Hi everyone! Writing this to document the process I used to “unfold” my LiPo pack into a slimmer form factor… As always, finished product first:
I started with 2 6S/8Ah Graphene lipos from hobbyking, wired in series to give 12S.
First step is to peel off the heat shrink from the outside of the batteries. The key here is not to puncture the pouches when you make the initial cut in the wrap - I made mine at the end where it overhangs the foil.
Underneath the wrapping is some plastic shielding that needs to be peeled off - but don’t get rid of it, we’ll use it later to reinforce the pack.
Under the plastic, we get our first look at the cells. Checking the connections confirmed to me that I wouldn’t be able to separate the two halves completely but rather unfold instead.
I started peeling apart the two halves I wanted to split using an old gift card to loosen the glue. Some of the plastic coating on the cells got mangled but the foil was fine so I carried on.
I put a bit of that plastic stuff from before in between the two packs just as additional insulation. They already had fish paper but I figured it couldn’t hurt.
With one pack unfolded I pretty much did the same again for #2…
I used the rest of the plastic stuff on the bottom of the pack to reinforce the fold area. It was still plenty sticky from its first life so it worked great.
Tidied up the balance leads and shortened the series connection between the packs. It was around this point that I totally ruined my side cutters after accidentally shorting the pack across the blade.
Used some foil tape to keep everything in place. This stuff is super strong and sticky so it works well for this…
Wrapped 'er up with some pvc shrink wrap. This stuff was really unpredictable and a pain to work with. I ended up doing two layers of it just in case.
Finished pack again for completeness. This was a pretty fun mini project, and not terribly difficult either. If any other LiPo users want to try this, here’s a few general tips:
- tape the pack up before shrink wrapping. Makes it less liable to fall apart.
- lipos smell somewhat sweet if they’ve been punctured. If you smell anything odd, immediately take the pack outside and GTFO
- I’ve been told the best pouch separation technique is a piece of internal paracord string soaked in acetone. Thanks to @Bindings_McGee for this tip!
- peel off the original shrink wrap in a spiral fashion for best results
Anyway, that’s about all I have on this topic… Feel free to shoot me any questions you have! Cheers!
should be tag as best given for lipo pouch separation