Soldering tagged cells

excollier

excollier

Bikes, Booze, Rock & Blues
My Satellite Setup
TD 64 and Humax Foxsat HDR with Raydon's custom firmware
My Location
County Donegal - furthest outpost of the EUSSR
How difficult is it to solder 6x AA size tagged rechargeable cells? I need to make up my own battery pack for my Swires Terry UHF meter, as the old pack is now dead. I've never touched a soldering iron before, and it must surely be cheaper to DIY a pack.
The cells will cost me €30 from CPC Farnell in Ireland and I guess I could de-solder the connector wires and plug.
http://cpcireland.farnell.com/gp-batteries/gp125aah1a1p/battery-ni-mh-tags-aa-1-3ah-1/dp/BT00172?ost=GP BATTERIES GP125AAH1A1P BATTERY, NI-MH +TAGS AA 1.3AH 1.2V

Any tips and advice gratefully accepted
 
You would need to use some wires to interconnect the battery terminals. Batteries are made out of aluminium alloy type material to which solder doesn't stick very well. Make sure to apply plenty of flux to it, though most solder wires already have some inside it.
 
The positive terminals come with an interconnect tag already on them, so no need for wires to make the connections.
 
I've usually found tags solder OK, the main problem being the metal of the battery works as a large heatsink so may take a tad longer to melt the solder. I think good old fashioned lead solder melts at a lower temp than lead free eco-rubbish.
 
Decent iron (about 30-40watt), plenty of lead solder (cos as mentioned, the tin-only stuff is crap), and have patience... :)

Oh, and don't breathe the smoke, it's not good for you... :-loop
 
Well....thanks for the tips, duly noted for future reference.
I called Swires and a new battery pack is on it's way for £21.50 - great value.
 
On the subject of solder, I picked up a Kenwood surround receiver (without remote) last week from a car boot. Tried it with a variety of universal remotes with no success, so buoyed on by various internet readings, I went exploring to find 3 textbook cracked dry joints where the IR sensor meets the pcb (standard feature on these apparently) ..... blob, blob, blob; sorted. Not a bad buy for 14 quid!
 
From past experience the strips of metal attached to the terminals dont easily take solder ...and as has already been said the heat is conducted away rapidly ..
(often the tags are spot welded together not soldered)
so..
High wattage iron ..
good quality leaded solder and flux ..
PLUS roughing up the contacts first with either emery paper or wire wool will help the soldering process get started.
rgds
VS
 
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