Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement

Introduzione

The 18490 Li_Ion battery for the Sol Republic Punk BT speaker is apparently not readily available. There is no way this speaker goes to the recycle bin because of that. Here the option was to replace it with a model 18500. same electrical specs but very slight size difference. This difference will not interfere with the installation.

Cosa ti serve

Passo 1 Preparing a new battery for

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement, Preparing a new battery for: passo 1, immagine 1 di 3

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement, Preparing a new battery for: passo 1, immagine 2 di 3

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement, Preparing a new battery for: passo 1, immagine 3 di 3

Here is the original battery for the Sol Punk. The battery is a 18490 Li_ion 5.18Wh 1400mAh 3.7V
The battery control board is connected to the battery via two nickel strips. The Blue arrow shows the negative (-) and the Red arrow the positive (+) connection
First thing to do is to desolder those connections.

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Passo 2

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 2, immagine 3 di 3

Desoldering thos strips is easy enough and one can see they are strictly just bend over to form a solder tab.
Do the same for the other tab
Both contacts have been desolder and battery control board is now off the battery

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Passo 3

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 3, immagine 3 di 3

Since the 18490 battery seems to be scarce, I opted for the 18500 model. It has identical electrical specs then the 18490 but is readily available.
18490 length is 48.9 mm and the diameter is 18.04 mm
The 18500 is 48.9mm in length

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Passo 4

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 4, immagine 3 di 3

but it is 18.10 mm in diameter. The difference will not interfere in the Sol Punk. There is room to accommodate that size
The nickel strips used on the old battery are ~3 mm in width.
The only strips available at this time are 4 mm strips

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Passo 5

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 5, immagine 3 di 3

Checking to see if the 4mm strip will fit. There is enough room on the solder pads of the battery control board, to accommodate that size strip.
Clean the contact side of the battery in preparation for the weld of the strip
and clean the strip itself as well

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Passo 6

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 6, immagine 3 di 3

Here is the spot welder being used and it's settings are indicated by the blue LED's
Lay teh nickel strip straight on the battery contact and use the spot welder according to its instructions. This one does not have a trigger and will weld when it senses contact with both post.
Nickel strip solidly attached. The miss on the top is related to not wearing eyeglass when needed :-)

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Passo 7

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 7, immagine 3 di 3

Bottom or Negative Strip welded to battery. Use the battery control board to ensure the direction of the Top or Positive Strip.
Spot weld the Top or Positive strip the same way as prior done with the negative. Place the strip at a 180 degree from the negative
Now bend the Bottom or Negative strip up while having it tight to the body of the battery. Use something like a rubber band, or zip tie etc to ensure it is close to the body.

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Passo 8

Sol Republic Punk Preparing a new battery for Replacement: passo 8, immagine 3 di 3

Place the battery controller on the top and measure the Negative strip. Bend it and cut it so it covers the solder pad. Do the same for the Positive strip
Then solder both tabs to the battery control board in conventional manner.
After soldering clean the flux with a cotton tip applicator and some isopropyl alcohol