What does the cold weather affect?

[BaggyBizzle]

Thanks for any reply in advance.

My ICS L85 was left by mistake in the shed (not damp just very cold) over December and when i came to skirmish it this weekend the normal 340 FPS wouldnt go any higher than 200 and it sounded like the battery was nearly dead although it was fully charged. What components in my gun and other AEGs might be affected other than the hop rubber etc?

It seems to be returning to normal although i cant chrono it at home.
Needless to say i will be putting it inside somewhere at all times from now on if the weather was the problem.

[tackle]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

Cold weather plays havoc with my tinky winky

[Figjam]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

Could be a whole bunch of things, the biggest worry is this battery sounding nearly dead: assuming you fully charged the battery then something is now causing resistance in your gearbox. While you saying that it is slowly getting better makes me think maybe the grease has stiffened with the cold, I think it's probably pretty bad for your motor to continue using the gun until you've tracked down the cause of the problem.
Two things I'd check first.
1) Try a different battery that you know is good. Its just conceivable that if you left a NiMH in the cold it might possibly have reduced its lifespan. If you didn't leave the battery outside with the gun then disregard this. I really think this is unlikely though, I'm just putting it there to be thorough.
2) Bring the gun indoors and let it warm up to a decent temperature, I'd not say put it actually on a radiator, but leave it a few days in a warm room and try it again. If its all good, then problem solved.

If it's neither of these, then I think maybe you are wrong about your shed not being damp (I'd actually like you know how you keep your shed dry), and you are going to need to service the gearbox. It may very well be that this is the case, but I'm just giving you the other options because you can check these before opening your AEG.

If in fact you love servicing AEGs I'd say crack on and give it all a good clean and regrease anyway, but I'm inferring from the fact that you are even asking that you are not too keen on opening up your AEG. No shame it that, lots of airsofter do the hobby to hit other guys with plastic balls, not to wrestle with springs and anti-reversal latches.

[BaggyBizzle]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

Thanks.

I can take it apart but I am terrible at DIY so messing with the gearbox is a NO-NO. I can install most things barrel, hop, nub etc even strip a TM glock right down but i dont trust myself with shimming,maintaining of my version 3. So basically the rubber hop and o-rings, anything plastic really was frozen. If it doesnt go back to the awesomeness it was a few months ago i will get it serviced.

Cheers

[dadio]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

All sorts of sealing components will harder as they get cold and don't seal as well as they should ,battery's NiMH especially don't like the cold either.

[tackle]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

yep, cold can affect almost everything, especialy gearbox shell & internals, their dimensions can "shrink", not percievable with the naked eye but possibly enough to hinder movement.
any rubber components, hop etc, can stiffen, also affecting performance, & your batteries also have a diminished response & capacity.
to echo Figgy, bring it in to the house & allow it to gradually warm up, maybe over 3 days or more, before trying it with a good battery, one thats been kept indoors.
its a bit like us, we can handle extreme temperatures for short periods, but continued exposure results in our core dropping, affecting everything, brain/organs/muscles, & takes a long time to return to normal, & your aeg is no different.

Would have been more helpful if I had posted this earlier, as opposed to my first post, but couldn't miss out on that opportunity lol

[dadio]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

I have to explain battery failure in cold weather quite frequently as I'm an AA patrol man , in essence a battery is a chemical reaction that creates electricity ,as battery's get colder the reaction becomes less vigorous ,warmer and they become more vigorous ,this is the same for all battery's but nimh are particularly badly affected .

[dave38x]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

Airsoft related things that the cold will kill:
NIMH batteries - prime example being my Radio - batteries were full at room temperature on saturday night, and empty within ten minutes at -1 on sunday morning.
Some gas guns - your mileage may vary, but my glock (and many of my friends gas pistols) stop working

Airsoft related things that the cold may affect adversely:
Hop rubbers - harder hop rubbers will suffer, softer ones will also suffer, but not so much
Any other bits of rubber - any o-rings (nozzle, piston head, cylinderhead, valves etc) will all get a bit harder - generally not an issue on gas mags as they get pretty damn cold through use, air-seal may suffer if your piston o-ring is not slightly over-size to begin with as the usual vented pressure mechanism won't be as effective
Lipo batteries - again, my gun was definitely sluggish yesterday - heavy use got it running quicker though (also got the hop rubber shooting better - through a 40rd burst you could see them progressively getting more and more hoppy).
Any lubricants - unless they are extremely exotic (no, frog lube doesnt count) they will get more viscous. This means more friction and potentially reduced performance.
Morale - durr
CO2 guns - they may still work, they may not, they may not shoot as hot as in the summer
Any gas guns not mentioned above - if the cold gets extreme enough cooldown will become a problem.

Things that give not a damn about the temperature:
Nylon
Velcro
And that's about it...

[Polarblair]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

Hpa also gives zero f*cks

[dave38x]

Re: What does the cold weather affect?

I had forgotten HPA!