Soldering batteries

[mdarby]

I am relatively new to soldering, and completely new to soldering batteries. I want to create an 8-cell pack of AAAs. I planned to solder the four pairs together, make 3 positive terminal to negative terminal connections, then solder the positive/negative terminals of the new pack to the plates from a C-battery, which is about the same size as 4-AAAs. Does this make any sense?

I found the following instructions using Google:

http://www.silentflyer.org/articles/soldering_batteries.html

Is this the best method for soldering batteries end to end? I don't have the hammerhead tip. Is there a way to go without that part?

Thanks.

 

[Skibane]

The instructions look pretty good, although there's rarely any reason to solder one battery directly to another – Usually, you can solder a short piece of wire to one battery instead, and then solder the other end to another battery.

A "hammerhead" tip isn't absolutely necessary. Just about any soldering iron in the 25-50 watt range should work just fine. If you have a choice of tips, use a thick one that puts heat on the work faster.

Most alkaline cells have contacts that are made ouf of some alloy of stainless steel. In order to get the solder to adhere, this alloy needs to be thoroughly cleaned first. I use either a Scotchbrite pad or small wire wheel in a Dremel tool.

If you're planning on using NiCad or NiMH cells, you should be aware that versions are available with solder tabs already attached to them. This greatly reduces the chance of overheating a cell while soldering it.

Finally, take extra care to observe the proper polarity when soldering several batteries together. Speaking from personal experience, it's all too easy to make a connection error that causes a short circuit – This can burn wires, melt your batteries, or even start a fire!

 

[js]

I explain how to do this as part of my TigerLight Custom Batterypack construction details thread. Check it out and post with further questions here and I will try to answer them. www.dynamoelectrics.com has a section of their site that tells how to build an end-to-end soldered pack. And www.rcgroups.com has some really good info, including a video file link which shows someone making a pack. But you'll have to search to find it, or post a question thread like this one.