Installing a MOSFET System in any
AEG
First, some
background on MOSFET Fire Control Systems:
When any switch is closed or opened, there's an
instant spark at the contacts.
This is because power is
trying to flow before the surfaces are completely together,
and when the switch is opened, the current want
to resist being interrupted.
That spark is material
burning.
After a number of cycles, the condition worsens
as the contact points erode and result in increased
resistance.
At some point, the
resistance is too much, and the switch fails to function.
Now in a stock AEG, this usually won't become a
problem during the service life of the assembly.
The contacts in most of them are pretty robust.
If your gun is staying stock, you're done reading here, skip this
whole process...
But add a stronger spring,
a beefed motor, etc, and the contacts have to work harder.
Plan on eventual switch failure, especially if
more battery cells were added to the setup.
Modern electrical/electronic systems only use
mechanical contacts for VERY heavy loads, that are not frequently
switched.
For anything less, the transistor is the
solution.
A transistor (in our case, the Metal Oxide
Silicon Field Effect Transistor) is a neat little device that acts
as an electronic "switch".
Usually, they are used to
interrupt the NEGATIVE power lead in a system.
This is the opposite of nearly every circuit
that uses switch contacts.
Including AEG's. This is
important, because it means the wiring the gun came with needs to be
changed in operation.
Instead of the trigger
giving POSITIVE to the motor to activate it, we are going to feed
NEGATIVE to the motor to turn it on.
I've constructed a simple circuit to illustrate
MOSFET wiring:
Note that the negative lead goes into the 'FET
and back out, then going to the black negative lead from the
gun.
The red, positive lead from the gun goes right
to the positive lead from the battery.
The yellow lead is our new trigger wire. When
the trigger is pulled, the MOSFET is on, feeding negative to the
gun.
Going to the inset pic, the leads on (most)
'FET's are laid out:
GAIN-DRAIN-SOURCE
"GAIN" is the lead that waits for you to pull
the trigger or close a switch, giving it POSITIVE voltage.
"DRAIN" is the item needing power, and
suitably, "SOURCE" is the power available from the negative side of
the power source.
Now you can decide if you even NEED this for
any particular gun.
Modify a ver 2 gearbox (M4 style!) for MOSFET
or 3-TAP installation:
The stock wiring:
See the small grey part at the bottom? If your
M4 trigger feels "notchy", it's in upside-down.
The stock wire is 18gauge, silicone-jacketed.
This is suitable for any stock gun.
I'm unsure of how far this will go, so I pulled
all the stock wire in favor of brand-new 16gauge.
My new wire is vinyl-jacketed, so the diameter
difference is minimal,
which is important for
getting everything back together. There is limited space in the gun
body for bigger wire.
Silicone is better
insulation, but I'll make the sacrifice to use larger
conductors.
First, the stock neg lead shown in the top of
this next photo:
I'm going to eliminate the part circled,
because it does a poor job of keeping the negative lead against the
gearbox wall as it goes around the motor shaft.
I learned this little trick from a cheap clone,
bend the wire as shown, and it will stay there until you want it
back out, if ever.
Note that the negative
lead doesn't connect to anything inside the gearbox. It just passes
through to get to the motor. Limited room again.
Now to put in the new positive lead. You'll be
happier replacing the whole lead with a setup like I show
here.
Trying to solder TWO wires to ONE contact will
end in frustration, melted parts, or both, unless you're a seasoned
solderer.
So I bend a red wire as shown, THEN cut the
insulation away from the bend. Now we have ONE wire to solder to the
delicate contact,
and we know every
conductor is whole from the battery to the motor.
Technically, a whole solder joint and it's
resistance are eliminated as well.
Then another red wire is soldered to the other
trigger contact. This wire can be really, really, tiny, and the
circuit will still operate, as
only a microscopic current
is present while firing. In the interest of space/reliability, I
went with 22gauge.
Then we button it all up. Next, building a
basic MOSFET circuit.
The basic MOSFET install can then be
added.
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