Help And Advice Needed Please

[tamiya monkey]

hi all right i want to get a ac soldering iron and woundered what rating would be a good start, i was looking at some around 60w.

next while cleaning and re-shrink wrapping my batteries the end tab came off and i was woundering how to re-attach it, ive ordered some silver battery bars, then thought how do i fit them, ive looked at wire glue but did'nt know how good it is and weather it would be suitable.

basically how do i make up a battery pack and tips or tutorials would be fantastic.

[ryanbored]

40w would be fine. Weller is a good make, basically you need to heat and attach quickly, but using enough heat, but don't "cook" the cells 'Tinning up' (adding solder to the joint before joining) also helps. Also I have no idea what "wire glue" is but it doesn't sound right!

Something like this'll do it;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...N:IT&ih=003

(I've just won it!)

[tamiya monkey]

cheers for that mate.

[BiggusDitchus]

I disagre with ryan, for cells you need a high watt iron with a large tip. I have a 80w weller.

Soldering the cells Ryan is right you do not want to heat the cells up too much. To start you need roughen up end of cells (I use a sanding disc on dremel, but scratched with a knife will work too), use good quality flux and solder and tin the ends, if making side by side sticks is quite simple just take your time you can buy proper jigs to hold cells in place. Making Shotgun style stick packs is difficult as you need very close joints to keep length of pack as short as possible which means you cant get the iron in. One method is to build them with a very thin slip of metal which will bend as you align cells.

[terry.sc]

You need at least a 75-80W iron with a large chisel tip to hold the heat, you only want to leave the iron on the battery for a few seconds so you don't overheat the insides. If you can't solder the battery bar on quickly enough it can damage the safety vents in the top and also boil the chemicals inside the cell.

And don't bother with those 150-200w soldering guns, the thin tips just can't hold enough heat in them.

I also use an 80W Weller, look for the one designed for stained glass.

[ryanbored]

I don't mind being wrong (ya gits!) but never had a problem with my old 40w one...

[tamiya monkey]

Thanks for your advise everyone, im guessing side by side made packs are the same size as a normal 6 cell stick pack, if its easier to make these i may change the stick packs.

[taliesin]

you might want to check the final size. i'm not 100% sure, but i think the stick packs are a little narrower than side by side packs? maybe somebody else can confirm/deny?