No contact with 18650 battery holder... Why spring contact distance is >65mm?

[Georgy.Moshkin]

So, I've ordered a PCB with a BH-18650-A6AJ003, but there is a 2mm gap between the battery and the spring contact. My battery is standard 18650 cell with 65mm distance between terminals. I've tried a slightly larger 18650 cell with a protection circuit, but it doesn't fit into this battery compartment. Distance between contacts is around 67mm. I guess that battery size must be at least 0.5mm greater to make a good connection with a spring contact. This will only work if the battery length is 67.5mm or maybe 68mm. Another problem is that "plus" contacts of both battery and the holder are too flat and there is no connection either! The only way to make it work is to insert a piece of bent metal near the "plus" terminal. I really liked the quality of this battery holder, but what's going on with the dimensions? Maybe it is for some kind of flash-light battery cells which have a very pronounced bump on plus terminal?

[voltsandjolts]

Intended for use with protected cells which are few mm longer due to the protection pcb on the base.
Search "protected and unprotected cells"

[ArdWar]

That's for use with button top 18650

For flat 18650 dual spring holder like this one is a better fit: https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/Button-And-Strip-Battery-Connector_MYOUNG-BH-18650-A6AJ012_C19184084.html

[Georgy.Moshkin]

thank you ArdWar! It seems that this one will be perfect.
Yes, voltsandjolts, I have few larger protected cells, and tried to plug them into this holder, but with no success. It seems that protected cell will completly smash spring contact.

[hpmaxim]

Thank you so much for this post!  Very timely for me.  I was about to use A6AJ003 but switched to the A6AJ012.

I do have a question though.  What is the dimensions of the pins (or more importantly, the dimension of the holes in the PCB for the pins)?  Looking at the datasheet in one place it appears that it's recommending a 1.3x2.6 mm SMD pad, and elsewhere it appears to be a pin that's 1mm wide, and maybe somewhere else it's 0.35 mm thick?  So perhaps a slot that's 1mm wide by 1.6mm (or maybe 2mm) long?

[Georgy.Moshkin]

Dimensions can be found in EasyEDA pro editor. Tried to do it on a smartphone, but menu doesn't work or too small. On a PC you can create a new EasyEDA pro project, in schematics select Placement - reuse block/device, search for this connector, select it from the list and then press "place" button. After placement, use menu to convert schematic to PCB and then use the ruler. Or draw a small rectangle and compare it's dimensions with the hole. It's probably not the best way an I am new to EasyEDA pro. There are also circular cutouts in the board!

[Georgy.Moshkin]

Here are the dimensions for A6AJ012 from easyeda pro footprint editor:

Pad 1 "-":
Oval 2.5mm x 3.5mm
Slot 1.3mm x 2.6mm
x=-35.725mm
y=0

Pad 2 "+":
Oval 2.5mm x 3.5mm
Slot 1.3mm x 2.6mm
x=+35.725mm
y=0

Slot 1:
Radius 1.65mm
x=-27.6mm
y=-8mm

Slot 2:
Radius 1.65mm
x=27.6mm
y=8mm

Slot 3:
Radius 1.2mm
x=35.8mm
y=-8mm

I added A6AJ012 to the schematic "using place -> device/reuse block"
Then right-clicked on it on PCB and selected "edit footprint"
And then clicked on each hole to see parameters and added the measurement lines.

[hpmaxim]

Thanks!