and something goes wrong I would rather not hear your house burnt down (and dont knock because I have seen this happen).

I don't have a balance charger that can discharge at the moment.

I also forgot to mention that it gets really hot, REALLY FAST. LiPos arent supposed to do that as far as I know.......

I would get a new battery, but first try the discharge and see what happens do it outside in case of a fire.

do not use it agian please. there is an issue with the gun itself that has caused the lipo to go bad or the charger has caused the issue. either way do not use that lipo agian and if you are going to use a lipo get a decent quality balance charger... any b6 variant is ok.

its the charger since its some unknown china make one...

yeah, I going to order a new charger since my good one isn't a balance. However, the B6 has gotten some bad reviews....

alot of the time it depends on the version but I have been using my b6 variant for a long time with no issues at all( my lipo use goes back years as rcing was a hobby). it is of course up to you but if the b6 is not your cup of tea a little research on the RC forums will yield you alot of good info. Agian tho I would look into your gun as well as a 430 fps setup even with reg ratio gears should not REQUIRE an 11.1 lipo just to turn it over.

Even an 8.4v mini could turn over a 430fps gun. There's something else wrong with your gun, whether it be shimming or something else.

Something else wrong with my gun? Crap.
I think that I'll try my 8.4v mini tomorrow and see if it works.

Also what shimming would you be talking about? Which part of the gun?

the gears need to be shimmed properly there is theory behind it if it is something you are doing yourself google will be your friend it will take practise and many tries to get it right. I will not elaborate as agian there is much info out there already, other option is a gun doc local to you.

I will never, ever open up a v3 gearbox again as long as I live. My old one was impossible to put back together and I tried to fix it to the point where parts broke and I just threw it out.......
Hopefully the place that I bought it from can fix it.....

what city are you in if you dont mind me asking

I live in the greater Toronto area.

You should probably put that in your profile so people can help you easier.
Also, you don't have to do everything yourself, you can give it to a gundoc.

Since I cannot find a charger with the mini tamiya plug, I can't charge my mini 8.4v...

I need to get a new battery so can anyone recommend anything? Or should I just stick to this brand because I have gotten a lemon.

Also, I think that some gundocs might object to servicing an underager's gun....

buy a adapter.

Make an adapter. Or have someone make one for you (essentially buying one I guess).

Here's what I think happened to your lipo :

1- 11.1 15c getting hot fast : the discharge rate of you're battery is too low for your gun.
2- "I get is a click that usually happens when I am low on juice" : If this happens you discharge the battery way too much.
3- Firefox batteries are just ok, try a better brand.

Conclusion that battery is dead, discharge it properly and send it for recycling.
What you need to do : Get a proper battery with at least 20c discharge rate (higher is even better). Get a good balance charger. Always balance charge the battery and use the storage mode on the charger after each game. This will allow you to keep the battery working for a long time.

@brayden and styrak, I will probably get my local hobby shop owner to make me one. I don't think he'll mind.

@cbourdeau, can you recommend a better battery? Because I cannot seem to find one that is this size.
Also, my battery has only been used like 7 or 8 times. That's not much considering my 11.1v battery for my R/C models have been used close to 200 times without any problems and I don't even balance charge it.

also, never run a lithium battery dead, it kills them.
my company bought a whole bunch of makita 18v pover tools, one guy insisted they needed to be completely dead, so he would put them in the drill and tie the trigger down until it stopped, he needed to get replacment batteries 3 time in as many years, and makita wouldnt warranty them because the chip inside showed just what he had done. we have guys who switch batteries with fresh ones every hour or better, and they have batteries going on 7 years now

Well best thing is to get a battery that is used for RC cars. You will need a battery case to use it tough because it probably won't fit in you're gun. Next thing is you can check hobbyking they have a section for airsoft batteries now. They are not the best but should last a while and RC car drivers seem to like them for a cheap alternative to better batteries.

Sorry for being such a noob, but what am I looking at in terms of cost for a cheap-medium battery case?

please STOP you are not addressing the issue that caused this. you said you REQUIRE an 11.1 v batt to turn it over... that means to us gun docs there is an issue in the gun. I am sorry but the advice being given is skewed. what kind of charger do you posses, is it lipo capable... is it nimh capable...(not all chargers will charge every type of battery) you said it doesnt discharge so that throws cbourdeau idea of to many discharges out window and buying a battery with a higher discharge rate will not help, your gun is pulling to many amps for a reason. running the battery lower then 3.0 Volts per cell means dont recharge that battery agian they are not meant to be drained that far. do you have a device to monitor cell voltage...? storage mode is not needed in between games, I dont even bother to do it for extended periods and have lipos running for years, balance charging is not needed everytime either. do you know that without a mosfet installed you are slowly burning your trigger contacts to nothing?

If any of this is giving you the "uhhhh whattt is he saying" feeling you need to re-think the lipo idea. just do some heavey research on how to properly use them and maintain them.


All I can suggest is have the gun checked out and tell them you want it to run on a large 9.6v battery and go that route. If they have issues accomplishing that then you need a new gun doc.

This of course is MY opinion but please at the least do a little research into the use of lipos.

I know how to use LiPos...I've been using them for years in other applications.

Also, I do think there's an issue in this gun because my 8.4 cannot turn it over when I tried about 5 minutes ago. And I had just finished charging that pack.

I think I'm going to take this to the place where I bought it from and ask them what they can do about it.

My charger can charge all the current nickel and lithium batteries that are out there. I can't monitor cell voltage, but I'm getting a new charger for that....

._."

Time to see what they can do about my gun...which means tomorrow I'm heading out to Pacific Mall.....

Take it to an actual gun doctor....not the retailer you bought it from.

Another Ken 'upgraded' gun maybe? I have a problem with him about a WE M4 that was 'upgraded'. obviously not related to batteries though.

ps, pacific mall sells to minors now?

I guess that I should actually go find a gun doctor...one who is willing to service my gun...

@W0lf: Another person did indeed upgrade my gun so that it was Canadian legal. I won't give out names as to protect their identities. Also, no, Pacific Mall doesn't sell guns to minors but they have no problem selling things like lighters and knives to minors...O.O When I say knives I mean things like tactical folders. No, I haven't bought one.

@Iggys : I never said that he discharged his battery with his charger, maybe you should reread my post... Here it is just for you :

"Here's what I think happened to your lipo :

1- 11.1 15c getting hot fast : the discharge rate of you're battery is too low for your gun.
2- "I get is a click that usually happens when I am low on juice" : If this happens you discharge the battery way too much.
3- Firefox batteries are just ok, try a better brand.

Conclusion that battery is dead, discharge it properly and send it for recycling.
What you need to do : Get a proper battery with at least 20c discharge rate (higher is even better). Get a good balance charger. Always balance charge the battery and use the storage mode on the charger after each game. This will allow you to keep the battery working for a long time."

Now I'm not suggesting he doesn't have a problem with his gun, I'm just saying he should change his battery because from the looks of it, he killed it. Just curious, have you tried one of these FireFox baterries? I borrowed one from one of my friends last week just for testing and it overheated in less than a minute in my gun. The only mod I have is a AWS Raptor mosfet and my gears are shimmed correctly. I normaly use 9.6v without issues.

Ok, the battery that I had was indeed a lemon, but it turns out that there is a problem in my gun too. Even with a new battery that the shop supplied (which was tested on site with a gun that is extremely similar), the gun did not fire.

Can anyone tell me what is the most common cause for a click but no firing?

Most common cause IS that the battery does not have enough power/charge.
If a fuse blew, it wouldn't even click (if you have a fuse)

If that isn't the case, then check your wires, gears, motor, piston, etc... If there is something wrong, you'll probably notice something strange immediately.

You're JG is shooting 430 fps, even an 8.4v nimh mini can power that. I don't see why it has to ONLY take 11.1v lipos... So it isn't a power issue.

Yep you'll have to open it up to see what's going on in there... If you don't think you can do it, bring it to a gun doc.