Battery drain on Idle

[DeltaFrosh]

I've read through some faq's and looked for the topic but I cannot find an answer to this. If you leave your battery in your aeg when it's not in use is it draining the battery, and if so by a significant amount? And furthermore, does this create any strain on the gun's internals? Some events lasting 2 day could technically require alot of idle time. Just curious and sorry if it's been answered in another thread.

[mcguyver]

If you really want to know, take a multimeter and meaure the rseistance across the battery connector on the gun. The reistance should be very high, many thousands of ohms perhaps.

Next take the voltage of your battery and divide that number by the resistance measurement you took. The number will be very small. EG. 8.4v/10000=0.00084 amps.

Now if you have a 3000mah (or 3.000 ah) then you divide 3.000 by 0.00084 to equal 3571.4 hours.

This is assuming 10kohm circuit resistance (probably higher) and no shorts in wiring or other problems (abnormal condidtions).

I think you'll be fine.

*EDIT*
I just measured my Marui AUG with my Fluke meter and it exceeded 10Mohms.

I still think you'll be more than fine.

[DeltaFrosh]

We'll ill be getting a smart charger soon as from my research I have realized battery maintence is very important with the type aeg's use. Although I don't have the device to take those readings on my AEG, I do appreciate your calculation, which indicates to me barring no problems a 1200 mah battery would last about 59 days on idle ( 1.2 / 0.00084).

[Mantelope]

The thing you have to be much more concerned about is self-discharge. All rechargable batteries self-discharge, NiMH moreso than NiCad. Check out http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

[Boche]

Originally Posted by mcguyver

I just measured my Marui AUG with my Fluke meter and it exceeded 10Mohms.

The trigger is basically an electrical contact, yes? If it's in the 'open' position, how were you able to get a ohm reading? It should have been 'O/L' or infinity.

Or am I missing something? I'm just curious, not trying to be a *****.

[mcguyver]

You are exactly right memel. My Fluke will only measure up to 10 Mohms, so I get the O/L (Outside of Limit) indicator. Basically you're just reading any resistance the air offers. But there is still resistance there. My megger will read up to 1 Gigaohm and it will pick it up, as that's what it's designed to do.

This assumes that all is well with the switch and the contacts are nice and dry. I've seen overlubed mechboxes where the switch is juicy and there really is no break in current flow. Not enough when the switch is open to drive the motor, but enough to kill a battery. Resistance would still be high and it would take days or even weeks to kill a battery, all other things discounted.

With low-voltage DC systems, the dielectic breakdown point will be high relative to the circuit voltage. In higher voltage AC systems (600 volts let's say) these things are very destructive as the potential and kinetic energy capacity of the circuit is extremely high.

[Boche]

Originally Posted by mcguyver

You are exactly right memel. My Fluke will only measure up to 10 Mohms, so I get the O/L (Outside of Limit) indicator. Basically you're just reading any resistance the air offers. But there is still resistance there. My megger will read up to 1 Gigaohm and it will pick it up, as that's what it's designed to do.

This assumes that all is well with the switch and the contacts are nice and dry. I've seen overlubed mechboxes where the switch is juicy and there really is no break in current flow. Not enough when the switch is open to drive the motor, but enough to kill a battery. Resistance would still be high and it would take days or even weeks to kill a battery, all other things discounted.

With low-voltage DC systems, the dielectic breakdown point will be high relative to the circuit voltage. In higher voltage AC systems (600 volts let's say) these things are very destructive as the potential and kinetic energy capacity of the circuit is extremely high.

Gotcha, makes sense.

BTW, if you decide to put the megger to your gun, please take a video!

[mcguyver]

I'd be curious to see what it reads when it discharges 1000 volts (digital). We have an old cranker that will discharge 5000 volts. The wiring would break down at the very least.

I'm not in a huge rush to do it to one of mine. Maybe someone will lend me a gun to try it on?

[Greylocks]

Accessories or Upgrades section... one of many posts I see in General this morning that has no need to be here.