MiniSpotA spot welder

Hello, everyone,
I just received my MiniSpotA!
The delivery was very fast, only 7 days to France, I am very happy.
I was able to carry out my first tests and I must admit that I was a little scared! :shock:
I wanted to use the MiniSpotA with the battery 50% charged, and I can tell you that it doesn't work at all, fortunately when I charged the battery 100% I found a perfect welding quality.

On the right, with the battery at 50%, on the left with the battery at 100%, both @2.5ms with 0.1mm nickel strip.

JVEgUtw.jpg


My LiPo:

a3tJOBf.jpg


Voilà, I wanted to share this experience with you, it's done.

QH1F3e2.jpg
 
I noticed demo video refereced lipo packs.....will this weld nickel strips to 18650 cells?
 
I've mailed Lee last evening, got a reply later that night, paid him this morning and my welder was sent 20 minutes later.
If his work is half as good as his service, I don't have to worry about the quality of the tool :bigthumb:

I can't wait :D
 
Lee shipped mine today.
For power, I am using a 3S3p lipo pack of 8AH cells that powers my kayak.
I will make a 6 foot cable of 4awg copper wire that will connect battery to welder.
A smaller pigtail cable will connect larger cable to welder.
Has anyone measured the current loads when operating welder?
Voltage drop of cable is only .15v at 50amps load, so cable will work well.
 
I got my welder today.
I set it at 4ms flux for .8s in auto mode.
It was very straight forward to initially setup.
After only a few minutes of light test welds on .10 nickle, the screen went black.
I immediately disconnected and proceeded to troublshoot.
5V regulator was hot.....FETs were cool though and seemed OK.
I de-soldered and lifted the "output" leg of the 5v regulator. Regulator tested fine.
I adjusted my bench power supply to 5v and 100ma (maximum).
I Connected 5v power directly to logic circuit (output leg of regulator is still disconnected).
Circuit sunk entire 100ma. Did same for 250ma.
It looks like brain side of things is fried. :-(
 
I've received mine as well a couple days ago but didn't have a chance to test it yet.
I will with the provided strips, and with 0.2 pure nickel I have ordered from AnnPower.
 
I had time to test mine yesterday. I can't say I'm disappointed since I had no particular expectation (this is my first and only spotwelder) and all observations may well result from my total inexperience.

For tests, I used the provided 0.1x5mm nickel strip (supposedly pure, didn't think to test this), and two 3S 4.5Ah 25C rated packs in parallel. I only got acceptable results with 12 to 14ms pulse (manual mode, a few seconds between welds). I think it is way to loong given the "performances" other user reports (0.2mm @8ms on its big brother thread if I remember correctly).

At first I didn't think about my batteries being part of the "problem" (quite a reputable brand, with supposedly conservative C ratings -unlike some hobbyking packs- fully charged, with short 10AWG wires and parallelized), but I tried with only one to see if there was any noticeable difference and ther was, big time. Once I factored in Nipsen's experience report about half-charged packs (top of the page), I wasn't so sure about this. So, Since I have a couple of fresh 3S 1.6Ah 60C packs, I'll test those in 2P config to see if my bigger packs are too tired (and if I have to by yet another pack for this specific use).

Once thing I noticed is that the two electrodes should be as motionless as posible, relative to one another. Once I installed a couple of zipties close to the end, I got more repeatable results. I will soon improve that with a "finger rest" thingy.
 
What did you use to parallel the bricks? The adaptor should have thick wire. 8awg at least or no wire at all.
I use this for parallel:
53677u.jpg

If you use something like this:
25662.jpg
Make sure the wire is short and 8awg. You will lose the hell of a lot of amps otherwise hence the big time flux.
Also aim for 5000mah with the highest burst possible. Battery matters.
 
I use the fist one (I had already seen the same recommendation elsewhere).
I'll try to add a pack in parallel (I have 5 of these packs) just because I'd like to avoid buying a dedicated battery.
 
hi there,

I have juste finish my first battery with MiniSpotA, 13S5P (LG HG2).
Pure nickel strip 0.15mm x 6mm (5 meters ! :shock: )
Current time : 3ms
Manual trigger.
IgKKPF9.jpg


sO5nk8r.jpg


The only issue is that the MiniSpotA switch from "Manual Switch" to "Auto" by himself.
 
:bolt: nice battery. I never experienced change from automatic to manual. Since the ignition button is the same to shift modes i guess that's a secondary effect. I wonder if rising the time from 2 to 3 seconds would solve that.
How often did you suffer that?
And btw why do you prefer manual?
 
I prefer manual because I want to make sure I put enough pressure on it before I trigger.
It is possible that I may be the one changing the type of triggering by mistake, but I would be surprised. It was quite annoying, it happened about once in 10 welds.
 
I've been following the Boss thread on and off for the last couple years. Now that I'm ready to start pack building with 18650s, it is refreshing to see that this has continued development to this level. So I went ahead and sent payment to Lee yesterday. Today, I have tracking indicating the package's progress already. :D

I have cells and welder to arrive within a week, so I just need to get some nickel strips. What's the current recommendation? I'm using Boston Power 4400 cells (I've heard they can be difficult to weld) in a 6P7S layout. I'll be pulling about 80A with some very short spikes to 100A
 
Mine comes from AnnPower, in 0.2x10mm. This seller was recommended in the Boss thread, and I can understand why (10 days from order to delivery, good quality).
 
cal3thousand said:
I've been following the Boss thread on and off for the last couple years. Now that I'm ready to start pack building with 18650s, it is refreshing to see that this has continued development to this level. So I went ahead and sent payment to Lee yesterday. Today, I have tracking indicating the package's progress already. :D

I have cells and welder to arrive within a week, so I just need to get some nickel strips. What's the current recommendation? I'm using Boston Power 4400 cells (I've heard they can be difficult to weld) in a 6P7S layout. I'll be pulling about 80A with some very short spikes to 100A
Click to expand...

You will have to let us knpw how it goes tab welding to the Boston's.
I have a small 7s pack with the 5300mah cells made up by Jimmy @BGA/Insat in London and he said at the time of visiting him they are hard to spot to, though made easier for him with his high tech 20K machine.
 
I want to thank Aulakiria and the OP for the mini spot welder, I received mine some days ago, paired it with a turnigy heavy duty 60-120C 5000mAh, used 0.2 mm nickel stripe on samsung 30q and 5ms, and results were excellent. Could not be happier.

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/11408-ninebot-one-ce-coolinghandle-and-other-mods-testbed/?do=findComment&comment=232779
 
I just did a semiflex flat battery pack with the MiniA. 0.05 copper. The conductivity is similar to 0.2 nickel but copper has better heat disipation and flexibility. The risk of failure due to vibrations is minimal.

1.jpeg

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6.jpeg

The MiniA did a great job. I managed to make the pack pretty quick. I did The solder job of every module while the machine was cooling down.
 
I love your floor wood work, how old is it?
We have the same pattern, only yours was much harder to make I guess. Can you please measure a single piece's width and lenght?. :)

https://youtu.be/dSChSWrggAs?t=61
 
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