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Battery Connections Get Loose Please Help

Old 05-06-08, 01:34 AM
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Battery Connections Get Loose Please Help

My motor hub is great and I'm logging mile after mile on it, but after about 4-5 miles of bumpy street riding I'll get a disconnected battery, lose power and have to stop to fidgit and reconnect it(with a lovely spark to go with it).

I've tried crimping the connections but they just get jarred loose with the SLAs bouncing incessantly. I have 3 8lbs SLAs bracketed tightly to my rear rack but the slip on connections aren't doing the job.
There are little holes in the SLA connections, should I use little screw/bolts to secure the wires?? I'm drawing up plans to move some of the batteries to the inside of my bike frame so maybe I'll wait, but is Soldering a good idea? I could solder female connections to the battery terminals and make a more efficient contact.

The Hub Motor is Strong but my Battery Setup is frustrating me.
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Old 05-06-08, 07:21 PM
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its safe to solder the pins on the battery, but you will need a hot soldering iron. not the pencil size one's.
one of the bigger hand triger one's
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Old 05-06-08, 10:29 PM
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Yeah I soldered them. haven't had a chance to test them out on the road. A few drops of flux should do the trick I hope I'm a noob at soldering lol all these new things I'm doing, electric bike conversions, soldering, etc. so much fun, and I didn't burn myself! hurray!
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Old 05-07-08, 01:20 AM
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I think this is a good "how to" solder a SLA's Battery Connection (four SLA batteries = 48v)...

I copied eight photos (see below) from "Crystalyte Hub Motor Kit Home Assembly Guide" pdf file* and I arranged them in 8- steps. I included the captions for each of the photos in the pdf, there are warnings in them if you don't fully understand what to do...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step 01 - Push one piece of heat shrink tubing up the wire a few inches – far enough to prevent being heated.

Step 02 - Overloading the wire with solder will help keep the heat in the wire rather than the battery terminal in the next step.

Step 03 - Load the soldering iron tip with a drop of solder. Place the solder-laden wire onto the battery terminal. Touch the soldering iron to the wire. The drop of solder on the tip will facilitate rapid heat transfer into the wire then onto the battery terminal. As soon as the solder begins to flow on the terminal, remove the iron. Too much heat on a terminal will destroy your batteries!

Step 04 - The resulting solder joint should be shiny and strong. If it is dull or there are fractures, apply a drop of solder to the soldering iron tip and repeat previous step. NEVER apply heat directly to the battery terminal.

Step 05 - Continue to solder (or use push-on tabs) until your battery pack looks like the picture 'below'. If you number the battery terminals 1 to 8, here is where they connect: 1 to 8, 2 to negative (black) side of key switch harness, 3 to positive (red) side of key switch harness, 4 to 5, 6 to 7

Step 06 - Slide the heat shrink tubing as far as it will go on to the battery terminals and apply heat. What you see in the picture is a professional heat tool. The appearance of red-hot on the battery surface around the wire is a reflection of light – not heat! It doesn’t take much to shrink the tubing. A match or lighter will work very well.

Step 07 - This is what solder joints should look like when complete.

Step 08 - Using filament tape (strapping tape), tightly secure the batteries to each other. Be sure to run the wires so that they do not cross each others’ paths or touch a battery terminal. If they cross paths, vibration may, over time, cause the insulation to wear. The result could smoke from melting insulation, severely degraded performance, and one or more ruined batteries.

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* (pages 11- 14, 16). Crystalyte Hub Motor Kit Home Assembly Guide; copyright- 2006 EV Depot, a Priority Fulfillment and Distribution, LLC Company
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Step 02.jpg (33.4 KB, 8 views)
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Last edited by Zephyr Boy; 05-08-08 at 01:16 AM.
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Old 05-07-08, 01:57 AM
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nice
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Old 05-07-08, 10:24 PM
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Thanks Zephyr Boy
My solder job looks pretty good, I'm psyched!
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