I like your minimalist approach. The advantage of a capacitor bank is you can control how much energy is stored and the caps can be recharged from a much smaller capacity current source. Need more current? Add another parallel cap. Usually they use FETs to dump the caps but I guess you could stay with the solenoid

Making use of the ukposts.infoUgkxcJ22tnHH9l1vjdIdEIG27iOG55P7LXI8 reconditioning plan, I just saved 2 auto batteries from being completely junked. The guides were very simple to follow. I wish I would have found this years ago! You may use the guide to recondition any battery type

As a ham radio operator there are many times that I need to weld batteries this would save a ton not only in money but in time as well, thanks.

very cool, this just appeared on my recommended list, I have some batteries for drills that need repairing so this might just be a great find to make a spot welder. I had no idea how basic they actually could be. Now just have to "get around to" doing those jobs lol. Well done and well explained. 👍

dude i love it thats the simplest welder ive seen ever thanks im making one today bro good stuff buddy !!!

Such a simple, cheap but effective welder. Exactly what I'm looking for! Top stuff mate!

Great video fello! In this crazy time of self isolation (due to corona virus) i am planning to build a 13s4p and was going to invest in a welder. Now i know i have everything to make one, so why not!!!!

In the US "twin and earth" wire/cable is called Romex® or its "trade name" non-metalic (NM-B) cable. 2.5 mm² is about 12 AWG and it is solid copper.

Nice job, Kevin! Clear explanation and demo. Thanks for including the links for supplies! Gonna put this one to work fixing some old tools.

Nice setup. Ive tried using a microwave transformer and got it to work but it was putting out 900-1000amps and it i wasn't careful it would blow holes through the battery tabs. I think I'll try this setup.

Love it. So simple and effective for this type of spot welding. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing, I need this one, I will try this, do you have any recommendation or caution that I need to take?

Liked and subscribed. This is the simplest and effective one I've ever seen, so I'm definitely making one. Don't think of using that timer circuit. Einstein said, make it as simple as possible, but not simpler. This is the essence of genius!

Thanks for the video!! I just made my welder just like your video but I put the switch and relay on a board. It worked great first try! Looks as good as any factory made pack's welds. For years I have been trying to get batteries with tabs on them and soldering the tabs together or soldering direct to the battery which I know is bad. Now I can do the job neatly and professionally. Spent less than $20 for the nickel strip and relay.

Started to build my own battery welding station. I have almost all components already there, but had to order solenoid. One improvement I was thinking of, is to add a main switch between battery positive pole and solenoid to be able to cut off the circuit in case the solenoid melts down. It happened once on my daughters scooter and it was a little bit of a thrilling experience.

Excellent explanations clear and to the point.

Surprisingly effective! Good to know, refurbishing li-ion packs at home becoming more and more of a necessity.

Nice one mate, I've just made one. Really handy bit of kit 👍👍

Hi, thanks for this video, I have referenced it in my recent upload. I have noticed with my setup that it's best to use a partly discharged battery, maybe about 12.5v so that the spot welds are not too fierce. Cheers

Thanks for showing your welder. This is by far the simplest design on youtube and it works. I will certainly give this a try.

THANK YOU I am converting my longboard to be an electric one. I still need to build the battery pack as premade ones are either sketchy or really overpriced. Most of the spot welders out there are way to expensive for just one battery pack. I was about to give in and buy a premade pack when I saw your video. The solution is so simple that it never ocurred to me. Might spice it up with an arduino to manage the timing as I don't trust myself to nail that.

fantastic! I've been looking at buying fancy welding kits for a while now

Well done dude! A quick question, can you weld this easy with the 18650 cell anode?

The simplest construction ever! Thanks a lot!

Hey great setup, effective and simple, just the way I like it! Thanks for the video!

You just saved me so many hours, thanks bro, I subed and told my friends of this gold mine

I built my own 3 years ago just like this and made a 24s 20p battery using Samsung 30Q cells, Worked very well! :)

I can believe what i just saw. This is awesome, i have to try this ASAP. Thanks for sharing this video

Outstanding, simplicity at its finest. Yet very effective, I'm glad I saw this video as I have some ni cads to replace instead of tossing a good tool. Like I like to say "If it's broke round here I fix it". Thanks for sharing

Also love the video was going to buy a spot welder but will just build one instead so thank you .

That is genus! I love it! I think the only thing I would do extra is maybe attach the switch to the side of your wooden jig you have there. Thanks for your great video!! Aaron

Great work,thanks,so easy to knock up,just what I need to assist in replacing the battery pack in my cordless drill. Can a similar method,using simple components, be utilised for spot-welding tin/lightweight sheet metal....or would that require embarking upon one of the microwave transformer projects?

Amazing welding, first time I know there’s such a welder !

What a superb inspirational video! Thanks for sharing. I am an electronics engineer, so am mega impressed with the beautiful simplicity and frugality of this project. I intend to make one similar to yours. However, I do have a couple of thoughts to air. I am totally inspired to make one of these, but I will likely use 2 solenoid relays. Then if one fails and gets its contacts welded together (certainly quite possible, even if yours has not yet failed!). Then hopefully the other one will still always work and release ok. That way much less chance of a 'stuck' on quite dangerous situation occurring. It is unlikely that 2 solenoid relays could both fail with welded together contacts simultaneously. I would likely install one at each end of the battery. I believe this would make the whole thing that bit safer to use. It will also massively reduce the instantaneous contact breaking arc that will definitely be occurring inside of the solenoid just as the contacts are releasing. The second point is that I think you are taking the CCA spec of the battery (and the current rating of the solenoid) just a bit too literally. The battery CCA rating is *not* the absolute maximum current the battery can deliver. It is the maximum current it can safely deliver continuously, for a specified maximum period of time (typically a minute or two). The absolute maximum current it will deliver into a virtual short circuit (as in this case) will be very much greater than 200 Amps. I estimate that in this application, the momentary peak current is more likely to be in the region of 500-1000 Amps! Clearly the battery and the Solenoid relay are momentarily in severe overload. However, this is probably perfectly ok, as the duration is so relatively short. It would be disastrous if the solenoid relay failed to disconnect due to the internal contacts becoming fused together though. Hence why I suggest using two in series. Anyway, I'm definitely going to construct this. Please can I ask where you get the tab strip metal from, and what is the type and thickness? It looks ideal for this battery building project. Thanks again. Peter.

Best Hack I have seen for a **MINI WELDER** THANK YOU!

I have a deadly mains version of this. A 20 W CFL buld in series with 1000uF capacitor . I used a engine starter relay which complete the circuit and dumps that mains voltage charged capacitor into the spot.

I can confirm this works perfectly!!!! You saved me so much time and money thank you!! I got a 230 cranking amp battery from Walmart for $20 and a car solenoid from the local auto parts store and all set up for under $50!!!

Thanks for the video! I’m in need of a battery spot welder, think I’ll build rather than buy!

Great Video - However - how does one remove and reconnect cell pairs when they are mounted end to end for a total voltage of 8.4 volts?

Nice video, I recommend using a smaller inner diameter gasket as it looks like your using 10mm which are designed to go below the wrap not above which is a common mistake by most and in fact by a lot of manufactures. If you watch back the clip you can see some nickle underneath the gasket, using a inside wrap gasket of 10mm for the inside wrap and then another on top using barley paper with a inner diameter of 5mm to 8mm will prevent foreign objects entering the positive cap, just my 2 cents.

I'm very impressed. This is common sense at work. It saves hundreds of dollars compared to a lot of other methods using MOSFET'S .

Perfect and simple. Gonna make one. Thanks for showing this.

Nice setup Kip! Welding, as opposed to the Vruzend method keeps the packs smaller, and lighter for EV use!

Brilliant idea and not expensive. What about the wear out of the relay? DC tends to make light arcs after release the load. In this case almost a short circuit.

Thanks for the great video! I've purchased a starter solenoid and some short heavy-gauge battery cables, and I plan to give this a try in the next few days. Because I'm using a car battery which would normally have around 600 CCA, the high end of the range you recommended, I am going to use an Arduino Nano with a 5V relay similar to the one you showed in your video to operate the 12V coil for the starter relay. Since you have demonstrated the process is fairly robust with respect to timing, rather than build in a variable time capability, I will just run a series of trials by changing the arduino code until I identify a good interval value to use with my battery. The nice thing is that the 12V battery can also power the ardunio nano so it'll be self-contained and portable. I'll stop back here to let you know how I made out. Thanks again !!

I suggest adding an emergency slow-blow fuse inline, because if your solenoid gets stuck things will heat up real fast!

Well done! Consider using foot-pedal thingy for switch, it should save you lots of time in the long run!

Great video! I wondered how they attached those tabs. It looks like the equipment is economical to make too.

Hello Darkkevind1978... great video. I am contemplating making my own packs for an electric bike. Question : how often you need to charge the 12V battery or how many welds you estimate from one charge ? Thanks!

Great tutorial, I've tried many times to solder these with zero success so might give it a go, thanks

brilliant video. May I ask what is the strip made of an alloy of nickle or pure?

Thanks a lot Simple and work great . Very good. Can use also solenoid from car starter

As a teenager (more years ago than I like to admit), I managed to weld a spanner across the terminals of a car battery. All I knew was that it made a mess of my spanner... I never considered that there could be a practical application for the "technology" I had invented! :o) Nice useful video, thanks.

wow, that looks too easy! how do you control the timing? I didn't see the timing board when you showed the battery, do you just press and let go fast?

Great job, very ingenious, I love when people share their creativity, thank you.

Clever; we haven't seen many of these with a battery. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎

You're a star! The internet thanks you [for] sharing this great method.

Extremely useful for those of us who use radio battery packs..only spot welding will yield compact replacement battery packs that will fit the dedicated space available. Thank You ! you don't specify the type of metal the strips are fab'd from ..??

Looks like some proper work holding would speed the process immensely. Great video!

Increíblemente simple y efectivamente funcional, gracias por compartir

Such a simple, cheap but effective welder. Exactly what I'm looking for!

Two quick possible improvements, first is a foot pedal so you can use both hands and the other is a better handle (think soldering iron with 2 tip and when you press hard it activates the solenoid.)

I saw this this morning and being an old biker I had everything.👍 I put it together but using a car battery and it blows a hole in everything😁 I am going to look at putting the switch in some sort of rig so I can drop something on it and get it consistent by differing the drop height👍 Thanks!

Can I ask a stupid question when charging how do you monitor each cell for balance as I am new to battery packs but loved the video nice one

You can also make a larger one using the transformer from a microwave. This is great for small jobs. Nice description of how you did it simple and effective.

I almost posted about safety before watching the video to the battery part, I would have made a right fool of myself, this is an awesome on the cheap idea, my hat is off to you good Sir! I'm thinking of trying this myself.

Good work darkkevind! Nice, neat, effective and a relatively simple design. Thanks for sharing, good video!

Simple and effective!! I always thought about building something similar. Time to dust off the work bench....

Just so you're aware, the CCA rating (cold cranking amps) is like the max safe draw from the battery over a few seconds period in less than ideal conditions ( 0 Fahrenheit i think) and still maintain enough voltage to crank a car (above 7.2v), so using this shorter pulse, in good temps and ignoring voltage drop, the current is highly likely to be more than 200A as a direct short. Not saying this is a problem or anything assuming the battery doesn't start gassing or anything, just that if you're expecting to get 200A and are basing calculations on that, it might be good to try and capture the max draw maybe using a scope on single shot mode and a clamp meter as its highly likely to be well over 200A. Once again, im not being in any way critical, i love the project you've done there and its good to see people not just buying cheap unit that are really over priced for what they are, much respect for doing it yourself, i just thought the info may be useful.

Good use of materials.

Thank you for the video. Did you ever try the timer board for more consistent welds? Also, just to let you know, the link in your description for the delay timer relay is to a different item to the one you showed us. Keep up the good work.

Amazing how simple this is !

I used a battery of 285 CCA at 32 deg F. Using the timer, which has a minimum of .16 sec's in a delay off mode, it blew right through a nickel to nickel weld. I think the timer board keeps it on to long. If I manually bump the switch so it is on only a moment it works okay.

3:37 was a good one, listening to the sound it seems like the faster the better. Great setup, I watched a electronics diy channel 'great Scott'. Don't know if you've seen his content. He made a few of these and they didn't turn out well, very complicated. Thanks for the clear explanation, I almost went with a diy pcb solution but this seems much more reliable.

Nice. What current / pulse width you use for spotting?

May positive energies and will power surround you. Thanks from Danville, V.A Jeff

May I ask what is the strip made of an stainless of nickle or pure?

Mate that was the best spot welder I've seen. I'm an electronic tech and have been trying to build a spot welder but could never get enough current. Yours is a simple and elegant solution. It reminds me of an old NASA engineering story; when they were in the middle of the space race with the USSR, NASA was spent millions designing gravity free ball point pens. Russia used wax pencils.

I love how simple this is. On thicker nickel strip, would you just hold the switch longer?

Thanks for the video! I need now to replace just one battery from a 4-pack, is there a way to undo it? without breaking the strip?

Greetings. I was wondering about the power of this spot welder. When you short a battery you have I = U/R where R is the internal resistance. So you have more than 200A going throw the system. If we say internal resistance is about 10mOhm then you have I = 12.6/.01 = 1260A what makes your installation P = U * I = 12.6 * 1260 = 15.8Kw. Is not that way to much for 18650 cells ?

Something to be said for SIMPLICITY!

nice effective yet simplest spot welding device idea seen by me so far. thanks for sharing

Went to Home Depot today and bought two lengths of heavy 1 O wire each at 2.5 ft or 763 mm. for 8.00 US. And added 1 ft or 305 mm in length of 1/8th inch or 3.175 mm solid copper wire.for 66 cents. or 60 euro cents. I bought a battery of 280 cca for 22.00 at my local walmart. Or 19.90 euro's. All of my parts will arrive tomorrow and I have already charged and tested my batteries for my 52 volt E-bike without a PAS sensor. Thanks for the video as it saved me a lot of money for a possible one time venture!

Absolutely genius. Ta for the vid.

That is great. I was chewing my brain out to get a microwave thingy to get started. I'll do that one. Great idea. Thanks darkkevind

Please never stop tying knots wise fellow for I can see me fishing with you for a long while

Hello, can you please tell where did you bought your cells, I live in London thanks a lot man

... Don't hot glue batteries together. Batteries heat up when they're under load. -- The glue won't remelt, but it will slowly flow, and end up in the wrong places in your projects over a few months of regular usage...

Nice way simpler than I thought 💭

Thank you for sharing this! Now that a long time has passed, can I ask you about the durability of the solenoid? Are you still using the same one?

Thank you very much for the excellent video. Where can I get the metal strip to connect the batteries?

This reminds me of the time when I arced my metal watch band between the body of my car and the positive terminal of a 600 amp battery right next to the fender. I must have got the world record in getting a watch off. Still have the scars after 30 years.

i love it, so this is how you do ti ey... nice

This is the best working DIY welder I have send. Great job

Awesome I think I'll mount the momentary switch where your right thumb is though

Nice

So the switch powers the solenoid on/off and keeps you from having the big current that is making the weld from having to flow through the pushbutton? So when solenoid is on, the battery is basically shorted out and puts out as much current as it can, correct?

Brilliantly simple design!

I'd be inclined to look into managing the triggering with a foot pedal that informs a microcontroller to do the work - oh, you're showing me & talking about what I'm suggesting!