anybody used "wire glue"?

I tried it for much the same application, with little success.

Sylvia.

Many, MANY moons ago, when I was working at Tandy Electronics, we sold "solder tape" - which was almost as effective as wrapping an aluminium chewing gum wrapper around the joint. By the sounds of it, this "wire glue" is about as good.

If you're needing to solder directly to a button cell, just score the surface extensively with a sharp blade and solder directly to it with a hot iron and some fine rosin-cored solder; the joint will last at least as long as the cell.

I'd made some limited attempts to solder to the cells, but had concluded that it was simply not possible. Since you say it can be done, I'll have to give it another go.

Sylvia.

The trick is in the scoring; you need to create a rough surface devoid of the shiny outer layer, then solder to it as quickly as possible before it's had a chance to start oxidising.

Bobs spot on about scraping off the oxide layer first.

It may be the wrong thing to do but I use a very hot iron to get the joint done quickly. A spot of liquid flux may help too.

tap the area with a die grinder , some isoprp and solder quickly trick is not to leave residue or the soldering fails

This seppo tried wire glue on an "aloominum" solar cell. He won't use it again unless it's impossible to "sodder".

It's useful for repairing small breaks , things like slot car frames but it is bad electrically and wont glue to stainless very well or chrome , and the metal surfaces need a good sanding

Has anyone tried 'mini' spot-welding these batteries? Maybe you could do it with a hefty bench PS or a car battery etc.

I've tried it in the past, with very limited success.

The problem is that only a tiny area of the conductor actually "welds" to the battery, meaning that a butterfly in the Amazon flapping its wings too violently would be enough to cause the joint to fail.