BC250d AA Battery Holder

[ScanWorcester]

Few things first... :roll:

I just got a new digital camera (Fuji Finepix) and I'm still trying to find it's sweet spot for autofocusing. I'm not that impressed with the near-field pictures it takes, but I'm sure you can get the gist of things.

Second, everything you are about to see can probably be had from around your house.

For the "housing", I used the plastic packaging that comes from 70% of the pegged products at WalMart. For instance, I used the packaging from my fairly new USB hub.

I currently have scotch tape holding the (1) seam together. Normally, I would look down upon this, but given the space constraints, it's the only thing that would get the job done adequately. As mentioned, there is only (1) seam and everything else is bends and folds.

The "contacts" are executed by trimming the foil trays that take-out food comes in. Check your pantry, you've probably got some! I also went the extra length to go to Home Depot and buy a pack of 1/4" springs. They can be found in the door/window aisle. A pack of 4 springs is ~$2.00... although you'll only need 1 spring, cut 4 times. These are used for applying proper tension to the batteries to engage the contacts.


Okayyyyy, here we go...



The main contact board where the direct output of the batteries come from. Notice springs and foil. The leads were not connected at the time but were later attached to the left and right.

Outside of radio: Looking in.

Outside of radio: Unloaded, with (4) Energizer 2500mAh NiMH cells.

Outside of radio: Loaded.

Installed in compartment: Nice and snug.

Any questions/comments are strongly suggested through this thread, but feel free to contact me via email.


- Joe

 

[jwcooper141]

BC-250D Battery holder

I just came across your battery holder idea on the Yahoo group. It looks like a great idea. I contemplated using plastic AAA holders, but even they are too long to fit inside the compartment, but only by about .025" or so. Also I didn't like having to use 850 mAH cells vs. 2000 mAH or better.

I'm not clear about the material you used. How thick is it? Is it from one of the packages like a inexpensive walkman/cd player/headset come in? (I don't spend much time at Wal-Mart, I may have to make a visit and look at hubs.)

One thing that strikes me. Someone did a similar setup for the BC245XT, I don't remember where it was posted, but he used strips from an Altoids tin for contacts and springs removed from a plastic AA holder from rat shack. These were flat plates that made up the ends of the 'pack'. I considered something like this, but the '245's battery compartment is more recessed, providing support to the ends of the battery pack to hold the whole works together. Unfortunately the 250d's compartment is more 'open' so I didn't think the separate plates would work (and I didn't try them). I didn't think about the idea of using a housing for the pack.

Thanks for the great idea. I'll try to find some time to play with it and maybe put up some pix.

Jim

 

[ScanWorcester]

Re: BC-250D Battery holder

I'm not clear about the material you used. How thick is it? Is it from one of the packages like a inexpensive walkman/cd player/headset come in? (I don't spend much time at Wal-Mart, I may have to make a visit and look at hubs.)

It is exacty those packages that you mentioned. The problem with cd players/walkman, etc, is that a majority of the package is rounded or buldges out. If you're looking for an excuse to buy something with that packaging, make sure it's got a good strip of flat stock. I don't remember exactly how long it was, but if I had to guess, I'd say 6"-8", just to play it safe.