Battery Pack Prep

[Spuds]

After you have soldered your battery pack together with your choice of battery bars what do your do? I've seen lots of different setup and am wondering if there is any preference other than personal on this. Here are some of the setups I’ve seen

A band of re-enforced packing / masking tape around the cells.
Cells glued together with epoxy or CA
An additional section of shrink tube that groups cells together
Left held together with the battery bars

What’s your opinion on what to do?

[Jeff Wohlt]

I was shrink wrapping the pack but stopped doing that so I could get to each cell if neeed and I guess it would cool easier without wrap on them.

What I don't like about not wrapping the pack is exposed cells so you really have to watch where you put them in your RC box so they don't short.

I use a drop of Shoe Good on the non-barred ends and it makes the pack very strong yet can be torn apart later if needed. THis stuff works great for many RC fixes...does nice on holding servos as well.

[Paul]

Hello Spuds,

I use shrink wrap on all my batteries. Yep it may hold in some heat as Jeff mentioned but I like the piece of mind the insulation gives me and the packs are stiff.

Paul.

[Jeff Vasquez]

After I solder my packs together I insert them in the tube of shrink wrap. I then make a small slice (1/4") in the shrink with an Xactro blade on each end of the cell on each side. I then cut the shrink to length making sure the shrink extends past the end of the pack by an inch or so. Then I put the heat gun to it. When its shrinking the slices open up into small holes. These holes allow the cells to disppate heat faster and if water gets in you can easily blow it out. I fold the extra shrink at the ends over twice and that acts as insolation. I've been using this process for years. It holds the cells securely while allowing them to cool down faster.