Self-Discharging Battery?!?!?

[Lorenzo]

Read closely and you can see that it says theres no need to discharge the battery... is this true?
www.airsoft128.com/cgi-bin/store1/AA-PKG-VER104M.html

[dicepackage]

I can't find any mention of it on the link but I think that they don't know what they are talking about. You should always discharge your battery after use to prolong its life.

[Andree]

Maby its a diffrent kindof battery? The one in the pic is green and every one i have seen in an AEG is yellow cells with clear wrap. Maby you dont need to discharge this kindof battery

[xaos]

I have a green battery. It's not self-discharging, just a normal battery. Different companies package their batts differently. The color of the plastic shrink-wrapped around the cell really doesn't make any difference to what's inside.

Clicked the link...it's a normal Ni-Mh battery. They still need to be discharged just like the more common Ni-Cd's. The main difference between a Ni-Cd battery and Ni-Mh battery is that a Ni-Mh battery is capably of using more of it's stored energy before "dying"...because the battery uses more of it's stored energy, it doesn't require as much discharging (there's less energy in the battery that needs to be drawn out by a discharger). That may be the fact that's leading to the misguided bit of info contained within that link. I do remember reading something wierd about some new, extremely expensive lithium-ion battery, however...supposedly much higher capacity in small cell sizes, with a higher discharge rate.

Please note that all of the above information is composed of my interpretation/memory of what was said in articles/posts by people who know a whole helluva lot more about batteries than I do. If something I've written is wrong, please correct me, I'll even admit that I'm a complete and total moron ahead of time.

Yeah, I like to make really long posts out of what should be short answers.

[luke213]

Yep it is a NiMH battery which is conceved to mean that it's not going to "memory" like a NiCAD will, though in my experience that isn't as true as we'd like to think. But from a retailer that is looking to make a sale they will say anything. One thing that I have heard about NiMH batteries is that the amount of current they can kick out is lower than a NiCAD. They run longer at a higher amperage though at full charge they kick allot less current, I don't think it will make much difference. I look at it as, I shoot my battery till it dies, then charge it. When it starts getting a bad "memory" then I will replace it they are not that expensive, so I guess I'm saying don't base your purchase on not needing a discharger or the battery.

One last note yes they do make a Li-Ion (not correct but can't remember how it's supposed to be written), which is lithium Ion battery. Which is what is currently used in almost all laptops and cell phones. They are great for memory in most circumstances, and seem to kick nearly the same current as Nicad. Though some people are concerned with their duribility in an airsoft enviorment, since early LiIon batteries were known to blowup and burn the shit out of stuff, so just something to keep in mind. Though they do seem to be able to carry allot more voltage and amperage in a smaller package, which in some AEG's could be a blessing.


Luke

[xaos]

Just one thing to add. If you've got a gun capable of utilising a large battery, you really don't need to worry about super high capacity batteries. I've got a 8.4 3000Mah battery for my MP5, it was charged exactly three times before my gun took a shit...once right after I got it, and then again before each of the two ops I have attended.

With a gun that can only take a mini, yeah, there's definitely something to think about there. But using a large battery, I can easily play two times a week for a month and a half on one charge.

Back on topic...the necessity of discharging batteries has been debated for some time. There's arguements for and against the *necessity* of discharging to prolong battery life. No, I'm not going to elaborate here. I honestly don't care one way or another, it's just something my memory grabbed while I was surfing around one day. Having a near-photographic memory is a curse at times Personally, I look at it this way: discharging doesn't hurt the battery. If it *might* make my battery have a longer useful life, then I might as well do it, especially since my charger has an integral discharger function.

[Newman]

Sorry, but I can't just sit back and let this go.

The NiCd batteries are "infamous" for developing the memory effect.

The NiMHs are the wave of the future because they don't need to be discharged. That's one of the big selling points of NiMH.

The only problem is, sometimes you'll get the utterly crappy older style cells that cannot put out enough amperage/voltage when they are connected to the "load". I bought a 9.6V 1100 mAh NiMH battery from Radioshack one time and hoped it would work for my gun, because it fit in my MP5SD6's front grip, but it would only power the gun for one to two shots before "dying" (I charged it correctly, don't worry).

Now, NiMH cells are performing at or above NiCD rates for power output, so expect to pay similar pricing (or higher) but get a more compact cell for the amount of output. To end the sermon, those NiMH cells are probably fine for Airsoft since they're including them with the gun (and Jungletoy isn't a completely dishonest company) and you really don't have to discharge them if you don't want to. Just charge, use, charge, use, etc.

[luke213]

Sounds good newman:) most of my experiences with batteries are from laptops rather than airsoft(granted I have some experience in the last while with airsoft batteries). None the less I have seen NiMH batteries with a so called memory effect and even lithium ion, which leads me to believe that we will never really be out of the woods so to speak on battery life. I would say it's going to be apparent at some time or another though some may be more prone to memory than others. Thanks for some extra info newman, I know my terms to describe it were somewhat lacking.


Luke

[Lorenzo]

thank you all

to clear up any confusion, heres the battery

www.airsoft128.com/cgi-bin/store1/AA-VJMB020.html