Repairing a Lithium Jump Starter Battery.

by Mjtrinihobby in Workshop > Repair

15456 Views, 15 Favorites, 0 Comments

Repairing a Lithium Jump Starter Battery.

5739b60b4fbadee84a001ee4.jpeg
20160515_162137_IMG.jpg
20160515_162230_IMG.jpg

This jump starter battery had one of its terminals badly burnt due to a slack connection. The female terminal has the surrounding plastic melted and now the battery can't be used to jump start a car! Mind you the battery itself is fully functional but the high current jack is useless.

Read on for how I fixed it!

Exploratory Surgery.

20160515_162717_IMG.jpg
5739b9fd4fbadee84a001f03.jpeg
20160515_162850_IMG.jpg
20160515_163135_IMG.jpg
20160515_163202_IMG.jpg
5739b9b54fbadee84a001f00.jpeg

Not the kind of thing you want mentioned by a doctor but for this battery it is necessary. Precise and shallow cuts with my vibrating saw allowed me to expose the burnt jack and circuit board. I used a small flatblade screwdriver to pry out pieces of the cut plastic enclosure.

Analyzing the Guts.

20160515_165339_IMG.jpg
20160515_165632_IMG.jpg
20160515_165644_IMG.jpg

Here is the charger board and terminals of the LiFePO4 battery. Using a sharp knife I carefully cut away the plastic wrapping on the energized electronics without causing a fault. The high current jack has pretty short leads to the battery terminals.

Preparing the Battery.

20160515_170309_IMG.jpg
20160515_170455_IMG.jpg

Here I cut away the melted connector jack to expose the thick gauge wires for positive and negative.

The Replacement Connector Jack!

20160515_171156_IMG.jpg
20160515_171519_IMG.jpg
20160515_173221_IMG.jpg
20160515_173514_IMG.jpg
20160515_173533_IMG.jpg
20160515_174228_IMG.jpg

Luckily I had a spare male connector jack from a salvaged jump starter. This I soldered to the exposed terminal wires. I had to bring out my 100Watt soldering iron to get a proper joint made for the large gauge wires.

Insulation!

20160515_174314_IMG.jpg
20160515_174450_IMG.jpg
20160515_174457_IMG.jpg

Ah, the unsung hero: Silicone adhesive. I used copious amounts to insulate and bind the components.

Securing the New Connector Jack.

20160515_174741_IMG.jpg
20160515_174834_IMG.jpg
20160515_174918_IMG.jpg

A plastic cable tie I used to secure the jack leads to provide a robust solution.

Finishing Touches and Completion!

20160515_175657_IMG.jpg
20160515_175703_IMG.jpg
20160515_175707_IMG.jpg
20160515_175724_IMG.jpg

Using more black silicone adhesive, I coated the entire charger board and let it cure for 48 hours. Now the jump starter battery pack has a second life and works the same as before!