Spot Welding and 27mm Wide Nickel Strips

[mudflap5]

Looking to build a battery. It will use 18650's and configured honeycomb style with several rows that are 2 batteries wide.

I have used 8mm strip on other packs, it seems like a wider strip would be faster.

Would like to use this to make assembly and welding a little easier. It is 0.15 x 27mm



http://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-quality-Pure-nichel-99-96-Battery-pure-nickel-strip-cell-connector-battery-pure-nickel-plate/32678144960.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.220.3hlrha&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_4_10017_301_407_406_10040,searchweb201603_8&btsid=1d6118ad-7d40-4e24-8ce1-82fd3e7c16bf

Looked at some pack builds did not see anyone using the 27mm wide strips.

Will this work?

 

[redilast]

Depending on your pack configuration it should work. I have some 27mm as well but I've never used it in a project yet. I think the biggest problem would be the bigger possibility of slightly missing the + end the cells, increasing the chance for tab blow through. If you do end up going with the 27mm I'd suggest you make some kind of stencil or something so you know exactly where to weld on the + and so you don't miss.

 

[Wheazel]

I think it still is uncommon to use wide plain strip to weld cells together, but it will work no problem.
A very recent build on the forum shows even wider nickelplate forming custom shapes for cell clusters.
It is probably more common to use punched strips of this width to combine with 18650 holders.
Check out page 2 in my cargobike thread linked in my signature for an example of saving alot of time with punched 27mm strip.
You are absolutely right that any type of "wider strip solution" saves alot of time when building larger packs.

 

[mudflap5]

Depending on your pack configuration it should work. I have some 27mm as well but I've never used it in a project yet. I think the biggest problem would be the bigger possibility of slightly missing the + end the cells, increasing the chance for tab blow through. If you do end up going with the 27mm I'd suggest you make some kind of stencil or something so you know exactly where to weld on the + and so you don't miss.

Using a stencil is a good idea!

 

[mudflap5]

Another reason to weld 2 batteries wide is that I have the 788H spot welder and can weld ONLY 2 rows deep due to the short electrode arms. The pack I want to build is an irregular shape, and it would be easier to build with a spot welder that has welding leads. Just posted in the "Wanted" section for Riba's JP spot welder.

 

[Wheazel]

I made leads for my sunkko welder. Very easy to do.

They can also be seen in the battery build pics.
They are made of thick speaker cable, soldered to 1,5mm copperplate that attaches at the welders terminals.
The welding pins are inserted into the finebraided cable and soldered inside. A footswitch is used to fire a weld.

I have one riba welder aswell, but find those leads to be too stiff. I know he offered a more flexible option but I cheaped out.

 

[redilast]

Hand held leads are the way to go for sure. Just don't cheap out with the cable. I use 6 GA copper welding cable, but on a previous weld head I had it used 8 guage and then had some questionable connections of high resistance, requiring me to literally use about 2.5x the weld power vs the 6 gauge cable with less high resistance connections.

 

[mudflap5]

Hand held leads are the way to go for sure. Just don't cheap out with the cable. I use 6 GA copper welding cable, but on a previous weld head I had it used 8 guage and then had some questionable connections of high resistance, requiring me to literally use about 2.5x the weld power vs the 6 gauge cable with less high resistance connections.

I purchased leads off of ebay and they would not weld very well, probably too much loss thru the cable. Your suggestion of using better-larger wire might do the trick!
Time to get some new wire and try the leads again.