Inserting cells into the Solar Battery Pack

These are instructions for how to put your 18650 Li-ion cells into the 2040/ Cacophony Project solar battery pack. You’ll need a Phillips screwdriver and a Torx T10 tool (comes with the DOC AI Cam)

Prepare the pack

  1. Make sure nothing is plugged into the battery pack.
  2. Take off the lid of the battery pack by removing the 4 plastic screws.
  3. Remove the Connector cover
  4. Unplug the 2 and 3 pin connectors by pushing the tabs.

  5. Remove the battery pack. It is just a friction fit with the foam.

Inserting the 18650 cells

  1. Get your 18650 cells that you will use in your battery pack. 
    • They need to be Li-ion cells (not LiFePO4)
    • They need to have the same capacity (ideally using all the same cells from one source, not a mismatch of 18650 cells)
    • You can only use them in multiples of 3 with a minimum of 6, up to 15. So 6,9, 12 or 15, not 7
    • They should all be charged to a similar voltage (if this is not done the battery pack will need to balance the cells and that might take a while)
    • If you are using 6 cells you only need to remove the bottom side that has 7 battery slots, if using more you will need to use both sides.

2. Putting the cells in the battery pack:

    • Each cell will belong to a "Cell Block" labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The cells should fill each "Cell Block" in order. So if using 6 cells we will fill "Cell Blocks" 1 and 2.
    • After inserting the cells in one side you can attach the cover and screw it on and then put the cells in the other side.

    Final assembly

    1. Just reverse the order that you took it apart.
    2. The foam might have moved a bit in this process but just make sure the foam is preventing the inner electronics/cells from directly touching the outer case.
    3. When you tighten down the 4 screws for the lid make sure that no foam, cables, or other items are in the way of the seal. It is important for this seal to stay waterproof to ensure safe operation.

    Powering up

    1. Plug in a power source for the battery pack, this can be a solar panel that is in good sunlight or the wall power supply.
    2. You should hear the device beep when you first power it on (note: even if you put in charged cells the battery pack will not wake up until it is first powered from some external power supply).

    All ready to go

    1. The battery pack is now ready to go. Connect it to a camera and it should be able to read the voltage and start to log it.
    2. If using a solar panel you can monitor the battery pack charge over time to see if it is getting enough energy through the day to keep it powered.

    3. If you want to fully charge the battery pack, it will take about 12 hours to charge with a wall charger from completely flat to fully charged.