Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where you need a 9 volt battery in your project, but lack the necessary connector for hooking up the battery. You could go to the store and get the required connector, but often times the store may overcharge for the item or they may not even have the connector needed at all. Here I will show you how you can use a dead 9 volt battery, heat shrink tubing and some wire to create your own connector. You'll not only be reusing part of the battery, which is good for the environment, but you will also have a rigid 9 volt battery connector which is much easier to use compared to a common flexible 9 volt battery connector.

Step 1: Gather the Necessary Tools and Materials

For tools, you will need:
- side cutters (I recommend the flush cutting type)
- razor knife
- lighter, matches, heat gun or something else which provides heat
- a sharp pick (optional)
- multimeter (optional)
- soldering iron
- solder

For materials, you will need:
- a dead 9 volt battery (you could use a new one if you really wanted to)
- 1/2 inch (12mm) diameter heat shrink tubing
- wires (red and black are preferable)

Step 2: Disassemble Your 9 Volt Battery

Using your side cutters, start peeling back the top rim of the battery. I recommend starting on the corners. Eventually you will reach the point where you can fold the top of the battery out. In my battery there was one connector holding the top in place. Using the side cutters, the top was severed from the battery. You may need to clean up the connector a bit to remove any excess metal bits.

Step 3: Add the Wires

Power up your soldering iron and get some solder ready. Melt some solder on the connectors so that you can add the wires. If you have a plastic battery top, like I did, be very careful in this step as soldering on the connectors can melt the plastic which will ruin your connector. Once you have a sufficient amount of solder melted on the terminals of the connector, solder the wires on. I used a separate 9 volt battery to determine which terminal was the positive and then I marked it with a Sharpie. If you have red and black/white wires, solder the red wire to positive and the other to negative. In the end, it doesn't really matter which wire is on which terminal, although it can help when you are assembling a circuit using your custom connector.

Step 4: Put on the Heat Shrink Tubing

Using a Sharpie, I marked out where the holes should be on the piece of heat shrink tubing. I then cut two small holes into the heat shrink tubing so that the terminals of the battery clip can poke through. I then poked two small holes in the edge where the wires will emerge from the connector. I subsequently fed the wires through the two small holes. This will help prevent them from being ripped out of the connector during operation. After that, feed the rest of the connector into the heat shrink tubing. The rubber will stretch around both connectors easily. Once you have that done, use a lighter or other heat source to shrink the tubing. The tubing will fit snugly on the connector and it will keep a good hold on the wires.

Step 5: Done!

You have just finished creating your own 9 volt battery clip! This method saves money and creates a fairly good quality battery connector. Hopefully you found this guide useful.