Soldering To Li-Ions

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:40 pm

Well I found out this was a bad idea.
Luckily I found out with WATCH sized batteries...

I made a blinky bug (THe Cool Useless Product out of this/last months Popular Science) and I was soldering the antennae onto the battery.

The first one got to hot and exploded (Luckily it wasn't a big explosion, it just sorta popped with a small alkali flame burst. (The two halves split nicely, and no harm came of me, thanks for asking!

)

The second battery I was more careful with, and I didn't let it get too hot.

But the Brand new Li-Ion had no more voltage or current. The heat of the Iron completely killed it.

For my portable I'm considering Li-Ion batteries, but if I solder them will they mess up too? (It's not so much a COMPLETE battery loss I'm worried about as a small/moderate loss in mAh or voltage)

scherzo · Post by **scherzo** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:41 pm

I'd say forget it. Sounds too dangerous. Imagine if that was a larger battery.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:52 pm

Mind you, the battery I want to use has "solder tabs".

I'm just concerned about reducing the performance of the battery.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:21 pm

Couldn't you put a heatsink on the battery while soldering it? I read somewhere about doing that when soldering heat-hating stuff.

game16 · Post by **game16** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:16 pm

wow, i used a low wattage soldering iron, i got the solder to cool on the batttery, no soldering tabs mind you, works fine

Klefmung · Post by **Klefmung** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 5:39 pm

soldering to ni-mh batts doesn't seem to have a bad effect. I did it.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:47 pm

kurt, that wasnt a lithium ion battery unles you specifically bought one... because there werent any lying around the house.

heatsinking the battery wont help. the heat would travel down the metal contacts into the center of the battery, it would still be damaged. you could heatsink the tab further down towards the battery though.. it would probably work.

that said, you should be trying to avoid heating any sort of battery. but its ok to solder to them... quickly. very quickly.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:48 pm

forums screwing up... making me post twice.