ics mp5 gsg 522 battery life problems

[happykal]

I recently picked up the ics mp5. A friend of mine was trying to get me to start gaming with him, but hunting season took priority. So I finally decided to give it a shot. The guns not bad as far as im concerned, other might know better. Obviously i'm a newb. Any way the battery takes like 4 hrs to charge but only lasted maybe 4 mags. I shot 2 mags after it was charged messing around in the garage and then 2 mags the next day. So either i can conclude the battery sucks and I need a new one or it drains the battery as long as it's plugged in. I'm not sure how the electronics work. Give me a real firearm and I could strip it down and put it all back together piece for piece, but these airsoft guns are still Chinese to me, or Taiwan in the ICS's case. Any advice is appreciated.

[JonsM4]

Get a smart charger, and when you stop using the gun, take the battery out.

[happykal]

Originally Posted by JonsM4

Get a smart charger, and when you stop using the gun, take the battery out.

what's a smart charger

[eKirts]

It's a charger that is able to read (and balance...on more expensive models) the cells with in the battery pack and will shut off when charging is complete. It is also much faster and safer...

As opposed to a trickle/wall charger which is slow and dangerous as it does not stop charging... Especially dangerous with LiPo batteries...

[m102404]

Here's some grown-up-newbie pointers of what may be going on...(oh god...the brain cells I've wasted with this stuff )

1. If you've left your battery outside in the garage...it'll be cold, and cold batteries don't work well. Try to keep the batteries at room temp.

2. As said, a smart charger is a charger that will detect what the cells of the battery pack are doing, how much charge they need/when they're done. "dumb" chargers just dump power into your pack at a pre-set rate...and maybe they'll shut off

3. Just like any rechargeable battery in your camera/radio/flash light/etc...they don't last forever or "charge up" like when they're new. An "old"/"tired" battery may seem to be charged, and may seem to work at first, but just doesn't last long. Nothing to fix...chuck the pack out and buy a new one. A shitty charger can dramatically shorten the lifespan of a battery pack.

4. Your gun doesn't have any electronic circuits in it...only a few do. The on/off switch in your gun is about as primitive as it gets. Basically there's a break in the wiring (two copper fingers) and a metal wedge that gets shoved between them to complete the circuit when you pull the trigger. So...while you should have a battery drain if you leave the batt plugged in...it's ALWAYS a good idea to remove the battery when you're done. A dummy might shoot themselves...the batt may leak and get acid in the gun...etc..

And...unlike a firearm...you can't actually prove/clear an airsoft gun like you have. You can take the mag out and fire a bunch of blanks...but it's not unheard of for a BB to be stuck up in the feeding path and get fired out even though the mag is out. Removing the mag...inverting the gun (so gravity helps a stuck BB go into the feedpath)...and firing a bunch of semi-auto blanks is about best you can do to clear the gun. Removing the battery is 100% safe...since it won't do anything without a power source.

Have fun...wear shatter resistant goggles

[Reckless]

1. as above, wall chargers suck monkey nuts with a goats mouth... spend the $30 and get a smart charger off ebay it's 10000000000000000000x better ..

if the battery has never seen a proper charger .. or it's a crappy battery (not many airsoft guns come with good batteries) it's probably not getting a full proper charge.. and will need a couple cycles to get rid of any memory in the cells and wake completely up

2. is this a canadian legal model... as in is it still 430+ fps? ... that's a hell of alot of strain on the motor and poor stocker battery .. and quite a few "canadian" models just have a nasty spring thrown in.. they don't have the rest of the internals beefed up to actually run that spring much more then border testing for legal import

[L473ncy]

Probably a crap stock battery. That us unless you mean you dumped 4 full hicap mags in which case I'll assume 300-400 BB's each mag giving you between about 1200-1600 BB's but it doesn't sound like that's the case. If you're using midcaps that's more or less 400-500 BB's which means either you might have a 800 mAh battery or something and the cold in the garage also affected it.

This battery should work: http://airsoftgear.ca/index.php?main...roducts_id=687

That is unless it's shooting at a high velocity, it will more or less last you around 1500 shots (generally I equate 1 mAh to 1 shot but it could be more or less depending on climate, conditions, battery quality, and how you use it).

So yeah, give us your battery info (bonus if you can include a pic) and we can try and help you to see if there's something wrong with the battery or it's crap or it's working semi properly. Also note that there are wall chargers that look like "dumb chargers" but are actually smart chargers, the word you'll be looking for is "Negative Delta V detection" or something similar, all you need is some sort of LED to turn on and off that will tell you when the pack is fully charged or not. But then again I personally like the nice $100 chargers with LCD display screens and a tonne of options that most people will never use as well as the ability to charge obscure chemistries like Li2S (Lithium Sulfur), LiFePo4, etc.

[happykal]

The battery is charged in my home. I use the oven timer for 4 hrs lol. My garage is heated to 10C . The mags are 230 rnds so possibly shot 8800 bbs.

this is the gun.
http://torontoairsoft.com/product.php?id_product=980

Battery is a nunchuk ni-mh 2/3A 1200mAh 8.4V

But the smart charger is a good idea. I'm just not sure what to look for. but the convenience of just being able to plug it in and walk away.

[m102404]

You're doing alright with that little battery for so many shots If you're putting that many rounds through it...it's simply because it's a little battery.

They make 8.4v mini (that's the terminology for that pack size) pack that are 1400 and 1600mAh. There's also 7.4v lipos to look at.

Check airsoftparts.ca ...local to GTA and a fast shipper. Do a search for "charger" and take a look at either the B6 or X6. They'll do all sorts of batteries and I've found them to be reliable and consistent.

They've got all sorts of batteries too...stick with Sanyo and Intellect...avoid the green/black no-lable brands.

10C should be ok...small cells (2/3A vs. SubC) are affected more by temp.

[arcanuck]

I have a charger that connects to my PC and I can monitor and graph parameters in real time for each cell in a balanced pack, from internal resistance, to current, voltage wattage under various loads for each cell. For an unbalanced pack it shows the total values. You would be surprised how bad some packs are and how they age. I've all but done away with NiMH packs in particular. Sometimes you get a battery from a bad batch too, been there.

[happykal]

could you put a 9.6v in the gun or would that over power it?

[Reckless]

8800 rnds on a charge for a 8.4 1200mah mini? ... your actually doing real well LOL


reading your initial post... maybe you ment 880 to 920 (4x230) on a single charge? ... sounds like the stocker 8.4 might have a memory .. a smart charger http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3S-iMAX-B6-AC...item336f754ee1

would allow you too do what's called a cycle on the battery ... which is full discharge and recharge cycles .. to recondition the battery..

as an example I used to be able to pull around 4K rounds out of a 8.4 1100 mah mini in a 330ish fps setup .. but that was a TM P90 with tweaks for effeciency ..etc..


a 9.6 wouldn't over power it... infact most would recommend just going to a 9.6 mini for the gun probably looking for a nunchuck/butterfly to fit it's handguard properly ... should be able to find a 1600-2000mah 2/3 cell (4/5 cell mini pack won't fit)

[happykal]

Yeah Im going to have to get a new battery. I tested it again today. Dead battery, charged for 4 hrs and then fired as many rounds as possible. 3 mags worth. I'm not sure if this is normal. But I'd be a sitting target if I had to change a battery in the field. It's a pain to get the battery back in the handguard.

[happykal]

Originally Posted by Reckless

8800 rnds on a charge for a 8.4 1200mah mini? ... your actually doing real well LOL


reading your initial post... maybe you ment 880 to 920 (4x230) on a single charge? ... sounds like the stocker 8.4 might have a memory .. a smart charger http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3S-iMAX-B6-AC...item336f754ee1

would allow you too do what's called a cycle on the battery ... which is full discharge and recharge cycles .. to recondition the battery..

as an example I used to be able to pull around 4K rounds out of a 8.4 1100 mah mini in a 330ish fps setup .. but that was a TM P90 with tweaks for effeciency ..etc..


a 9.6 wouldn't over power it... infact most would recommend just going to a 9.6 mini for the gun probably looking for a nunchuck/butterfly to fit it's handguard properly ... should be able to find a 1600-2000mah 2/3 cell (4/5 cell mini pack won't fit)

yes 880. I guess i put an extra 0. my bad