CR123A Battery Holder - no springs or clips required - Two Versions

Note : 123A, CR123A, and LM123A all refer to the same battery.

A simple holder for a CR123A battery. In addition to the print, two lengths of 24AWG (~.5mm) wire are required (I used multi-stranded wire). 

NOTE : [Update Nov., 14, 2024] Two new Holder (V05 and V05B) parts were added. These are similar to the original Holder parts, except that “wire gaps” have been added so that the contact wires can be run through a slot instead of a hole; this makes it easier to install or remove the Contacts.

Assembly and Use

There are three printed parts :

• Base - There are two versions of the base
  • No mounting holes
  • 2.5mm mounting holes
• ContactAnode
• ContactCathode

In addition to the above two lengths of wire are needed. The print is designed to use 24AWG multi-stranded insulated wire. The exact wire lengths needed depends on your particular application, but as the battery connections are made by wrapping bare wire around the Contact pieces, you should allow for a 80mm length of bare wire, plus whatever additional insulated length you require. I used wires with a total length of 160mm.

As noted above, begin by stripping 80mm of insulation from your wire. Take the ContactCathode piece - note that it has a “bump” on one side - and insert about 5mm of stripped wire through the hole from the bump side. Fold the end of the wire along the back side of the ContactCathode piece, and then wrap the rest of the stripped wire around the “cross-bar”.

Note that the Base piece is marked with the battery polarity ("+" = Anode). Insert the insulated end of the ContactCathode wire into the hole in the Cathode end of the Base from the inside. Pull the insulated wire through the hole until the ContactCathode piece can be fitted into the slots in the base (with the bump facing inward towards the battery).

The ContactAnode piece is prepared similarly (this piece has no “bump”).

I added Dupont connectors to the wires, but of course this is optional.

To use the holder, simply insert that battery with the anode ("+") pointing in the correct direction.

Print Instructions

Print in PLA using the 3mf files provided, otherwise :

• 0.2mm layer height
• 2 perimeters
• 15% rectilinear infill

The Contact pieces were printed with :

• Output options : Complete individual objects
• Top and bottom concentric infill

CAD

The OnShape 3D CAD files for this are here :

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/c3252964b6d565de3408e942/w/151eb027b44699edfed87877/e/595bf194ce2d95bb0c86d1a0?renderMode=0&uiState=672940789a985b09c141a9d7