WTB 3 M battery

[George Morris]

I am looking for a lightly used 3 M battery for my airstream helmet. Any help greatly appreciated . Thanks G

[Jimmy Harris]

Do you have an old one? If so, find a local battery supplier. Someone who specializes in industrial or commercial battery solutions, and see if they can make rebuild the one you have. Basically, anyone who can custom build batteries. Or rebuild it yourself. It looks to me like it's a Ni-Cad battery pack with, I'm guessing, 6 sub C batteries inside. If so, they would be cheap and easy to replace. And just a small fraction of the cost of what I'm seeing people ask for these things online. Plus you'd have new batteries, and not old, lightly used batteries. So they'd last a whole lot longer. I've actually rebuilt dozens of old battery packs myself over the years, so it is a DIY job. But, it can be a little difficult to pull off, as it often requires a battery welder, soldering, and sometimes plastic welding. And I don't know how handy you are with those things.

Or alternatively, if you know the voltage and amp draw of the old battery pack, you might could find a more suitable, modern replacement made of lithium ion or a LiFePo4, both of which would be lighter, last longer, and hold more charge. You might wave to rewire the connectors to adapt it to use the new battery and figure out a way to attached the smaller battery. But it should function fine. And if you don't feel comfortable performing this "surgery" yourself (probably just soldering a few wires), then hunt down a local electronics repair tech. It would be easy work for them, and would not only give you a lighter and longer lasting battery, but would still be a good bit cheaper than buying another old "official" battery, even if it where used. You'd almost definitely have to swap out the old charger as well, so there's that to consider. But you can find lithium battery packs with appropriate chargers all over the internet. And if you talked to the electronics repair tech, they could help you source that stuff, or source it for you.

In other words, the prices they ask for those old batteries are ridiculous and there are numerous better options out there that will give you a more reliable and cheaper battery. Those prices are just taking advantage of people who don't know they have other options.

[edward kinslade]

About 10 years ago I swapped the Airstream battery for one of those power banks used to recharge phones.
10 years on and still going strong. Much lighter than the original (fits into a pocket) and was an easy swap

I took an old USB printer cable that fit the power bank and used that to replace the wire feeding the helmet. I googled to find out which two wires to use (although a Multimeter could also tell you)

[Joe Stankus]

I am looking for a lightly used 3 M battery for my airstream helmet. Any help greatly appreciated . Thanks G

I just googled airstream helmet battery and this popped up. You could get your current battery rebuilt for $42.95 plus shipping.

https://www.mtobattery.com/products/...ebuild-service

I do not have an airstream helment nor have I used this service. If this place can do it, I am sure there are plenty of other places that can also rebuild it too.

Joe

[Steven O Smith]

Great idea Edward. My Airstream may be back in order sooner, if I don't have to rebuild the battery.

[edward kinslade]

George
These are the directions I followed. Covered in this creek post from a number of years ago with a YouTube video to guide the way

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....sy-respirators