Homemade Battery and Upgrades

When I was a teenager I used to race my RC10 at the Prince George RC Club, for years, and we had a few tricks when it came to battery packs and connector upgrades.

The one thing I noticed when I got my first Airsoft Rifle was the Tamiya connector that comes with it. When I had over a dozen battery packs for my RC. The big new thing to do was to switch from Tamiya connectors to DEAN connectors. The DEAN connectors stay very cool to the touch, last longer than the same pack with a Tamiya plug, and would give more RPM's for our motors. Which now as I read can give your Airsoft gun a better rate of fire.

So what I am wondering is, has anyone changed their Tamiya connectors for DEAN ones, or any other higher quality connector? I would be interested in changing mine over, but would like to hear from others that allready have. Even if it doesn't change much I have been burnt by those damn Tamiya plugs!!!!

Also I used to build my own battery packs by ordering the batteries, tabs, connectors, and shrinkwrap online. It is really easy to do, and saved me alot of money! So if anyone is doing this I would love to hear from you on this.


This is the DEAN plug

Shemagh

I changed all my guns, batteries and chargers to Dean's connectors last year. The only way to fly IMHO.

But all those guns are gone now.

If it were me, I'd buy pre-tabbed cells and just solder them together myself. You pretty much have to buy online where I live as nobody (not even Battery World) really stocks much in the way of raw cells, heatshrink, etc.. You know that soldering raw untabbed cells sometimes leads to damage to the cell, and it's much easier to solder the tab thna the cell.

I agree, I used to buy kits at first with pre tabbed cells untill I learned how to do it properly by the wickeist RADIO SHACK employee ever! I haven't made one in 7 years, but I imagine I can produce the same quality, if not better, as when I was 14. I know what you mean by a damaged cell! My friend screwed his first two packs, and I had one pack die because of me soldering. (Give me a break I was learning! LOL)

Here is a thread discussing the DEAN connectors, and from what I have read it increases battery life and rate of fire.

http://www.airsoftretreat.com/forums/index.php?topic=14010.msg143408

My friend BiffChicken are going to both give it a try here very soon and we will post our results.

Shemagh

So I have been feverishly been searching the net for days now on the subject and I have found some great sources for materials and a short breakdown of what it will take me to build a single battery pack. The packs that my G3 SAS takes are 8.4v 1200 mAh.

- Seven 1.2v 1200 mAh batteries - $0.55 each
- 2 plastic caps top and bottom - $1.00
- 1 Tamiya connector - $1.59
- Shrinkwrap tube - $1.00
------------------
Total - $7.44 each

I can find the .55 deal on 1.2v 1200 batteries, but the price can go up to 2.50 on others,but I am sure there are deals somewhere on them. This method of making my own would save me alot of money as I can make exactly 3 packs for the price of 1 pre-made one.

I should say that you might allready know this but RC batteries and Airsoft batteries are different polarities, so make sure you are looking for the right ones when ordering.

Shemagh

I've got 24 3000maH Sanyo cells from work. They are huge...C size I am certain. I built a 9.6V pack, it works well but looks rather poor compared to pro jobs. Did you notice plastic caps for C size cells?
The comm tech at work told me about a conductive adhesive but I have not tried to find some yet.

Shemagh wrote:

I should say that you might allready know this but RC batteries and Airsoft batteries are different polarities, so make sure you are looking for the right ones when ordering.

Shemagh

How do you mean different polarities? Can't you just reverse the leads then when installing your connector?