As soon as I saw this I thought, “What? A battery powered spot welder??? How can that be??” Then it hit me. This is just a car jump starter with a circuit to dump those hundreds of amps for maybe a tenth of a second. That’s all a spot welder is. Very clever.
When I read the reviews to evaluate it, I was concerned to read that it sometimes burns clean through the tin strip rather than welding it on. Others said you have to lay the electrodes on very gently. Having had a lot of experience with conventional steel spot welders, the first thing that came to my mind was that the current was set too high, or the tin strip is way too thin, or the pulse is too long. When I saw it work in video reviews, the pulse duration (the only thing you can’t adjust) looked right so I decided to go ahead and get one. The description didn’t give the thickness or purity of the included strips (it turns out it’s 0.10mm) so also ordered some 0.15mm thick pure tin strips at the same time knowing that this is the material of choice for building battery packs.
It arrived with about a ¾ charge so I dove in and started experimenting. It has 8 different gears, with 10 fine tuning steps in each gear, which Is Chenglish for power levels and I started on 2. I grabbed an old coin cell and welded one of the 0.15mm strips I bought with it. I pressed firmly with the electrodes, it sparked, but it barely stuck to the battery. I bumped it into 3rd “gear” and tried again. It stuck a lot better but could still be pulled off. I kicked it up to 4, again pressed very firmly with the electrodes, and it stuck down tight. It didn’t burn a hole in the tin strip, and when I pulled it HARD to force it loose, it left two holes in the tin strip. PERFECT. This is a good spot weld. I repeated this a few times with the same results. Curious about how it would do with thicker base metal, I tried it a few times on a piece of 14 gauge sheet I had on the bench. It welded a tin strip to it perfectly.
Some observations:
For a good spot weld, you should be able to hold your electrodes down firmly to flatten the strip without burning through. I suspect those having that problem should back the power down. When I used the thinner strips included, it knocked a pretty good divot in it. I had to back the power down.
I never felt the need to “fine tune” the power levels higher or lower. 1 through 8 proved to be plenty of adjustment.
It’s got plenty of power to weld thick, pure tin strips. Go for it.
| Manufacturer | Seesii |
|---|---|
| Part Number | 7500Ah-YH1552 |
| Item Weight | 1.72 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 7.09 x 3.54 x 1.18 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | SE-001 |
| Batteries | 1 Product Specific batteries required. |
| Color | 80 Gears With Screen |
| Material | Aluminum Metal |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Performance Description | easily weld 0.1-0.2mm thick nickel sheets |
| Viewing Area | LCD Display |
| Display Style | LCD |
| Switch Style | Push button |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | Yes |
| Battery Cell Type | NiMH |
