New 18350 cells - is this normal?

[markm]

High end mods use brass connectors - brass is an excellent conductor, much better than stainless
but not as good as aluminium, silver or gold.
I would vote for a brass spring.

(I should add that I'm being severely irritated by a $500 hybrid, that's got a stainless connector at the moment)

[Ancient Hermit]

Aug 7, 2013 18:40:52 GMT markm said:

High end mods use brass connectors - brass is an excellent conductor, much better than stainless
but not as good as aluminium, silver or gold.
I would vote for a brass spring.

(I should add that I'm being severely irritated by a $500 hybrid, that's got a stainless connector at the moment)

I may have a go with silver bullet spring and try to bend it to suit if possible, or bb from same place and that might work too.

One thing is pretty clear - it does seem to be the spring that's the problem, not sure if there's anything else involved so far though. 

I am sort of glad I could not afford a problem like the one you are being annoyed by! For that money I'd have thought there should not be any problems beyond affording it. <shrug> What do the makers of that one have to say for themselves? 

[markm]

I got it used, so no redress there.
I play with Italian motorbikes as my day job, so used to overpriced metal
That needs lots of tlc to work. But when things do work, they remind you
Why you parted with your cash

[Ancient Hermit]

ok, so I dropped the retailer a line, explained what I had found, and asked if they keep springs of the right sort for this kind of problem. I offered to buy a couple if they did, which I felt was reasonable on my part as a potential fix up.

I shall keep looking for the right spring just in case that line of enquiry draws a blank.

It's been doing a lot better all day with my temporary spring. With a good spring I sense this could be a fair mod, ok, not overly likely to be a top end performer or anything, but definitely not bad either.

[raid2506]

Here are 2 possible quick fixes:

1. A bypass hot spring. If the spring is the problem.

If you have a spare piece of coaxial cable knocking about you can try this:

Cut a 2" length of coax and strip off the jacket.

Between the jacket and the dielectric separator there is a spun or woven copper shield. Squash the shield lengthwise and slip it off the coax.

Stretch it back out and trap one end between the spring and cap, the other end wraps over the top of the spring and traps under the battery.

2. Cap interface. If the cap screw thread is the problem.

If your mod has a screw thread at both ends of the tube you can apply some thermal paste (the kind you use to bond a heat sink to a processor) to the cap thread.

Then install and remove the battery via the top screw thread.

[Ancient Hermit]

thanks for that raid2506, good tips to know about!