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Glubux's Powerwall (2016)

(secondlifestorage.com)
386 points bentobean | 6 comments | 01 Apr 25 15:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.839s | source | bottom
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ianferrel ◴[01 Apr 25 17:00 UTC] No.43549073[source]▶
>the solution came with rearranging and adjusting the cells to ensure the packs worked more efficiently.

>Glubux even began disassembling entire laptop batteries, removing individual cells and organizing them into custom racks. This task, which likely required a great deal of manual labor and technical knowledge, was key to making the system work effectively and sustainably.

This kind of thing is cool as a passion project, but it really just highlights how efficient the modern supply chain is. If you have the skills of a professional electrician, you too can spend hundreds of hours building a home battery system you could just buy for $20k, but is less reliable.

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supportengineer ◴[01 Apr 25 17:10 UTC] No.43549197[source]▶
There HAS to be a way to automate this process and make it work at scale.
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joshvm ◴[01 Apr 25 17:29 UTC] No.43549397[source]▶
You would be amazed how many battery packs are multiple 18650s in a trenchcoat. Even EV battery packs use them. Though it does raise the question - wouldn't an old EV battery be a better solution than stripping apart laptops?
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Workaccount2 ◴[01 Apr 25 17:39 UTC] No.43549535[source]▶
>You would be amazed how many battery packs are multiple 18650s in a trenchcoat

$50 of 18650s in a $500 trenchcoat with DRM protection. So wasteful.

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1. 0_____0 ◴[01 Apr 25 18:22 UTC] No.43549908[source]▶
When battery packs that have a non-zero chance of literally killing your users are commonplace, it actually does make sense to vendor-lock the battery. Believe it or not there is actual engineering that goes into making batteries beyond spot welding them to an interconnect and stuffing them into $.50 of ABS enclosure.
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2. Workaccount2 ◴[01 Apr 25 19:42 UTC] No.43550624[source]▶
The "actual engineering" you are referring to is a $1.00 BMS board.

We are well past the point where we should have standardized batteries. We have bunch of standardized wall outlets that accommodate an array of "non-zero chance of literally killing your users" end products. No reason for battery packs to not be standardized (other than vendor lock in).

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3. znpy ◴[01 Apr 25 19:43 UTC] No.43550638[source]▶
> When battery packs that have a non-zero chance of literally killing your users are commonplace, it actually does make sense to vendor-lock the battery.

Linus from Linus Tech Tips made a few episodes on building a battery out of individual 18650 cells, and one of the thing he stressed (as in, underlined) a lot on is that spot-welding cells is extremely dangerous and there aren't easy ways to put out a lithium fire.

Water is not only not going to help you, it's going to make things worse.

You __have__ to have a bucket of sand with you and if anything goes even slightly wrong you just toss everything in the bucket of sand and bring the whole bucket outside.

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4. 0_____0 ◴[01 Apr 25 23:55 UTC] No.43552482[source]▶
I'm sorry but you're dead wrong about the BMS. BMS doesn't address any of the things I listed.

You're also wrong about standardization - standarization at the cell form factor level is correct. Different applications have different capacity vs power density requirements, temperature range requirements, cost, lifecycle... a pouch cell that goes in a drone looks a lot like one that goes in a cell phone but they're optimized for completely different workloads.

Also we already have standardized interfaces for external batteries with most power banks using USB-C, so in a way your wish has already come true.

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5. 0_____0 ◴[02 Apr 25 04:27 UTC] No.43553672[source]▶
Went and found the LTT video. It's unclear what he did there. He said there was a spark, and then he ran outside with his pack. Spot welding the cells isn't usually that fraught.

Yeah burying a thing in sand is legit. Depending on the size of the thing that's on fire, water might be fine. Standard protocol for electronics that catch fire on a plane is to apply water to cool the device and extinguish materials around it, and then to put it in a special fireproof bag with a bunch of water.

6. Workaccount2 ◴[02 Apr 25 14:11 UTC] No.43556899{3}[source]▶
Ironically this news dropped yesterday while we were having this discussion

https://www.protoolreviews.com/doge-mandates-power-tool-manu...

Probably the only thing I can agree with doge on.