Softgun ·Apr 17, 2025

Guide - Battery and charger for airsoft

Which battery fits electric airsoft rifles? Or which charger works with a softgun? It’s not always easy to know which battery or charger you need for your softgun. That’s why we’ve put together a short guide explaining the differences between Li-Ion, Li-Po, Li-Fe, and Ni-Mh!

Battery Guide

To power an electric rifle, you need a suitable battery. There are several types of batteries for airsoft, and they come in all kinds of configurations. There are mainly three types of batteries:

Li-Po (Lithium-polymer battery)
Li-Ion (Lithium-ion battery)
Ni-Mh (Nickel-metal hydride battery)

Li-Po has been the most popular battery type in recent years, but Li-Ion is now on its way to taking the top spot! There’s a good reason for that! Li-Ion is the most efficient battery type for airsoft for four reasons:

Li-Ion has an even higher energy level than Li-Po.This means you’ll get more shots per charge compared to a Li-Po battery of the same size. “More bang for your buck”! Some of the Li-Ion batteries we stock have a so-called SUPER capacity of up to 6000mAh. This can give you around 3500–5000 shots from a single charge!
Li-Ion is safer and less sensitive than Li-Po, which in turn is more sensitive than NiMH.
Li-Ion has a so-called “no memory” function, meaning you can safely run the battery completely flat (to 0%) without damaging it, unlike Li-Ion, Li-Fe, and Ni-MH batteries, which must never be fully discharged as this damages the battery.
It retains its battery capacity for an extremely long time! If you fully charge it, the battery capacity will still be the same a few months later, unlike other batteries that need to be charged every time before you play.

Li-Ion has therefore become very popular in the airsoft community! If you're new to airsoft, it might be a good idea to start with one of the other battery types, as they are currently cheaper than Li-Ion.

Regardless of what you choose, it's important to read the instructions that come with the battery and/or charger on how to charge, store, and use the battery.

When choosing your new battery, there are two things that are especially important to consider: power and size.

Choosing the Battery Voltage

7.4V and 11.1V batteries are the most common voltages, and they are used in 95% of all electric airsoft guns. As a general guideline, you can easily determine the battery voltage you need based on the muzzle velocity.

7.4V and 9.9V batteries:

Best suited for airsoft guns between 285–400 FPS.This applies to most electric rifles that come straight out of the box and have not been pre-upgraded.

11.1V battery:

Best suited for airsoft guns shooting over 400 FPS. A high-voltage battery (11.1V and above) can power powerful rifles with a high muzzle velocity above 400 FPS and provide a faster rate of fire.

Milliampere (mAh)

After the voltage, you will always see how many milliampere-hours the battery has. In simple terms, this indicates how many shots you can get from the battery (rough estimate) before you need to recharge it. If it says f.eks. 11.1V 2200mAh, you can expect to fire approximately 2200 BBs before you need to recharge the battery.

Choosing the battery size

The size of the battery should depend on how much space is available in your replica. F.eks. then this 7.4V battery will fit all M4/M15 variants with a crane stock and Mini-Tamiya plug.Otherwise, we recommend checking the related products on the rifle you have purchased/are planning to buy to see which battery is suitable.

Recommended batteries

Chargers

For chargers, we recommend this multi-charger , which works with all battery types except Li-Ion. For Li-Ion batteries, we recommend that you ONLY use a dedicated charger designed for Li-Ion batteries, such as this one.

Recommended chargers

Tip for extra safety:

Buy a charging bag! This is a brilliant product that helps make the charging process/storage of the battery a little safer. See the product here!

Note: It’s easy to charge incorrectly, which can damage the battery and, in the worst case, create a fire/explosion hazard. Therefore, always read the instructions carefully, both on the battery and the charger, before using them.And never leave a battery unattended while it’s charging!

For more inspiration, also read:

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