Yeah, it came together really quick. It was really nice not having to solder the series connections. Knocked it out over the Labor Day weekend.
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Damn dude, that looks great although I canât condone soldering the main power leads down directly on nickel over the cells. I always make those connections on a folded over piece of nickel so that the solder heat isnât directly on the cell.
Something like that. When doing the actual solder join, I place a piece of FR4 under the tab, so that the heat doesnât just go straight through.
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Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I wasnât sure how to best go about that. I kept the soldering to an extreme minimum, meaning I tried to be quick and only applied solder in-between the cells. I touched the top of the cells and they only got warm to the touch. Would like to find a better solution for future builds though, because it could get risky if I was careless.
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After a few hiccups with the K-Weld Iâve finally welded my first nickel tabs 
. First few were a little overcooked comparing to some welds on here so turned joules down a touch.
At first I was getting undercurrent faults and thought my single lead acid battery wasnt enough so i got another 2nd hand and hooked up in parallel only to get the same faults. Turns out the connections i was using were badly soldered by me 
. I chopped them off and sinply screwed the wire down in the screw terminals of the battery and was good to go. Thanks for you help @Tony_Stark and @glyphiks as always!!
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Please somebody confiscate any battery building materials I own! I should never again be allowed anywhere near this stuff! This is way harder than I thought and gives me even more admiration for a lot of you guys on here!!!
Luckily this is only for a low powered, hub motor short board. But part of me is still considering de-soldering the lot and throwing in the towel.
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Hehe just need more practice man. My packs also donât compare to the nice ones on here, but eh weâll get better
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When it comes to soldering, itâs all about the equipment and materials. What iron and solder are you using?
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My iron is a big cheap thing from local hardware store. I have a decent temperature controlled iron too but the tip is too small for this kind of work. Solder is 60/40 from memory.
10awg is a cunt to do those kinds of connections with, Iâve only ever done it on a handful of occasions.
Youâd be much better off with using 12 or even 14awg.
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Yeah cheers. I am a cheap bastard and was using what i had. I tried some of the braid u chucked in too but not easy either.
For the use case of this battery Iâm thinking Iâll get away with it. They all seem proper stuck on when tugging on them. Do u think Iâll get away with it for a low powered board? Or should i de-solder and buy some 14AWG to try?
My hopes of one day building a battery worthy of a race board has severely diminished though haha.
Personally if itâs solid and it fits, i wouldnât change it, just take it as a lesson learned.
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is the proximity of the nickle between groups 1 and 6, and 2 and 5 a concern? I fee like iâd want more fishpaper there up and around the bend.
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True. Those type of packs always make me a little nervous. Even a squirt of hot glue or something down the join to seperate/insulate
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There is fishpaper between the nickel but yeah Iâll chuck in more insulation as well. I wasnât sure if i was going to re-do p group connections just yet but I think Iâll push on.
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I agree w @fessyfoo and @glyphiks re more insulation between groups 1,2,5 and 6. Throw a piece of rubber in there. 3mm or so will do it.
Re your series connections, the joints ainât pretty but theyâll more than likely be functional. Donât redo them if they pass the pull test. When soldering thinker wires like >12awg, itâs easier to get a good joint if u fan out the strands as opposed to having them in one big lump. Something like this:
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Thanks for the tips. Appreciate the assistance everyone
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Hey hey hey, I spent about 3 years âlearning to solderâ with unnecessarily large wire, low quality solder and a shitty iron.
This is absolutely the case, after 3 years of hardware store stuff, I bought a Ksger and kester solder and suddenly all of the experience I had began to show. Even borrowing a friendâs quality soldering station is very likely to show youâre more skilled than youâre aware of.
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10awg is wild for series connections. Double up 14 or smthn
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