[Tinom]

Hello, I’m new in general to airsoft, well semi new but yeah.
I’m currently with a upgraded MK23 and a coma shotgun ( love the shotgun in general and wanted a mk23 as I wanted to start sniping but the one I got is a ****ty non VSR type so I need to buy a proper one eventually) .
I’m from Europe and here airsoft is becomeing quite popular even tough I knew about airsoft back in 2013. Anyways people just suggest me to get a AEG but the horror story’s I hear about LiPos stop me from doing so. I read all about how to charge them and whatnot even if you don’t have those proper expensive chargers a normal one that just is a balance charger/smart one will do it properly and if I need to store the battery I just buy a cheap LiPo tester and if I wanna bring it down to 50% I just put it in the replica shoot it till I drain it to 50 so 3.7 per cell ? That I got and won’t have a problem and also not leaving the battery unattended during charging. what im completly scared of is leaving the battery in general at home alone when im going to work and out in general. Any tips on if my fears are logical or am i just going crazy and should just buy one ?

 

[Guges Mk3]

LIPO are not that dangerous. If they were they would be banned.

Get a B6 charger and put it in storage mode and the pack can be stored for decades without any issues.

If you are still unsure...put it in a metal box and leave it outside....though no one really does this because they are not that volatile.

 

[OutlawAirsoft]

A good LiPo charger is quite affordable, not much more expensive then a battery itself. And it should provide features such as a storage charge and checking individual cell voltage.

LiPos are not as dangerous as some people claim. I've had about a dozen for several years and have never had a problem. Even when I shorted one once while switching ends, and when a mosfet fried and took the motor with it. Both these batteries are still in use.

If you do over-discharge, there are ways to "jump start" a smart charger and get it back up and running, but you do lose some battery life. LiPos are excellent battery options for airsoft.

 

[hardbap]

LIPOs are only dangerous if you don't properly care for them. Even without proper care they are pretty resilient. Proper care is very straight forward. Sure, there are probably horror stories where someone did take care of their batteries and still experienced a catastrophe but I'd be willing to bet that that number is a rounding error given the number of LIPOs in circulation. Not only Airsoft but every other hobby that depends on them.

 

[Tinom]

So practically as long as I don’t stab the battery and don’t throw it in the water it’s gonna be ok ?

 

[savagemann]

I've been using batteries in hobbies for a long time. Mostly flashlights and other electronic projects, with a brief stint in rc airplanes. Since I can remember them being a thing, I have kept my batteries in "lipo battery bags". Even my spare 18650 lion cells. It's an added layer of protection and I feel a bit safer storing my batteries in them. They are not terribly expensive and you can find multi packs of them online, if you have a lot of batteries to store.

 

[Jimps]

You need to use the correct size lipo for the build. People do builds like 12:1 SSG at 1.5 joules and then use a 1000mah lipo. They then wonder why the lipos puff up and get hot. A motor in a build wants a certain amount of current. If you use a battery that cant supply that current, issues. The C rating on lipos are usually wrong. A B6V2 charger is a must, and can be had for like $50. It has a function to test the IR of each cell in the battery. You can take the IR of your battery and find a realistic C rating. There are websites that have calculators for this. Most lipos I have tested come out around 15-25C but rated around 30-1000000000C, or whatever BS they think they can get away with. I always just compensate the lie C rating with mah, which is usually close to the sticker rating. Your cellphone has a lipo battery in it. Has it caught on fire recently?

 

[rm105]

LIPOs are only dangerous if you don't properly care for them. Even without proper care they are pretty resilient.

^ This.

After 13+ years running LiPo packs in my AEGs I've never had one flare up, explode, murder me in my sleep, etc. I've shorted them, had them puff up, gotten rained on, had cells fail, had wires ripped out, etc etc, but never had anything that could even vaguely be considered exciting happen as a result. If you stick a knife through one it'll go off, but outside that they are pretty safe in my experience.

Before I had a fancy charger with a 'storage' mode I'd charge the packs on game day since they charge so fast vs NiMH etc and leave them discharged in my airsoft toolbox afterwards, never had any issues. Every 2-3 years or so I like to replace them, you start to see some inconsistencies in their output after extended us / many change cycles.

 

[SiliconeSword]

Lipos are perfectly fine, chances are you're holding one right now.

Just don't over drain them or they'll die, and don't drive a nail through them or they'll probably catch fire.

 

[Guges Mk3]

Drive a nail through any battery and it may catch fire, not just LIPO's.

 

[Leo Greer]

Sounds kinda fun…

 

[OutlawAirsoft]

Don't take them apart either... one of my friends tried tearing a dead one open and it burst into flame... burned his fingers a little.

 

[rm105]

Welll.... on that point, suppose it's like anything else. If you're careful and know what you're doing, taking a LiPo pack apart is no big issue. I used to bin cells back when QC was more garbage than it is today, made all kinds of weird things like the below - set of Turnigy 25c 1.2Ah packs from 1S to 4S tbh I find co2 systems much more intimidating to tinker with than AEGs, always worried that dang bulb is going to go off on me

 

[Lefse]

Any type of battery is a potential fire hazard, but are very safe if used properly. The scariest battery situation I've encountered was actually with a ni-mh battery, 100% caused by user error. My friend misinterpreted the crappy user manual and charged the battery for two hours straight rather than two times. "Time" means hour in my language you see.

Personally I've had zero accidents with lipo's, and I've used them for probably a decade now. The only real li-po failure I've had was when i tested a tiny 7.4V li-po in my AEP and I suspected it might overheat beforehand because of the specs. I wasn't surpised when it started to puff.

Yes, they are a bit more volatile than for example a ni-mh battery, but the difference in performance is significant. Even power tool brands are shifting towards li-po batteries these days because of their higher performance over li-ion and ni-mh.

 

[Leo Greer]

I’ve personally puffed quite a few LiPos, but that was because I knew nothing about how they worked, and was using “airsoft LiPos” which really shouldn’t have been used for airsoft.