In traditional electric airsoft guns switching is accomplished by the physical connection of two copper plates. While this works, it is not an ideal solution. As the trigger is pulled and the copper plates draw close to each other, an electrical arc is formed between the plates before they completely connect. Even stock airsoft guns running on 8.4V batteries draw a current of over 15 amps (a 120 watt lightbulb draws only one amp!) which is more than enough to cause pitting on the copper plates when the arc occurs. Pitting on the plates increases their electrical resistance, which in turn reduces the current traveling through the system and reduces the power supplied to the motor. With less power, the motor slows down and the gun's rate of fire is decreased. The worst part of this is that the effect is cumulative, each time the trigger of a gun is pulled more pitting occurs. After several years of hard use the trigger can start to wear out and the gun's rate of fire will have dropped significantly below that of an identical gun that is new.

MOSFET stands for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. The key word is 'Transistor', a transistor is a type of electronic switch. By applying a voltage to its 'gate' pin, it allows current to flow to flow from its 'drain' pin to its 'source' pin. The important part is that a MOSFET does not use a mechanical connection to control current, thus arcing and pitting cannot occur. This means that the performance of a gun that uses a MOSFET for switching will not decrease with use. Even better, new guns will see a performance increase by installing a MOSFET since the electrical resistance of a MOSFET is lower than that of a pristine mechanical switch.

• Better Performance - Gives the gun a higher rate of fire
• Better Durability - Does not degrade with use like a traditional switch
• Better Efficiency - Allows more of the power from the battery to be transmitted to the motor

An active brake is an additional MOSFET switch that serves to stop the gears and motor as quickly as possible after the trigger is released. To accomplish this, the MOSFET switch is connected so that it will short the terminals of the motor whenever the trigger is released. While the motor and gears are still spinning after a shot, there are two types of energy still in the system, mechanical and electromagnetic. There is momentum in the gears and the motor's rotor, while there is an magnetic charge in the motor's armature. If the motor's terminals are shorted, the motor's electromagnetic charge will cancel out the mechanical momentum of the gears and motor, causing them to stop much more quickly than they would otherwise.

When firing an AEG in semi-auto, there is a mechanism that automatically disconnects power to the motor after the shot cycle is complete. Ideally, after the piston is released and the motor is disconnected, the spring would be left in a fully decompressed state. Unfortunately, the momentum of the motor and gears will sometimes cause the gearbox to 'overspin' and partially compress the spring. Because the force required to compress a spring increases as the spring is compressed, it is much harder for the motor to get the gearbox spinning again if the spring does not start in a mostly decompressed state. The active brake eliminates overspin and ensures that the spring will be as decompressed as possible after a shot. In guns that experience extreme overspin (which could be due to a very high voltage battery, weak spring, or heavy gears) they may sometimes fire twice for each trigger pull in semi-auto. Since the active brake eliminates overspin, it will prevent such guns from firing multiple times on semi-auto.

• Better Performance - Gives the gun a higher rate of fire & Makes the gun more responsive in semi-auto
• Better Durability - Does not degrade with use like a traditional switch
• Better Efficiency - Allows more of the power from the battery to be transmitted to the motor
• Elminates Overspin - Ensures that the gearbox stops turning as soon as the trigger is released

To make a Tamiya connector, stamped tubes of thin aluminum are crimped onto a gun's wiring. These tubes lock into sets of white plastic plugs. (Mini Tamiya connectors are just a smaller version of the Tamiya connector.) The problem with Tamiya connectors is that they provide a relatively poor electrical connection and are not mechanically durable. The aluminum the conductors are made out of has nearly twice the resistance of copper and the connection between conductors suffers from a poor contact area and the conductor's small cross section.

One alternative to Tamiya connectors are Deans Ultra Plugs. These are already very popular for hobbyists in electric car and plane racing, and are seeing increasing use in airsoft. Deans plugs are made of solid chunks of gold and silver plated copper that are molded into a plastic body. Unlike Tamiya connectors whose fit becomes loose after time, a Deans plug's conductors are spring tensioned so that they alwas make good contact. Deans plugs feature better materials, a large contact region, large cross sections, and are nearly indestructible in addition to being about the size of a Mini Tamiya connector. Finally, unlike the incompatible Tamiya and Mini Tamiya connectors, any battery with Deans plugs will be compatible with any gun with Deans plugs.