How-to Make a 2s 18650 LION Battery with Balance Lead
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ต.ค. 2020
- Need 18650 2s battery with balance connector? Watch this.
WARNING: Soldering batteries is dangerous. Lithium based batteries are known to catch fire and/or explode if mishandled. You assume full responsibility for anything you do as a result of watching this video. It is much safer and probably wiser to buy off-the-shelf batteries.
It is much preferable to use a spot welder to make connections on battery terminals. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
This music causes my brain to expect: "Hello, this is Chef John from Foood Wishes and today..."
Nice how-to, I'll be creating some packs for my first drone this weekend :)
Be safe out there :) I made my 2nd pack and am charging it now. It's all looking good.
I think that every time I watch the intro too.
Great tip regarding soldering XT connectors.
agreed, I'm stealing this.
Total protip! Never thought of that
Yeah, I've been doing that for a very long time. It works.
OK So first, Good instructional video John, so thumbs up for that👍 I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to add a couple of tips:-
1) Only attempt to do this if you have a good QUALITY Iron rated at AT THE VERY LEAST 50W. Higher the better, and as a large tip as you have as it will have a better thermal mass. If you have one, a genuine 200W soldering gun is ideal for this kind of work. The faster you can get the solder to flow on the terminal, the better. You want to have the "Dwell time" as low as possible, to reduce the chance of the battery being damaged. 2or 3 seconds is all it should take, any longer, you need a higher wattage iron/gun.
2) Do NOT use plumbers flux or acid flux to tin the wires of the battery terminals. It's corrosive. Use Rosin Activated (RA) flux instead. Clean the terminals with alcohol once solderig is complete.
3) Have a fairly damp towel at hand when doing this. When you tin the terminals and/or solder the wires to the terminals, as soon as you have taken the soldering iron/gun away from the joint, and the solder has solidified, turn the battery over and press it down onto the damp towel. The towel will act as like a heat sink and drain the heat away from the solder joint, reducing the chance of heat from soldering damaging the battery.
Thanks for the tips Graham. I flew these yesterday on the Dart and they went 38m on, 36m in the air. I am very impressed.
@@RCVideoReviews That's great!! I've read that 18650's can be the better choice over li-po's when the model doesn't pull too much current👍
oh wow, he has some beautiful radioshack solder.
Remember when Radioshack existed? good times
could we get a 4 cell holder, wire up balance leads to it, and use standard RC hobby charger to charge and balance any random 4 cells we put in?
Spot Welding is much safer for these cells. No heat to damage the cell. You can make cheap spot welders using 18650s btw ;D
You can solder onto the metal strips that you spot weld onto the cells if you still need.
Great video. I just build a 6S 18650 Li-ion pack a couple of weeks back. It was for a low current application, so I actually used 2 3-cell holders glued together to avoid having to solder to the tops of the cells. I'ev got ~60 functional 18650s on hand after breaking down a bunch of old laptop batteries and am debating building a few packs like you just made for a couple of my planes. I also use the same XT30/XT60/XT90 soldering tip. I 3D printed a cool plastic vise from Thingiverse that I use along with and a couple of sets of "helping hands" to hold parts like this as I work on them. It makes life a lot easier.
BTW, I just used up my last roll of Radio Shack solder a while back. That was a sad day. 😥
I'm almost done with my solder and am very distressed about it. I can't find ANYTHING I like better. If weight weren't an issue I would have probably just done a plastic tray, but these are for the Dart 250g, so I'm trying to minimize weight where I can.
Build a 6s lion battery with balance port. It's a very nice 'how to video'!
Thank you. I probably won't build a 6s pack because I have no need for one, but the process would be identical. Lead 1 would go on your main negative, lead 2 would go between cells 1 and 2, lead 3 would go between 2 and 3, lead 4 would go between 3 and 4, lead 5 would go between 4 and 5, lead 6 would go between 5 and 6, lead 7 would go on your positive lead. The same thing I did in this video with a few more connections.
Greate video.
Greetings from Mexico.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello. Thank you for this step by step video. I would like to make a 2S battery pack (with a JST & Balance connector) from my old spare laptop batteries for my RC car. Exactly like what you had there. Question. Can I charge it with just a balance connector which what it came with from my RC car. Original battery charger that came with the RC car only has the balance connector slot for me to plug in to charge the battery. Can I charge the self made 2S battery the same way? Or I need to invest in a smart charger and charge the self made batteries which I am going to make? Thank you in advance. Cheer! :)
If your car charger has the appropriate current/voltage settings for the battery you are using and it balances the cells you can use it. Just make sure the charger is designed to support the chemistry, voltage, and current for your battery arrangement.
@@RCVideoReviews Thank you for your reply. I will take a look when I get home. Greatly appreciated.
@@RCVideoReviews I have confirmed the charger that came with the RC car can support only Li Ion Battery with 7.4v, 1.5A max (charging it through the 3 pins balance port). The battery that came with the car is a 7.4v 1200mAh. So... correct me if I am wrong. Basically, I can charge any Li Ion battery that is 7.4v (2S) with less than 1.5A or 1500mAh. Anything higher than 1.5A then I will need a different charger. One more question if you don't mind. If I do purchase a smart charger and charge a higher mAh battery, do I have to plug in the JST connector (what my RC car use) and the balance connector together at the same time on the new charger? Thank you again for your time. :) Jack
Hello. May I ask another question? From the battery pack you made from this video, what mAH rate would you put in charging the 2s pack batteries? 2500mAH or 5000 mAH? I am trying to figure out the correct mAh for my 2s pack. Thank you in advance. :)
When you connect batteries in series, you add voltage. When you connect them in parallel you add capacity (mah). Since you made a 2s pack, you add voltage. Capacity remains 2500.
@@RCVideoReviews Got it sir. Thank you for the answer. Great information and easy to understand. Thank you so much for your reply. Greatly appreciated!!!
Hi, just found your channel. Awesome content, I’m interested in a similar power setup for a fixed wing project but was wondering what the benefits of using Lithium ion versus Lipos. I’ve read longer flight times and lower voltage/mah limits mainly but wondering if peak performance suffers due to motor demands i.e speed in general. So would you agree a power setup in this manner is only worth using if the upper ladder is the goal. Don’t want to invest in these batteries or risk builds for the wrong performance. Thanks for your help.
Can I tin the power leads AND the balancing leads together (according to their respective polarity) BEFORE I solder it to the battery? Just wondering because it only exposes the battery to heat only once instead of twice.
Sure.
Thanx for the reply. I am a newbie, still learning. Will start experimenting as soon as my equipment arrives in a few weeks. Plan to make battery packs for RC and airsoft.
@@BenAhmed67 The main thing is to get the heat off as soon as possible. Also, you can use thinner wire than I did. You're probably not going to draw too much amperage with these and the wire is very short, so smaller gauge wire is ok.
Thanks for the tips..noted..👍
Is the balance lead used for recharging the battery?
No, I use the main leads for charging and the balance lead for balancing.
stupid question: wasn't it easier to make all these connections on a battery HOLDER rather than the batteries themselves? so you can swamp them out if needed anytime you want. just curious... :-) thanks
I wouldn't trust a holder for a flight pack. I want my elements (balance/mains) affixed to the terminals.
Can I use 3.7V Li-Ion phone batteries for this?
Yes.
I have differnet voltage bateries (3.7V, 3.8V and 3.85V). Can I use these batteries in series? If I do this any damages for the batteries? Please help!
Yes, in series you can have different voltages, just make sure the mah is right. Also connect a balance lead and make sure to balance charge them.
@@RCVideoReviews Also those batteries have different mAh. will it be a problem in my case? Thank you for your reply!
@@vindulaherath6400 You cannot have different MAH for batteries in series. That will kill the smaller battery. Here are the rules:
Parallel - Same voltage required, different MAH ok.
Series - Different voltage allowed, same MAH required.
You should watch this video: th-cam.com/video/isXLePIYIr0/w-d-xo.html
You're the Chef John of FPV hahaha
You're the 2nd person to say that. I'll take it though--sounds cool!
can this be done with the batteries being end to en rather than side by side?
Of course the arrangement of batteries can be modified, but the electrical connections have to be managed per your need. If you need batteries in parallel and want to lay the batteries down end to end, you need to find a way to connect + to + and - to -. If you need the batteries in series, that's usually easier for an end to end arrangement as it goes B1 - + to B2 - +. So the join is easier in series.
Hi Bob, I am looking to make a 7.4v inline pack (so + to -) to fit inside a small plane using 2 x 3.7v lithium ion 18650 batteries so will weld a bar between = to - and shape so as both batteries are in a line and then solder balance to middle bar as well as to pos and neg if im correct?
@@RCVideoReviews
Is that combined parallel and series connection?
No. Series. Only. Parallel has positive terminals connected and negative terminals connected. This only has one link between the negative and positive on the 'bottom' of the battery. This is series only.
Ok what's the volt of that? Can I do that in parallel for 3.7 volts..
@@kuamhar1936 The cells are 3.7v nominal at 2500mah. If you connect them in series, you get 7.4v nominal at 2500mah. If you connect them in parallel you get 3.7v nominal at 5000mah. Series connections yields additive voltage. Parallel connections yields additive capacity (mah).
@@RCVideoReviews thanks
you managed to fly it with 2s Li-ion ?
Yes
How about For parallel connect?
Connect the two positive leads and the two negative leads. Then you'll have a 5000mah 1s (3.7v) pack.
Super 👌 👌 film
Thank you.
I make same this battery 2s 3000 for each cell but i wanna know what is the best settings for charging if any one konw please help and thx 😊
4.2v high / 3.3v low. Some will tell you it's safe to go lower than 3.3v, but I've found the amperage/punch gets soft much below 3.3, so I stop there.
Almost 9 seconds heat contact when soldering tab for first batt, this seems too much, it can affect cell performance in future. Also the wire gauge size (14AWG) seems like overkill for those 18650 with max 10A load. Smaller wire size would make soldering process easier and less total weight without performance impact.
"this seems too much"
Seems too much? By what standard? What is the cutoff? What temperature should be used on the iron?
"it can affect cell performance in future"
How? What aspect of performance is impacted? Is it capacity? Resistance? Voltage delivery? And if any of those are affected, by how much? What causes the issue? Is there any way to measure it?
I'm ok with a dialogue, but it seems to me what you've posted is anecdotal. Show me something besides an opinion.
That was the smallest silicon wire I had and I wanted silicon. We'll see what happens with the long term performance. They balance charged fine for their first go.
@@RCVideoReviews I believe no one will tell you exact metrics here. Its more on "rumors" side and effect cant be reallistically measured, unless someone will do experiment with building same packs with same model batts and same production batch. Then those packs can be built via various options e.g. 1 pack with 3 secs soldering on a point, other with 10 and 3rd with 15 secs. Preferrably 3 packs for each option )) That would be really interesting to be honest :) From you practical video though - when I saw process of solder application by 3-4 sec I was like "Ok, typically I'm done here, solder joint is liquid and moisten, finished". On 7 sec I was like "oops, seems too long". On 9-10 I definitely was having a feeling that it was just not fast enough. And again, that is fully subjective, I'm not arguing that. Some more experience and this can be done faster in future for sure, also smaller gauge size can help to reduce solder timings.
@@Mt1Dmitriy I try and avoid subjective and speculation when I can on this channel. There is enough rumor mill out there and on this channel I focus on video evidence. So you'll hear me say, "Show Me" quite often if you decide to hang around. FWIW I flew these packs yesterday--38m total on time, 36m in air for the first, 28m on the second and I landed early because my spotter had to leave. Second set was @ 7.2v when I was on final.
@@RCVideoReviews glad it is working well for you. What I wanted to highlight is that this process can be done much faster, which is definitely not making result worse. Maybe it was a 'road cross on a red', so you are on other side saying "hey, nothing happened, I'm good". Some effect like increased internal resistance can come up later, without a test like mentioned before - we wouldn't know. General tips - use high power iron, use appropriate wire gauge, flux the surface, solder as quick as possible. I know some people even put cells in fridge before solder :) I hope other people just dont take this 10sec soldering as something "normal" and typical.
@@Mt1Dmitriy I mentioned several times to make the solder joint as quickly as possible. I used the largest tip I had. I used the best iron I have and that is probably better than most out there. So while I appreciate your effort to help, I don't think it's justifiable to claim there is a "problem" with what I did when it appears to have worked and there is no MEASURABLE impact I've been able to identify, so I would appreciate it if we can avoid setting off alarm bells without meaningful substance behind it.
You should make it clear that soldering batteries is a pita.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️= 👍
Thx
I'd really recommend using acid flux instead of sanding the batteries. You don't have to hold heat for long periods and it solders just fine. Safer for the batteries if you don't have a spot welder.
Thanks for sharing the tip.
I concur. This is what I have been doing for years contrary to the naysayers. Liquid flux vs paste is another tip. Once you use liquid over paste you'll never go back to any other way, believe it.
104 subito!
pil kutupları o kadar ısıtılıp ta lehim atılır mı. anasını ağlattın pillerin :) fazla sürmez patlar bunlar :S :))
Hayır, iyiler. Mükemmel çalışın. Bu pilleri saatlerce uçurdum. Harika çalışıyorlar!
You jump cuts are a little disconcerting.
I'm sorry to hear that. I'll try to do better. Nice to meet you. My name is John.
Hi John, 2 suggestions. I like the rosin flux. I use a 100w iron set to 700-750*. I've seem via a thermal camera of the heat penetration of the cell if you on a cell more than 4 seconds
Gets ugly and it shortens the cycle life of a cell. I try getting on and off in under 3 seconds. Using 63/37 leaded rosin core solder works better than your 60/40 for 2 reasons. It has a lower melting point and it is eurectic. It does not go through a mushy state as it hardens. It instantly goes from solid to liquid and vice versa, which helps eliminate cold solder joints.