Battery tabs on or off?

alfu

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2017
Messages
35
I'm cutting my cells from each other with scissors, rather than breaking the welds, leaving the tabs on, which I fold over. I think when it comes time to solder them all together into blocks, the thin nickel tabs will be easier, quicker and less destructive to solder to.

Thoughts?
 
I rip off as much as I can get off. Sometimes there is a little piece left but rather than spending a few minutes to tear off a tiny sliver, I usually just pound it flat with the pliers and move on. I have seen other say they leave some of the strips on and solder to those so they aren't soldering to the battery and the heat stays on the tabs. In my opinion, it's just a matter of preference. It looks a lot cleaner to remove the tabs. If you have the right wattage iron, soldering takes about a half second per cell so I don't believe enough heat transfers to cause any damage.
 
That is a possibility. The only issue I see is that the tabs only make 4 contacts with the actual cell. I guess that might be sufficient for low draws of amperage. However, if you need to draw a large pulse, they may over heat. The solder point would on top of the silver tab and not be making direct contact with the cell itself.

However, doing it that way would minimize damage to the cells from pulling the tabs off in the first place. I've noticed as I'm pulling them off, some cells pop up a little bit. I'm hoping I'm not doing any damage.

That's my view point, anyways. Anyone else care to add to the points? ;)
 
Korishan said:
That is a possibility. The only issue I see is that the tabs only make 4 contacts with the actual cell. I guess that might be sufficient for low draws of amperage. However, if you need to draw a large pulse, they may over heat. The solder point would on top of the silver tab and not be making direct contact with the cell itself.

You have a great point here. I've gotten cells that are spot welded so well, it is hard to tear them off. Then I get those that you just touch and the spot weld falls off. Consistency is another reason to remove them and solder directly.
 
I think its easier to remomve them than cutting them and leaving them on the cell.
 
I tried leaving some but they are so sharp I got sick of cutting myself on them.
I just wear gloves and remove them. I have a flat pair of cutters that removes the last little pieces of weld from the cell
 
I tear off the tabs with side cutters, grip close to the cell and use a twisting motion to put leverage on the spot welds. I've nearly torn the battery casing a few times with particularly obstinate welds.

Dressing the ends of the cell with a Dremel tool and a grinding stone is one way of getting rid of the burrs left over from tearing the tabs off. I actually use a small belt sander mounted in a vise so the front drum is facing me with the belt moving downward and hold the ends of the cell to the portion of the belt going around the drum with a wiping motion, rotate cell 90 degrees and repeat then swap ends and repeat. An old worn out belt works best, new ones are too aggressive and may damage the cell. A sanded cell end really takes the solder nicely.
 
Back
Top