Thin-walled Heatshrink tubing?

[Popsiclestix]

So I've been soldering together battery packs for my 64458 (mainly a 15AA Eneloop pack and a 16 2/3A Elite 1500 pack and I was wondering where I could acquire heat shrink tubing for them. The Eneloops look like they'll fit fine with regular heatshrink, but the Elite 1500 barely fit in the bored 3D Mag just bare celled.

Anyone know how thin-walled of heatshrink I have to buy? and where I could acquire ~10 feet of it online? The only places I could find online offered 100+ feet increments and I'm not ready to drop $200+ to buy a spool of heatshrink I might only use for this project.

If any mods think this is in the wrong forum, please feel free to move the thread. I just thought it should go under batteries because I'm using the heat shrink as a battery protection application.

 

[Ksailork]

If by thin-walled you mean standard-walled 2:1 then http://cableorganizer.com/heat-shrink/ is where I get mine. Most diameters are sold by the foot.

 

[Popsiclestix]

I'm going to guess I need sub-mm wall thicknesses.

 

[Databyter]

You probably already realize this, but just in case here goes. Eneloops aren't going to perform very well for this application and will get quite hot under that current. They should arguable be best used at under 3A, Lux I believe said he wouldn't recommend using them under 6A (please forgive me if I misquoted you Lux).

 

[Popsiclestix]

You probably already realize this, but just in case here goes. Eneloops aren't going to perform very well for this application and will get quite hot under that current. They should arguable be best used at under 3A, Lux I believe said he wouldn't recommend using them under 6A (please forgive me if I misquoted you Lux).

You're probably right, Eneloops would probably drop to 1V @ 10A, but I liked the idea of having a bright light ready to go at all times in the back of my seat and wouldn't have to worry about charging it every month or so.

As for the Mag 3D, it's more of a stunner light that I can use as a party conversation piece. :twothumbs

That and for scaring off the black people who drive by my apartment windows at 3 AM in the morning playing some ridiculous rap at ear-damaging levels. It seems the cops have gotten a lot of calls about it too, because there's now a cop car sometimes parked right outside our gates.

 

[Databyter]

You're probably right, Eneloops would probably drop to 1V @ 10A, but I liked the idea of having a bright light ready to go at all times in the back of my seat and wouldn't have to worry about charging it every month or so.

As for the Mag 3D, it's more of a stunner light that I can use as a party conversation piece. :twothumbs

That and for scaring off the black people who drive by my apartment windows at 3 AM in the morning playing some ridiculous rap at ear-damaging levels. It seems the cops have gotten a lot of calls about it too, because there's now a cop car sometimes parked right outside our gates.

Sounds good. If you squeeze them in together tight with the thinnest you can find you'd be surprised what you can cram in there assuming it's bored correctly. remember to use some lubrication.

You should PM Lux Luther and ask him about wrap, he makes packs for people at times and he might be able to give you some tips on what he uses or how to compress the pack better.

I need to possibly try the same thing, very similar application, I'm scared to solder em though so I'm waiting for a miracle.

p.s. Lux, if your reading this, I'm not rushing you, just that I feel bad for your poor capacitive discharge spot welder, they need alot of love and attention, don't neglect the poor thing:mecry:

 

[billw]

http://www.batteryspace.com/78-3widthpvctube.aspx

Several other vendors catering the the Remote Control crowd carry similar stuff (homemade battery packs being pretty common.)

 

[The Dane]

Before you plundge to deep why not switch to Elite 1700 AA's?
They thrive at 10A and hold 1,2V!
And cheap too:
http://www.tnrbatteries.com/el17baabhira.html

http://www.buyheatshrink.com/
http://store.modelpower.co.uk/heat-shrink-25-c.asp

 

[Ksailork]

The wall thickness of their 2:1 standard wall is sub-millimeter until you reach the 3-inch diameter and above sizes.

http://cableorganizer.com/heat-shrink/specs_2.html

 

[Popsiclestix]

Before you plundge to deep why not switch to Elite 1700 AA's?
They thrive at 10A and hold 1,2V!
And cheap too:
http://www.tnrbatteries.com/el17baabhira.html

http://www.buyheatshrink.com/
http://store.modelpower.co.uk/heat-shrink-25-c.asp

Gotta quad bore a 4D to get enough AAs into that, a bit too big for me XD

 

[LuxLuthor]

Hi guys. Good news, I got my spot welder out, and have made 3 packs recently (one for Ictorana).

Pops-there are a number of distinctions of shrink that I'll go over.

Short answer for your purposes in doing 3 wide in tribored 2/3A (or the 4/5A Elite 2000), use 56mm (2 1/4") Black shrink sold by the foot at CBP. That size also works for 4 wide AA cells. You can fit 4 wide AA in one of the tri-bore grooves if you didn't get a quad bore D size Maglite.

Thin-walled is a useless term. You need to know the actual "mil" thickness. This CBP shrink is 5 mil thick, and the "tube" lies flat where the 56mm wide measure is taken on both sides of tubing creases. A "mil" is 1/1,000 of an inch. Most battery retail labels are 1 mil thick. It is hard to find < 5 mil flat quality shrink, unless you use clear, and buy that in larger spools.

You need perfectly aligned soldered stacks of cells or they won't fit once shrink-wrapped. Most who solder NiMH cells use a magnetic battery jig to hold cells aligned and high watt (70W) iron with hammerhead solder tip. To get proper seating on neg can end, the label should be removed. After soldered, you can cover bare stacks of cells with 1 or 2 mil Kapton tape. That tape does not hold up to the normal wear and tear from sliding battery packs in/out of bored Mags, so you still need to then put that inside of shrink sleeve.

So you need 3-5 mil thick shrink both to help hold the pack together (I also recommend support rods--1/8" diam--glued in between columns of cell stacks), and to give protection so you don't tear label and develop shorts against Mag tube. After shrinking, the thickness of plastic thickens slightly.

Shrink comes in many colors, but again for this 56mm flat width, mostly just black or white. Advantage of white is you can see the original cell labels (I don't need to remove cell labels for spot welding).

The Eneloops do fine at sustained 5A, and short periods of 6-7A. While Silverfox has tested them in his charts at 10A, and they will give a somewhat decent performance, they are not designed for this kind of abuse. Generally if you are going over 5-6A bulbs, you are better off long term using the Elite A or AA cells. Stay away from IB (Intellect) brand. In the past, I have had high failure and leaking rates from Titanium brands which also have higher current output ratings.

I think I covered most of the questions.

 

[Popsiclestix]

Awesome information as always Lux, I appreciate your stopping by. =) lovecpf