The lack of sparking is likely because you already have the circuit completed before the power is applied. You only get a spark if there is an airgap for a spark to jump across. The same as sparks in any electrical circuit. The voltage is kind of irrelevant to sparking. It's likely a much better controlled circuit than your super cap version
Not so impressed by the lead connections. They shouldn't interfering with each other, and they should be at the bottom so they aren't draped over the screen. Other than that, this appears pretty competent.
I suppose they are meant to be at a decent working height for a n 18650 pack with the cells on end. With leads that thick, you can't win. if they exited at the bottom, the welder would be hoisted in the air as you raised them to the top of the cells to be welded. May be better if there was a fold forward foot that you could stand the battery pack on during welding? Why on Earth choose a 2mm lump of zinc plated steel as a welding test?
@@mikebarrett2621 I guess. But if they had turned the internal battery round so the lugs were at the bottom, they would have been at the right spot to emerge. There would be no need for the tilting bail - this would be just fine lying flat. I'm guessing this is using GaN FET technology and four of those would handle a thousand amp transient. But I didn't engineer this, and I'm sure they considered all this stuff.
Well, if you should be success with welding to a heavy metal plate, you have to put one of your welding pins at stick metal plate, other one at nic plate. You wil success. The reason for this phenomenon is the large surface resistance your spot welding masks encounter. Well done information due to this product and the properties. Interesting project and video notice. :D
I feel like the device is designed to spot weld the strip to the top or bottom of a battery cell. I'm a bit confused by the choice of galvanised bracket, knife blades and side of a lithium cell as tests. You had the appropriate thing to test right there and while the single weld to the side of the lithium cell was interesting it still wasn't very useful test info. I'd love to see you use this as intended with differing settings and types of strip. I don't think I have any real valuable information from your video and I usually feel well informed watching your videos. I do appreciate the video. I am deciding whether to buy one or not and your video came up while I am considering it. Any info is appreciated.
@@JulianIlettI can certainly appreciate that. I'm hoping we see some more of it in action making up batteries from cells. Not many videos of it doing it's job on yt as yet. It's cheap enough to take a chance on and your video shows that it clearly is capable even if not showing how good it is for the intended job. Thanks for the video, and all your videos.
The case of the cell is made of the exact same material as the cap on the end, so the weld to the side of the cell is an accurate demonstration. If you don't understand how batteries are constructed you probably should do a bit more research. Ignorance+Li ion=disaster. It's a simple formula.
I've seen from experience that if you push too hard on the probes your conductivity is too high and therefore you don't get it well you want some resistance between the two materials that you're welding so you want light pressure in my experience.
@@JulianIlett ok, I purchased one, been thinking about getting one for a while but never liked the others I saw, this one does a nice job and seems to have decent design.
I have no confidence in integrated spot welders that use only 4.2V, Give it about 8 weeks after the first charge/use, and the internal Lipo pouches lose capacity and no longer have the same power.
Just get this device today, trying on bad batteries just for training, 1st try fall of easy coz I didn't change settings at all, after that set settings like in picture in manual xD, 5-6-10 1spot and its weld really good, need to use strong force to break it.
What were you charging this unit from? It's not visible in the video. I'm using a 10W 5V / 2.1A USB-A charger from Apple that was included with iPad Air 2, but apparently the SWM-10 doesn't want to draw more than 0,38A from it. Same with a generic charger. The welding display shows the cell voltage at 3,89V. I thought it doesn't want to draw more because the cell is near full, but then I saw that yours was at 4,04V but was still drawing 1,97A from the charger. What could be wrong? -- EDIT: I figured out what was wrong. I was using the included short, thin, USB-A to USB-C cable which caused the unit to draw max 0,34A. When I tried a better USB-A to USB-C cable, the current draw went up to 1,9A. It is pathetic that they include such a useless cable in the box. My unit also refused to stop charging when battery voltage already reached 4,33V so I had to manually disconnect it!
There's so many different versions of these devices around at the moment, bought a no-name one last week (eBay) that looks completely different to yours but has all the same functions and settings (different display and layout). would be interesting to see the differences internally, also has 2 pouch batteries.
The reason you failed to spot weld the zink plated steel is because of the zink. Zink has a much lower melting point (420 deg C) and because of this, the temperature to spot weld steel is so much higher (1200-1400 deg C, depending on variety) that the zink is oxidated, effectively forming a non-metal insulating layer which itself has a much higher melting point than steel (1975 deg C) and that prevents the two metal pieces from bonding. Zink is difficult this way. When melting brass for casting, copper and zink has a much more similar melting point. Still you easily get the melt too hot and the zink turns into a white powder (zink oxide). Ruining your day.
These things have a limited lifespan. After a while the lipo gets weaker. Is it possible to replace the lipo? How difficult is it to get the lipo out? Can you please do a tear down? The unit seems to be nice overall. Thank you for the helpful review.
The zinc fumes can give you welder flu (a pretty nasty headache & fever). Like most things it's a numbers game; a few spots welds won't matter, but normal welding for a few hours certainly will.
What was the thickness of the strips you were using? Sorry if I missed you mention it. It's advertised as being able to weld up to 0.25mm which does seem optimistic for these little welders.
@18:47 USB cables are notorious for using the tiniest gauge cable possible, and they do drop a decent amount of voltage. You can find higher quality USB cables, and they aren't that much more expensive. Even the 100 watt certified cables are only a couple dollars more.
Honestly, im seeing so many of these reviews but no one is testing the thing as it is rated. The description is saying it can do up to 0.25mm nickel and its important to know whether that is true. Using the included nickel is not of that much use as i have little doubt it will do the bare minimum of what is claimed. It concerns me that so many UA-camrs are getting these and only using the company supplied nickel and their information. Im not expecting insane teating but putting it through its paces a bit more would be better. These "reviews" feel more like a product showcase at times. Be honest, if they blacklist you for honesty then you are doing it right.
I've got something similar but it doesn't beep, runs at 8 volts and it doesn't have as many settings it just changes the voltage with a dial, it be interesting to see inside one, I mean what do they use a relay or something
that was painfull.. adjust the f'ing settings, so you at least give the viewers an idea of the performance of that device and what it can muster and what the settings allows and what current it peaks at and if the current reading are somewhat legit, as the voltage is quite low for a sportwelder, and quite a few people working with packs wont use so thin 0.10mm nickelstrips as it will not pass a lot of current-.. you seem to have more interests in using it as a power bank. Fnirsi is known from being as dishonest as they come.. but keep going, and I do love how you spotweld 18650 cells on the side.... remember to charg3e these 18650 up, so they got a little juice to handle the pressure while being sportwelded on the side, and yeah, maybe you should keep those glasses on..
Nice little spot welder. I agree with @donepearce about the leads, but hey, upgrades later ;) I have one of the red circuit board ones. They require a lot of juice to weld. This one costs less than the battery for the other one. Very cool!
On the thick plate your struggle is due to the zinc coating, any type of electrical weld (arc, mig, tig, spot, etc) over zinc coating are not easy and VERY bad to your health, those fumes contain really nasty stuff.
I can see later replaceing the cells/pouch with (Sodium Ion) an Re 3D Printing (epoxy resin) the back case to be deeper More Cells Plus Sodium BMS and Bi active equalise
Well, silver has the lowest resistivity of all the metals - that could trigger the short circuit indicator. If I remember my model railway days correctly, the rails have a tongue at one end and a slot the other. I'm not sure you could guarantee a good connection when you make the weld. But there's only one way to know for sure. Worth a $42 punt to find out?
Question to welders. Won't it make more sense to only put one electrode onto the strip? The current should go between the two metals, where it is being pressed on, not mostly through the strip. Am I wrong?
@11:00 That is what I wanted to see. That welds very strong. I have a bigger unit that plugs into the wall and it isn't as good as this. Ali Express, here I come!! And it's only $30!
I don't think if that is a good weld. it feels like it barely weld. such kind of barely weld is bad for any kind of battery pack that prone to vibration such as bicycle. the vibration will slowly reap that barely welded strip slowly.
These things are just more e-waste. The non replaceable battery will degrade to the point that it can't supply enough current to weld within a couple of years. If it was powered with a transformer or capacitors it would last significantly longer.
Looking after your lithium ion batteries is important. My car is two years old now, and the battery is showing 99.2% state of health, because I follow the rules.
@@JulianIlett A EV is not discharging its battery at a 130C rate. It will take much longer for an EV battery to degrade to the point that it effects the performance.
It's very easy to puncture microscopic holes in the cell walls using these spot welders. I noticed it one day after some series were dropping voltage quicker than others. What was happening was that the holes were too tiny for the eyes to see but they were good enough for the electrolyte to escape away slowly. I recently drilled 2mm holes on nickel strips and soldered them on cells terminals.
mmm...just wanted you to know the communicant on the receiving end was dead at the stick...sincerest apologies...have really enjoyed your testing analysis on all things battery, especially sodium, the new kid...please keep up the brilliant work!
Tested 10 cells (18650) have a capacity between 1500 - 1700mAh out of the advertised 3500mAh. Underwhelming product claimed as being Original 18650 HG2 3500mAh - brown sleeved. _A v o i d: ->Sh op1103577373 Sto re
Would have been nice to have a look inside... 😂😂😂
The lack of sparking is likely because you already have the circuit completed before the power is applied. You only get a spark if there is an airgap for a spark to jump across. The same as sparks in any electrical circuit. The voltage is kind of irrelevant to sparking. It's likely a much better controlled circuit than your super cap version
A bit optimistic trying to weld to Zinc!
Might be a good think it doesn't try to muscle through a zinc coating. Things would either get spicy, or get very toxic :P
Welding zinc plated objects is hard work & dangerous fumes even with other welding techniques like Mig!
Not so impressed by the lead connections. They shouldn't interfering with each other, and they should be at the bottom so they aren't draped over the screen. Other than that, this appears pretty competent.
The interference is slight, but you probably noticed the 2nd probe pushed in a little slower than the 1st.
I suppose they are meant to be at a decent working height for a n 18650 pack with the cells on end. With leads that thick, you can't win. if they exited at the bottom, the welder would be hoisted in the air as you raised them to the top of the cells to be welded. May be better if there was a fold forward foot that you could stand the battery pack on during welding?
Why on Earth choose a 2mm lump of zinc plated steel as a welding test?
@@mikebarrett2621 I guess. But if they had turned the internal battery round so the lugs were at the bottom, they would have been at the right spot to emerge. There would be no need for the tilting bail - this would be just fine lying flat. I'm guessing this is using GaN FET technology and four of those would handle a thousand amp transient. But I didn't engineer this, and I'm sure they considered all this stuff.
It has a settings menu that lets you invert the screen so you can use it upside down if you want.
@@NaturalTangent That makes sense. Thanks
Very cool! Perfect for the DIYer. Thanks for sharing!
Well, if you should be success with welding to a heavy metal plate, you have to put one of your welding pins at stick metal plate, other one at nic plate. You wil success. The reason for this phenomenon is the large surface resistance your spot welding masks encounter. Well done information due to this product and the properties. Interesting project and video notice. :D
I feel like the device is designed to spot weld the strip to the top or bottom of a battery cell. I'm a bit confused by the choice of galvanised bracket, knife blades and side of a lithium cell as tests. You had the appropriate thing to test right there and while the single weld to the side of the lithium cell was interesting it still wasn't very useful test info. I'd love to see you use this as intended with differing settings and types of strip. I don't think I have any real valuable information from your video and I usually feel well informed watching your videos.
I do appreciate the video. I am deciding whether to buy one or not and your video came up while I am considering it. Any info is appreciated.
Ha ha, yes, I like to experiment.
@@JulianIlettI can certainly appreciate that.
I'm hoping we see some more of it in action making up batteries from cells. Not many videos of it doing it's job on yt as yet.
It's cheap enough to take a chance on and your video shows that it clearly is capable even if not showing how good it is for the intended job.
Thanks for the video, and all your videos.
The case of the cell is made of the exact same material as the cap on the end, so the weld to the side of the cell is an accurate demonstration. If you don't understand how batteries are constructed you probably should do a bit more research. Ignorance+Li ion=disaster. It's a simple formula.
Exactly my reaction
I've seen from experience that if you push too hard on the probes your conductivity is too high and therefore you don't get it well you want some resistance between the two materials that you're welding so you want light pressure in my experience.
I wonder if the interval setting is for between each dot... so a higher value there may allow you to move the probes after each pulse.
The 'dots' interval is adjustable in the settings menu (which I forgot to show in the video) but only between 0.8s and 1.2s
@@JulianIlett ok, I purchased one, been thinking about getting one for a while but never liked the others I saw, this one does a nice job and seems to have decent design.
I have no confidence in integrated spot welders that use only 4.2V, Give it about 8 weeks after the first charge/use, and the internal Lipo pouches lose capacity and no longer have the same power.
Just get this device today, trying on bad batteries just for training, 1st try fall of easy coz I didn't change settings at all, after that set settings like in picture in manual xD, 5-6-10 1spot and its weld really good, need to use strong force to break it.
$35.99 mine comes up at like $45
i see a price 51.80€ and that is Welcome deal price. Regular price when I sign-in with existing account 52.27€. I will wait for 11.11. Sale price.
if you clean that galvanized it could work, when i do my old 18650 batteries if i don't clean them the spot doesn't work
What were you charging this unit from? It's not visible in the video. I'm using a 10W 5V / 2.1A USB-A charger from Apple that was included with iPad Air 2, but apparently the SWM-10 doesn't want to draw more than 0,38A from it. Same with a generic charger. The welding display shows the cell voltage at 3,89V. I thought it doesn't want to draw more because the cell is near full, but then I saw that yours was at 4,04V but was still drawing 1,97A from the charger. What could be wrong? -- EDIT: I figured out what was wrong. I was using the included short, thin, USB-A to USB-C cable which caused the unit to draw max 0,34A. When I tried a better USB-A to USB-C cable, the current draw went up to 1,9A. It is pathetic that they include such a useless cable in the box. My unit also refused to stop charging when battery voltage already reached 4,33V so I had to manually disconnect it!
There's so many different versions of these devices around at the moment, bought a no-name one last week (eBay) that looks completely different to yours but has all the same functions and settings (different display and layout). would be interesting to see the differences internally, also has 2 pouch batteries.
The reason you failed to spot weld the zink plated steel is because of the zink. Zink has a much lower melting point (420 deg C) and because of this, the temperature to spot weld steel is so much higher (1200-1400 deg C, depending on variety) that the zink is oxidated, effectively forming a non-metal insulating layer which itself has a much higher melting point than steel (1975 deg C) and that prevents the two metal pieces from bonding. Zink is difficult this way. When melting brass for casting, copper and zink has a much more similar melting point. Still you easily get the melt too hot and the zink turns into a white powder (zink oxide). Ruining your day.
These things have a limited lifespan. After a while the lipo gets weaker. Is it possible to replace the lipo? How difficult is it to get the lipo out? Can you please do a tear down? The unit seems to be nice overall. Thank you for the helpful review.
I see from many Utube channels - Never weld galvanised Steel ⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉
Only if you are burning it with gas tig or mig.
The zinc fumes can give you welder flu (a pretty nasty headache & fever). Like most things it's a numbers game; a few spots welds won't matter, but normal welding for a few hours certainly will.
What was the thickness of the strips you were using? Sorry if I missed you mention it. It's advertised as being able to weld up to 0.25mm which does seem optimistic for these little welders.
I've only ever used 0.1mm strips.
Big down size of this spot portable welders is battery.
When battery die you throw entire machine in bin
@18:47 USB cables are notorious for using the tiniest gauge cable possible, and they do drop a decent amount of voltage. You can find higher quality USB cables, and they aren't that much more expensive. Even the 100 watt certified cables are only a couple dollars more.
Honestly, im seeing so many of these reviews but no one is testing the thing as it is rated. The description is saying it can do up to 0.25mm nickel and its important to know whether that is true. Using the included nickel is not of that much use as i have little doubt it will do the bare minimum of what is claimed. It concerns me that so many UA-camrs are getting these and only using the company supplied nickel and their information. Im not expecting insane teating but putting it through its paces a bit more would be better. These "reviews" feel more like a product showcase at times. Be honest, if they blacklist you for honesty then you are doing it right.
And 5 hours after the film the price go up from 35 to 55 US ;/
Na, it's $38.00 on Ali Express. Just bought one 5 days ago.
@@Sweetaccord Maybe it depends on the country, still 55 on my site
@@00wiesio00 Yes, but regardless the country you are in, you can get it from Ali for $38.00 😊
I've got something similar but it doesn't beep, runs at 8 volts and it doesn't have as many settings it just changes the voltage with a dial, it be interesting to see inside one, I mean what do they use a relay or something
you should do a video with pure nickle strip and copper as these are commonly used for battery packs
Why the hell didn't you try more settings to see their effect?! Doy...
A teardown?
Looks great and the orange LED comes on...cheers.
Yes, I noticed the yellow LED while I was editing the video :)
I wish someone would give me free stuff to "review"...
I need to go to the loo that could use a review :) LOL
I've had one of these for a few weeks. Really easy to use and really effective. I have tried to weld aluminium with no successful weld.
You probably need to clean the aluminium lightly with a fine abrasive paper to remove the natural oxide coating.
that was painfull..
adjust the f'ing settings, so you at least give the viewers an idea of the performance of that device and what it can muster and what the settings allows and what current it peaks at and if the current reading are somewhat legit, as the voltage is quite low for a sportwelder, and quite a few people working with packs wont use so thin 0.10mm nickelstrips as it will not pass a lot of current-.. you seem to have more interests in using it as a power bank.
Fnirsi is known from being as dishonest as they come.. but keep going, and I do love how you spotweld 18650 cells on the side.... remember to charg3e these 18650 up, so they got a little juice to handle the pressure while being sportwelded on the side, and yeah, maybe you should keep those glasses on..
Nice little spot welder. I agree with @donepearce about the leads, but hey, upgrades later ;)
I have one of the red circuit board ones. They require a lot of juice to weld.
This one costs less than the battery for the other one. Very cool!
On the thick plate your struggle is due to the zinc coating, any type of electrical weld (arc, mig, tig, spot, etc) over zinc coating are not easy and VERY bad to your health, those fumes contain really nasty stuff.
I can see later replaceing the cells/pouch with (Sodium Ion) an Re 3D Printing (epoxy resin) the back case to be deeper More Cells Plus Sodium BMS and Bi active equalise
Hello Julian. Could this device also weld rail connections in railway model making? Normally I always solder these which is usually not nice.
Are the rails made of steel?
@@JulianIlett Thank you for your response. These rails have a nickel silver alloy.
Well, silver has the lowest resistivity of all the metals - that could trigger the short circuit indicator. If I remember my model railway days correctly, the rails have a tongue at one end and a slot the other. I'm not sure you could guarantee a good connection when you make the weld. But there's only one way to know for sure. Worth a $42 punt to find out?
People use spot welders for jewelry split rings so don't see why it would not work. Just do a lot of pulses?
Question to welders. Won't it make more sense to only put one electrode onto the strip? The current should go between the two metals, where it is being pressed on, not mostly through the strip. Am I wrong?
Take it apart and see how easy it is to replace the lipo batteries, which will swell up in a couple of years.
Do you know how you'd compare this to the SeeSii Spot Welder ?
I wanted one of these for a few years. I see the price is pretty good if I order from China. I will have to watch the video first however..
@11:00 That is what I wanted to see. That welds very strong. I have a bigger unit that plugs into the wall and it isn't as good as this. Ali Express, here I come!! And it's only $30!
@jlucasound did you pull the trigger and order it and have you received and tested it yet? Any good in your opinion?
Jerde Shoals
Hello julian plis review ammeter digital 5 digit
Interesting. This is the first time I have seen spot welding in action. Thanks for the review. 👍
I don't think if that is a good weld. it feels like it barely weld. such kind of barely weld is bad for any kind of battery pack that prone to vibration such as bicycle. the vibration will slowly reap that barely welded strip slowly.
What would the weld be like with one probe on each peice of metal instead of both on top peice.
dumb
Li-on or Li-po
These things are just more e-waste. The non replaceable battery will degrade to the point that it can't supply enough current to weld within a couple of years.
If it was powered with a transformer or capacitors it would last significantly longer.
Looking after your lithium ion batteries is important. My car is two years old now, and the battery is showing 99.2% state of health, because I follow the rules.
@@JulianIlett A EV is not discharging its battery at a 130C rate. It will take much longer for an EV battery to degrade to the point that it effects the performance.
just add diy battery pack box to your welder, lol. whats the problem? just add powerfull cells like Molicell p35a
It's very easy to puncture microscopic holes in the cell walls using these spot welders. I noticed it one day after some series were dropping voltage quicker than others. What was happening was that the holes were too tiny for the eyes to see but they were good enough for the electrolyte to escape away slowly. I recently drilled 2mm holes on nickel strips and soldered them on cells terminals.
mmm...just wanted you to know the communicant on the receiving end was dead at the stick...sincerest apologies...have really enjoyed your testing analysis on all things battery, especially sodium, the new kid...please keep up the brilliant work!
😂typical over complex solutions
Yeah.. What's up with the good old microwave transformer spot welder? 🤣👌
Tested 10 cells (18650) have a capacity between 1500 - 1700mAh out of the advertised 3500mAh. Underwhelming product claimed as being Original 18650 HG2 3500mAh - brown sleeved. _A v o i d: ->Sh op1103577373 Sto re