08-08-2005, 08:37 PM
I decided to do this little writeup/tutorial because I got sick of poor battery life in cordless appliances. And although this is not directly related to a fishing report, I thought you guys/gals might enjoy it. If the mods need to move it, no problem. I recently purchased a cordless fillet knife thinking I'd give the powered knives a try. I found that I can fillet fish quite quickly using this knife, however I found that I can do about 7-8 Wipers, and then she's done for a while awaiting a recharge. So I decided to see what kind of battery pack was inside!
[inline IMG_0606.jpg]
I very carefully voided my warranty by opening this thing up. Lo-and-behold, I found that the battery pack was nothing more than 5 AA NiMH rechargable batteries!
[inline IMG_0607.jpg]
I unplugged the battery (I'm sure they'd charge you 20 bucks to replace this thing) and found that the cells are only 1500 mAH batteries! Talk about cheap!
[inline IMG_0608.jpg]
Well I knew just what to do. I peeled off the shrink wrap to see how they were connected.
[inline IMG_0612.jpg]
Seems pretty simple. Just a bunch of AA hooked up pos to neg. So I decided to rebuild this puny little thing with some real 2300 mAH batteries. Pay careful attention to how they are connected. Heck I took this picuture so I could remember. You don't want to hook them up wrong! Could be very bad for your sanity/safety. First off, let me suggest you [url "http://www.batterieswholesale.com/battery_tips/assembling.htm"]head here[/url] for an excellent tutorial on building battery packs. Lots of good info if this is something you are going to try. Second off, do this at your own risk! Playing with solder and batteries can be hazardous to your health. Obey all safety rules that came with your soldering iron! Only do this if you are comfortable with your soldering abilities! Anyways, back to the rebuild. Next up I gathered my batteries. It is important that you use discharged cells to minimize the risk of injury. I broke out the trusty Shoe Goo and put a little bit of goo along the batteries where they will touch. Then I took some electical tape and gently taped them together while the goo cures. This takes several hours, so go do something fun while they are setting up.
[inline IMG_0613.jpg]
Once your new battery pack in all setup, break out the soldering iron! I would suggest one with some horsepower, as the smaller ones will take much too long to heat up the battery. Then following the instructions from the page linked above, put the heat to those little dudes!
[inline IMG_0625.jpg]
Once you get them all soldered together (I use solder tabs, but you can use 16 guage wire if you need to) you need to "acquire" the connectors from the old pack. The people that make these just spot weld them on, so I moved the tabs back and forth until they break at the weld. You loose a little material, but it doesn't seem to cause a problem, as there is still plenty left to work with.
[inline IMG_0626.jpg]
Now as you can see, I've wrapped the battery pack with elecrical tape. If you so desire you can buy some large PVC heatshrink and set them up that way, me I just use high quality (3M) electrical tape. Now comes the moment of truth! Let's drop this thing in the knife and put everything back together again.
[inline IMG_0627.jpg]
Everything fits good, so I plugged it in and let it charge overnight. Fortunately for me, I didn't screw anything up and she purrs like a kitten. I figure I should be able to do 12-13 Wipers now with a full charge! Still not a marathon runner for filleting a ton of fish, but I think it will work quite nicely. Now I need to pick up a 12V corded knife for my second electric filleter.
I hope you enjoyed this little writeup. For those of you so inclined, many cordless appliances (like phones, FRS radios, etc.) use cheap low amp hour AA battery packs. I just recently rebuilt the battery pack for the cordless phone and it works quite nicely. The thing will last a LOT longer on a charge as well. Once again, be careful if you try this at home.
FYI: Overclocking is a term used by some computer geeks to push their CPU's/RAM/GPU's above the manufacturers recommended specs.
[signature]
[inline IMG_0606.jpg]
I very carefully voided my warranty by opening this thing up. Lo-and-behold, I found that the battery pack was nothing more than 5 AA NiMH rechargable batteries!
[inline IMG_0607.jpg]
I unplugged the battery (I'm sure they'd charge you 20 bucks to replace this thing) and found that the cells are only 1500 mAH batteries! Talk about cheap!
[inline IMG_0608.jpg]
Well I knew just what to do. I peeled off the shrink wrap to see how they were connected.
[inline IMG_0612.jpg]
Seems pretty simple. Just a bunch of AA hooked up pos to neg. So I decided to rebuild this puny little thing with some real 2300 mAH batteries. Pay careful attention to how they are connected. Heck I took this picuture so I could remember. You don't want to hook them up wrong! Could be very bad for your sanity/safety. First off, let me suggest you [url "http://www.batterieswholesale.com/battery_tips/assembling.htm"]head here[/url] for an excellent tutorial on building battery packs. Lots of good info if this is something you are going to try. Second off, do this at your own risk! Playing with solder and batteries can be hazardous to your health. Obey all safety rules that came with your soldering iron! Only do this if you are comfortable with your soldering abilities! Anyways, back to the rebuild. Next up I gathered my batteries. It is important that you use discharged cells to minimize the risk of injury. I broke out the trusty Shoe Goo and put a little bit of goo along the batteries where they will touch. Then I took some electical tape and gently taped them together while the goo cures. This takes several hours, so go do something fun while they are setting up.
[inline IMG_0613.jpg]
Once your new battery pack in all setup, break out the soldering iron! I would suggest one with some horsepower, as the smaller ones will take much too long to heat up the battery. Then following the instructions from the page linked above, put the heat to those little dudes!
[inline IMG_0625.jpg]
Once you get them all soldered together (I use solder tabs, but you can use 16 guage wire if you need to) you need to "acquire" the connectors from the old pack. The people that make these just spot weld them on, so I moved the tabs back and forth until they break at the weld. You loose a little material, but it doesn't seem to cause a problem, as there is still plenty left to work with.
[inline IMG_0626.jpg]
Now as you can see, I've wrapped the battery pack with elecrical tape. If you so desire you can buy some large PVC heatshrink and set them up that way, me I just use high quality (3M) electrical tape. Now comes the moment of truth! Let's drop this thing in the knife and put everything back together again.
[inline IMG_0627.jpg]
Everything fits good, so I plugged it in and let it charge overnight. Fortunately for me, I didn't screw anything up and she purrs like a kitten. I figure I should be able to do 12-13 Wipers now with a full charge! Still not a marathon runner for filleting a ton of fish, but I think it will work quite nicely. Now I need to pick up a 12V corded knife for my second electric filleter.
I hope you enjoyed this little writeup. For those of you so inclined, many cordless appliances (like phones, FRS radios, etc.) use cheap low amp hour AA battery packs. I just recently rebuilt the battery pack for the cordless phone and it works quite nicely. The thing will last a LOT longer on a charge as well. Once again, be careful if you try this at home.
FYI: Overclocking is a term used by some computer geeks to push their CPU's/RAM/GPU's above the manufacturers recommended specs.
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