Noob battery question!

[Jbone 11 11]

Quick question about battery care: After you charge it up the first time (it was plugged in for 14 hours or something like that) should I use it till its completely dead before I charge it up again? I have run into problems with this with my laptop battery and wondering if the same applies to Airsoft batteries.

BTW its a NiCad.... (are they all Nicad?)

Thanks,
J

[m102404]

With a NiCad....yes, run it until it's dead, then charge it back up. After a couple of games, discharge it and recharge it completely.

NOTE: Good point below...I didn't mean "dead" as in the battery reads extremely low...I mean "dead" as in it won't cycle your AEG anymore...

With a NiMh...no need to discharge it completely. Just top it off and have fun.

[Donster]

If i have my info correct, Nicads, are better for cold weather i beleive and such like that.

[kalnaren]

If you run a Ni-Cad dead every time you charge it the only thing you're going to do is kill the battery.

Modern Ni-Cad technology has almost eliminated the memory effect. Draining it dead once every 4-6 charges is sufficient.

NEVER drain a laptop battery to dead, or at least don't do it very often. Laptops use Lithium batteries. It's very bad for them to drain them all the way.

[KND]

Originally Posted by Jbone 11 11

Quick question about battery care: After you charge it up the first time (it was plugged in for 14 hours or something like that) should I use it till its completely dead before I charge it up again? I have run into problems with this with my laptop battery and wondering if the same applies to Airsoft batteries.

BTW its a NiCad.... (are they all Nicad?)

Thanks,
J

-NiCad need to use properly in order to maintain their long last life of usage
You need a proper charger which has discharge function which can be discharge first the charge the battery also those battery are pretty good in winter and will last longer than Nimah battery.

-NiMh battery turn to be a good battery for airsoft because you don't need to discharge it before you charge so you can charge it anytime you want but still you need a properly charger, not just wall charger come with the gun, those are garbage. That's the first that I will throw away when I bought new gun. Smart charger is your best choice, low price and can charge both Nicad and Nimh.

For myself, since I change to Lipo battery ( Lithium Polymer battery ), I never tend to go back to those two above.

Most of people will ask you to stay away from Lipo is because of the video on the youtube but still there are only like 22 case of Lipo explode until now.

[Jbone 11 11]

Ok... so I played a good four hours the other day which was the first time I played on this battery. I seem to still have a lot of juice left, so how do I drain it beside the obvious way? KND, you mentioned a smart charger... they easy to find?

[KND]

There we go : http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...oducts_id=1030

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Jbone 11 11

Ok... so I played a good four hours the other day which was the first time I played on this battery. I seem to still have a lot of juice left, so how do I drain it beside the obvious way? KND, you mentioned a smart charger... they easy to find?

Don't bother draining it. There is NO need to do this every time you charge a Ni-Cad. Once every 5-10 charges is fine, or you can get something like the NPT charger from BB bastard and it does just as well. Completely draining a Ni-Cad battery every time you charge it will shorten the life of the battery.*

*Draining from normal use won't hurt, since your AEG won't drain it to dead (0.9v-1.0v per cell). Using a discharger every time WILL hurt it in the long run.

[coach]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

NEVER drain a laptop battery to dead, or at least don't do it very often. Laptops use Lithium batteries. It's very bad for them to drain them all the way.

Agreed. Lithium batteries, more specifically lithium ion batteries, like to be topped up all the time. This goes for not only laptops but cellphones and iPods etc. I've seen people running to get a new battery because the current battery life has significantly decreases. My current cell phone is charged every night as is my iPod. The cell phone still gives me the same battery life as it did 3 years ago when I got it.

Originally Posted by Jbone 11 11

Ok... so I played a good four hours the other day which was the first time I played on this battery. I seem to still have a lot of juice left, so how do I drain it beside the obvious way? KND, you mentioned a smart charger... they easy to find?

for now, don't worry about draining it. just use it until it doesn't cycle your AEG. In the event you are going to a game, just charge it up.

With most new batteries, it's battery life potential will not be fully achieved until it's been cycled a few times, but it will not hurt it to use it as normal. There is just a small chance that it will deplete itself a little sooner then it should. This is normal.