Connecting wires to battery pack (Help!)

[gegepanalo]

Basically I dug up this old safe (vault) of mine, and it has a digital keypad and naturally out of battery. Luckily I have the battery pack with wires that came with the safe for times like these. Unluckily the battery pack and wires are no longer together, have come undone and I have no idea how to get everything back together and working.

Please help me, any help would be appreciated.

Pictures below are
1.) The Safe's keypad, and on the upper right where the plug for the battery pack enters
2.) The battery pack (front)
3.) The battery pack (back)
4.) The wire

I have tried wrapping the bronze wiring around the springs of the battery pack and inserting the batteries to no avail!

 

[Harald Kapp]

Usually the red wire would be "+", the other one "-".
You find the designators for + and - on the battery holder. IN your first picture, "-" would be the top left contact, "+" the top right contact. In your 3rd picture you see the respective solder joints on the outside of the battery holder (thick tin globs). solder the wires there and make sure your batteries are fresh.

 

[gegepanalo]

Hi Harold,

Thanks for the quick reply!

I don't have a soldering iron at home, however I wrapped the bronze wires around the thick tin globs according to your instructions. It didn't work. Does that mean that you do need to solder it for it to work, or perhaps the mechanism inside the vault is no longer functioning? (perhaps because it's old already and the batteries inside have corroded and destroyed the surrounding electronics, though I'm just guessing because I know nothing about electronics) and also is it possible that I need to skin and expose more of the copper wires because the current copper wires have been exposed for too long and are no longer conductive?

These are all stupid theories obviously! I wouldn't know the first thing when it comes to electronics.

 

[Harald Kapp]

It could be any or none of the things you describe.

Soldering definitely is the better choice, but hard without an iron . So wrapping the wires around the connection points is the second best idea. You can try to "clean" the corroded wires by putting them into an acidic solution. Try vinegar (I'm honest). Don't forget to rinse them with water and thoroughly dry them (kitchen paper) afterwards.

Do you have a multimeter to check the voltage of the batteries and the current consumption when the battery pack is connected to the vault? It would also be useful to measure the conductivity from the loose wire ends to the connector. Wires sometimes do get broken unseen within their insulation.

From the 4th picture it looks like you could use a standard 6V wall wart with the suitable adapter (note the polarity!).

Running out of ideas...