DIY Battery Spot Welder - Demonstration & Explanation
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- I thought I'd do a quick demonstration while I'm using my spot welder at the moment to make up a 10s4p li-ion battery pack.
*Nickel Strips*
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www.ebay.co.uk...
*Solenoid Relay*
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*Choc Block (Electrical Connector)*
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*Copper Nails*
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*Heavy Gauge Cable*
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*Momentary Switch*
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12v DC Delay Relay Timer - www.ebay.co.uk/...
(To activate the switch that activates the solenoid, NOT to replace the solenoid.)
My Website: kevindark.co.uk
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I'm very impressed. This is common sense at work. It saves hundreds of dollars compared to a lot of other methods using MOSFET'S .
👍🏼
Making use of the th-cam.com/users/postUgkxcJ22tnHH9l1vjdIdEIG27iOG55P7LXI8 reconditioning plan, I just saved 2 auto batteries from being completely junked. The guides were very simple to follow. I wish I would have found this years ago! You may use the guide to recondition any battery type
Six years later, and here I am discovering this work of art. Thank you very much.
Same here ,would a car starter be to much And ive only got 12volt 7ah battery s but i could join 2. couldnt i ?
Such a simple, cheap but effective welder. Exactly what I'm looking for!
Top stuff mate!
Can share how to build simple welder
I like your minimalist approach. The advantage of a capacitor bank is you can control how much energy is stored and the caps can be recharged from a much smaller capacity current source. Need more current? Add another parallel cap. Usually they use FETs to dump the caps but I guess you could stay with the solenoid
Surprisingly effective! Good to know, refurbishing li-ion packs at home becoming more and more of a necessity.
Thanks for showing your welder. This is by far the simplest design on youtube and it works. I will certainly give this a try.
Thanks! Good luck 👍
Such a simple, cheap but effective welder. Exactly what I'm looking for!
How can i made one like this?
What a superb inspirational video! Thanks for sharing. I am an electronics engineer, so am mega impressed with the beautiful simplicity and frugality of this project. I intend to make one similar to yours.
However, I do have a couple of thoughts to air. I am totally inspired to make one of these, but I will likely use 2 solenoid relays. Then if one fails and gets its contacts welded together (certainly quite possible, even if yours has not yet failed!). Then hopefully the other one will still always work and release ok. That way much less chance of a 'stuck' on quite dangerous situation occurring. It is unlikely that 2 solenoid relays could both fail with welded together contacts simultaneously. I would likely install one at each end of the battery. I believe this would make the whole thing that bit safer to use. It will also massively reduce the instantaneous contact breaking arc that will definitely be occurring inside of the solenoid just as the contacts are releasing.
The second point is that I think you are taking the CCA spec of the battery (and the current rating of the solenoid) just a bit too literally. The battery CCA rating is *not* the absolute maximum current the battery can deliver. It is the maximum current it can safely deliver continuously, for a specified maximum period of time (typically a minute or two).
The absolute maximum current it will deliver into a virtual short circuit (as in this case) will be very much greater than 200 Amps. I estimate that in this application, the momentary peak current is more likely to be in the region of 500-1000 Amps! Clearly the battery and the Solenoid relay are momentarily in severe overload. However, this is probably perfectly ok, as the duration is so relatively short. It would be disastrous if the solenoid relay failed to disconnect due to the internal contacts becoming fused together though. Hence why I suggest using two in series.
Anyway, I'm definitely going to construct this. Please can I ask where you get the tab strip metal from, and what is the type and thickness? It looks ideal for this battery building project.
Thanks again.
Peter.
Thanks for the kind words.
There really is no worry of the solenoid failing, for if it does, you need only pull at least one of the electrodes off of the nickel (very easy to do with little effort required (I've already had to do it, but not because the solenoid fused)), there will most likely be sparks, but no major harm done.
These batteries are very hardy, I've watched a TH-cam video where a guy uses two in series to tac weld two car brake discs together!!
Nickel Strip: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solid-Pure-Nickel-Strap-Strip-Spot-Welding-battery-12mm-x-0-15mm-12x0-15-40A/263068537518
Thanks very much. I've now ordered the nickel strip and a couple of solenoids. I have everything else 'in stock'. You are probably right that there's no real need for two solenoids. They are designed to handle lots of surge current and will probably not fail. However, as they're so cheap I think I will double up on them anyway. It can't do any harm and will give me the peace of mind. I expect it would be easy to pull the electrodes away in the event of a stuck on solenoid but you would have to be very quick. Anyway, thanks again for your help. Peter.
FYI, I went and bought some pure copper nails (for roof tiles) from B&Q, chopped the heads off and that's now what I use for electrodes...
Liked and subscribed. This is the simplest and effective one I've ever seen, so I'm definitely making one. Don't think of using that timer circuit. Einstein said, make it as simple as possible, but not simpler. This is the essence of genius!
Inspironator you are too kind :)
Einstein was a science shill like you see on youtube, and Tesla was just a photo and text. Tesla never existed, and Einstein was an agent. Do an image search on google for Nikola Tesla and you will see one and only one photo. Enjoy reality.
@@jeffbeck6501 I suppose, I've heard Tesla is fake and he filed more patents than are humanly possible. What's the rest of the story, then? Why would such things be made up- what is being hidden?
dude i love it thats the simplest welder ive seen ever thanks im making one today bro good stuff buddy !!!
Thanks! :)
Yes this! I have some spare led acid batteries I might try setting this up.
stypid 4 batery very esttupid
I know right, never thought just a battery could weld nickel tabs, building one now.
You just saved me hundreds of $$$ as I was going to buy a battery spot welder kit. thank you!
You're very welcome! Glad I could help.
I can confirm this works perfectly!!!! You saved me so much time and money thank you!! I got a 230 cranking amp battery from Walmart for $20 and a car solenoid from the local auto parts store and all set up for under $50!!!
That's awesome! So good to hear of your success. Good work 👍🏻
@@darkkevind I don't understand what's the role of the solenoid.. what does it do?
@@marcopinchetti5872 it switches the current through the thick wire from the battery, quickly. So in order to create the circuit, bridge the electrodes on your nickel on top of the battery, you still don't have a complete circuit until you switch the solenoid...
@@darkkevind Thank you!
Still: isn't that what a normal switch does?
@@marcopinchetti5872 yes, but it handles very high current, which a regular switch can't cope with
Just so you're aware, the CCA rating (cold cranking amps) is like the max safe draw from the battery over a few seconds period in less than ideal conditions ( 0 Fahrenheit i think) and still maintain enough voltage to crank a car (above 7.2v), so using this shorter pulse, in good temps and ignoring voltage drop, the current is highly likely to be more than 200A as a direct short. Not saying this is a problem or anything assuming the battery doesn't start gassing or anything, just that if you're expecting to get 200A and are basing calculations on that, it might be good to try and capture the max draw maybe using a scope on single shot mode and a clamp meter as its highly likely to be well over 200A. Once again, im not being in any way critical, i love the project you've done there and its good to see people not just buying cheap unit that are really over priced for what they are, much respect for doing it yourself, i just thought the info may be useful.
No mate, that's helpful, thanks. I'm not sure of the actual current being used when it's shorted for that split second, I just know that to work, it needs a battery with a CCA rating of between 200-400A. But yeah... I should probably measure it 👍
darkkevind it’s just nice to see someone actually making their own product instead of buying junk online which wouldn’t work as well as yours and potentially could be dangerous. The fact is, yours works and the current passing could be irrelevant to you, based on the fact that it works and maybe you don’t need to do any calculations? Once again tho I just want to make sure people are aware I’m not being critical of the project at all, I have a lot of respect for anyone who develops their own projects. I’m a qualified electronics engineer, if I can do anything to help please let me know. To be honest it seems like you’ve got this all figured out but if I can do anything I’m more than willing.
Went to Home Depot today and bought two lengths of heavy 1 O wire each at 2.5 ft or 763 mm. for 8.00 US. And added 1 ft or 305 mm in length of 1/8th inch or 3.175 mm solid copper wire.for 66 cents. or 60 euro cents. I bought a battery of 280 cca for 22.00 at my local walmart. Or 19.90 euro's. All of my parts will arrive tomorrow and I have already charged and tested my batteries for my 52 volt E-bike without a PAS sensor. Thanks for the video as it saved me a lot of money for a possible one time venture!
You're very welcome! I hope your build goes well :)
@@darkkevind It turned out better than I could have imagined. Thanks for all of your help and the post.
very cool, this just appeared on my recommended list, I have some batteries for drills that need repairing so this might just be a great find to make a spot welder. I had no idea how basic they actually could be. Now just have to "get around to" doing those jobs lol. Well done and well explained. 👍
Right..I really want to fix up some old 12v batteries I have for an old kit. I've seen videos of soldering the strips but lordy it scares me!
This is the same reason I'm looking for a diy spot welding method! Old Durabilt 14.4v tool kit with 5 tools that have lost function because the battery packs are dead
Mate that was the best spot welder I've seen. I'm an electronic tech and have been trying to build a spot welder but could never get enough current. Yours is a simple and elegant solution. It reminds me of an old NASA engineering story; when they were in the middle of the space race with the USSR, NASA was spent millions designing gravity free ball point pens. Russia used wax pencils.
that was a myth regarding the NASA pen. A separate company already made a pressurised pen and they contacted NASA to see if they wanted to use it. (NASA used to use mechanical pencils)
After they adopted the pen, the Russians also ordered them for their program. I think they paid around $150 per pen
that was a myth regarding the NASA pen. A separate company already made a pressurised pen and they contacted NASA to see if they wanted to use it. (NASA used to use mechanical pencils)
After they adopted the pen, the Russians also ordered them for their program. I think they paid around $150 per pen
Outstanding, simplicity at its finest. Yet very effective, I'm glad I saw this video as I have some ni cads to replace instead of tossing a good tool. Like I like to say "If it's broke round here I fix it". Thanks for sharing
Glad you liked it!
As a teenager (more years ago than I like to admit), I managed to weld a spanner across the terminals of a car battery. All I knew was that it made a mess of my spanner... I never considered that there could be a practical application for the "technology" I had invented! :o) Nice useful video, thanks.
John Colvin haha! I saw that happen as a kid too! My dad dropped it and it stuck! A nice orange glow followed...!
John Colvin i did almost the same thing, i shorted the positive to the suspension bulkhead on my mates car while tightening up the lead
This is the basic principle behind stick welders and mig welders.
Did you patent it.
@@drmachinewerke1 I reckon only apple would get away with patenting a short circuit across a battery haha
Clever; we haven't seen many of these with a battery. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎
As a ham radio operator there are many times that I need to weld batteries this would save a ton not only in money but in time as well, thanks.
Como se hace el cautinsito ese para pegar la lata
THANK YOU
I am converting my longboard to be an electric one. I still need to build the battery pack as premade ones are either sketchy or really overpriced.
Most of the spot welders out there are way to expensive for just one battery pack. I was about to give in and buy a premade pack when I saw your video. The solution is so simple that it never ocurred to me. Might spice it up with an arduino to manage the timing as I don't trust myself to nail that.
This is a super simple welder and while i am no electrician i am a little bit of a hobbyist and this way of spot-welding was not even on my radar and IT IS SO SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL.
Please never stop tying knots wise fellow for I can see me fishing with you for a long while
This is handy to know. When I had a job refurbishing starters as a lad, I made several critical welds using a copper clad carbon rod, (type that used to be used in movie theaters to produce the bright light cast upon the screen). The point I'm trying to make is that we used a car battery for the source of power to weld for that, so it will certainly do a great job for small spot welds as shown here. Thank you for the video, I'll be ordering some nickle to repack a few cordless shop tool batteries. 👍
Thanks for the video!! I just made my welder just like your video but I put the switch and relay on a board. It worked great first try! Looks as good as any factory made pack's welds. For years I have been trying to get batteries with tabs on them and soldering the tabs together or soldering direct to the battery which I know is bad. Now I can do the job neatly and professionally. Spent less than $20 for the nickel strip and relay.
That's awesome! 👍🏼👍🏼
Please what is the round stuff connected to the battery
Starter relatie from a scooter or motorcycle
In the US "twin and earth" wire/cable is called Romex® or its "trade name" non-metalic (NM-B) cable. 2.5 mm² is about 12 AWG and it is solid copper.
Jack Patteeuw that's great, thanks for the info for our American friends.
12 awg Romex, got it and Thank You very much.
You can just call it 12 gage solid.
@CabinDoor Like most of us who aren't actual electricians, Romex is just a description as well as a brand e.g. Crescent wrench is an adjustable wrench made by Crescent tool company but also many others...we still know them all as Crescent wrenches.
@Smattless Find me an electrician that calls it NM-B. I'm in the trade and Romex is the most commonly used term.
I built my own 3 years ago just like this and made a 24s 20p battery using Samsung 30Q cells, Worked very well! :)
It is a simple spot welder, it require 5 items, 1) 12v battery, 2) press button switch, 3) power contactor relay ( this is used for starting the starter motor or scooter, auto bike, car or truck), 4) 2.5-4 square mm 2 fluxible wire of required length, 5) two pointed solid copper round piece of 10-12 SWG, connect one wire to battery negetive & pointed round copper piece, 2nd wire connected to positive terminal of battery then to power relay 1st terminal & form 2nd terminal to pointed solid piece, in the relay there is a coil which has 2 terminals connect them in series with push bottom switch to both the terminals of battery, keep the pointed piece 3 mm apart & insulte them, now the spot welder ready, keep the pointed solid 2 piece on strip of battery cell firmly press the button switch & release it with in 2 secs, you notice spark at strip, now it is welded, continue the number of welds you need, thanks to all, regards, Siddaramaiah. C.
You're a star! The internet thanks you [for] sharing this great method.
You're very welcome 👍🏼
Great video fello! In this crazy time of self isolation (due to corona virus) i am planning to build a 13s4p and was going to invest in a welder. Now i know i have everything to make one, so why not!!!!
Thanks! Take it easy. Start safe fella 👍🏼
With regard to your possible use of a timer. I used one like that and very quickly found that the relay is not nearly as robust in terms of amp handling as it boasts. The little blue box relays are not really robust enough. The contacts fail. I switched to one using powerful mosfets and, of course, variable timing circuit included. I did not rely on the heat sink provided which was a slab of the circuit board material. I added a decent heat sink with fins etc. in the end I detected very little heating anyway. Frankly, your set up works so well I would stick with it. Simple. Robust. Good job.
Thanks.
Hold on, you didn't try to put the high current through the little timer switch did you? 😖
I saw this this morning and being an old biker I had everything.👍 I put it together but using a car battery and it blows a hole in everything😁 I am going to look at putting the switch in some sort of rig so I can drop something on it and get it consistent by differing the drop height👍 Thanks!
I almost posted about safety before watching the video to the battery part, I would have made a right fool of myself, this is an awesome on the cheap idea, my hat is off to you good Sir! I'm thinking of trying this myself.
John Douglas thanks! 😄
Nice job, Kevin! Clear explanation and demo. Thanks for including the links for supplies!
Gonna put this one to work fixing some old tools.
You're very welcome! 👍🏼
Started to build my own battery welding station. I have almost all components already there, but had to order solenoid. One improvement I was thinking of, is to add a main switch between battery positive pole and solenoid to be able to cut off the circuit in case the solenoid melts down. It happened once on my daughters scooter and it was a little bit of a thrilling experience.
You probably could've have bought the solenoid at a scrap yard for 1-2 $/€.
How many people have you answered,? I have read every one ,some record for U-tube,not electronicly minded, one day will give it a go, very well done young man,enjoyed it very much
kevin scuffil I've no idea! 😞 Thanks for your kind words.
fantastic! I've been looking at buying fancy welding kits for a while now
Amazing welding, first time I know there’s such a welder !
How it work
Tremendous example of DIY success! Well done.
Thank you very much!
This is a super simple welder and while i am no electrician i am a little bit of a hobbyist and this way of spot-welding was not even on my radar and IT IS SO SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL
Liked an SUBBED
Thanks! It is really simple and works great.
... Don't hot glue batteries together. Batteries heat up when they're under load. -- The glue won't remelt, but it will slowly flow, and end up in the wrong places in your projects over a few months of regular usage...
Yeah silicone caulk looks just like hot glue, but acts different under heat!
I think he's just using it to temporarily hold the cells together while spot welding them.
@@TheCloudwalkerFPV And then what? He exposes the batteries to a bunch of heat and melts it off?? Yeah right...
@@BrainSlugs83 Ummm....no. You just simply peel the hot glue off after you spot weld them together dumb dumb. That's why I said maybe he is using it to "temporarily" hold them together while he spot welds them.
@@BrainSlugs83hot glue just peels off most surfaces, you don’t need to heat it up to remove it
Nice setup. Ive tried using a microwave transformer and got it to work but it was putting out 900-1000amps and it i wasn't careful it would blow holes through the battery tabs. I think I'll try this setup.
Yeah that's too high. Anything below 600A (but above 200A) should be OK. The higher the A the less time needed to create a weld.
With two transformer you could make a stick welder
use thinner secondary winding lol I had same prob with 2 wraps of negative battery wire off a car but it works lol
dave Yates I tried 2 wraps of 2awg welding lead and 3 wraps of 4awg both had too much amps. I'm gonna try this battery setup sometime.
Allen McKinney your name sounds familiar, did we go to high school together?
Dude thanks for this great vid, I actually made this tool to repair a bad battery pack worth close to $300. Spent about $30 in this and about $24 in new batteries. I had a tractor battery and my bro gave me some cable; I damaged three batteries in the process because 1. The nickel strips off eBay are very thin, (I know because I compared) so be careful ordering 2. I realized I held the button for too long jaja you have to be very patient it took me two hrs to weld 8 batteries mainly because the board from the pack I was repairing had a certain nickel strip position pattern on the old batteries so I had to weld it to match. I enjoyed the experience; thanks for this vid.
henry m hey that's excellent! Well done 👍
Best Hack I have seen for a **MINI WELDER**
THANK YOU!
Excellent explanations clear and to the point.
Very simple but should use timer board & Mosfet to control level
Thanks for the great video! I've purchased a starter solenoid and some short heavy-gauge battery cables, and I plan to give this a try in the next few days. Because I'm using a car battery which would normally have around 600 CCA, the high end of the range you recommended, I am going to use an Arduino Nano with a 5V relay similar to the one you showed in your video to operate the 12V coil for the starter relay. Since you have demonstrated the process is fairly robust with respect to timing, rather than build in a variable time capability, I will just run a series of trials by changing the arduino code until I identify a good interval value to use with my battery. The nice thing is that the 12V battery can also power the ardunio nano so it'll be self-contained and portable. I'll stop back here to let you know how I made out. Thanks again !!
Great! I look forward to hearing about how it went? FYI, a good time for the weld is 0.4 of a second :)
I will start right there; thanks so much for that information. I think I'll go up and down in 200 mS increments, then, and see if I can identify the limits of the window and then shoot for the center of it. As you point out, that will all likely be dependent upon the current a particular battery and circuit delivers, and, I suppose, it could also then be subject ot change over time. I should be receiving my tabbing ribbon tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some feedback for you by Monday. My initial application, by the way, will be to construct 3-cell serial pack that I want to use as a rechargeable backup supply for an Arduino in connection with a solar array project I'm working on.Your spot welding technique was the missing piece of the puzzle I was looking for.
Glad I could help! Good luck! :)
Chicago John What's 600 CCA?
CoolKoon Cold Cranking Amps...
I have a deadly mains version of this.
A 20 W CFL buld in series with 1000uF capacitor .
I used a engine starter relay which complete the circuit and dumps that mains voltage charged capacitor into the spot.
This is the best working DIY welder I have send. Great job
David Wood thanks! 😁👍
You can also make a larger one using the transformer from a microwave. This is great for small jobs. Nice description of how you did it simple and effective.
Danger Risk of Death, microwave transformers are high voltage, do not even think about using one unless you are a qualified electrical engineer.
😂😅 yeah.....
I was about to take apart someone electric scooter for a battery, now Ill just make one.
I like your idea spot on!
Might be better to use the pulse timer as if you accidentally left the push switch down for too long things would get very hot and start to melt very quickly in seconds.
And batteries don't like to be shorted so there is a risk
The battery can explode and someone could have serious acid burns. I just like to mention this as I had a car battery explode on me and there was a huge flash and a bang and acid everywhere I was very lucky.
The battery was on charge and when I disconnected the clip from one of the terminals it sparked and it ignited the battery gases
So I should of switched power off first, this was well before youtube days
So I've learnt to always do risk assessment first.
Stay safe folks.
I built one of these today to repair a Milwaukee impact gun battery…. They can be quite aggressive on a 360ah battery… my first few clicks weren’t short enough but I got a feel for it eventually
I found the negative end of the cells welded a lot nicer than the positive ends
I'm glad it worked out for you!
Nice one mate, I've just made one. Really handy bit of kit 👍👍
You just saved me so many hours, thanks bro, I subed and told my friends of this gold mine
Sniper Pro nerf mods that's awesome! Thanks! 😁
@@darkkevind try a coil that will colapse with current like a spring then stick end in mercury
@@darkkevind .
Hi, thanks for this video, I have referenced it in my recent upload. I have noticed with my setup that it's best to use a partly discharged battery, maybe about 12.5v so that the spot welds are not too fierce. Cheers
Megga! even I can do this, no more pain trying to solder to battery tops. Many thanks.
You're very welcome 👍
Thanks for the video! I’m in need of a battery spot welder, think I’ll build rather than buy!
this is a weldless technology for the future th-cam.com/video/g4Aw9zxtOv4/w-d-xo.html 👍⚡ 🔧🐥
I suggest adding an emergency slow-blow fuse inline, because if your solenoid gets stuck things will heat up real fast!
slow-blows are the best \m/
what size fuse would you use please?
Isn't that what the momentary switch is for??
@@dickphan the button he uses activates the solenoid, the solenoid is the switch that closes the battery's circuit. If the solenoid fails closed there will be no way to safely break the circuit.
You could use a fuse set just below the cold cranking amps of the battery. I would go with a slow blow fuse like suggested.
ONE MORE TIME THANK YOU KEVIN...FOR ALL THIS EFFORT..!!
THE 600AMPS ARE WAY TO HIGH FOR WHAT WE NEED...YOU HAVE A 200AMP CCA BATTERY AND STILL YOU HAVE TO BE FLASH GORDON QUICK IN ORDER TO MAKE THE PERFECT WELDS YOU DO..
1.THIS SETUP IS PROBABLY THE BEST BALANCE...DONT GO FOR HIGHER LIKE 500-600 AMPS FOR 2 REASONS..
a.you wont find a solenoid rated for that amps...and if you find... adding the cost of the battery you are near the price of a commercial dedicated 18650 welder which is around 150-200$
b.with this amount of power you have to practice a lot the timing...you should release the button extremely fast...
I HAVE A SOLENOID RATED AT 300 ...MAX 400AMPS...AND BOUGHT A BATTERY WITH 360 CCA...ONLY IN THE LAST ATTEMPT WHEN I PRESS THE BUTTON AS QUICK AS I COULD I MADE A GOOD WELDING THAT COULD REMOVE ONLY WITH PLIERS..I HAVE TO ADJUST THE LENGTH OF THE CABLES ...CAUSE ITS WAY TOO MUCH CREATING FURTHER RESISTANCE.!!
I WAS THINKING ABOUT BUYING THE EXACT SAME BATTERY BUT I WENT WITH THE BOSCH 3001 BATTERY FOR 3 REASONS...IT HAS MORE THAN TWICE THE CAPACITY OF WHAT YOU USE ...IT HAS ALMOST DOUBLE MAX AMPS...AND ITS PRICE WAS 35EURO INSTEAD OF 55 EURO THAT I COULD FIND YOURS!!
IF YOU WATCH THE FIRST AND THE LAST VIDEO YOU WILL SEE THE RESULT OF YOUR PRACTICE...NOW YOUR HANDS ARE SUPER QUICK ON THE BUTTON....AND WITH AN ALMOST CONSISTENT TIMING!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND ONE MORE TIME THANK YOU FOR ALL...!!!!
Brilliant idea and not expensive. What about the wear out of the relay? DC tends to make light arcs after release the load. In this case almost a short circuit.
3:37 was a good one, listening to the sound it seems like the faster the better.
Great setup, I watched a electronics diy channel 'great Scott'. Don't know if you've seen his content. He made a few of these and they didn't turn out well, very complicated.
Thanks for the clear explanation, I almost went with a diy pcb solution but this seems much more reliable.
This reminds me of the time when I arced my metal watch band between the body of my car and the positive terminal of a 600 amp battery right next to the fender. I must have got the world record in getting a watch off. Still have the scars after 30 years.
Lol... My dad once dropped a spanner between the car battery terminals when putting it back in after charging it... Never seen steel go molten before that day.... 😁
Nothings hotter than seeing a greasy scotsman doing some fine spot welding
I'm not Scottish 🤷♂️
This is such a great diy spot welder, I followed your brilliant idea and built one the same way, though I could only find a 400A CCA car battery for free, and decided to use it for testing instead before getting a 200A one or a 330A one as you suggest in your newer improved version video. Couldn't find the copper nails locally, so I used some old pure copper soldering iron tips which I dremeled to be really pointy. I am waiting for my new nickel strip shipment to arrive so I can build a sony vtc6 10S3P pack for an ebike and I have been practicing with some old nickel strips from old dead 18650 power bank packs. I found a lot of spark is produced some of the time and my results vary from not welding well (no sparks) to blasting a hole through the strip and almost through the battery pole (sparks) that was a bit scary.
I think my widely varying results depend on:
1. I dont press the button quick enough (because i haven't made a mount/base for it yet and do it by holding the switch and tapping as quick as I can) so that causes the tips to blow a hole through strips, or when i dont get a weld I am barely pressing it at all???
2. My battery is too "strong" for 0.15mm strips or the used strips I am practicing with are too thin, perhaps .10mm
3. I dremeled the copper tips to be too pointy and needle-like so thats why they punch through the strip and almost puncture the battery pole
4. I am either holding down the welding tip ends too firmly (when it punches through) or I am not holding down firmly enough (when the weld doesnt happen) or they dont both make contact with the nickel strip?
What do you think can be the case? I will upload a video which I will link to this comment when I get the chance! Congrats again on your great diy spot welder, it must be the simplest, cheapest and most effective one out there for spot welding 18650s!!!
If you're blowing a hole, it means it's arcing. Which means you're too scared of it lol. You must hold down the tips to make good contact to the nickel, otherwise you'll get sparks and it'll blow holes.
darkkevind thank you so much for the quick reply! I will try to hold them down more firmly. I will also make a mounting base for the button as well tomorrow. Do you think I should also flatten the tips just a tiny bit and keep them a bit further apart to prevent arcing? As of now they are really really pointy right now and close together (however they are not touching and dont arc when I click the switch and they are dangling free in the air when I am not trying to spot weld). Thanks so much once again
@@giorgiontanas8618 sounds fine with regards to the tips... A mount for the switch may well help.
@@darkkevind thank you! I will make the necessary improvements and try to better my technique and I will let you know! I was thinking of trying to make and post a diy video as well linking back to your channel and original video if you wouldn't mind. Another good idea would be to try and subtitle your video in my language so more people can watch and understand from Greece as well, its the least I can do I think! cheers
@@giorgiontanas8618 that's awesome! So happy for you 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Love it. So simple and effective for this type of spot welding. Thanks.
Two quick possible improvements, first is a foot pedal so you can use both hands and the other is a better handle (think soldering iron with 2 tip and when you press hard it activates the solenoid.)
He says about a foot pedal in his video
Id rather not have the foot pedal. Keeps one hand out of there
@@kevinmasters7189 It's 12 Volts. You would be very lucky to even feel a tickle in your fingers.
@@gpoaacbh711 i was referring to burns not shock
Nice video, I recommend using a smaller inner diameter gasket as it looks like your using 10mm which are designed to go below the wrap not above which is a common mistake by most and in fact by a lot of manufactures. If you watch back the clip you can see some nickle underneath the gasket, using a inside wrap gasket of 10mm for the inside wrap and then another on top using barley paper with a inner diameter of 5mm to 8mm will prevent foreign objects entering the positive cap, just my 2 cents.
Wow, very simple setup, we really need this type of tequnics
Extremely useful for those of us who use radio battery packs..only spot welding will yield compact replacement battery packs that will fit the dedicated space available. Thank You ! you don't specify the type of metal the strips are fab'd from ..??
Capt Larry - thanks! Pure nickel.
Hey great setup, effective and simple, just the way I like it! Thanks for the video!
This is a fantastic video, I now can’t wait to make one
Thanks! 👍👍
Excellent video and battery spot welder simple and easy to use
Great tutorial, I've tried many times to solder these with zero success so might give it a go, thanks
I soldered 96 cells together for an ebike pack. With a BIG iron with a super high thermal mass, it's not that difficult, but it's stupidly time consuming. Counterintutively, the bigger your iron, the less likely you are to damage the cell, because you can get that surface hot enough to tin without holding the iron there for a really long time. Still, not ideal, this is a much better method.
@@MrJamesonStyles+1 on bigger iron REDUCING heat delivered into the cell. Also, I find that scrubbing the cell button with Scotchbrite right before soldering helps a LOT.
Something to be said for SIMPLICITY!
Well done! Consider using foot-pedal thingy for switch, it should save you lots of time in the long run!
nice effective yet simplest spot welding device idea seen by me so far. thanks for sharing
Jaisimha Allalghatta thanks! You're very welcome :)
Also love the video was going to buy a spot welder but will just build one instead so thank you .
me too
That is great. I was chewing my brain out to get a microwave thingy to get started. I'll do that one. Great idea. Thanks darkkevind
You're welcome 👍
Great job, very ingenious, I love when people share their creativity, thank you.
Ron Northrup thank you :)
People pay a lot of money, but this is in fact the most simple and best method out there.
Perfect and simple. Gonna make one. Thanks for showing this.
Greetings. I was wondering about the power of this spot welder. When you short a battery you have I = U/R where R is the internal resistance. So you have more than 200A going throw the system. If we say internal resistance is about 10mOhm then you have I = 12.6/.01 = 1260A what makes your installation P = U * I = 12.6 * 1260 = 15.8Kw. Is not that way to much for 18650 cells ?
Prelude - that 15.8kw is not going through the 18650's... Only heating the metal strip between the two electrodes, melting it and the surface of the metal contact plate on the battery together.
Assuming your calculations are correct, it is 15.8kw for about 0.4 seconds. So it's about one 90,000th of an hour x 15.8kw = 0.00017556 kilowatt hours, or about 632 joules of energy put into that small area of metal very quickly, to liquify and weld it, without putting so much heat in that it damages the battery beneath.
The power is limited by power source. This battery by its construction cannot ensure more than 200 A, and not for long.
The simplest construction ever! Thanks a lot!
that was surprisingly simple... and I reckon a high current RC 6S lipo pack would also be on task for give the current for these short current welds with a suited 24v starter solenoid relay.
Great video and good demonstration and relevant information.
I wouldn't use lipo if I were you! Not without an online super capacitor as lipos REALLY don't like being shorted... 😮
@@darkkevind Yeah that is certainly not high C Lipo packs finest moment when they get shorted.. // damn but I reckon i could handle the kickback with a diode bank like you know from jumpstarters that is based in Lipocells and use these diode banks to take most of the kickback and when its these short pulses.. it would be even lower then when using lipo cells as jumpstarters..
Its these i had in mind... I got a bunch of them as they costed 2 USD with good silicone wires and jumper-clamps and just the 10awg silicone wires usually cost more in itself. th-cam.com/video/F8zghvQZYNM/w-d-xo.html
but if it will work in practice I got no idea..
@@JAKOB1977 I mean... You could try.. for science... Just be careful 👍🏻
@@darkkevind I will, and use older packs to try it with as a simple proof of concept and meanwhile check the resistance and possible pregnancy on the cells.. have just seen you updated video on the matter.. looks good and work as a charm almost better then the el'cheapo solutions you can aqquire from China to spot weld with... impressive good DIY job +1..
Hello Darkkevind1978... great video. I am contemplating making my own packs for an electric bike. Question : how often you need to charge the 12V battery or how many welds you estimate from one charge ? Thanks!
Aldaochan I received the battery fully charged and did around 500 welds with it. Then I left it sitting for a month or two. Recently I've need to make up more packs so before I used it, I charged it for a few hours. I'm not sure if it needed or or not but I don't think it did. I'll have to check the voltage. In answer to your question, I don't think very often.
Awesome, a nice super simple spot welder for battery tabs, always avoided making making a microwave transformer so for a small task.
Nicely done!
Welsh Dave thanks mate!
darkkevind how do you recharge this battery?
@@ofekpearl Any 12 volt battery charger. Even a 2 amp charger would work. Ask around. someone you know has one, or, more.
Good use of materials.
Old Sneelock's Workshop thank you :)
I wanna say thanks for making this video. I think once I get paid I'm gonna make one myself so I can make my own e-skate batteries!!! I also saw some Arduino spot welders on ebay but I think I will go with this.
You're very welcome! 👍
Do I also need the 12v delay relay timer? I didn't see it wired to your build so I'm assuming no but I wanted to ask to make sure before I buy all this. I don't want to buy all of this and in the end still have to wait a week for another part.
@@3dprintingpunk31 I wouldn't bother, I time mine by hand.
thanks for actually explaining the power output for this. I would have thought 12V was a bit on the high side but your setup proves me wrong there ;o) perfect illustration of keeping it simple. nice.
I used a battery of 285 CCA at 32 deg F. Using the timer, which has a minimum of .16 sec's in a delay off mode, it blew right through a nickel to nickel weld. I think the timer board keeps it on to long. If I manually bump the switch so it is on only a moment it works okay.
Don Smith yep, that's what I found too. I can't find a timer that stays on for the right amount of time... They all seem too long.
Sorry. Just saw your followup video where you made the same comment about the timer. Yep, a button conveniently located looks to be the answer. I like the nails! Thanks again for the concept!
160 ms is too long most welders I have seen for this type of welding have times at or below 25 ms.
wow, that looks too easy! how do you control the timing? I didn't see the timing board when you showed the battery, do you just press and let go fast?
Beakerzor yep! Exactly that, just a quick down then up. I've pretty much perfected the timing now, I don't really need a timing board like the one I show in the video...
He used 12v battery 10-12 SWG (standred wire gauge) two tipped wire piece solder to 2.5-4 square.mm two wire for positive & negetive, one wire connected directly to --another to + of battery in series with a contactor relay (means contactor used for starter motor or any self starting engines) the contactor relay has 2 power terminals & 2 terminals for relay coil, relay coil connected in series with a press button switch between + & -- of battery, when you press the button switch the relay get activated & it connect 2 powerterminals, when both terminals touch the battery cells strip the battery power short circuit which generate heat there by weld the strip with cells, Note :- battery relay of scooter or auto bike is available in scrap yard of bike or new ones are available at all auto bike spare parts stores, regards, Siddaramaiah. C.
Wow, well explained and to the point. Did not know it can work like that. I have 2 cells to replace, and I really don't want to pay like a $100 for a cheap spot welder.
Amazon sells portable spot welders dirt cheap, i bought a nice £35 one, but theres cheaper ones undee £20 that do the job.
Awesome I think I'll mount the momentary switch where your right thumb is though
Wow that so cool. Good idea, THANKS for the video. 👍🇮🇳
Absolutely genius. Ta for the vid.
bobbelsekwol thanks 😁 you're welcome.
May positive energies and will power surround you. Thanks from Danville, V.A
Jeff
Cool setup, I recently got the kweld unit, can’t wait to get it set up.
What's it like?
Find a used sewing machine foot pedal and replace the switch so you can have both hand working. It will help if you welding a lot of battery. Nice setup by the way.
Anh Nguyen thanks but I'm finding my latest setup (explained in my latest video) works really well for me. I don't think I could get the right speed of button press with my foot.
th-cam.com/video/b_kGgPVrcCI/w-d-xo.html
Sewing machine foot pedals are not switches anyways. They're rheostats. That's so you can control the speed of the motor. Sewing machines are not just on and off.
Welp. I now believe i'm capable of making virtually anything
This is a great design, another trick, in case there is too much current from using a bigger battery, is just make the leads longer. Cheers..
i love your little DIY spot welder
IF i ever get into building Li packs
i'm going to copy this
thank you
Mr_Wizard you're very welcome :)