Newbie Battery Soldering Question

[Robb]

I have looked through a bunch of "battery soldering" guides for tips, but pretty much all of them deal with building the packs with the cells side by side. This seems pretty simple, battery bar from cell to cell.

But how do you go about soldering the cells when they are stacked, as with a standard 7.2 pack? I have a couple sitting around that I have looked at, but I can't see how I can duplicate those joints by hand.

I was thinking about stacking the cells next to each other, then soldering a bar on as usual, then bending the bar over on itself so the cells are stacked. This sould like a solid idea, or am I just not seeing the forest through the trees here:?:

Thanks!

 

[badger]

It's much easier to solder the cells with bars in the side-by-side config, especially when you have a battery building speed jig

.

You can solder the cells end to end but you need a really hot iron with a wide tip, and need to work quickly. Pre tin each of the cells, stack your cells together and place the soldering iron between them, make sure the solder is hot on each of the cells and quickly pull the iron away and push the cells together. Just don't get the cells to hot otherwise you can damage them.

Why do you want to build the pack with this config? IMO, if you don't get them premade like that then it's just much easier to build then in the side-by-side config.

 

[Robb]

I will end up with a nice spot at the base of my chassis, that is about 4"x3.5", and was looking to build a pack that would fit nicely in that spot. I am looking at these two configurations.

1)

2)

Thanks for the tips! Might have to do some experimenting on some scrap metel before actually trying that on a batt.

 

[badger]

Here is some old packs I made for a custom fit in my TXT. I used copper flat battery braid to attach the cells, worked well.

Here is a AA pack using the braid

I buy it at my LHS but if you can't here is a good idea of what to look for.

http://www.rcepi.com/battery_building_accessories.htm