jagillham Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Airsoft Smart Control Unit Introduction For those that do not know, the ASCU is a new type of MOSFET which replaces the original trigger assembly, which gives extra functionality. Considering it is a product that makes some bold claims, and is pretty much unique, there is surprisingly little review information regarding the ASCU online. As far as I know, first launched in 2006, yet nobody seems to have one! Currently only available for the V2 gearbox, which limits you broadly to M4/M16/MP5 variants. RRP is $99 (~£65) The unit itself claims: - Crisp Trigger Response - No Gearbox Jams - Increased Rate of Fire - 3 Round Burst - Increased Battery Life - Increased Spring Life - Lipo Ready - Built In Lipo Alarm Installation To install this unit, you do need to be comfortable with opening up gearboxes. Apart from that, there is no specialist skills needed. So if you are happy doing things like changing springs, you'll be fine with this. The ASCU arrives with its own small 15 page manual, which gives step by step instructions on how to fit the unit, with pictures for reference. In short the original wiring and trigger assembly are removed and replaced with the ASCU. The anti-reversal latch and safety bar are also removed. I'll come back to them parts later. The internal part is a micro switch, and a sensor which detects the cut off leaver. The gearbox work was very little trouble, the placement of the external MOSFET and fuse proved to be a little trickier. I installed this on the G&P M4 Sentry, which is a fairly typical M4 variant. Within the stock / buffer tube had to fit the battery, MOSFET, excess wiring and fuse unit. A shown below, there is quite a lot to fit in a small area. To squeeze everything in requires some careful placement, which meant the loss of the sliding stock movement. First step was to identify where the stock will sit, personally on setting '3' (of 5) I liked best. The trick seems to be to bring the MOSFET into one side of the battery compartment like so... then bring the fuse part onto the other side like so.... This leaves the tube largely free to accommodate the battery, in this case a... 7.4v 1200mah 20+C lipo (24A continuous, 36A burst, 137 x 20.3 x 11.4mm). I believe a.... 7.4v 1400mah 20+C lipo (28A continuous, 42A burst, 171 x 19 x 12.9mm) .....could just about fit with the stock on setting '3'. Functionality I'll run through the claims, and what I have found... Crisp Trigger Response The ASCU reduces the trigger movement required to shoot, which in turn speeds up the process. As with any MOSFET, the power goes direct which also helps. Finally, with a lipo battery, this was shooting as quick as I could pull the trigger. No Gearbox Jams The ASCU will always complete a full cycle and has no anti reversal latch, so this eliminates the common V2 gearbox lock up. No more switching from semi, to auto (and back again) to make semi work! No problems to report so far. Increased Rate of Fire As with any MOSFET really. 3 Round Burst On fully auto, a quick pull of the trigger will give a 3 round burst, so long as you let go before the 3rd shot. If you press and hold, normal full auto. If you are really quick you can tap the trigger, and let go, to see the 3 rounds complete even once you have let go of the trigger. Obviously this takes a fraction of a second, and is hard to spot. Increased Battery Life The theory behind this is that the MOSFET is more efficient and has less resistance over the traditional copper contacts. I'm not sure if it will make an awful lot of difference over one skirmish though. Increased Spring Life The spring always comes to rest at the furthest most position in the gearbox, therefore won't be stored compressed. Again, not sure how much difference this really makes. Lipo Ready The unit is sold as "lipo ready", as you'd expect really. Built In Lipo Alarm A rather good feature, the ASCU will beep and cut off when a lipo battery becomes almost dangerously flat. Conclusion The ASCU is not a cheap buy, especially when you add postage from Hong Kong. If you ordered this with other bits, you'd be looking at around £80 - £90 total into the UK. However, when a Extreme Fire MOSFET from the USA comes in at around £70, the price difference is not massive. Running on the above detailed Lipo it works fantastically. On a much stronger lipo (7.4V 1900mAh 20C+, 38A continuous, 57A burst) I am getting double feeding from the overspin. At this moment, I am not sure if the low rated spring, high rated lipo, or the Active Braking on the unit to blame. Feature wise, the unit is very nice. Personally the small trigger movement, 3rd burst and inbuilt Lipo alarm are real winners for me. Another thing I like is with the removal of the safety bar, the trigger still moves on "Safe" (ofcourse does not shoot though!). The biggest downside so far would be the size of the external parts. You do need a fair bit of space to accommodate them. I was looking to fit a PTS MOE Stock, but there won't be enough room to do so. All in all, seems to be a great little add on for an AEG. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Reptile House Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Always wondered about these - great review. +1. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
intinerious Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Ahh ######, I'm probably the first person to break one of these... I was dry shooting my AEG with the ECU on semi with a 11.1V 15c 1100mah King Arms lipo. I was talking to a friend and didn't notice the ROF slowing down...which caught me off guard afterwards because this thing's meant to have a built in lipo alarm. Needless to say, the double-beep occured after ~10 shots of slow ROF semi and I screwed up my 11.1v lip (one of the cells was swelling). I've gotten myself some G&P 7.4V 20c 1200mah lipos and reconnected them to the ECU after the above incident, and there was no 'beep' to indicate the battery's connected. I've read the manual and I'm certian that the battery (its new) and the motor (G&P m160 turbo) isn't dead, so that leaves the fuse being blown or the ECU's crapped out. I don't have much of an idea as to the electronics of the batteries and the ECU itself, but would the bad lipo cause the ECU to screw up? The ECU's rated at 12V so it shouldn't have ANY problems running a 11.1v through it (although I've noticed the wires, 11.1v lipo and the ECU heating up when I do full auto bursts for 5 second increments during a game). Can anybody shed some light on this? I'll probably be bringing my AEG to redwolf this week to fix (since they are the distributors) and I hope it's a quick fix...otherwise I'll need to get another ECU, and they don't come cheap D: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bishamon Tiger Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Good review. I notice Airsoft News EU also has a review up - glad to see these things are getting some exposure. It's good that the sensor is buried in the GB - I guess it means it's less likely that rain will penetrate. Inevitably, the qualities of this device will be compared to some of the features of a PTW and I think it's a really important upgrade for those on a tight budget. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LordElpus Posted October 3, 2010 Report Share Posted October 3, 2010 Had the joy of using 1stCommando's Diamarco with one of these fitted to it. Nice doesn't even begin to cover it. Nice crisp trigger and the 3rd burst is just soul candy. Interesting, ROF didn't change much between 7.4v 1000mAh and 11.1v 1600mAh 20C lipos (1320 vs 1400 if memory serves. I am currently trying to find a battery stock i like the look of for the M4 so i can fit it and a lipo to my m4. I wonder if this unit will work with a Modify Smooth gearset? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Black Templar Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 I have just had my M4 fitted with one of these gizmos. Fitting was about an hour, the ROF is certainly improved and as shown much crisper and responsive. By re-wiring the whole thing, all is now within the handguard and very neat it is too, no more messing about with the stock, which now is fully usable, due to the upgrade it now runs on 11.1 and it just sings. I don't do spray and pray so I just have single and triple shot, the trigger response is a joy. Certainly for me, it is possibly the best upgrade I could have had done to it, it has made a good gun (G&P) even better. I can do a full day on one battery, only caution makes me use another the following day, however I have a sneaking feeling it could well last for pretty much two days of fun. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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