Swapping Batteries Has Never Looked This Cool

We don’t know much more than what we see with [Kounotori_DIY]’s battery loader design (video embedded below) but it just looks so cool we had to share. Watch it in action, it’ll explain itself.

Before 3D printers made it onto hobbyist workbenches, prototyping something like this would have been much more work.

[Kounotori_DIY] uses a small plastic linear guide as an interface for an 18650 battery holder and as you can see, it’s pretty slick. A little cylindrical container slides out of the assembly, allowing a spent cell to drop out. Loading a freshly charged cell consists of just popping a new one into the cylinder, then snapping it closed. The electrical connection is made by two springy metal tabs on either end that fit into guides in the cylindrical holder.

It’s just a prototype right now, and [Kounotori_DIY] admits that the assembly is still a bit big and there’s no solid retention — a good bump will pop the battery out — but we think this is onto something. We can’t help but imagine how swapping batteries in such style with a nice solid click would go very nicely on a cyberdeck build.

It’s not every day that someone tries to re-imagine a battery holder, let alone with such style. Any ideas how it could be improved? Have your own ideas about reimagining how batteries are handled? Let us know in the comments!

38 thoughts on “Swapping Batteries Has Never Looked This Cool

  1. I’m gonna be that guy:
    This is absolutely amazing, but perhaps I need a profession where I have to swap batteries that often!
    On the bright side, I miss old flashlight battery compartments with screw caps. A bit more slow but very cools and very waterproof.

      1. to be honest, i looked into this article and thought, oh, some clicky thing with a spring would be a great hold/release mechanism, and behold, when i open the kickstarter for that project, that’s exactly what they are using

    1. I was about to say: the coolest battery swaps are always going to be inspired by reloading guns. I don’t make the rules.

      Make a gadget where you load in 18650s like pushing shells into a shotgun magazine

  2. The main problem with this is that it still allow the battery to be installed wrong.
    It’s a cool mechannism for sure but the stupidity of the end user should not be underestimated.

    When I was designing a cyberdeck-style pda I had similar ideas for battery swap. I ended up using the Samsung Galaxy battery brick with s spring loaded connector. The battery connectors are offset from the center so a wrongly inserted cell will simply just not work.
    A boring but practical solution.

    1. I think those batteries can always be installed wrong. They are not meant for random people to handle.

      One will want some diodes protecting whatever uses that battery, but this looks like a charger, so you need something way more complex.

      1. By the looks of it, the board above features two XB7608A which provide multiple battery protection functions including reverse polarity protection on the cell and charger sides.

  3. The main problem with this is that it still allow the battery to be installed wrong.
    It’s a cool mechannism for sure but the stupidity of the end user should not be underestimated.

    When I was designing a cyberdeck-style pda I had similar ideas for battery swap. I ended up using the Samsung Galaxy battery brick with s spring loaded connector. The battery connectors are offset from the center so a wrongly inserted cell will simply just not work.
    A boring but practical solution.

        1. There are very simple mosfet circuits and ideal diode controllers for blocking reverse current from a battery. For less demanding applications, you can have fully integrated solutions in one small IC, like the LM66100.

          https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slvae57b/slvae57b.pdf

          These chips can also be used for other clever purposes, like having a 3 Volt backup coin cell that switches in when the main battery drops under 3 Volts, and the status indicator output can signal the device that it’s operating under “reserve power”, so it can still retain memory and maybe blink a LED to tell the user that the power is out.

    1. That is a fairly easily solved issue in the electronics if you want it to be, or pretty easy to fix on the cells too, either use the ones with the Alkaline battery style bump on the positive end or glue (friction fit?) a small ring around one terminal end so it can only go in the right way.

      The biggest issue for a mechanism like this IMO isn’t battery orientation anyway as if the user is that stupid that big clear markers are not enough that is their problem. The big issue is how do you latch it closed so the battery doesn’t come out unexpectedly, which I understand is an issue with the MNT:reform battery holders as well.

      1. In my own circuits (homebrew) I do always install a fat diode as protection against wrong polarity. An 1N4007, for example.
        Yes, theres a 0,7v drop if it’s a standard silicon type.. I could use a different type with less.
        Though I’d rather use a slightly higher input and/or an on-board voltage regulator (7805 etc). The linear voltage regulator has the side effect of cleaning the incoming power a bit.

    2. it has a huge big fat + and – printed right into it. You could literally do it in the dark.
      .
      That is already better than like 90% of other battery doors etc. Or worse just a little screen printed + on the PCB. I’m willing to stick my neck out and say if someone is replacing a battery, and made it this far in life, the solution in the article is very good.

        1. First off, Hanlon’s Razor. Secondly, unless you can convince either enough consumers to demand replaceable batteries to make economic sense for sellers to provide devices with such, or the regulatory agencies and their governmental support to require or encourage such, you need to shut up and hack what you acquire to provide the features you want.

          Don’t ask a cow to provide you with lactose free milk because you didn’t get the mutation for adult lactose tolerance. Don’t ask the baker to use a gluten free recipe for your bagel because your favorite fitness guru has convinced you that gluten is evil.

      1. It was LG. I had one, and a spare battery, which was convenient. Problems started about 2 years in when the plastic latch that holds the battery in started to give out about half the time, and the battery would be subtly (or blatantly) disconnected.

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