Double Capacity MintyBoost with 4-AA Battery Holder Modification

Step 5 Battery bank 1 connections

Now that weve broken the battery connection path in half we can get the first half (lets call it bank 1) functioning by making one connection. On the bottom on the holder there is a wire connecting point #2 and #3 (as referenced in the first image of step 2) that we cut exactly in half as indicated in the first image below.

Notice that the wire we just cut in half is lying in a little channel. Cut a little notch so that the wire running from point #2 can be routed along the existing channel then into the notch you create and then to the rivet at point #7 (as referenced in the first image from step 2). We do this so that we can route the wire to the rivet without adding significantly to the width of the battery holder. Remember that the battery holder will be a tight fit and even the width of the wire added to that side of the holder will make it much harder to squeeze into the Altoids tin.

Once the wire has been routed to the rivet solder it there as show in the last image below. When soldering the wire to the rivet, take care not to melt the plastic surrounding the rivet to much. I used a pair of forceps clamped to the top half of the rivet and battery holder to act as a heat sink and to keep the rivet in place. The plastic around the rivet will melt but it hardens quickly so having the rivet clamped in place during the soldering operation is highly recommended.