Autodark helmet failure - repair attempt, need battery & holder advice

Now, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks, I am learning from you and others.

When I was a kid, a RS opened within bicycle distance of me. I loved that store, and shopped there often. Anyone remember the battery of the month cards?

I bought a cell phone with a $40 rebate. The rebate never arrived. I wrote, and followed up, and still no rebate. Over the years, I've spent buckets of money at RS, but not any more. I havn't been in a RS in a couple years. They lost my trade.

Last time I was in a RS I asked the person in charge for "two double A Ni-Cads" his reply "what's that" Haven't seen a RS around here for several years, they changed to "The Source" then disappeared. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Two CR2330 batteries soldered to the board. I found a replacement

I had the same problem with my Harbor Freight helmet. One of the rechargeable's in it went bad and one is fair. I removed the bad one and unsoldered two coin cell holders from old motherboards. A little bit of wire, cut a notch to let the case close and it works like new. When the other battery goes bad I will do the same thing. The batteries in the helmets, if I recall correctly, have opposite polarities for the tabs than what you can readily order. I do remember the one on the right side with the case open has the tabs in a non-standard arrangment and that is why I went the external coin cell holder route. I am using a 2032 lithium. Being that I had the motherboards with batteries and holders it cost me nothing but saved me $50.

Thor

Thor: Thanks for the heads up as to polarity. It is likely that I would have checked the polarity on one side and not checked the other. I'm a bit surprised that you put a time limit on your posting

- this is the kind of info I was searching for a few months ago with minimal success.

Thanks to every one else on recomended sources for small qty of electical components. Having a good picture or dwg available for a battery holder is a plus since I want to mount it to the outside surface of the autodark module instead of the typical (on board) location.

On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 05:28:21 -0700 (PDT), snipped-for-privacy@c3net.net wrote:

Give me a day or two and I will put a web page up. In the mean time,

Radioshack part 270-009 and it is called a CR2032 Battery Holder. You can tell polarities of the coin cells by the big + on one side. With this coin cell holder the negative gos on the bottom. Look at and mark + the circuit board before you take the battery off. Do NOT use too much heat on those lithium cells or they will pop and splatter stuff in your face and every where else. I used about 3" of wire I has handy, speaker wire will do just fine. You want stranded rather than solid. You can use any brand or make of 2032 you can find for the cheapest(dollar store). I did not "mount" my holder to anything, I didn't want to put a new hole through the hood and my wires hold things in place. I do not think that hot melt will stick to the hood from HF. When you open the case that holds the LCD you may want to use a budger, kind of like a plastic flat pick. If you don't have a budger then use something smooth so you don't catch and crack the plastics and go SLOW. I think the corners were held down better than the sides. Pre-tin your wires before you solder anything to anything. You can wrap your wire around the posts on the holder or just do a lap join, just make sure it will hold. Straight out from where the battery was, perpindicular to the circuit board, cut a notch in the lip of the LCD holder so your wires can enter, cut just enough so they can enter and be held firm in place. Solder everything where it goes, close the case, put the screws back in, put the nob back on the darkness control and you are done.

Reply to this message quoting me so when my X-No-Archive: yes kicks it off of google groups your copy will stay.

I will give a heads up when I get the page set up and where, got to take pictures and stuff I don't like to do.

Thor