Lithium battery pack rebuild.
 

Long story and don't really need to go into the why and the what of it.

Neighbor came to me.

Has a Lithium pack made up of 5 AA sized 3.6 volt batteries.

These are non rechargeable batteries.

He sourced individual replacement cells and needs the pack rebuilt.

That means breaking apart the old pack and re-soldering all the connectors to build a new pack.

Dead packs battery connectors are spot welded so breaking it apart is not going to be easy without damaging the connectors.

Then they would need to be re-soldered.

For a variety of reasons that shouldn't need splainin I'm not to enthused about heating up a battery sized bomb on both ends much less 5 of them.

The obvious answer is pick up a cage for $3.00 with leads in place so he'll never have to worry about rebuilding the pack, just pull em out and replace like any normal device.

5 cell cages are kinda scare but can be had. Ideally a springless version is preferred to keep it as close to the same size as the old one so it still fits into the devices cavity without modifying the device itself.

Anyone know where to get one?

If it's unobtanium I have a second question. The spring loaded cages all list 1.5 volt batteries. Is this due to the spring itself? Is the material not rated for anything higher than 1.5? Or is it something that is more of a recommendation than hard fast rule.

This but springless.

As always thank you in advance for your shared wisdom and knowledge.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1485226883.jpg

5s (18v) rechargeable packs are available from hobby stores. You can also buy individual cells with solder tabs. Need special charger that monitors individual cells.

It's not the voltage, but the current in his application that would determine if a carrier is useable.

Well during my search I found a source for the OEM battery pack.

Cheaper than the individual replacement cells.

Sent him the link, told him "buy this", return the other stuff.

A 5s pack would not have worked. The cavity is pretty size specific.

Thanks

I have soldered them. I'm still alive.

I solder to the old tabs.

Rechargeable Batteries - All-Battery.com

They have pre-made battery packs of various voltages and chemistries.

No tabs on the old or new.

Connecters spot welded to the old batteries.

The device uses primary lithium.

There is something in the firmware of the device that indicates rechargeable are not an option. Info from google search results from people that have tried so may be valid, maybe not.

Doesn't really matter anymore, found a prebuilt OEM replacement that is actually cheaper than the individual replacement cells he bought.

He ordered it last night.

That's the Ticket!

Almost called you about it last night.

Figured if anyone knew you would.

We build battery backup systems for industrial lighting. So I'm familiar with the small battery systems. He is definitely better off letting someone else rebuild his battery module.