Spot welding in a apartment...risky?

lucajo16

10 mW
Joined
Oct 23, 2013
Messages
29
Location
cincinnati ohio
As the subject employs i wanna build my own battery pack but my problem is where i live...i live in an older apartment with a fuse box in the basement. My question is can i use a spot welder here or am i going to need to find another way to save $ on my build? Ps...its my first diy and i dont want to spend alot on a lithium ion battery so i thought i could build one myself. Seems easy enough when http://www.ebikeschool.com did it on youtube
 
There is an Arduino-timer based version around here that uses a car battery for the current. You may end up needing to keep that battery on a 12V charger the entire time, but...since the sudden high-pulse of current is coming from the battery instead of a machine that is connected to your wall-socket, that should be fine.

Do you already have a spot-welder?
 
No i dont own a spot welder yet but if i was gonna use one id probably get one like this
Sunkko Pulse Spot Welder 788H 18650 battery Welding Machine with LED Battery Testing and Charging Function https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MF8LKYK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FhjkzbPS0CJV9
But thats just me. Ive also heard of a bunch of indian guys who made a solderless...weldless kit which was my back up plan
 
I mean soldering should be no big deal but welding is to me...takes more amps then i think my wall outlets would allow and possibly do damage
 
Personally, I would weld rather than the "no weld, no solder" cell holders. Welds tend to last the life of the pack.

The spot welder only uses a lot of power for a very short burst. The average power is quite low, so standard house wiring might be fine. It will depend on the model of the welder. Check the specifications. Some welders use capacitor discharge, which will also not need much power from the wall.

I used a car battery powered spot welder for lots of welds and it worked well. A small battery charger is all it needed to keep the voltage up.
 
I suggest you make a plan for what you will do if you screw up. Last year I was welding a pack when someone came up and started talking to me. I welded a strip between the wrong two cells and shorted them out. Fortunately I was working in an open garage and was able to pick the hot cells up and toss them outside onto the concrete driveway before the fire really got going.
Don't let yourself get distracted and have someplace at hand to throw burning objects into. A metal bucket with sand in the bottom and an open bag of sand to pour in should give you time to run it outside.
 
What kind of battery for what application I mean let us know about the motor in the controller and how big of a battery in what you want to do it might just be a lot easier and cheaper to buy one plug and play. And safer. It cost money cells nickel strip , bms ect. Buy the new book.Re: Just finished a DIY lithium battery bookhttps://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=87300&hilit=Book#p1274916
 
might suggest you do a dry run of running with said bucket of sand + weight of a pack to see how fast you can move ! :shock:

In your situation, i would suggest getting all your bits, then finding a place to do the welding outdoors or a friends garage with an open door.

Burning your own house down would royally suck.. burning everyone elses along with it.... x100 bad
 
Just make sure the thing can be contained in case you short it and start a fire. You probably won't be grabbing and moving it around at that point either so setup your workspace flawlessly.
 
lucajo16 said:
As the subject employs i wanna build my own battery pack but my problem is where i live...i live in an older apartment with a fuse box in the basement. My question is can i use a spot welder here or am i going to need to find another way to save $ on my build? Ps...its my first diy and i dont want to spend alot on a lithium ion battery so i thought i could build one myself. Seems easy enough when http://www.ebikeschool.com did it on youtube

I'm in the same boat as you are. I heard as long as you have a 20 amp fuse and take the proper precautions you should be fine. Otherwise I just saw Mikah Toll announce his work on vruzend battery building kits that don't require welding or soldering. In fact all you need a 5mm socket and a clamp!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pxq4Au5iuc
 
If you use a proper captive discharge spot welder, it draws very little power. I think my sunstone engineering spot welder maxes out at 3A or so. The Chinese transformer based spot-welders draw a crap load of current. When I had one of those it was popping 15A breakers regularly on medium power levels. So just stay away from one of those transformer spot welders.
 
First things first what are we talking about what type of battery does he want to build and what's it for what motor or controller what is the amp draw of the controller how many volt battery is he trying to build I mean a battery what does that mean ? No such thing as a battery what is the battery for how many volts what do you want to run. Yes here are the most important questions.
 
I would do spot welding with lead acid batteries as AMP source OUTSIDE.

I was told drawing(and charging) big currents from batteries releases hydrogen.

I would like to conclude by saying, there is an atmospheric hazard of using these batteries, especially indoor!!!
 
Yes just use a battery based spot welder. No issue with doing in an apartment. Just keep a fire extinguisher ready in case.
 
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