| Building a battery pack give you the advantage of being
able to select your own cells and configuring them anyway you like.
It very easy to build the packs but you will need some supplies. The
first thing you will need to build stick packs that are soldered end to
end is a hammer head solder tip available from Hobby
Lobby. This tip makes the job easy. You can usually get
the 40 watt soldering iron that the tip fits and solder at your local
hardware store. Next you will need some battery shrink wrap,
connectors and a battery bar at Tower
Hobbies. Finally, you will need some batteries. I usually
buy my batteries from Hilltop.
I selected some 3300 NiMh batteries for this pack |
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| First, I tine the tops and bottoms of the battery with
solder. Be sure to wear safety goggles why you do this! The
hammerhead tip makes short work of this. Try not to use to heat the batteries
up to much, let them cool off before tinning the opposite side. |
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| Next, I place the batteries on some sort of grooved
surface. I found that a sanding bar just happens to hold the cells
perfectly. You could also you a piece of angle iron, a corner of a
wall, heck you could even use your cat, I can't stop you. Whatever
you use, make sure it won't get damaged by any stray solder. If you
decide to use your cat, wrap him in tin foil first.
Place the soldering iron in between the batteries, melting the solder completely
and push the cells together. Let it cool down for a few seconds and
check the joint for weakness. Out of four packs I built, I only
found one joint that was weak. I snapped the batteries apart and
soldered them again. No problem. |
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| Keep going until you have enough cells in a row. Once
done with soldering the packs together, present the cat, still wrapped in
tin foil to your significant other as a large Hershey Kiss. |
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| Now that I made two rows of batteries, I connected them
using a standard battery bar. You can use wire for this but the
battery bar will help keep the cells together. I used the hammerhead
tip again to solder the bar on the battery. |
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| Next, the battery wires need to go on. It pays to get
high quality, heavy wire. I used 12 gauge wire made specifically for
battery packs. It's good stuff and does not get warm even under a 25
amp drain. |
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| I scavenged a battery cap off of an old pack of
batteries. You don't really need it but if you have them it will act
as a strain relief for the wires. |
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| It's now time for the shrink wrap. I like the clear
kind because you can see what is going on inside the pack. It makes
it easy to detect moisture incase your pack gets a little wet. If
you do not have a heat shrink gun you can usually get away with using a
hair dryer. |
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| Finally, it is time to put on your favorite
connectors. These are Sermos connectors. The 12 gauge wire
just barely fits inside them. I had to open up the bottom of the
connector slightly to pass the wire though and then squeezed them shut
again. I then soldered them.
That's it. I now have a pack that will dish out a high amount of
current with the least amount of wasted energy. You also have a new
use for your cat.
On a side note, if you have a battery go bad in the middle of a pack,
try placing the pack in the freezer for a while. This weakens the
solder joint. With some luck, you should be able to snap the
batteries apart without damaging them.
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