Best Route for Battery for Noob

DIY Builds Battery Builds
#1

So, I’m putting together stuff for my first DIY eskate. It’s going to be a pretty modest single motor commuter, but I want to DIY it just for the ability to customize, try different things out, and hopefully have better quality than most prebuilts. My current plan is that I want a 10s2p 18650 pack because I want to use the Verreal F1 enclosure which is 16.5x32.5x3.5cm and seems to be built for and pretty well sized for a 10s2p 18650 battery, bms, and fairly small ESC. I’m starting to consider going a bit bigger on the pack because I think it could fit, but either way 18650s can be stacked 2 high in that while 21700s can’t so I’ll be going with 18650s and a relatively small pack. I’d kind of like to make the pack myself and plan on using a cheap smart bms, but I don’t have a spot welder and don’t want to spend what it costs to get a decent one. My basic question is what is probably my best option:

  • make a DIY spot welder with a car battery, starter solenoid, and 555 timer/arduino
  • buy a cheap chinesium spot welder
  • try to find a spot welder to borrow locally (in the general Florida Tampa Bay area)
  • have someone weld me the p groups
    *have someone just make the pack for me
    *say screw the whole thing and just buy a 10s2p pack from a prebuilt store

It seems like most of the pack builders around here are mostly doing gigantic packs and I don’t know if such a small one is worth their time and/or whether it’s worth my money. Also, I’m into DIY electronics so I’m not intimidated by making a DIY spot welder, but while I can’t find a ton of information people seem to be against doing that for some reason.

One thing is I’m trying to spec everything up to ~50-60A. I’ve got a flipsky 6368 coming, I plan to use a single VESC compatible that is rated for at least 60A, and I’d like to get the pack close to that as well. If I DIY or have it built I’ll probably go for Molicel P26As which are rated at 35A. I read the batterymooch review and he rated them at more like 20A due to temp, but in an eskate they shouldn’t be at full current the whole time and so should be fine to hit 30A for a bit occasionally right? Anyway prebuilt packs are all over the place. For example verreal’s 10s2p is Samsung 22Ps which are rated at 10A, but they say the pack is rated at 40A. Then the meepo standard is 10s2p Samsung 20Rs which are rated at 22A, but they say the pack is 30A. I’d prefer to go DIY to some extent for the pack itself as well, but maybe it’s just not worth it given I’m doubling the cost over 10s2p from these prebuilt places. I didn’t go DIY to save money though as there are $500 prebuilts that do about what I want which is less than this build is going to come in at.

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#2

Welcome!

Welding P groups is super easy, I’m sure a builder could do it for you if you asked nicely

That is probably the easiest. If you want to buy the nickel and do it yourself, I’d recommend finding one to borrow, especially for such a small pack. You could diy a welder but the existing ones are just super great

I’d even weld the p groups for you but I don’t know if I have the nickel you’d want, and I’m all the way in cali

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#3

Where are you? If you’re looking for a builder to spot weld some p-groups for you it would help to add some localization to your profile.

#4

I did mention I’m in the general Tampa Bay area in Florida in the post. I added it to my profile now too though.

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#5

Oops I missed that.

#6

@GJF1 is in Florida, he might be able to weld you up some groups

#7

A 10s2p is pretty easy. I can do one for relatively cheaply. Probably $150 shipped if you’d like P26A cells. I have some left in stock. If you’re interested, PM me and I can probably have it done before New Year if you give me the specs of the enclosure. Or if it’s supposed to be the brick style layout of the Meepo packs, that’s familiar enough to do cold.

My work is sprinkled about the forum, so if you look around you can find it.

Cheers, and best of luck with your build.

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#8

I was in a similar boat to you for my first build, and I went with the welded P groups option. Maximum DIY per dollar imo, since acquiring a spot welder is a large expense for one pack.

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#9

Hey man, welcome to the DIY world. I have a maletrics spot welder that I would let you rent if you wanted. Hit me up.

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#10

Or send me the materials, and I’ll spot weld em for free.

#11

10s2p def easy. I’d almost go a different route & tell you to build NESE style compression if you can’t find somebody to assist locally. Buying everything needed to make a decent welded battery for a singular 10s2p is a bit much, NESE ez as fuck and you can always re-use the cells later on.

Don’t listen to anybody who tries to tell you NESE or similar style (winfly?) compression methods are dumb or inadequate, they’re 100% fucking stoop and don’t know what they’re talking about. Only reason to not use is if they’re too large for the enclosure

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#12

Sounds more like you just want his batteries as a donation to your club :stuck_out_tongue:

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