Whites TDI SL Battery Issues

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Hi guys have been doing a lot of research on battery pack mods and trying to add more volts/amps from standard 12v to 16 wouldn't energizer lithium batteries add up to 14 v or was thinking the 14500 which for memory are the same width maybe a tad longer so 4 of them would be around 15 v you would need to make contact to the other end of the pack but without needing to rip the guts out of your battery pack anyway any thoughts would be welcome or has someone made a after market battery pack for the whites tdi sl because it seems all the threads I've been reading are nearly 2 years old anyhoo happy hunting and would love to hear anything on this issue
 
The disposable lithium batteries like the Energizer start at 14.8 volts in the standard battery tray, effective but costly. 14500 cells are 3.7 volts each and roughly 800 mah max. That equals 14.8 volts but only 3200 mah. Modifications will still need to be made to the standard battery tray.
4 x 18650 top out at 16.4 volts and roughly 3000 mah per cell... Tdi Sl machines use 500 mah, that is per hour. You can see why on a Tdi Sl the 4 x 18650 battery pack is the ultimate. Sacrifice a twenty something dollar battery tray and do the conversion. Invest in quality 18650 cells and a charger, still under a hundred Australia dollars. It will serve you well. All the best.
 
Hi Newbie, you have an interesting take on the lithium ion conversion. 14500 cells have the same voltage profile as 18650s ie 3.7 nom and 4.2 max, so the voltages remain the same with either setup. As 14500s are dimensionally interchangeable with AAs you could theoretically fit 8 cells in the standard tray. The terminals would need to be reconfigured to form 2 packs of 4 cells running in parallel to achieve a max voltage of 16.8v @ 3200mah.
Whether this is more cost effective is another question, but its good to the issue looked at from another perspective. Thats what makes forums such a valuable resource.
 
Hi Newbie,

Have a look at my topic of 21Aug2019
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=31748

My 3 Sept 2019 post in that trail shows an easy way for you to try & see if you like 16V before you butcher your AA case. If you don't want to touch anything inside the case then you can still go down the 14500 route as Rustynails says.

I went down the 14500 route a while ago but frankly the 18650 options are much better due to the lower capacity of the 14500 cells (800mAhr) vs 18650 ( 3400mAhr).

I posted the text below in 2018 in another forum that closed its Whites section, so for posterity here is how to build the crossover that allows you to run 16V of 14500 batteries in the Whites 8AA case.

"I converted the Whites #802-7150 AA battery tray pack from an 8s (8 cells in series) configuration to 4s2p ( 2 lots of 4 cells in series) using a very simple crossover as in the attached photos.

The plastic strip is needed as the insulator for the back of the centre 2 terminals. The outer 2 terminals are conductive both sides. Dont use thicker materials than necessary to make the crossover else it will be too tight a fit but make sure it is robust. Ensure sufficient insulator is left around all sides of the centre 2 terminals to ensure no chance of a short between them or to the pack terminals behind, especially at the bottom & top of the strip. A 2mm surround will do fine.

To assemble the pack with the crossover, put the crossover in first , next to the top pack terminals, then install the top 4 batteries ( 14500 size 3.7V Li-Ion cells), holding all 4 of them against the crossover, keeping the wires at the bottom & out of the way, then finally push in the bottom 4 batteries in place 1 x 1. The batteries are installed in their normal direction as printed on the tray. The crossover is now held firmly in place by the batteries and cant move. Check voltage is ~16.8V & slide the cover back down. How easy is that? Total cost ? 10 cents for the crossover & $20-$60 for the batteries.

No damage whatsoever is done to the Whites pack so you can take the 4s2p crossover out & use AA NiMH in 8s config again any time you want to. The crossover is only useful if it is used with 3.2-3.7V 14500 size cells.

Battery life is about 2.5 hrs down to 3.2Vx4=12.8V but better off changing them at 2 hrs to extend the recharge cycles."

1587902135_tdi_sl_4s2p_crossover_construction_b.jpg

1587902135_tdi_sl_4s2p_crossover_installed_b.jpg

1587902136_tdi_sl_16v_battery_pack.jpg
 

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