lithium iron battery pack rebuilding kit

[petehall347]

i am now being pushed for a list of the best tools for the right price to allow me to rebuild 80v battery packs and the like .someone i do work for has threatened to buy me the kit . so things like automatic cell testing kit with many bays . tab welder and suchlike to enable me to get right on it . and supplies that will be needed like new tabs and single cells .

[sam_sam_sam]

There are no battery rebuilding kits as such however there are several options for you and will really depend on how many battery packs you are going to have to rebuild that for me would determine what equipment that I would buy and it will also depend on how much money you want to spend to do this type of work

ZKEtech has a eight channel single cell battery testing machine or one channel models that I would highly recommend if you are going to build a lot of battery packs I would recommend a battery testing machine and I would also recommend that you have a dedicated computer system that does not need to most up to date computer because you can run the battery testing machine on Windows 7 and I would highly recommend using that operation system because to me is the most stable of operating system other than Windows XP

But I would highly recommend that you DO NOT use them for battery packs that have BMS balancing protection boards on them you will destroy the testing machine equipment doing this type of testing unless you modify the charging circuit and even doing this might not keep it from being damaged over a period of time I wrote about this in another post and if you need to find it I can post a link to it

Now as far as battery tab welding machines go this is the trick-e part of this process you can make your own with a micro wave oven transformer but the real trick is getting a good controller to to control the transformer that is the hard part of this endeavor because most controller circuits are for the most part are not designed correctly because they do not have a long life before they stop functioning properly because I several battery tabbing machines hardware and no controllers that work properly but I have decent transformers for them but I lack the controllers for them

Battery tabbing supplies the pure nickel tabbing is the best to use but hard to find now you can use plated nickel plated tabbing supplies and they are cheaper in cost than the pure ones but sometimes hard to use depending on the quality of them

Now where to buy your supply of battery cells is going to be a challenge because I have never been to the United Kingdom so I could not tell you where to buy genuine battery cells however in the United States of America I can tell you where you can buy second hand battery cells from and from time to time they have new battery cells for slightly used battery cells or battery packs for a decent price

I would highly recommend that you stay away from Chinese made battery cells because I can testify that there quality is questionable at best I would not even consider building battery packs for a customer with battery cells from there under no circumstances but that is just me

Now you could use a genuine SkyRc battery testing machine the b6 version that is made for BMS balancing protection boards it not as accurate but decent and a lot cheaper but if choose to go this route I would recommend that you buy several of them and I would recommend that you buy the temperature sensor for them when testing battery cells or battery packs this to me is also very important thing to use if is an option in the battery testing machine

You can use a tablet or a computer for monitoring the testing results and all you need to have is a Windows 7 computer for this battery testing machine as well

One note if you want to use a tablet you need to purchase a Bluetooth module for it or the WiFi module if you can still find them

One final note about BMS balancing protection boards is that when you are matching battery cells for BMS balancing protection board you need have the milliamperes as close as possible and your voltage/current curves need to be as close as possible to each other for best results my rule is no more than 50 milliamperes hours difference between battery cells

I hope that I answered your questions that you asked about if there is anything else that you need as far as information about this particular subject feel free to ask them and I will try to answer them from my personal experience

[stj]

welding more than a few tabs is gonna stress a battery powered welder,
maybe use a microwave oven transformer instead.
here is a guy who tests welders
https://www.youtube.com/c/Luca_Techy/videos

and here is something very new
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua9z6Jw53OQ

only a couple of good u.k. sources of decent cells though!
80v - are those cummins by any chance?

[sam_sam_sam]

welding more than a few tabs is gonna stress a battery powered welder,
maybe use a microwave oven transformer instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua9z6Jw53OQ

I have watched him before and I like how though he is with his reviews

I going to buy on and see how good it really it is in heavy use

[stj]

i thought you would know his stuff, he does a lot with batteries and solar

[petehall347]

welding more than a few tabs is gonna stress a battery powered welder,
maybe use a microwave oven transformer instead.
here is a guy who tests welders
https://www.youtube.com/c/Luca_Techy/videos

and here is something very new
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua9z6Jw53OQ

only a couple of good u.k. sources of decent cells though!
80v - are those cummins by any chance?

garden machinery like greenworks etc . i like the look of the spot welder .

[petehall347]

when i said kit i meant tools .
so the spot welder to be the Fnirsi SWM-10 Spot Welding Machine

as for battery testing i had rather hoped for something that can fit many cells but seems like 8 is the max . i guess tested ones really need going into racks of ones that match each other and still good to use . cant really see any point in testing the whole packs with a machine as its rather obvious which packs contain dubious cells . i was thinking strip the faulty packs then rebuild with good cells .some packs will have bad pcb.s that aren't worth repairing so cells can be harvested from those ones although most i have seen wrong up to know is trapped temp sensor wires from poor manufacture or bad sensors and also the odd bad momentary switches both easy repairs .

[sam_sam_sam]

when i said kit i meant tools .
so the spot welder to be the Fnirsi SWM-10 Spot Welding Machine

as for battery testing i had rather hoped for something that can fit many cells but seems like 8 is the max . i guess tested ones really need going into racks of ones that match each other and still good to use . cant really see any point in testing the whole packs with a machine as its rather obvious which packs contain dubious cells . i was thinking strip the faulty packs then rebuild with good cells .some packs will have bad pcb.s that aren't worth repairing so cells can be harvested from those ones although most i have seen wrong up to know is trapped temp sensor wires from poor manufacture or bad sensors and also the odd bad momentary switches both easy repairs .

The best way to recycle used battery cells is to remove them and tested each battery cell separately but if you are going to do that mainly I would recommend that you use the SkyRc max b6 battery tester and get the genuine unit from SkyRc and do not be tempted to buy the clone ones because you will not be able to use the computer or the temperature sensor options

If I was doing what you plan on doing from what you have said in your previous post

I would buy 8 to 10 SkyRc b6 units and buy one of the ZKEtech EBC A10H units and here is the reason why

If you have a weird voltage/current curve graph you could compare the charts and I would rely on the ZKEtech more so because to me it is is more accurate than the SkyRc model one is when you have doughs about the results that you are seeing

The other reason for choosing the SkyRc model over the ZKEtech one for what you are planning on doing is because if you do not know the history of the used battery pack you might end up with some battery packs that are at there END of cycle life and sometimes they can become what is referred to “Heater Cells “ this is very bad situation because they can potentially catch on fire this is why I highly recommend the SkyRc model because it does have the capability to shut the charger off at what ever temperatures you choose I set mine up at 100* F because if goes beyond that temperature for me I would not consider using it in something that needs a lot of current to run the device you are making the battery pack for

Here is a tool that I would highly recommend having as well

1S-24S Lithium Battery Pack Single Cell Voltage Measuring Instrument Tester ( yes it is a little bit pricey ) but what it can do for me it is worth it as far as time because this process is time consuming because if you have to check each battery cell rail and you have 24 of that is going to take some time and I have heard that time is money

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234928913746?var=534786639009

Here is why if you are charging a battery pack that is higher than 6 battery cells the SkyRc will not be able to charge them and most battery pack chargers do not have a way to monitor each battery cell rail with this tool you can monitor up to 24 battery cell rails which will come in very handy when testing battery pack BMS balancing or non balancing protection boards I have several of them and I going to build a battery charging system for different cell configuration and use this tool to monitor the battery voltage on each battery cell rail to determine weather or not the BMS management system is working properly or not before I would be willing to sell them but that is just my personal preference

I hope this helps you with what you are planning on doing

[petehall347]

what i really need is a shopping list for everything to get me started . all plug and play as much as is possible . once i have made a start i might realise we need more things to get the job done easier and quicker .
the way its going to happen at the start is i will have a pile of dead or dying battery packs and be expected to make as many good packs as possible . after this is done then it will be one or 2 packs at a time . unless he goes and buys dubious job lots to throw at me .. its not actually something that interests me much so have been reluctant to do it up to now .

[stj]

a 2stroke is much less trouble - all you need to do is clean out the carb every year

[sam_sam_sam]

what i really need is a shopping list for everything to get me started . all plug and play as much as is possible . once i have made a start i might realise we need more things to get the job done easier and quicker .
the way its going to happen at the start is i will have a pile of dead or dying battery packs and be expected to make as many good packs as possible . after this is done then it will be one or 2 packs at a time . unless he goes and buys dubious job lots to throw at me .. its not actually something that interests me much so have been reluctant to do it up to now .

Do you buy on eBay if so I could put a link to the items that I am talking about and you go from there

[petehall347]

Do you buy on eBay if so I could put a link to the items that I am talking about and you go from there

yes ebay is fine ,thanks for your time doing this .

[petehall347]

a 2stroke is much less trouble - all you need to do is clean out the carb every year

sod them things . i do his electronic electrical work mostly on the ride ons with engines that really dont need the electronic bits to switch relays . he is really pushing the battery powered stuff as he believes its the way to go . as he is finding out the battery packs fail often . the pcb.s fail as well and are potted making it hard work to repair . pcb.s can go obsolete rather quickly like 12 months including the components to repair them if thats viable . this rebuilding battery packs is to me manual labour that a monkey could do . although the things seem to set on fire with the simplest of wrong moves .yes i have had to use a bucket of water to cool a pack down that was getting hotter and smoking . scary stuff in my wooden shed/workshop .

[stj]

water will cause it to burn if the gas is venting - get a co² extinguisher so you can use the gas to freeze the cells
and use a paving slab as a worktop - i used to do that when working with volatile stuff.

[sam_sam_sam]

sod them things . i do his electronic electrical work mostly on the ride ons with engines that really dont need the electronic bits to switch relays . he is really pushing the battery powered stuff as he believes its the way to go . as he is finding out the battery packs fail often . the pcb.s fail as well and are potted making it hard work to repair . pcb.s can go obsolete rather quickly like 12 months including the components to repair them if thats viable . this rebuilding battery packs is to me manual labour that a monkey could do . although the things seem to set on fire with the simplest of wrong moves .yes i have had to use a bucket of water to cool a pack down that was getting hotter and smoking . scary stuff in my wooden shed/workshop .

Is it possible for you post a picture of the type of battery packs that you are going to be rebuilding I would like to see what you are dealing with so I can maybe get linked up to the right type of tools

I would like to see the type of battery cells and packs that you are having to deal with

Me personally I thinking about trying my hand at this battery pack and splitting into two battery banks with two BMS balancing protection boards

https://batteryhookup.com/products/8...battery-module

[sam_sam_sam]

Here is some of the tool that I would recommend for you

This eBay seller also sells the accessories for this battery tester

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315370159...3ABFBMrPWHivJj


This the ZKEteck low current model

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/355702889...3ABFBM5rXNjPJj


This the high current charging model the ZKEteck model

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325757789...kAAOSw7P9kzMly

This is the ZKEtech battery holder

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285568898...3ABFBMtvafjfJj


This one is not available in your country for some reason on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18337894801...SABEgLeEvD_BwE

[petehall347]

some are greenworks brand 80v others are copies . 18650 cells inside

[sam_sam_sam]

Do you have a picture of the insides of these battery packs

If these battery packs are like the ones that I have taken apart before the best way to do this is to remove the the BMS board first and then take the tabbing off with a small side cutters then you can then do your battery testing I would suggest that you at this point that carefully test the battery cells and then group the battery cells that have the same or nearly the same charge/discharge curves and then test the BMS board with the battery single voltage monitor module that I referred to earlier and see if the individual battery cells track very closely together or not and for this I would make a battery BMS board jig and use an empty battery pack enclosure and wire the BMS board to individual battery cell holders so can match the battery cells closer together you will get better results

This something that I going to build for the Milwaukee and Ryobi battery pack testing jig like I discuss above I just have to make time to do this and stop procrastinating and just do it because I have battery pack that need to be worked on

Your comment about any monkey could do it you are right however if you do not go through with the testing and matching battery cells together you will get very poor results with running time and performance will suffer from not doing these steps which this can not be done by any monkey

[petehall347]

the packs are same as these . https://forum.toolsinaction.com/topi...attery-repair/

[sam_sam_sam]

the packs are same as these . https://forum.toolsinaction.com/topi...attery-repair/

From what on this website is that these battery packs BMS boards shit and who knows what company made the battery packs what real shit these are quality controls they have

The 40 volt Ryobi battery packs are not any better with there quality either they have a lot of issues with the BMS boards and battery cells are low end Samsung battery cells so I not surprised by this because several times I have had get replaced battery packs under warranty from Home Depot

This where I would highly recommend doing what I suggest earlier about making a jig and testing BMS boards before putting know battery cells that you have tested
I would use tw 40 volt battery pack BMS charger and battery packs that have a better reliability and quality to match the battery cells unless you can find a known BMS board that works correctly for the 80 volt battery packs that would be the option that I would do for testing the matching of the testing the battery cells