How to Make a High-Powered Homemade Battery
By Stephen Benham
Use a method known as "wiring in series" to make a high-powered homemade battery pack. Batteries wired in series combine the voltage from each battery, but the endurance remains unaltered. For example, if you wire four 6-volt batteries in series you get 24-volts. You can wire as many batteries in series as you need to get the output voltage required to power your device. The task is easy and requires few tools.
Work out how high-powered you want your homemade battery to be. This is best calculated by checking the voltage requirement of the device you want to power e.g. if your device operates on 36-volts and you have 12-volt batteries you need three.
Line up your batteries on a flat surface and label them numerically. If the positive and negative terminals are on top of the batteries, stand them up. If they have a positive terminal one end and a negative terminal the other, lay them down and then alternate the terminals. For example, using four batteries, one end has positive, negative, positive, negative and the other end has negative, positive, negative, positive.
Cut strips of wire using a knife. You need two strips long enough to connect your batteries and your device. The rest need to be short as they only need to connect between the batteries. The number of short strips depends on the number of batteries you are using. The number of short strips is always one less than the number of batteries.
Remove ΒΌ-inch of the plastic coating from the end of each strip of wire using wire strippers. Attach a long strip of wire to the positive terminal of battery labeled 1. Use electrical insulating tape if your battery terminals don't have connectors. Attach a long strip of wire using the same method to the negative terminal of your last numbered battery.
Attach a short strip of wire to the negative terminal of battery 1. Attach the opposite end to the positive terminal of battery 2. Repeat the process by attach short strips of wire, negative to positive until you get to the positive terminal of the last battery. Ensure every terminal has a wire attached.
Connect the opposite end of the wire, attached to the positive terminal of battery 1, to the positive terminal of your device. Connect the opposite end of the wire, attached to the negative terminal of the last battery, to the negative terminal of your device. Your high-powered homemade battery is ready for use.
References
Tips
- If you are using small batteries, such as AA size, wrap insualting tape around them to form a tight battery pack.
- The wire gauge you need depends on the output of your high-powered homemade battery, and the amperes your device uses. Anything up to 12-volts and low amps, use AWG 14. Above 12-volts and higher amperes use an increasingly stronger gauge wire. Lower AWG numbers represent stronger wire.
Warnings
- Never mix battery types such as NiCad and LiPo. Alway use batteries that have equal output and are the same size.
Writer Bio
Stephen Benham has been writing since 1999. His current articles appear on various websites. Benham has worked as an insurance research writer for Axco Services, producing reports in many countries. He has been an underwriting member at Lloyd's of London and a director of three companies. Benham has a diploma in business studies from South Essex College, U.K.