Like @Soflo said, shit happens. Be careful and mindful as you weld and don’t get in a rush or you’ll have to undo a bunch of work. One of the reasons the kweld is so popular is not just that it is a strong welder - its that it keeps the actual energy input consistent and lets you know when a weld didn’t put down the joules as intended - this makes it less sensitive to pressure differences and why so many builders use them.
Less often having to redo work is worth $100 bucks extra when having to redo one p group late in the game can take hours.
If you’re going to use a cheaper welder it means that it’s all you and your skills and no safety net (even if it’s just a small safety net). Take your time and don’t get into a hurry even though there is a lot of work to do. Tortoise and the hare and all that.
Youll do fine. fixing your mistakes even when it’s a pain in the ass is the difference between a good build and a shit build - being perfect and never making mistakes doesn’t make you a good builder. Fixing shit even when no one will ever see it makes you a craftsman. Just remember to have fun
Retested welding, it seems like I got a taste for it. Inconsistency shouldn’t be a trouble any more, I hope.
I’ve made some versions of nickel plates. Does this seem right in terms of shape and size? I’m not quite sure about the same width of the nickel and O-ring.
I personally like my nickle a little bit wider. Almost the width of the cell.
I don’t like nickle edges that are that close to the size of the anode.
You should be fine, that’s just my personal preference
Unfortunately, it is a harder way to go for me.
Shipping anything from US/EU to RU is a pain in the ass nowadays, it takes both too much time and effort, and that is why I’m not using kWeld.
I used drawing of exactly these pre-cuts for reference btw (but without extra circles over the tabs, and that’s what concerned me)
Using a Dremel with small thin cutting disc. And then by widening the slit using flathead screwdriver to compress the thin almost cut metal
Not as nearly as clean as stamping, but still works nicely.
No experience here but just an idea: to cut the slit stack all the nickel and clamp it, then use a very small (1.5-2mm?) drill to drill the ends of each slit, then Dremel the slit connecting the two holes. Also, imho as long as the slit isn’t continuous it could be longer without significantly effecting the resistance of the strip as long as there is sufficient excess material around all of the connections.
Most of my nickel comes from china if you can access aliexpress or similar markets. Im sure you will find a way to succeed here though, starting to look like a good plan of attack.
Hi!
You’ve told me to share my progress, so here we go:
I’ve started the pack assembly by sinking temp. sensors into thermal paste between the cells and covering it all up with hot glue. I don’t know how I feel about it, but it seems reasonable.
Now it is time for series connections, wiring the balance wires and wrapping it all up in heat shrink tube. Any advice on this process, what is the best sequence? Something like shrink-make a tiny hole-solder-apply hot glue?
This is what i do to help fight the rain, i do live in a rainforest. I also strongly prefer clear heat shrink because it lets me see what’s going on inside - also i like the look of all the wires and soldering - but mostly for the ability to inspect without opening.
I’ve always found shrinking first to be a massive pain in the ass. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, its just tedious as hell trying to make all of those holes.
It is a huge pain in the ass for some setups, especially my most recent 18s6p in a 4p enclosure. It makes getting everything wired up take twice as long or more… but rainforest. At least 2-4 times a season ill get stuck riding in a downpour and have to just roll slow home or to a rescue pickup spot. I’ve never had any of my enclosures leak but i have helped fix other people’s shit when they have.
It’s a pain in the ass and hopefully i am front loading with some extra prep work to save some maintenance work in the future.
@kntzn if you do decide to shrink first, make all the connections and jumpers that can be completely covered by the shrink first, it will save a lot of effort and energy cutting and then re sealing the shrink.
I find the balance wire connections generally are easier to cut in after the shrink and seal but are a huge pain to have under the shrink if the bms is not also under the shrink. Parallel and series connections i try to get all inflexible connections made under the shrink and all flexible connections on top by cutting, soldering, hot gluing
I do them in groups, in the pic i have 3 large sub groups and did shrink on the each of them. I don’t shrink at the s group level but i do it by flex - if the set doesn’t flex I shrink it. Then cut only the openings i need to connect between them + balance connections. I seal the ends of the shrink with some neutral silicone and fiber tape over that to keep it from getting messy
Not showing in the photos, i put some kapton tape on the big solder joints so the glue or silicone is easier to pull off if i need to modify or repair the pack. Cleaning silicone off is a huge pain so never again
Typo here, meant to say i don’t by s group, but i do by the packs flexible sections. If it won’t flex i lock that shit down and seal the crap out of it.
