# DIY Niterider Battery



## stlburner (Dec 20, 2004)

I have a Niterider Digital Headtrip I bought 6 or 7 years ago. The battery is worn out and the charger is slow. I decided to build a new battery pack and pick up a faster charger for the pack. The old pack is a 6v 3800mah pack that ran for about 1.5 hours at 15 watts. I wanted something to last about twice as long and found some 10,000mah D size nimh cells to build with. The light draws 2.5 amps at 15 watts so in theory I should get 4 hours of burn out of the new pack. The charger I found charges at 2ah so the pack should charge in about 6 hours I think.

The old battery and charger.










The tools and materials for the new setup, including: Plasti Dip coating, new charger, multimeter, D size 1.2v 10,000mah cells, 18 AWG lamp cord, 65 degree C thermostat, hot glue gun/glue, super glue, electrical tape.










Arrange and assemble the pack with hot glue and super glue (probably overdone).


























Batteries Plus spot welded tabs and thermostat (5 1.2v cells in series = 6v).


















Secure wiring, prep for solder to tabs.










Tip to be soldered.










Everything to be soldered, including jack taken from old charger, to be put on new charger.










Soldered.










Everything secured with hot glue (again, overdone) and prepped for Plasti Dip. All of the tabs/connections were also fully encased with hot glue after the pic.










Ready to dip. Had to make a dip bin close to the dimensions of the pack to make sure it would submerge all the way and also to conserve the dip.










Dry and running.










Side by side with the old battery.










Niterider wants $165 for a battery and a fast charger. That battery will charge in 2.5 hours and burn for 1.5 hours.

Charge Time: 5.5 hours

Burn Time: 4.3 hours

Cost:

Cells: $32 www.batteryspace.com
Lamp Wire: $3 Home Depot
Plasti Dip: $10 Home Depot
Plug/Tip: $1 www.action-electronics.com
Charger: $27 www.batteryspace.com
Thermostat: $3 www.batteryspace.com
Spot Weld: $10 Batteries Plus

Total: $86 + solder and glue


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## amor587 (Dec 9, 2004)

Great post! Thanks for sharing the information and for including all the pictures. I will try this after my current battery sees it's end of life. :thumbsup:


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## scar (Jun 2, 2005)

How did the you attach the tabs to the batteries? You mention $10 Spot Weld, Batteries Plus. Did you take them somewhere to have them spotwelded? I hadn't thought about seeing if I could find a battery shop to do just the spotwelding. Interesting.


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

Hi, very good work. 

How do you have welded the contacts to the batteries?

Greetings

msxtr


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## Low_Rider (Jan 15, 2004)

Any business that sells custom battery packs should be able to spot-weld some tabs on to your cells for you. If you don't want to use tabs, you can solder the wires onto the cells yourself, although a high wattage iron and a quick job is necessary.

By the way, nice job *stlburner*!

Dave.


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## stlburner (Dec 20, 2004)

*Spot Welds*

As was mentioned above, just find a battery store that would be willing to do the spot welds for you. The guys at the Batteries Plus store around here did the job on the spot and charged me $10 for the labor and tabs. Thanks.


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## AZSunGod (Sep 13, 2006)

stlburner said:


> As was mentioned above, just find a battery store that would be willing to do the spot welds for you. The guys at the Batteries Plus store around here did the job on the spot and charged me $10 for the labor and tabs. Thanks.


Looking at your pictures I have the same counter top and cabinets you do. Wierd...........

Great job on the battery, Batteries Plus is good, I had a friend that used to have them build battery packs for him for electric motors he would convert onto mountain bikes.


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

Low_Rider said:


> Any business that sells custom battery packs should be able to spot-weld some tabs on to your cells for you. If you don't want to use tabs, you can solder the wires onto the cells yourself, although a high wattage iron and a quick job is necessary.
> 
> By the way, nice job *stlburner*!
> 
> Dave.


Thanks. But I have tried sometimes to weld in batteries and they did not weld cables in them.

Another answer. What battery charger it is needed for batteries of 10000 mah??

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr


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## stlburner (Dec 20, 2004)

*Charger*

I guess you can use any charger as long as it outputs the correct voltage for your pack. The only choice you have to make is what output charger you want, which obviously dictates charge time.


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

stlburner said:


> I guess you can use any charger as long as it outputs the correct voltage for your pack. The only choice you have to make is what output charger you want, which obviously dictates charge time.


And, as it is that time of load?, if you do not use a charger who of much current can spend day to load the batteries, not?

Greetings - Saludos

msxtr


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## stlburner (Dec 20, 2004)

*I'm sorry.*

I don't understand your questions. Could you reword them possibly?


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

stlburner said:


> I don't understand your questions. Could you reword them possibly?


Sorry.

Batteries are 10000 mah. How long time need the charger to load this batteries?

I hope you undertand now 

Greetins - Saludos

msxtr


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## stlburner (Dec 20, 2004)

*I understand.*

It depends on the output of your charger. A 1ah charger would take 10-11 hours. A 2ah charger takes 5-6 hours.


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## msxtr (Dec 10, 2006)

stlburner said:


> It depends on the output of your charger. A 1ah charger would take 10-11 hours. A 2ah charger takes 5-6 hours.


Ok, thank you very much 

Greetins - Saludos

msxtr


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