NIPPLE slip

[Sanwizard]

Regarding some suggestions:

Soldering won't work with aluminum. (brazing would, but it would also require a ton of heat over the entire area)
Welding with a TIG machine in very short bursts with a wet rag between should be fine.
Please don't use an adhesive/epoxy/etc even if it's conductive. Not only is the resistance poor, but almost every conductive compound is very brittle, and placed between those two pieces of aluminum you'd eventually crack and detach.
Laser welding would require a good deal of setup, and you might not get any better penetration than the original supplier got. If you had them re-do the entire bank, maybe it would make sense, but having them do one terminal will probably cost more than simply buying a new battery.

If you cannot get a mechanical drawing of the terminals to determine how much drilling they can accept, I suggest drilling four smaller holes - maybe M4 or M3 - to a depth of 6mm and bottom tap them to 5mm. Then modify the bus bar to accept the four screws, using screws that will extend into the holes the full 5mm. That'll handle all the current that you'd need. Taps and drills are cheap, compared to all the other solutions.

But the real issue is that the weld quality is very poor(insufficient penetration), and if they other terminals are like that, you may want to speak with the supplier and indicate they did a lousy job. Send the same pics, and show that the remaining weld marks on the battery clearly show the weld didn't go deep enough. Ask them to pay for a local place to rework them - all of them. This won't be the only cell that this happens to while you're working with them, I bet.

Send it back to the supplier for a refund?

 

[Anymore]

Nowadays, many suppliers can provide batteries for drilling screw holes and welding studs. It will be much more convenient to buy these two batteries.

 

[Joedeath332]

Reading this post sends shivers up my spine as I've just purchased 4x basen 280ah cells, that came with short grub screws and flat busbars in a brown envelope. So am going to locktite the grub screws in so they don't screw in and create pressure on the welds, but I have a question are the grub screws that usually come with the batteries stainless steel? Or are the made out of cheap metal that will strip easily, if I was to red locktite them in?
Here is a pic of one of my batteries

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Find a professional welder. Probably the best option if you can find an experienced aluminum welder.

I’m fairly certain no TiG welder would attempt that- too much heat. Someplace that rebuilds tool batteries MIGHT be able to rig a battery link welder to fusion weld that? But that’s a lot of heat sink for a low amp device
Maybe I’m all wet. Dunno. I just don’t think ‘normal welding’ will let that plastic survive.

going to locktite the grub screws in so they don't screw in

Do these need to be part of the connection? I suppose they don’t, but loktite ain’t a good conductor. I’d almost rather put a long stud in and fix them from turning by staking them like a machinist.

 

[Short_Shot]

Did it really just pop off on its own? Seem like with the threads going through the nut it would be easy to bottom out and lift the nut off.
My only thought would be to use conductive epoxy.

That would be a spectacularly poor connection.

 

[ghostwriter66]

Did it really just pop off on its own? Seem like with the threads going through the nut it would be easy to bottom out and lift the nut off.
My only thought would be to use conductive epoxy.

happened when one of the guys was unloading 128 of these batteries one at a time from one shelf to another -- he said when his thumb brushed across the top it simply fell off ... we had 3 total do that in this shipment ...

 

[ghostwriter66]

Send it back to the supplier for a refund?

1. They are going to say that "we" did something to cause this to occur and that they are no way responsible. They will say that while we were installing a lug that we went to far down and forced the terminal off. All of that is totally believable and that's exactly what I would say if I were them.

BUT just in case they said sure send it back -- postage is always on YOU .. so to ship this one battery back to China will run about 37.00 according to my experience. I ship it back - after about 90 days I finally get my refund but lose 37.00 AND they get a brand new battery. Everyone wins but me.

Just going to get me a big tube of Elmer's Glue ...

JUST KIDDING ...

 

[Pyrofx]

That's a rig pig thumb. They can break ball bearings.

 

[Pyrofx]

I've had good luck drilling and tapping 5/16. Went 5/16 deep.

 

[ghostwriter66]

That's a rig pig thumb. They can break ball bearings.

Totally lost me ....??

 

[Pyrofx]

You said the guys thumb brushed it.
Rig pigs are oil field workers . Rig guys specifically.
They can break anything

 

[ghostwriter66]

You said the guys thumb brushed it.
Rig pigs are oil field workers . Rig guys specifically.
They can break anything

I get the Rig Pig thing of course -- when you said bust ball bearings I didn't understand what you meant and thought it had something to do with the battery top itself ... not enough coffee ... LOL

 

[HRTKD]

I can't speak to Rig Pigs. The closest I got to a rig was the suppliers to offshore rigs.

I read some months back on another thread that these threaded terminals have to be laser welded on. TIG welding isn't going to work.

Since these batteries (terminals) aren't looking like they are ready for prime time, I would use them as experiments and drill holes for threading. Be sure to name each battery so you can keep track of the experiments. The first one should be "Abby Normal".

 

[12VoltInstalls]

threaded terminals have to be laser welded on. TIG welding isn't going to work.

It will work fine. It will just melt stuff.
That’s the issue.

 

[HRTKD]

It will work fine. It will just melt stuff.
That’s the issue.

Overly broad statement on my part. Yes, it will work. But the heat from TIG welding may not be beneficial to the cell internals, let alone the externals. I supposed I could put three or four spot welds on that might work, but spot welds usually don't use any filler wire. A spot weld that does use filler wire takes more time, which means more heat. At least it would for me, since I'm not that quick.

 

[cass3825]

EVE has apparently started supplying cells with welded terminals, but they look very different than the welded studs that many resellers are offering:

View attachment 68984

Those appear to be thick aluminum ‘posts’ with a large ‘doughnut’ where the post is welded onto the aluminum terminal surface.

That looks like a design ready for prime time and any new cells I purchase will be of that type (regardless of price premium).

I’m very interested in this type of terminal for my next battery purchase. Where did you find this information?

 

[Supervstech]

OK .. you're right .. changed it from "TOPLESS pics" to "NIPPLE slip" ... which actually describes it much better

Well… actually, a pipe nipple has threads on the outside… both titles are amusing, but I think it should be retitled terminal slip… or similar…

 

[JoeHam]

both titles are amusing, but I think it should be retitled terminal slip… or similar…

Or we could just be amused ?

I need more of that in my life

 

[TomC4306]

Well… actually, a pipe nipple has threads on the outside… both titles are amusing, but I think it should be retitled terminal slip… or similar…

Seriously?
....

 

[JMc]

I supposed I could put three or four spot welds on that might work, but spot welds usually don't use any filler wire. A spot weld that does use filler wire takes more time, which means more heat. At least it would for me, since I'm not that quick

Spot welding even .062 aluminum sheet is tricky. We tried this some years ago using a standard Miller 240V clamp spot welder and quickly learned that getting reliable connections by manually pulsing the welder was impossible. Sometimes we’d get a strong weld and then there would be pieces that popped apart easily. I’m sure aluminum can be spot welded, but it takes critical control of many variables to make it work and that isn’t going to happen for backyard setups.

The laser welding we see on some of these battery terminals looks like a better solution. There is an actual weld bead that can be inspected and the laser limits the heat zone so the battery isn’t damaged during welding.