Dangers of dismantling recharchable batteries.

[mjr]

What did you use to solder the cell tags to the batteries @classic33 ?

I've used a high wattage iron but found it wasn't hot enough.

That's twice I've read comments like this this week. Am I being dense or doesn't the iron just need to get hot enough to melt the solder and what it's soldering doesn't really matter? That said, I suspect high-street-available solder composition may have changed - I've just bought a new iron because the old one wasn't cutting (melting?) it as easily, but I wanted one with a faster warm-up anyway.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

What did you use to solder the cell tags to the batteries @classic33 ?

I've used a high wattage iron but found it wasn't hot enough.

It is best to buy batteries with solder tags already attached. Those tags are spot-welded, not soldered. Soldering will heat the entire battery and ruin it whereas spot welding doesn't.

 

[snorri]

doesn't the iron just need to get hot enough to melt the solder and what it's soldering doesn't really matter? .

No, it has to be hot enough to raise the temperature of the two metal parts you are soldering together so that the solder flows freely on to both components. To achieve this you might need a bigger bit on the soldering bolt. If you don't get both components adequately heated you risk a "dry joint" which may appear to conduct electricity at first, but will fail in time.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

That's twice I've read comments like this this week. Am I being dense or doesn't the iron just need to get hot enough to melt the solder and what it's soldering doesn't really matter? That said, I suspect high-street-available solder composition may have changed - I've just bought a new iron because the old one wasn't cutting (melting?) it as easily, but I wanted one with a faster warm-up anyway.

As snorri said, both parts have to be hot. Also, the battery terminals are nickle plated (I suspect) and not all flux will work with that. A battery is a large heat sink and will require a lot of heat to get to solder temperature. Unfortunately the heat also damages the battery (the insulators in there are plastic), so soldering is not ideal.

 

[mjr]

Cool. Thanks both @snorri and @Yellow Saddle. I thought if it was hot enough to melt the solder than both of the parts were hot enough too. I've only soldered tagged batteries so I've probably been soldering parts that warm up more easily than solder melts.

 

[Globalti]

We had powered Somfy sun blinds installed in our kitchen bifold doors. The installer fitted 12v battery wands and inked out the technical details on the outside in the hope that we would blindly buy the replacements from him. Well that was red rag to a bull so when they faded I took them apart and discovered that they were nothing more than 8 unbranded 1.5v AA batteries stacked end to end in a cardboard tube.

I wanted to make refillable tubes so I messed around with some bits of plastic pipe and blanking ends but in the end all the tiny wires, springs, gaskets and end caps all became too much so I caved in and bought Somfy refillable battery wands and now we just buy AA batteries on Amazon and refill the wands once a year. At least that's better than buying non-refillable from the installer.

 

[Drago]

[QUOTE 4913109, member: 9609"]I know I shouldn't be doing this and on my head be it.

I am wanting to take to bits a 12v battery pack off a cordless drill, so as I can use the connector to wire the drill up to a car battery. But what is inside the pack that is hazardous and what should I be aware of ? View attachment 367293 [/QUOTE]

Won't the drill be rather ungainly with a car battery stuck to the bottom of the handle?

 

[mjr]

Won't the drill be rather ungainly with a car battery stuck to the bottom of the handle?

I think you may have overlooked the word "wire" but it's a lovely image

 

[Levo-Lon]

Won't the drill be rather ungainly with a car battery stuck to the bottom of the handle?

Hmm
After a few weeks using that his arm will look like he has a secret porn habbit...

 

[classic33]

What did you use to solder the cell tags to the batteries @classic33 ?

I've used a high wattage iron but found it wasn't hot enough.

Silver solder bought from the local ironmongers(long since gone) or Maplins.

 

[lazybloke]

Won't the drill be rather ungainly with a car battery stuck to the bottom of the handle?

Reminds me of a girl I lived with for several years who had an unfortunate mishap whilst carry a car battery into the house to recharge it. She stumbled on the steps and dropped it but rather than let it smash, she deliberately broke its fall with her foot. That was a fun afternoon in A&E and Radiology.




The battery survived.

 

[User33236]

We had powered Somfy sun blinds installed in our kitchen bifold doors. The installer fitted 12v battery wands and inked out the technical details on the outside in the hope that we would blindly buy the replacements from him. Well that was red rag to a bull so when they faded I took them apart and discovered that they were nothing more than 8 unbranded 1.5v AA batteries stacked end to end in a cardboard tube.

I wanted to make refillable tubes so I messed around with some bits of plastic pipe and blanking ends but in the end all the tiny wires, springs, gaskets and end caps all became too much so I caved in and bought Somfy refillable battery wands and now we just buy AA batteries on Amazon and refill the wands once a year. At least that's better than buying non-refillable from the installer.

A bugbear of mine is when companies mask out / hide details.

A manufacturer of a neonatal ventilator had been selling us batteries for a while at a premium cost claiming they were bespoke and issued a strongly worded statement on the dangers of using 3rd party batteries. That ended the day we were shipped batteries they had forgotten to remove the RS Components label from!

 

[User33236]

[QUOTE 4913109, member: 9609"]I know I shouldn't be doing this and on my head be it.

I am wanting to take to bits a 12v battery pack off a cordless drill, so as I can use the connector to wire the drill up to a car battery. But what is inside the pack that is hazardous and what should I be aware of ? View attachment 367293 [/QUOTE]
These warnings are typically to protect candidates for the Darwin Award causing themselves harm

 

[MikeG]

I'm not sure why you are taking the battery apart in a bid to connect the drill to a car battery. I've done this, and did it by taking the drill apart and soldering a cable (with crocodile clips on the other end) to the terminals before the switch. The battery was an irrelevance, and was recycled.

 

[classic33]

I'm not sure why you are taking the battery apart in a bid to connect the drill to a car battery. I've done this, and did it by taking the drill apart and soldering a cable (with crocodile clips on the other end) to the terminals before the switch. The battery was an irrelevance, and was recycled.

There's four connectors, suggesting it'll work both ways. But the battery wiring takes care of part of that.