curious to see if anyone can explain this or understands what it means. Was it actually successful?Thanks. That’s one of the videos I followed. For whatever reason, the solution in his video that turned green, never changed colors, but the in my case, I was still able to nickel plate.
The method I used was successful.curious to see if anyone can explain this or understands what it means. Was it actually successful?
m still curious what it means that the solution didn't turn green (apparently like its supposed to). I usually raise concern when a step doesnt happen as described, yet things seem to "work" anyway.The method I used was successful.
Now that I have a nickel solution made, coating metals for protection will be easy. I just have to hook the DC power supply up, negative end attached tp the item to be coated, and the positive end end to nickel that will flow towards the item.
It will take a few more days to see if "a minute" in the solution is enough as I clean off the busbars I finish tomorrow, and attach them to the batteries, and torque to 4 nm. There's not a lot on the web about this like set voltage to 12 volts and .5 amps, so there's a bit of an art. I'm sure that stuff is out there about volts and amps per square centimeter to be coated at a rate of XX nm, but a bit effort is required on these specifics I was looking for.
Then there will be the test of time to see if this nickel coating holds up like its supposed to.
I definitely found electrolysis coating easier and cheaper than tinning busbars with a MAF torch, solder and flux. That did not work out well for me.
Doesn't zinc preferably corrode over aluminum? Doesn't that pose a problem?Found out I actually plated the busbars with zinc. The metal I ordered was zinc not nickel, so that explains why the solution did not turn green, because it was not nickel, but stayed clear,
Zinc is supposed to be a better conductor than nickel, and also a better conductor than solder, so I will stick with these for my 25 ah battery build.
View attachment 61736
I won’t tin with zinc in the future. I will at some point make nickel plated copper busbars.Doesn't zinc preferably corrode over aluminum? Doesn't that pose a problem?
Id be curious to see if/how fast it corrodes. can you take some resistance measurements a couple times a day from lug to lug on each bus bar? (or on a couple bus bars). Request is strictly for my own curiosity, so don't feel the need.I won’t tin with zinc in the future. I will at some point make nickel plated copper busbars.
For the few weeks it takes for me to make and plate the next set, my 25 ah battery will be fine.
just the connections, that is all that matters.What do you do with the hcajc8, brush on just the connections or the whole busbar?
Silver is unbeatable for conductivity, and the tarnish is not insulating… so, win/win…Great thread, what do you think about silver.
Electroplating with Silver is supposed to be beyond the amateur and needs a bit of chemistry knowledge. There's some electroplating that happens with chemicals, some have words like cyanide in the compounds. There's a table that shows how easy it is to electroplate different metals, with those on the left being easy, and those on the right being hard. What I've tried is easy to make a solution and electroplate with is copper, zinc, and nickel.Great thread, what do you think about silver.
Maap or propane. Maap ? is ideal. Flux paste is definatley reccommended. After your done and cooled or not. I myself, would spray 90% Iso to remove acid content from flux. Please makes your solder bling.How do you tin your busbars?
-Solder with MAF torch?
-Solder dip is a solder pot?
-Electroplate?
-Chemical dip like liquid solder?
-Something else?
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Drilled, Cut, and cleaned busbars today. Attempted to tin off the "Soldering" document with a MAF torch per this resource aand no good.
Tin Plating, Nickle Plating or Solder plating Bus bars
To get the downloads, click on the orange button at the top of the screen. This resource has two download files - A file documenting what I did to Tin plate bus-bars - An instructable on how to nickle plate copper. - A short word document on how...diysolarforum.com
These are my results:
View attachment 61129
I attempted this with three of 8 bus bars I made. I finished with 800 grit sand paper and cleaned with 91% alcohol. I heated with a MAF torch without flux (Right) and the middle two with flux. The one on the left, I did not tin at all.
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I'm stuck on the next step. Liquid solder is pretty tempting since it seems so easy and even though its about $25 for 4 ounces, this will likely be less than I pay for any other way I attempt.
It never occurred to me to electroplate with silver… as it is so easy to solder with it. Electroplating would certainly use less silver, and should be lower cost… but yeah… no knowledge of silver plating…Electroplating with Silver is supposed to be beyond the amateur and needs a bit of chemistry knowledge. There's some electroplating that happens with chemicals, some have words like cyanide in the compounds. There's a table that shows how easy it is to electroplate different metals, with those on the left being easy, and those on the right being hard. What I've tried is easy to make a solution and electroplate with is copper, zinc, and nickel.
The video I watched where the guy electroplated silver is real amateur-ish and he bought the solution and took him hours. When I do the copper, zinc, and nickel, takes between four hours and overnight to make the solution, and when I go to electroplate the item, I see results right away and keep it in there about two minutes before its done.
Please don't take my word for it. I started plating last month, and could be wrong.
The busbars were easy and were thoroughly plated. I tried some un-tinned copper lugs yesterday, and the outside was perfect, but the plate would not stick on the inside where the wire gets inserted. The wire tinned easy enough.
Never occurred to me to solder silver. I'm taking a break from trying to solder busbars after my last attempt at it.It never occurred to me to electroplate with silver… as it is so easy to solder with it. Electroplating would certainly use less silver, and should be lower cost… but yeah… no knowledge of silver plating…