It seems that one of the most heavily debated questions among the Nerf community is: can Trustfires be used for mods?
The short answer is: yes. The Pros and Cons of Trustfires are listed below.
Pros:
- Fits AA battery holders
- Very cheap
- Easy to mod
- Limited current output (2.5C max. cont. => 2.25 A max. cont. current, 4.5 A max. burst current)
Cons:
- Limited current output (2.5C max. cont. => 2.25 A max. cont. current, 4.5 A max. burst current)
- Low Capacity (900 mAh)
First of all, you may have noticed that limited current output is listed in both the Pros and Cons list. I assure you that this is not a mistake. The biggest and perhaps only argument that people have against using Trustfires is the fact that they cannot supply no where near the amount of current even stock motors need at common modded voltages. I have a degree in electrical engineering and I can assure you that using Trustfires as the power supply for any Nerf application that involves propelling darts is terrible engineering. In fact, I wrote a guide on how to properly pair a battery to a motor, or vice versa.
FB1: How to select an electrical power system: motor and battery
Now I could bore you with a bunch of facts and logic (sort of what the above linked guide is composed of), but suffice it to say that Trustfires are not made for high power applications, and shooting darts at the range you want is. Engineering-wise, stressing a component beyond its specified limits is bad. In the real world, this only becomes a problem if undesirable effects are seen. To my knowledge, I have never heard of anyone's Trustfires blowing up or catching fire or even leaking due to abusing them in their Nerf blasters. In addition, because Trustfires are current limited, they do not trigger the thermoresists (based on my testings, may trigger in a hot day). I slapped in 3 Trustfires into a Rapidstrike for the luls and it fired beautifully. When I switched them for a 3s LiPo, the thermoresists got trigger after only a few shots. Having to be able to leave the thermoresists in the blaster is safer, especially for the audience that Trustfires attract (noobs). In addition, since Nerf flywheel systems are not "torque" limited at no load, high RPMs, a trustfire system can project a dart nearly as far as a system with a proper battery. This means that the benefits of over-volting still applies as long as the motors at no load (revved but not shooting darts) do not pull more than the Trustfires' maximum continuous discharge current (2.25 A for a single/in series 14500, 900 mAh cell/cells). The spin-up/recovery time is the only real performance factor that suffers from using a current limited battery. However, this does not mean that you should push the voltage as high as possible. Higher voltages mean higher no load currents as well as increased spin-up/recovery times.
In the end, Trustfires are no where near the ideal battery for Nerf power applications. However, its near "drop-in and shoot" ability makes it a very compelling mod for those who do not have the time/technical expertise/tools/money/patience to carryout a real, proper mod to their blaster.
