Maxa Beam Ni-CD / NiM upgrade

[rhodiuman]

After my 7 amp hour Maxabeam battery pack died ( smoked when on the charger ) I swapped out the dead Ni-CD's.
Replacements are 14 amp hour NiM F cells.
I tried to remove the bottom of the battery cover without success, so I cut it open on my table saw.

Picture of original battery's and leaking

Picture of new 14000mAh NiMH F cell battery pack.
Made up of 10 individual batteries from All Battery.com

Shortly after this picture I partially filled the compartment with white silicone and allowed it to cure for about a week before epoxying the cover back together.

Finished, I still need to paint the epoxy glue line, battery life is greatly extended over original 7 amp hour battery pack.

Charger

Batteries were 9.68 each, the charger was 22.99, I also had a 15.06 discount coupon.
Tom

 

[ma_sha1]

Nice!

MY maxa beam battery just bursted during charging.
I opened it up & is working on a LiFepo4 battery pack.

I saw the same "white thing" connected between the red lead wire and battery cells, what is that? Polarity protection? Did you re-use it?

 

[rhodiuman]

I believe it is a thermal breaker or fuse, I reused it.

Tom

 

[JulianP]

Interesting. I guess there must be some good reasons for sealing the battery pack, not just commercial ones.

I recently went through the same problem with my laptop battery, and I found it somewhat irritating that a manufacturer would charge an exhorbitant amount for batteries which cost only a few dollars.