Tearing apart a old flashlight/spotlight to replace the battery, what battery to get or how to make?

[DavidB1126]

Model: Brinkmann Q beam led rechargeable spotlight 800-8402 with red/blue light.

Looks like this stock pack is a 4.5V 4000MAH NiMH AA rechargeable pack. Looks like and I'm guessing wired up in 3S2P.
It is a older board and light so I'm guessing that I shouldn't use a lithium pack as it doesn't have charging protection?
Anyway, sticking with the same voltage and same mah/capacity is probably my goal.

Also, for wiring AAs up, should I use these kind of ones with the solder tabs,
Tenergy

Or is it possible to use ordinary ones like these and solder directly to the battery...?
AA Rechargeable Batteries NIMH 1.2V Double A 2200mAh High Capacity Pre-Charged Low Self Discharge Battery

Light/internals:

 

[CertifiedMike]

Pretty sure you'd need to weld your own solder tabs on to the cells. Buying pre-tabbed seems like the way to go.

 

[TeknoJ]

You will have to spot weld those tabs onto a battery like that. Soldering is not hot enough and by the time you get it hot enough you will have had the heat on it WAY too long. You need a fast blast of heat.

 

[DavidB1126]

So getting those tenergy ones that are ore tabbed would be better?
Also need to wire them into series and parallel. What gauge wire do I need? Or should I use?

 

[tudordewolf]

So getting those tenergy ones that are ore tabbed would be better?
Also need to wire them into series and parallel. What gauge wire do I need? Or should I use?

that original battery is unusual for having consumer-wrapped cells in it, must be a story of repurposed inventory.

The pre-tabbed ones are a good idea, and Tenergy is a reputable brand; Amazon is riddled with bad brands selling crap batteries, I wouldn't bet on the other ones having even half their advertised capacity.

For that application I'd use 18awg, even that's a little overkill.

Even going by the conservative estimate, you'd be good for 2 amps.