Dom's Tech Tips
Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:06 pm
I get many PMs every week asking various technical questions concerning AEGs, often I get the same ones multiple times. The point of this post is so that new members can have a repository of helpful hints and tips concerning AEG maintenance, upgrades, and repairs; and so that I don't have to repeat myself to so many people . Remember, this is not all necessarily empirical fact, there is opinion in here as well (hence the title).
1: "My AEG stopped firing, and the battery is fully charged, WTF?"
If it is making a "muffled" firing noise, you have probably just jammed the barrel. Turn the hopup all the way off and use an "unjamming rod" to push the BB(s) out. Then clean it by using a small piece of cloth or paper towel with some silicon oil on the end of the rod. Make sure it is tight in the barrel, and push it through. Do this with multiple pieces of material until it comes out clean, then dry it by doing the same thing with a dry piece.
If it is not a jam, but the gearbox makes a very faint "clicking sound" when you pull the trigger, that means the motor is making an attempt to cycle the gearbox, but can't. Either something is broken or out of place in the gearbox, or your battery is too weak or nearly dead.
If no sound whatsoever is made when you pull the trigger, and there is a fully charged battery plugged in, then there are several possible problems:
1-The fuse is blown
2-The battery is completely dead
3-The wiring is incorrect, broken, or not connected at some point
4-Your motor is dead
5-The trigger contacts/selector plate is broken or incorrectly installed
2: "My AEG is gradually losing FPS over time"
This is going to happen naturally, but a large portion of it can be avoided by decompressing the spring after each use. To do this simply remove your mag after use, and discharge it on semi until there are no BBs coming out. This serves two purposes:
1-It clears any BBs from the chamber and barrel, aiding safety as well as preventing possible wear on your bucking.
2-It allows the spring to decompress and come to a resting position that will not wear out your spring, and will remove the stress from the gears, piston, anti reversal latch, and tappet plate.
The reason FPS is lost over time if you use it on full auto and do not decompress it is because when firing in full auto the gearbox can stop at any point in it's cycle when you realease the trigger, more often then not it will stop at least partially compressed. This means that until you complete the cycle everything in it is stressed, and the spring will lose power due to being compressed over time.
3: "I am not happy with my ChiClone's accuracy, how do I improve it?"
1-STOP USING CRAPPY BBs. Why do some BBs cost more? Because they work better. If you are using Crossmans, TSDs or other cheap brands of BBs, you are getting considerably less accuracy than you could get if you spent a couple bucks more on decent BBs. Unfortunately you cannot buy decent BBs at any brick and mortar store except an exclusively airsoft one.
2-Consider using heavier BBs. If you are shooting at more than 300 FPS (Some would say higher, but not me) with a .25g BB, you may want to use .25s. If you are over 400 FPS with a .25g BB you should consider using something even heavier. Remember, they still need to be quality, but a heavier projectile (though moving slower) will be less affected by wind and brush. It will also lose less velocity in flight due to inertia. Remember, however, that a .30 moving at 360 FPS is roughly equivalent to a .25 moving at 400 FPS, so if you are over 400 with a .25, switching to a .30 will NOT allow you to use it on full auto.
3-Buy a better bucking and nub. The best IMHO are made by Firefly, though Element and KM use a similar design. However, these are expensive and often difficult to find in stock. You can also get a Prometheus, Madbull, Systema, or stock TM bucking (among others), as they are also good. If you have a ChiClone almost anything is better than the bucking you have now. If you are well over 400 with a .25, you need a hard type, if not you need a soft or medium type (stock ones are soft type, and so are the vast majority of buckings used).
4-Buy a tightbore barrel. A TBB will add a little bit of FPS, and will arguably improve accuracy. If you plan to get one longer than what you already have, remember that you will likely need a higher volume cylinder to compensate.
5-Get a one piece metal hopup chamber, it will provide a tighter and more consistent air seal and should hold the hopup setting better.
The two most important of the above are the BBs and Bucking, the rest has a less noticeable affect.
4: Bio BBs are gay.
There is no reason whatsoever to spend extra money on bio BBs in this state, no field requires them, and they are inferior to standard polystyrene BBs in several aspects. Also, never under any circumstances use anything lighter than a .20g BB (ex: .12 or .15g). *The obvious exception is weapons with random spray patterns like grenades or claymores, as they have no barrel or bucking to get stuck in or damage. Bear in mind that this thread is primarily written concerning noobs and AEGs.
5: "Can I play in the rain?"
In short, yes. I have played in everything from torrential downpours or snow to light mists with no problems. One important thing to remember is to not let any water into the barrel or hopup. A suppressor or a long flashhider with no holes (ex: Krinkov flashhider) will help keep water out of the barrel, and thus the hopup. Also, when changing mags be careful not to let water onto the BBs, as they will wet the hopup when they feed. After playing in my first downpour, I thoroughly inspected the inside of the external parts, as well as the gearbox, all that was necessary was a good wipedown of the barrel and externals. Basically, AEG+torrential rain+common sense=great airsoft experience. Rain drops will sometimes hit BBs in mid flight, which will cause them to drop off. In a light drizzle it is negligible, but in a heavy downpour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rounds that leave your barrel will hit a raindrop and fly off randomly. Accuracy is certainly reduced, so semi is not practical unless you're awefully close up. Rain changes the game dynamics a good bit, but it doesn't ruin them. Heavier BBs and higher fps obviously helps with this. Also remember to shield optics that have batteries, though for most models water should not get in easily.
6: I often hear of people afraid to buy mesh goggles because they think that they are going to get shards of polystyrene in their eye, and I'd like to dissuade them from that point of view with the following:
1: I have worn mesh exclusively for more than a year, and I've been to as many games as any other very active player, I also know lots of players that use mesh. Neither I nor anyone I have ever known of has had any kind of splintering happen.
2: BBs are made of polystyrene, more specifically a semigranular highly compressed form of it. This means that if it was to crack on impact, it would not turn into shards, but rather a crumbly granular substance. Don't believe me? Break a BB and see if it makes "shards". The only kind that will are cheap .12s made of hard plastic, which are not used in any game I've been to, and are often not even allowed.
3: Assuming one does burst, and you happen to be the first person to have that happen to them in this state (that I'm aware of at least), not only will the only pieces small enough to fit through the holes be granular/dustlike (and therefore not sharp), but by the time they reach your eye it will be closed, due to the natural reflex to close them on impact to your goggles.
7: "How and when should I clean my barrel?"
You should clean your airsoft gun's barrel after every game, or at least every other one, depending on how many rnds you went through, and any debris that may have gotten in, etc.. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. First, remove your mag and clear the chamber by firing it on semi. Secondly, turn the hopup all the way off. Thirdly, use an airsoft "unjamming rod" that is longer then your barrel. Cut pieces of papertowel or a similar material that won't leave large amounts of "fluff" in there (like TP, don't use that), but make sure it can compress, most cloths don't do that well and may be too loose. Cut it into sections approx. 1" by 2". Fold it in half lengthwise and slip it through the eye on the cleaning rod. Rotate it so it makes a cylindrical "plug". Add some 100% silicon oil to it, and put it into the barrel. It should be tight, and you should swab out the entire barrel while rotating it. Continue to do this with new pieces with silicon oil until they come out clean. Then do the same thing, but with NO silicon oil, at least twice, and until the pieces come out both clean and dry. The purpose is to remove buildup, and then to remove the silicon oil that you used initially. You do not ever want any type of lubricant in your barrel, or on your hopup.
8: "My gun broke, but it is still under warranty. Is it worth it to pay the shipping to have them fix it?
Nine times out of ten, no. By the time you pay for shipping and packaging both ways, and assuming you aren't even charged by them for labor or parts, you almost always still end up paying much more than it would have cost you to have a local Airsmith repair it for you. Also, you may have noticed by reading a few reviews, but repairs from big retailer warranties don't have a very good track record of holding up either. There are several Techs in SC, look for them in the "For Sale" section and save yourself from getting ripped off. Also, if you are the "do it yourself" type, there are plenty of online tutorials on AEG repairs and upgrades that can help you learn to do it on your own. AEGs are not terribly complex, and if you have the time and patience, you can learn how to do all your own tech work and save yourself a lot of dough in the long run. Most techs will even give you a hands on "lesson" while they work on your gun for you.
9: "Do airsoft replicas mimic their real counterparts' classification?"
Simply put, no. Almost any airsoft gun can be made to function as most any classification. An MP5 can be made to be a DMR, and an M14 may come stock as a CQBR. As far as airsoft is concerned, classification of weaponry is based on FPS with a .25g BB and is largely necessitated by the AOSC game rules as far as MEDs (Minimum Engagement Distances), fire selection and CQB specific rules go:
300 FPS with a .25g BB or less = CQBR (Close Quarters Battle Rifle) or sidearm, though not necessarily inneffective at greater ranges, and all sidearms are not under 300 FPS, though they aught to be, that way they have no MED. Full auto allowed with no MED. The purpose of this classification is for CQB fields, as a sidearm for when the enemy is close, and for use in buildings even on non-CQB fields. If building a CQBR you obviously want something shorter and lighter, and non-magnifying quick response optics are the preference here. Sidearms are obviously pistols for the most part, though sometimes people carry small AEGs or GBBs in the form of machine pistols, PDWs, and SMGs. Some people carry separate AEGs in a CQBR setup on all fields for close work, while some teams have assigned players with CQBRs as their primary even on non-CQB fields for clearing buildings and other close engagements. With a good hopup and other upgrades an AEG shooting this low can still have comparable range and accuracy to the average AEG at a higher FPS, but with the advantage of having no MED.
300-360 FPS with a .25g BB = Standard assault rifle setup. This is the average AEG in the field, with full auto allowed and a required 20ft MED. The average stock AEG comes somewhere in this range.
361-400 FPS with a .25g BB = Pseudo-DMR or simply an assault rifle with more power, full auto and burst fire is allowed, but they have a 50ft MED. Can have more range than the standard assault rifle, but not much, and at the cost of another 30ft of MED.
401-560 FPS with a .25g BB = DMR or sniper rifle, restricted to a 100ft MED and semi auto or bolt action only. With the proper supporting upgrades you can engage targets with more accuracy and at a greater range than most other players.
*Note that though all bolt action guns are called "sniper rifles", unless properly upgraded they often have the equivalent, or even less FPS, range, and accuracy than a stock AEG. There is almost no such thing in airsoft as a stock bolt action rifle that is worthy of an actual airsoft sniper, it takes upgrades to give it the added range and accuracy over most AEGs, which is it's entire purpose. This is not cheap and should be considered when buying a bolt action.
*Note that you cannot simply throw a harder spring in any AEG and instantly have a DMR worth it's distinction. FPS alone does not mean accuracy, or even range. You must install the needed upgrades to make it more accurate, have longer range, and be able to handle the higher powered spring in order to have a useful DMR.
10: I want to buy a tightbore barrel as my first upgrade, because I hear that that is essential."
WRONG. For some strange reason, 90% of people who upgrade their guns for the first time are under the impression that they need to buy a tightbore barrel. That is not the case. It seems that this is because most people assume that the barrel has the largest impact on accuracy, just like real firearms, but again, that is not true. Tightbore barrels are a viable upgrade, don't get me wrong, and there is a place for them. However, they will not normally give you magically better groupings or range, and will only increase your FPS by a small amount. This is almost never the first upgrade to buy for a gun. If you are overhauling an AEG for the best performance possible, you may want to buy one after you have (if needed) already bought a better hopup chamber, bucking, and nub, and are using high quality and possibly heavier BBs. Again, the point of this is to dissuade the persistent and common myth that TBBs are a must have, and that they are a major upgrade that really shows. That is not usually the case. If you want better groupings the first thing to do is improve your bucking, nub, BB quality and/or weight, and hopup chamber.
11: "How long do I need to charge this battery for?"
If you have a 'dumb' charger, this is important to know so as not to damage your battery and/or charger. Even if you have a 'smart' charger that will automatically shut off when a battery is full, it still helps to know when to go check it. Fortunately, there is a simple way to calculate how long you need to charge any specific battery with any specific (obviously compatible) charger. First, find the 'capacity' of the battery. This is almost always listed on the battery as "mah" (milliampere-hour). So, let's say that your battery has a capacity of 4200 mah (milliampere-hours). That can also be expressed as 4.2 ampere-hours (4.2 Ah, etc.). One ampere-hour is equavalent to one thousand milliameper-hours. Now, let's say your charger has various output settings. It may have an option for, say, .8 A and 1.5 A. This means that in one hour it will charge a battery with either .8 A (equavalent to 800 mah of course); or if you use the higher setting 1.5 A (equavalent to 1500 mah of course). For prolonged life, you may want to select the lower setting. If you are in a hurry, you may want to select the higher setting. So, if you were to select the lower setting and charge a 4200 mah (4.2 Ah) battery at a rate of .8 A (800 mah), how long would it take to charge from empty to full? (Hint: divide the capacity by the output rate). 5.25 hours, or 5 hours and 15 minutes. Use this same formula to determine any other battery with any other charger at a specific output rate. So, let's say we use the faster 1.5 A (1500 mah) setting. That would take 2.8 hours, or 2 hours and 48 minutes to charge the battery from empty to full.
I will be adding to this often, and I am open to your comments, questions, suggestions, and PMs :-)
1: "My AEG stopped firing, and the battery is fully charged, WTF?"
If it is making a "muffled" firing noise, you have probably just jammed the barrel. Turn the hopup all the way off and use an "unjamming rod" to push the BB(s) out. Then clean it by using a small piece of cloth or paper towel with some silicon oil on the end of the rod. Make sure it is tight in the barrel, and push it through. Do this with multiple pieces of material until it comes out clean, then dry it by doing the same thing with a dry piece.
If it is not a jam, but the gearbox makes a very faint "clicking sound" when you pull the trigger, that means the motor is making an attempt to cycle the gearbox, but can't. Either something is broken or out of place in the gearbox, or your battery is too weak or nearly dead.
If no sound whatsoever is made when you pull the trigger, and there is a fully charged battery plugged in, then there are several possible problems:
1-The fuse is blown
2-The battery is completely dead
3-The wiring is incorrect, broken, or not connected at some point
4-Your motor is dead
5-The trigger contacts/selector plate is broken or incorrectly installed
2: "My AEG is gradually losing FPS over time"
This is going to happen naturally, but a large portion of it can be avoided by decompressing the spring after each use. To do this simply remove your mag after use, and discharge it on semi until there are no BBs coming out. This serves two purposes:
1-It clears any BBs from the chamber and barrel, aiding safety as well as preventing possible wear on your bucking.
2-It allows the spring to decompress and come to a resting position that will not wear out your spring, and will remove the stress from the gears, piston, anti reversal latch, and tappet plate.
The reason FPS is lost over time if you use it on full auto and do not decompress it is because when firing in full auto the gearbox can stop at any point in it's cycle when you realease the trigger, more often then not it will stop at least partially compressed. This means that until you complete the cycle everything in it is stressed, and the spring will lose power due to being compressed over time.
3: "I am not happy with my ChiClone's accuracy, how do I improve it?"
1-STOP USING CRAPPY BBs. Why do some BBs cost more? Because they work better. If you are using Crossmans, TSDs or other cheap brands of BBs, you are getting considerably less accuracy than you could get if you spent a couple bucks more on decent BBs. Unfortunately you cannot buy decent BBs at any brick and mortar store except an exclusively airsoft one.
2-Consider using heavier BBs. If you are shooting at more than 300 FPS (Some would say higher, but not me) with a .25g BB, you may want to use .25s. If you are over 400 FPS with a .25g BB you should consider using something even heavier. Remember, they still need to be quality, but a heavier projectile (though moving slower) will be less affected by wind and brush. It will also lose less velocity in flight due to inertia. Remember, however, that a .30 moving at 360 FPS is roughly equivalent to a .25 moving at 400 FPS, so if you are over 400 with a .25, switching to a .30 will NOT allow you to use it on full auto.
3-Buy a better bucking and nub. The best IMHO are made by Firefly, though Element and KM use a similar design. However, these are expensive and often difficult to find in stock. You can also get a Prometheus, Madbull, Systema, or stock TM bucking (among others), as they are also good. If you have a ChiClone almost anything is better than the bucking you have now. If you are well over 400 with a .25, you need a hard type, if not you need a soft or medium type (stock ones are soft type, and so are the vast majority of buckings used).
4-Buy a tightbore barrel. A TBB will add a little bit of FPS, and will arguably improve accuracy. If you plan to get one longer than what you already have, remember that you will likely need a higher volume cylinder to compensate.
5-Get a one piece metal hopup chamber, it will provide a tighter and more consistent air seal and should hold the hopup setting better.
The two most important of the above are the BBs and Bucking, the rest has a less noticeable affect.
4: Bio BBs are gay.
There is no reason whatsoever to spend extra money on bio BBs in this state, no field requires them, and they are inferior to standard polystyrene BBs in several aspects. Also, never under any circumstances use anything lighter than a .20g BB (ex: .12 or .15g). *The obvious exception is weapons with random spray patterns like grenades or claymores, as they have no barrel or bucking to get stuck in or damage. Bear in mind that this thread is primarily written concerning noobs and AEGs.
5: "Can I play in the rain?"
In short, yes. I have played in everything from torrential downpours or snow to light mists with no problems. One important thing to remember is to not let any water into the barrel or hopup. A suppressor or a long flashhider with no holes (ex: Krinkov flashhider) will help keep water out of the barrel, and thus the hopup. Also, when changing mags be careful not to let water onto the BBs, as they will wet the hopup when they feed. After playing in my first downpour, I thoroughly inspected the inside of the external parts, as well as the gearbox, all that was necessary was a good wipedown of the barrel and externals. Basically, AEG+torrential rain+common sense=great airsoft experience. Rain drops will sometimes hit BBs in mid flight, which will cause them to drop off. In a light drizzle it is negligible, but in a heavy downpour about 1/3 to 1/2 of the rounds that leave your barrel will hit a raindrop and fly off randomly. Accuracy is certainly reduced, so semi is not practical unless you're awefully close up. Rain changes the game dynamics a good bit, but it doesn't ruin them. Heavier BBs and higher fps obviously helps with this. Also remember to shield optics that have batteries, though for most models water should not get in easily.
6: I often hear of people afraid to buy mesh goggles because they think that they are going to get shards of polystyrene in their eye, and I'd like to dissuade them from that point of view with the following:
1: I have worn mesh exclusively for more than a year, and I've been to as many games as any other very active player, I also know lots of players that use mesh. Neither I nor anyone I have ever known of has had any kind of splintering happen.
2: BBs are made of polystyrene, more specifically a semigranular highly compressed form of it. This means that if it was to crack on impact, it would not turn into shards, but rather a crumbly granular substance. Don't believe me? Break a BB and see if it makes "shards". The only kind that will are cheap .12s made of hard plastic, which are not used in any game I've been to, and are often not even allowed.
3: Assuming one does burst, and you happen to be the first person to have that happen to them in this state (that I'm aware of at least), not only will the only pieces small enough to fit through the holes be granular/dustlike (and therefore not sharp), but by the time they reach your eye it will be closed, due to the natural reflex to close them on impact to your goggles.
7: "How and when should I clean my barrel?"
You should clean your airsoft gun's barrel after every game, or at least every other one, depending on how many rnds you went through, and any debris that may have gotten in, etc.. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. First, remove your mag and clear the chamber by firing it on semi. Secondly, turn the hopup all the way off. Thirdly, use an airsoft "unjamming rod" that is longer then your barrel. Cut pieces of papertowel or a similar material that won't leave large amounts of "fluff" in there (like TP, don't use that), but make sure it can compress, most cloths don't do that well and may be too loose. Cut it into sections approx. 1" by 2". Fold it in half lengthwise and slip it through the eye on the cleaning rod. Rotate it so it makes a cylindrical "plug". Add some 100% silicon oil to it, and put it into the barrel. It should be tight, and you should swab out the entire barrel while rotating it. Continue to do this with new pieces with silicon oil until they come out clean. Then do the same thing, but with NO silicon oil, at least twice, and until the pieces come out both clean and dry. The purpose is to remove buildup, and then to remove the silicon oil that you used initially. You do not ever want any type of lubricant in your barrel, or on your hopup.
8: "My gun broke, but it is still under warranty. Is it worth it to pay the shipping to have them fix it?
Nine times out of ten, no. By the time you pay for shipping and packaging both ways, and assuming you aren't even charged by them for labor or parts, you almost always still end up paying much more than it would have cost you to have a local Airsmith repair it for you. Also, you may have noticed by reading a few reviews, but repairs from big retailer warranties don't have a very good track record of holding up either. There are several Techs in SC, look for them in the "For Sale" section and save yourself from getting ripped off. Also, if you are the "do it yourself" type, there are plenty of online tutorials on AEG repairs and upgrades that can help you learn to do it on your own. AEGs are not terribly complex, and if you have the time and patience, you can learn how to do all your own tech work and save yourself a lot of dough in the long run. Most techs will even give you a hands on "lesson" while they work on your gun for you.
9: "Do airsoft replicas mimic their real counterparts' classification?"
Simply put, no. Almost any airsoft gun can be made to function as most any classification. An MP5 can be made to be a DMR, and an M14 may come stock as a CQBR. As far as airsoft is concerned, classification of weaponry is based on FPS with a .25g BB and is largely necessitated by the AOSC game rules as far as MEDs (Minimum Engagement Distances), fire selection and CQB specific rules go:
300 FPS with a .25g BB or less = CQBR (Close Quarters Battle Rifle) or sidearm, though not necessarily inneffective at greater ranges, and all sidearms are not under 300 FPS, though they aught to be, that way they have no MED. Full auto allowed with no MED. The purpose of this classification is for CQB fields, as a sidearm for when the enemy is close, and for use in buildings even on non-CQB fields. If building a CQBR you obviously want something shorter and lighter, and non-magnifying quick response optics are the preference here. Sidearms are obviously pistols for the most part, though sometimes people carry small AEGs or GBBs in the form of machine pistols, PDWs, and SMGs. Some people carry separate AEGs in a CQBR setup on all fields for close work, while some teams have assigned players with CQBRs as their primary even on non-CQB fields for clearing buildings and other close engagements. With a good hopup and other upgrades an AEG shooting this low can still have comparable range and accuracy to the average AEG at a higher FPS, but with the advantage of having no MED.
300-360 FPS with a .25g BB = Standard assault rifle setup. This is the average AEG in the field, with full auto allowed and a required 20ft MED. The average stock AEG comes somewhere in this range.
361-400 FPS with a .25g BB = Pseudo-DMR or simply an assault rifle with more power, full auto and burst fire is allowed, but they have a 50ft MED. Can have more range than the standard assault rifle, but not much, and at the cost of another 30ft of MED.
401-560 FPS with a .25g BB = DMR or sniper rifle, restricted to a 100ft MED and semi auto or bolt action only. With the proper supporting upgrades you can engage targets with more accuracy and at a greater range than most other players.
*Note that though all bolt action guns are called "sniper rifles", unless properly upgraded they often have the equivalent, or even less FPS, range, and accuracy than a stock AEG. There is almost no such thing in airsoft as a stock bolt action rifle that is worthy of an actual airsoft sniper, it takes upgrades to give it the added range and accuracy over most AEGs, which is it's entire purpose. This is not cheap and should be considered when buying a bolt action.
*Note that you cannot simply throw a harder spring in any AEG and instantly have a DMR worth it's distinction. FPS alone does not mean accuracy, or even range. You must install the needed upgrades to make it more accurate, have longer range, and be able to handle the higher powered spring in order to have a useful DMR.
10: I want to buy a tightbore barrel as my first upgrade, because I hear that that is essential."
WRONG. For some strange reason, 90% of people who upgrade their guns for the first time are under the impression that they need to buy a tightbore barrel. That is not the case. It seems that this is because most people assume that the barrel has the largest impact on accuracy, just like real firearms, but again, that is not true. Tightbore barrels are a viable upgrade, don't get me wrong, and there is a place for them. However, they will not normally give you magically better groupings or range, and will only increase your FPS by a small amount. This is almost never the first upgrade to buy for a gun. If you are overhauling an AEG for the best performance possible, you may want to buy one after you have (if needed) already bought a better hopup chamber, bucking, and nub, and are using high quality and possibly heavier BBs. Again, the point of this is to dissuade the persistent and common myth that TBBs are a must have, and that they are a major upgrade that really shows. That is not usually the case. If you want better groupings the first thing to do is improve your bucking, nub, BB quality and/or weight, and hopup chamber.
11: "How long do I need to charge this battery for?"
If you have a 'dumb' charger, this is important to know so as not to damage your battery and/or charger. Even if you have a 'smart' charger that will automatically shut off when a battery is full, it still helps to know when to go check it. Fortunately, there is a simple way to calculate how long you need to charge any specific battery with any specific (obviously compatible) charger. First, find the 'capacity' of the battery. This is almost always listed on the battery as "mah" (milliampere-hour). So, let's say that your battery has a capacity of 4200 mah (milliampere-hours). That can also be expressed as 4.2 ampere-hours (4.2 Ah, etc.). One ampere-hour is equavalent to one thousand milliameper-hours. Now, let's say your charger has various output settings. It may have an option for, say, .8 A and 1.5 A. This means that in one hour it will charge a battery with either .8 A (equavalent to 800 mah of course); or if you use the higher setting 1.5 A (equavalent to 1500 mah of course). For prolonged life, you may want to select the lower setting. If you are in a hurry, you may want to select the higher setting. So, if you were to select the lower setting and charge a 4200 mah (4.2 Ah) battery at a rate of .8 A (800 mah), how long would it take to charge from empty to full? (Hint: divide the capacity by the output rate). 5.25 hours, or 5 hours and 15 minutes. Use this same formula to determine any other battery with any other charger at a specific output rate. So, let's say we use the faster 1.5 A (1500 mah) setting. That would take 2.8 hours, or 2 hours and 48 minutes to charge the battery from empty to full.
I will be adding to this often, and I am open to your comments, questions, suggestions, and PMs :-)