How to Spot Weld Nickel Strips onto 18650s - DH30 Portable Spot Welder

So I got this spot welder to fix my xiaomi pro2 scooter's battery pack .. turned out I sucked at spot welding; main gotcha - go easy on the downward force !

[@techguy666]

You are absolutely right. That's my finding as well. The reason behind it is that when you apply alot of pressure, you're basically lowering the resistance at the point of weld contacts, which means you require more current to achieve the critical welding tempereture, something that the cheap small welders can not produce. The industrial battery tab welders exert about 3-10kg pressure on the tips, and they can back it up by 10000A of current or more, so they have no problem. With these cheap welders apply firm pressure first to make good contact and then low pressure is the way to go.

[@Darieee]

I was really about to get massively sad and start resentfully thinking about how tf I can get my money back

[@njfulwider5]

Best trick to get a feel for tab welding. Use a small kitchen scale. I made a video on this. You get so many new builders claiming what they purchased or what the made diy, saying the device is broken or not working. When in realty they press to hard or not hard enough. Once you figure out the pressure, you'll get great welds 99% of the time👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@Darieee]

leave the video here man 🤘

[@njfulwider5]

@@Darieee this is the one of the videos I made.--- kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZyofaSOoNJ4qqM

[@BFSSonic-nm3tq]

Any recommendation on a decent portable spot welder?

[@DaveSmith-cp5kj]

Best tip ever. Got my $40 chinesium spot welder working.

[@futuregadget_v2.1]

Built my own welder from one of those cheap controller pcbs and a modified microwave transformer. Worked well when I first tested it using copper zirconium electrodes. But today I had problems when I wanted to use it. Thank you for this video, now I know what's the problem!

[@soulshinobi]

I just bought a similar spot welder and you may very well have saved me a week of grief

[@Darieee]

I'm superglad ... I really expected of the internet to save my ass too 🤘

[@oziermuhammad2488]

I have been puzzled why I my device too often wouldn't power up after it appeared to be fully charged. I'd open the device only to find the nickel strips had worked loose. Now I know. Thank you so much.

[@m.semenyshyn1548]

What is the principle of welding batteries? I understand the basics and that the welding spot should have the highest temperature for the shortest time. We have a spotter with a bunch of settings: first welding, second and third, where the second welding is the main welding and the third is hardening. There are also peripheral settings such as pause between pulses, current rise and fall times. So let's get down to business: the first and last welds should not have as high a current as the second. The first weld prepares the nickel strip for welding, the second welds it directly, and the third releases the strip. We have two main problems that I still can't figure out: 1. Why do the electrodes "stick" to the workpiece? According to my observations, this is due to the cross-sectional area of the electrode tip in contact with the nickel tape. On the one hand, a smaller contact area creates better welding, but the electrodes stick 👉👈 On the other hand, a larger area cooks worse. By increasing the current, the workpiece overheated too much and still nothing happened) 2. One electrode cooks and the other does not. In the case of DC welding, this is understandable. The "positive" electrode, where the current enters the battery substrate, welds better than the "negative" electrode, where the current leaves the battery. However, with AC welding, this is illogical for me, because the current flows back and forth across the workpiece. Maybe someone has a few gigabytes of information about welding batteries?) I want to absorb all the text from anyone that is related to welding batteries

[@martinwinlow]

Ah-ha! I wondered why my first use worked OK but second try (some weeks later) all my welds were really weak (I was really pushing down hard because the nickel tabs of the battery pack I was working on were rather uneven). Lowering the pressure *a lot* allows good welds with only half power (I have a '650A max' 'LCD Portable Spot Welder' branded SeeSii - 7500mAh). Thanks very much for posting your video but I'd change the title to something like "How to Avoid Weak (Capacitive) 18650 Spot Welds" as I came across it very much by accident.

[@damiancaza-cleypool1088]

This is the whole game right here!!! Thank you

[@abramzacharias1]

Thanks for the video. I got a spot welder that you have to push down to trigger the switch. It makes sense that it'd heat up more if the current only goes through the top plate instead of both

[@firstnamelastname7476]

cheers, yes it helps, thank you. I have the same model. the instructions aren't great. the shop i bought mine from gave instructions to press lightly but the 'manual' didn't mention it. the number '24' is the induction being detected (i think).. and the 'trigger level' is the minimum induction at which it will weld.

[@ChibiKeruchan]

that actually make sense. coz the factory type of spot welder are spring loaded. in which if you press it, it will make a lot of pressure because of the spring but once it get press and the spring bounce back and the pressure is gone. and all of that happen almost instantaneously

[@DavideSacco73]

That's a nice metal box ;-) even thought I was kind fond of the other one... more classy

[@Darieee]

the carved wood one, or the raw scratched and beat up aluminium one?

[@DavideSacco73]

@@Darieee the wooden box with inside cloth lining ;-b

[@Darieee]

yeah nah - that's a damn nice box but - combined with the wooden flooring covering 80% of my flat - a nice way to devalue real-estate

[@-Gunnarsson-]

Also the distance between your sticks make a difference. Dont place them to close. You want the current to enter the battery not just take a short cut over the nickel.

[@WaschyNumber1]

Very nice tip 👌

[@leeoconnor783]

Thank you ! I'm going to try this for myself. Iv been pressing hard and having the same issues. Much appreciated.

[@camielkotte]

This is exactly what i needed. thx a thousand amps

[@Darieee]

I was exactly in your spot - glad I could help ❤️🔥 happy welding

[@demolitionwilliams7419]

Fantastic info thanks a bunch

[@HeIIrox]

Damn you helped me alot, thanks :D

[@Darieee]

super happy to help 🥳

[@khalilkh7389]

Realy Nice information wich spot welder is this? Thanks 😊

[@Sharan-to4tm]

Ahoj, máš pěkně udělané video, díky👍😎

[@hermanoguimaraes]

Thanks for the tip. Worked fine!!!

[@sreekumarUSA]

You are storing Lithium Ion Cells in metallic container?❌🚫⚠️💥⚡️ Nice!

[@Darieee]

well ... I need something that won't combust when shit hits the fan 🤣🔥🔥

[@ZoranZ772]

This was an excellent tip. Thanks so much!

[@Seneslau07]

That's what I got too. Then I've started to press less, made it better but also from time to time I get a more violent weld that results in side burned holes through the nickel. So the secret is somewhere between ferm and gentle press. Also my electrodes are standard copper ones but after ten dots they are blunt..don't know how others can solder in videos like on a machine gun to a fixed electrodes station for example. I have to hold the metal fille near by and stop after a few cells, is this normal?

[@ChibiKeruchan]

7:12 Damn that solder haha you will need a 5mm or even 6mm solder wick and the largest soldering Flat tip you can find to desolder that thing for battery replacement. Good thing you can see the nickel strip so you can just cut them off first so you can safely remove the solder without endanger the battery from all those heat from your soldering iron.

[@Zodliness]

Very true, too much pressure creates a dead short and prevents an arc forming. Less pressure means higher electrical resistance, resulting in a much higher peak spot temperature. Shame these portable lithium welders handle .1mm strip just fine, but aren't really capable of welding .2mm nickel very successfully, which is common on most pre-assembled packs.

[@goranjosic]

I have made sport welder from microwave transformer, arduino and SSR relay (small oled screen and encoder), I can solder 0.2mm nickel without any problems - and the whole project was dirt cheap. 😅 The main problem is that everything is huge, the transformer is quite heavy and large, and definitely not something you can carry out of the apartment. But cheapness, extreme simplicity, the possibility of repair (or upgrade) at will, fact that there is no batteries to charge and think about, are good reasons to keep such a big and heavy thing in my apartment 😅

[@firstnamelastname7476]

level 7+ is pretty violent with my strips.. blows a hole in them (0.15 nickel plated steel... was advertised as pure nickel but that's aliexpress for you)

[@Darieee]

does that level account for how charged the battery is ?! when I first got mine it was pretty discharged .. and even 24 or whatever the max is wasn't doing much at all

[@firstnamelastname7476]

I suppose so, and instructions do say to charge it first. Could also be firmware difference (i was given a link for upgrading, but didn't use it).. but it may be my crappy steel strips.. I have pure nickel arriving soon, will let you know how that goes.

[@firstnamelastname7476]

I'm no longer sure which level to set.. it seems so varied with the charge level, the materials, and the amount of downward pressure.. the flatness of the strip/surface.. and perhaps how clean the surface is (new batteries/strips, may have some film left on them from processing.. not sure).

[@firstnamelastname7476]

The pure nickel strip seems to connect less reliably, so I went back to nickel plated (which my dewalt drill originally used anyway).. I managed to revive two power drill battery packs... happy days. Hoping my technique gets better and I get better results in future.

[@spinnanz]

@@firstnamelastname7476 nickel plated strips welds are stronger as the steel has more resistance than pure nickel, and its the resistance that produces the heat to weld. Pure nickel strips require more amps/time to weld.

[@drkskwlkr]

I cringe at the cavalier way the operator is leaving those two electrodes next to one another unattended. Incidentally, this is also the main reason most welds turn out poorly: the user presses on the strip with one electrode and takes their time to position the other electrode properly; if the tip of the second electrode gets near the strip, sparks will fly and there will be a loud bang (same reason as why there is a bang after a lightning). Any good spot welder will have different means of activation than short circuit sensing (I use a pedal with mine). This allows me to position both electrodes properly and try to equalize pressure. Another reason the welds don't hold is because those tips are garbage. They should be conical, with much smaller contact surface. These are cylindrical, and they seem to touch at the rim of the cylinder, which makes the area of contact long in one direction and very narrow in another. Press with your nail onto a bit of cardboard and you will get the same result. Good welds need to be round, not oblong.

[@lagman8908]

What's a shame about this device is that it wont charge with all the new USB-C PD chargers. It will only charge with old USB-A chargers. :(

[@Darieee]

ye, wonder if there are any pass-thru type-c type-c output enablers :-/

[@KagerouXD]

OMG did you test it on your hands???

[@hxjj111]

Weirdly enough after 2 sessions of trying this didnt fix it for me, struggling to find a good middleground, seems like 10-15 is too low while 20 is already bursting like crazy

[@hxjj111]

Is there a chance that the spot weilder pointers need to be brushed down a bit to made them more pointy? Cause right now the points look 3mms flat

[@ryanmiguelmariano2576]

I own one like this....9 power one....problem is, I always get a ton of sparking when trying to spot weld even at the lowest setting.

[@fcolon1976]

What's the name of the spot welder?

[@Darieee]

clean the contacts with some sand paper, press a bit harder .. and, try a different nickel strip (or clean/sand down the one you got)

[@potappotapov1815]

Yoh, why did you scratch the pads, what for? Should i do that with some abrasive paper? Should i degrease the pads b4 doing anything?

[@Darieee]

they seem to gather some oxide over time .. I guess if you very gently run some regular grit sandpaper over them it should be fine

[@potappotapov1815]

@@Darieee thank you, so it will make spot w welds stronger, thank you for clearing it up

[@svetlinvelikov1861]

I am on a lookout for a fine adjustable spot welder for doing sensitive electronics. The idea is to adjust for minimum exposure time / minimum amps so that the weld between the nickel strip and the 389 Renata button cell battery is just good enough to keep them together, without frying the electronics behind the nickel strip. Is there some spot welding guide that says exactly what settings would be safe for application like this?

[@Darieee]

well .. the welder I have for sure doesn't have the sort of accuracy and repeatability needed but - if you try it out beforehand you'll get the exact amount in 2 3 welds for sure - so - although the machinery is wildly imprecise, it is stable between very short runs

[@KidCe.]

Interesting video! I'm actually searching for a spot welder to weld some E-Bike batteries (12s3p). Do you think this model is good enough for that task?

[@Darieee]

its output varies wildly according to the battery charge state, buuut ... it does work and you can get ok welds from it so - I really don't know if other stuff out of aliexpress is any better ...

[@Designbykivi]

After 24 welds I blew a mosfet on it, with magic smoke coming out of the enclosure.. Got what I paid for it seems.

[@henkvanerp2873]

First of all, you keep your batteries in an iron box. Safe? I do not think so. Then you place the nickel strip under the insulation where you can cause a short circuit.

[@ErnieSesameStreet]

Can I spot weld full charge 18650. Ths is because I bought some 18650 batteries, they are between 3.2v to 3.5v. Is it all batteries to have the same voltage before spot weld, so I’m thinking to charge all batteries to full before weld but is it ok to spot weld them at full charge capacity voltage

[@wattyler5591]

A fully charged charged cell should have voltage of 4.2V. Before you spot weld your cells together it's very important all the cells are the same type, same date of manufacture and the same voltage within 0.01V. If you have an active balancer installed alongside your BMS you could get away with using greater differences in voltage. Hope this helps 👍.

[@ErnieSesameStreet]

@@wattyler5591 Thank you very much for the guide. Some people weld at store voltage of 3.6v, some charge to full 4.2v to weld. Is it fine for either method so long they are within 0.01v?

[@wattyler5591]

@ErnieSesameStreet I'd advise you to charge after you have built the battery first. Though you could charge the cells first if you wanted to.

[@kimgaugemusic]

thanks!

[@joeteejoetee]

VERY nice battery tray - Where can I buy one of these ?!

[@Darieee]

I damn stole this one tbh .. it was next to a lot of very vvvvery shit looking hospital silverware probably the hospital was sending it off to be recycled it only took about a minute to convince myself of that - then I was on my way with the box

[@joeteejoetee]

@@Darieee Wise move. Its always better to recycle something for its intrinsic value than melt it down and WASTE all the time and energy that was already expended to manufacture and exist in it's final form. #ManHours is a known and measured power.

[@Darieee]

totally! and .. I would totally shed a tear if someone ever showed me one of those medical grade steely shelfy door having feet bearing enclosures being destroyed

[@jaym5938]

I was stoked about making props/nickel clothing out of nickel strips and spot welding. Made a terrific headdress... to find out that nickel is poisonous and shouldn't be in contact with skin! fml

[@hxjj111]

😂 thanks for sharing, didnt know that

[@radicaledwards3449]

Its a terrible idea to tap the metal body of the welder with its own electrode

[@bluestraveler2980]

do not tell us what the devise is called.

[@dankdigital4058]

Your nickel is shit they call me El Jefe of nickel in industry.