~12VDC Power Brick - 3S 18650 & 14500 Li-Ion Battery End-Caps

thingiverse

I found myself in need of ~12VDC with substantial power capability. Not brute, but not sub-amp either. And please note the images do nothing for what someone could achieve with this print when it comes to terminations. But I am running it well over 3 amps and it is good solid power. The pack has some give to it but being a 3-legged stool on both end makes this an easy one to maintain connections to. I am using some handy o-rings I have laying around. Rubber bands or hair ties will do just as well. The more pressure the higher the current in case you want to run some hot IMR's or something. Prints with no supports and does depend on some very short bridges. May even scale up or down nicely for other Li-Ion sizes. I was thinking 14500 would also be a good '12VDC Power Pack'. Things to note: One 'lobe' on each end has a couple of hash marks to align (image). When these are aligned, load the cells according to the polarity marking. The 'hooks' are plenty strong so load it up if you want. I have no doubt you can push 15 amps out of this setup with enough contact pressure noting a limiting factor of how much copper you can stuff in there. Also note that the output wires do need some give at the 'gland' so that the caps can be separated (image). I am running 2 independent leads with a loose sleeve over it to keep it manageable. The holes in the binding posts are for fancier connectivity/rigidity if you put ~2mm metal rods between the caps. The holes are about 10mm deep and would easily thread in a bicycle spoke for some go-chrome. I can also envision several accessories that could utilize the 3 elastic tie downs such as feet or links. Would love to see some makes showing further creative ideas around this style battery holder. Sorry for using black PLA and trying to make images. This was developed as of yesterday quite independently. If this has been done and requires attribution, let me know the thing. ;p Edit: I've added a similar design for the 14500/AA cells.