How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

Can we pack a home made battery pack the same way a futaba or another battery company does? The real hard and tight plastic film...Can it be done at home? If not, how do people pack their home made packs so that soldering on it stays safe and doesnt get damaged etc.

How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

I'm guessing that the various battery pack manufacturers use heat-shrink wrap... I'm not sure how you would get hold of stuff that large though(mind you, I haven't actually looked for it...) The other thing that might work is black electrical tape....

Re: How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

Certainly it can be done at home, all you need is a heat gun (your monokote heat gun is fine) and the right size shrink sleeve available at most electronic supply houses of from some of the battery suppliers to the hobby.

You are better off working with cells that come with solder tabs for making up flight packs. I recommend a strip of insulation under the wire leading over the ends of the cells. Cut up a plastic milk carton for insulation material. Then as the wires come over the end of the cell a piece of cloth medical tape serves as a strain relief. Slip on you heat shrink and blow some hot on it and you are in business.

How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

I use black electrical tape or clear packing tape (so I can read the capacity :D)

Now for just WHERE to get shrink wrap for your cells...
 

Dear Ragz:

The PIPE Here again...and over here in the USA, TNR Technical (at http://www.tnrtechnical.com/shrinkwrap.html for THEIR page for it) , Radical RC (at http://radicalrc.secure-mall.com/sho...=47&cart=59639 for their shrink wrap AND MORE "battery pack parts") and CheapBatteryPacks (at http://www.unipros.com/battpacks/mai...ssion_id=41520 ...scroll down about 75 to 80 percent of the way down to see THEIR shrink wrap tubing) have the plastic shrink wrap to use to cover up your own battery packs!

The type of electric hot air gun used to shrink model aircraft plastic or fabric covering can EASILY be used to shrink these types of shrink wrap "tubes" to tightly cover your battery packs...and for a "tip" here, you'd want to leave about 8 to 10 mm "extra" length on EACH end of the tube to allow it to properly cover the batteries, so that they stay together well after shrinking.

Hope these links help you out...and good luck in getting some!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE! ;)

Re: Now for just WHERE to get shrink wrap for your cells...
 

Whoa! It is a common misconception that shrink sleeve puts some pressure to hold the batteries together. This is not the case as you will see in removing heat shrink, there is absolutely no compression offered by it. The cells should be immobilized with CA before applying the heat shrink. The CA seems to love the heat shrink over the individual cells and bonds them together such that they have to be cut apart if you need to separate them for any reason. The primary purpose of the heat shrink is to offer some insulation to the cell ends so that they will not be inadvertently shorted.

Well, I DO use some SILICONE adhesive on my cells...
 

Dear Red:

The PIPE here again-forgot to mention THAT important step-distracted by a severe THUNDERSTORM threat this evening in New England, thankfully THAT has passed...!

I'm using a "flowable" silicone RTV adhesive on my homemade flat configuration NiMH packs, which seems to be the "most versatile configuration" for my needs, anyway. I always allow the silicone to "de-vinegar"...that is, to allow the acetic acid fumes from the curing silicone to COMPLETELY dissipate over a 24 hour period, so that none of that acetic acid gets sort-of "trapped" inside the heat shrink!

I just finished up a new NiMH pack assembled that way last weekend, before using the 72mm shrink tubing I had purchased from TNR to make it up- the Sanyo AA-sized 1650 mAH NiMH cells I'm using as the "main pack" for my first MicroStar knobby radio is a bit SMALLER than the older 1400 mAH A-sized NiCad pack that WAS in there, that was a bit TOO fat for the radio...pressing on the wiring, and placing undue stress on it...so the somewhat smaller AA sized NiMH pack looks to be a PEREFECT fit in the case now.

It's accepting a 1750 mA charge from one of my FMA SuperNova, at an almost "C/5th" rate of 300 mA on a NiCad setting, so I'm "blessed" with a pack that SHOULD do rather well...just found out from FMA this Friday that I should have the "Ham side" of my new MicroStar (an FMA RFD1FM50 deck on Ch.03, and two Quantum-8 "Ace style" negative shift 50 MHz receivers) by the Labor Day weekend!

But thanks for the reminder, Red, on GLUING the cells together first BEFORE heat shrink wrapping them...and that silicone adhesive IS a great way to get the cells for a new pack together, but it's ALWAYS best to give that sort of stuff the full 24 hours to "de-vinegar" itself before slipping on the heat shrink covering!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE! ;)

How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

do you think I could us some ultracote or monokote, wrap around & glue ends together then shrink with heat gun. What do you think???

Gil

How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

great info guys..thanks..

How to wrap a home made battery pack?
 

i used to wrap my parkflyer packs in Solite, monokote would work too, but you dont get the protection with it that shrink tubing offers. also when the time comes to remove the monokote for one reason or another, it makes a good mess, leaving color and adhesive behind.

i use RC car battery shrink wrap or clearly superior shrink wrap from www.nyblimp.com , both are clear.

Dylan