Quote Originally Posted by zoama View Post
Have you done this on 18650 cells ?
Sure, many times.

Here's what I do;

Tin all the ends first quickly (40w iron, "scratching" and that really thin Kester flux core). This is the most heat the cell sees and I don't think it's enough to make any difference....

Go back to the first end you tinned, it's cool now, and place a "blob" of solder (be sure it wets). This takes very little heat & time as the tinned surface so readily accepts the new solder.

Go back to the first one you blobbed, put the wick on top of the solder. Then heat the wick from the top until it wets & sinks in. Again, takes just a second.

Cut the wick a tiny bit Long to bridge to the next cell and finish the series connections. The nice thing about using the braid is that you can now align the cells and it will flatten-out as they are tightened together. Then, once positioned properly, run the iron with the solder in front of it over the braid to fill & stiffen them.

I really don't believe I've effected the integrity of any of the cells, but as Rambozo says, it would be difficult to quantify that exactly