The battery builders club 2

Heck ya! It looks like I am totally in the clear to be using these. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Yeah, they probably do that to reduce the chance that clueless ppl mess up settings.
I do have some of the 3.1 and older andorid .apk’s, you would have sideload them(pretty easy to do)
But since the Overkillsolar app works great and is available on apple/android, kind of a no brainer for me.

Yes, it has only the most basic features(cell voltage) right now, but the code and instructions are on github:

1 Like

I may be the audience JBD is trying to restrict lol.

Seriously, though. Thank you for taking the time to link that project, can’t wait to dive in.

2 Likes

This helped me a lot @fearlesstvn

Shout out @Skyart

4 Likes

This was very useful!!

Thanks to the both of you. :grin:

Slowly getting the hang of it. This thicker solder is making a big difference.

4 Likes

Recommend getting some ceramic tipped tweezers, both straight and curved tip.

They don’t suck the heat out of the solder/ insulation.

2 Likes

Instead of soldering the cable like that, I suggest peeling more insulation and flattening the strands, spreading them out like a brush. Then solder the strands fully spread onto the busbar. This helps avoid concentrating heat and current in a single spot, gives better current distribution, and results in a much stronger joint.

2 Likes

This makes a lot of sense — thanks for the explanation.

About how much insulation would you recommend peeling back? I’m assuming not nearly as much as what’s typically done on the main leads, correct?

I’d love to try this approach on my remaining test nickel strips if you’re willing to take a look at a few photos later on.

Oohh, great idea!

Has anyone else had good luck with the Wellgo copper + nickel strips on eBay and alibaba? They worked great for this 16s 3P Molicel P45B build. I don’t really see anyone else using them on here

2 Likes

how thick is that copper?

0.3mm copper bus and the nickel/cu you spot weld to is about ~.15mm

2 Likes

So I started practicing with your suggestion, and had a question about the tinning step.

When you fan the strands out like this, do you still pre-tin the wire (light flux + solder) before attaching it to the nickle, or do you skip tinning and let everything flow together during the final soldering step?

I would definitely still apply flux to the wire after fanning, but tinning it could potentially be a little more difficult..

you could try pressing the fanned section flat on some aluminium and then tinning it, the solder shouldn’t stick to aluminium

1 Like

So, I fanned the wire about “half way” and tinned in my usual way with tiny bit of flux and the solder seemed to flow WAY better into the end.

Think I might be using too much solder now that I have the correct thicker gauge.

Those ugly spots, is that something getting burnt in the process? I tried to add some solder to the tip before soldering the lead and blob together, feels like it may have been on the tip too long.

BTW, the ceramic tweezers did help a lot, thank you @SternWake!! :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Those dark spots will come off with some rubbing alcohol on a Q tip( get 91% if you can find it), and maybe a little persuasion with those ceramic tweezers where it is thicker. The sooner the better in terms of ease of removal.

I have splayed/ fanned the stranding on the stripl, holding it flat with the ceramic tweezers, very still, while the solder solidifies. The curved tip ceramic tweezers are often a bit more convenient for this.

Don’t allow the wire to move when the solder goes from molten to solid. The solder might look a little cloudy if this happens. Reflow it making sure it does not move.

I really want the splayed copper stranding on the nickel/copper strip, not floating above.

Copper is a bit different as the solder spreads wider faster, and wont bead up as high when pretinning it.

1 Like

I learned of the ceramic tweezers here, along with so much else. Glad to have passed it on.

1 Like

Those look really nice, i don’t think it’s too much solder. When i do my joints i do them very similar to these. The extra solder that beads up helps pretty up the joint as well as make those spots (overheated flux) clean up easier with iso. Id fuck with those joints.

3 Likes

That copper nickel stuff is great, i haven’t worked with it but it seems like a great option - the push to figure out and use copper in a 100% diy option is parallel to this product not opposed to it. Getting that stuff in some of the differently configured packs and spacing isn’t going to be cheap or universally available so even though that stuff is great it’s just not a universal solution.

Side note: why are all my packs so crazy in arrangement? What is wrong with me lol, got to whip out a basic 12s2p candy bar and man did it go so much faster than all my usual bizarre over constrained packs. “it shouldn’t fit” seems to be a pre req for most of my packs :zany_face: