As much as I enjoy seeing how this community has rallied its resources and knowledge to develop these 18650 banks, and videos like this are superb, i can’t help but wish I had a neighbour who I could stand behind and watch before taking the plunge.
as long as they are not near the house, i admire doing something like this with recycled batteries, but i just see a huge fire risk, just one cell failure and that whole pack and building its in is gone, being recycled you dont really know the life they have had, could be one small knock away from bursting into flames, would want to keep this a good 50ft away from any habitation.
"Well done!" from me, too, mate. You've put in a herculean amount of effort to bring this huge project to near-completion. For that alone, you deserve a bloody medal! Regardless of the ultimate outcome, don't lose heart. Edison tried a thousand different filaments before he hit upon tungsten for the incandescent light globe. You're already a legend, buddy!
Many thanks! - Battery still sits unfinished due to motivation - but my 5 plus year old battery is still up to the task of daily cycles so I'm grateful for that..
My friend, I was around when you first approached You Tube to show people your ideas and progress. Great to see you are as dedicated as ever and still finding time to share your projects. I started collecting old 18650s and managed to accumulate around 150 before I re-assessed how difficult this was becoming here in the UK. There will come a day when I have the time to follow up and gain the necessary skills to make this a far less time consuming hobby. Thanks again and keep up the good work... I am looking at Second Hand Car battery suppliers in Europe for a stock and if I did progress to the real investments required, that would be the start point. I will also have the time to develop a "Follow the Sun " capability. When that day comes, will share under the same thinking as your good self. You are an inspiration my friend, good luck..
Well done mate, when you first started your "professional" approach I was chanting bring back old Pete but you have done a great job found your zone :)
That gives new meaning to upcycling. Just refurbished my laptop battery using cells from an old hoverboard, and built a portable jumpstarter pack with the rest. This is next level though. Really like how the fuse is integrated in the foils.
Brother this is the worst addiction ever! I cant help myself every time I see a laptop battery or anything 18650 related I have to crack it open pull the battery and charge it test it and build it so far I have done 6 50cell power banks using drill controllers and let me tell you they pack more power more amp/hour that any lead acid by far. this is the best invention ever. I believe this is how it feels to be addicted to crack, cant help it cant stop just gotta have more!!!
@@HBPowerwall I gotta say, you my friend set the standard high for all, like I am already planning my solar and my future battery packs based on your research. Thank You I wish you the best!
At least with your hobby there is something positive occurring and things being made.. With crack, your every intention is dedicated to an endless search for a means to procure more crack at nearly any cost (including robbing your own mother or equivalent family member) as you will gain an ever increasing suffocating feeling of dread until you procure more. You then smoke it, feel equal parts relief, shame and dread whilst combing your floor for imaginary pieces of crack you didn't drop and fear of things you think you heard and seen that either weren't there or were just normal sounds in an anxiety ridden nightmare of an existence.. Then start the process all over again the next day assuming you were ever able to give up the search for more the night before without being jacked, killed or arrested.. I haven't smoked that soul destroying garbage for 13 years after smoking it for 1 year due to people i was living with at the time who smoked it every night, but very few things can ever compare or ever will.
@@StasStelle Does it really? Or are you just messing around? I don't understand what he said! I don't understand Russian, or whatever language that he is speaking!
You think that's impressive, I just got a new 18V makita LXT 3ah battery. And it's even genuine. Don't be too jealous 😜. Really impressive build, I can't imagine how long that all took, but thank you for sharing your progress with us.
Awesome video, as usual. I really appreciate all the advice you're giving to the people who's project is to build a battery for their home. Thumbs up -:). Keep them coming...
GREAT WORK!! That's one of the cleanest-built packs/banks I've seen yet! Those look like perfect welds too, but I still would have done 4 per cell lol.
You know what, in hindsight even tho it would have taken double the time I really should have done 4 after finding almost 40 not connected welds - that search alone took longer than doing the whole with an extra weld per battery..
Ah, Its good to be back at watching something I love watching and in hopes that I have enough knowledge but have enough money and the skills to do this one day. Keep up with the amazing home Improvements and off-Grid stuff that you make.
You have my respect for this laaarge battery. I also wanted to use 18650 cells but the effort was "a bit" too high for me. I have now found a simpler solution. Greetings from Germany 👍😉
This is amazing! I love this kind of stuff, recycling perfectly good batteries for something like this👍🏻And looks very professionally made, thumbs up for that👍🏻 Cheers from Finland!!
Sorry to bother U butt just got 52 100 amp hour 3.6amp lithium cells was going to rig as 13 12v battery's for of grid do U have any idea where to get battery manigment system for it
Fantastic, this is a huge battery pack. You have shifted almost all of your home load to 18650 cells, that's great. I have also built small battery packs (3s X 10p) for general purpose use like small UPS/Inverters , some additional lights in car etc.
Thanks Pete perfect timing I'm about to start my first big power wall. I was watching your old videos for inspiration but it looks like I'll be getting it from upgraded Pete 2020 lol
@@HBPowerwall yeah, just a bit, I did think about building a small back pack supply maybe a 5s 10p and using one of the spare battery terminals to interface with the tools and for charging, should take some strain of the wrist with some of the heavier tools!
@@HBPowerwall yu r da man! I am looking for a way to get more power to my solar system! And this just might be able to accommodate me! Tanx bud! you're da best!
Fantastic build! I dont know how much power you will typically be drawing off of the battery, but if you are using it to power your whole house or something similar I would not recommend anybody copy your choice of using a single stripped 220v wall wire as a bus bar. If you only use a standard 220v circuit worth of power (in kw) and amperage (A) it will be fine, but anything over those would probably be a fire risk according to your local fire code. In practice Direct Current circuitry and equipment usually uses a much higher current with a lower voltage to deliver a given amount of power compared to AC. Where I live (different area - in the US) 220v home circuits are usually designed for 40 or 50 amps of current continuously. Based on the 40+ all in parallel cell orientation that appeared to be be in the video, and the average 2.5 to 3 amp continuous rating of most lithium 18650 cells, each battery pack could potentially provide 100 amps continuously. Maybe you address this in your part 2 video which I will be watching next. A simple and easy DIY bus bar I can reccomend for a battery of this KW rating would be a copper pipe smashed flat with spot welds down the middle to fuse it flat. Or you could also fuse if flat by hammering the copper pipe flat with a solder wire or 2 inside lenghtwise then heating it on a gas stove or a grill to melt the solder. It should have thickness very close to a good quality copper bus bar capable of the amp rating you plan to run the batteries at when done.
I think this is a fairly good point. He said he's using 7 gauge copper wire. The ampacity of wire depends on the temperature of the insulator, which I"m not too sure of here, since it's not really a wire, but a battery pack. But the lowest rated ampacity of 7 gauge wire is around 50 amps at 60C (140F). IIUC the rating is based on how hot the wire will get before the insulator will start breaking down, and potentially start a fire. How that works with the addition of a lithium battery in the mix, I'm not sure. So if you're right and one of these packs has the potential to generate 100 amps, he's overloading the bus bar. Unless of course there's some other protection built into the circuitry to limit power output from these batteries to less than what the bus-bar will carry. I suppose you could also put in some thermal protection into the circuitry to kill the power if the whole things gets too hot.
Wanted 100kwh storage in the early days - But this simply isn't the way to go about loosing your mind lol EV Batteries it would be easier, faster & cheaper!
While I would have the bus bar done differently (I just dont think the soldering job wouldve been enough for me) I think this is absolutely excellent. Well done and good quality overall. Hope its working well for you!
14:50 If you want to get a difference in voltage between two points, you can simply put leads of multimeter at this points. This way, you can use more accurate scale.
Congrats mate, so much effort went into this video clearly. The end product is awesome. 👍 It's my dream to build a battery backup for my flat and take advantage of agile octopus energy tariff....
HBPowerwall It goes to zero occasionally, and there have been a couple of occasions where they have paid consumers to take power. Prices are very high in peak times though. It's kind of an experimental tariff at the moment, definitely one for the enthusiast!
I'm a little confused as to the order and placement of things. I was noticing as you were putting in the blanks, you had them installed in places on the cell holder, vertically and horizontally. Was there a reason for the blanks to be placed in that position or was that just what you did because its inconsequential ? I also noticed that you applied heat to some of the batteries in the beginning of the line, then skipped the middle ones, and then went back to the middle to finish. I just wanted to know if that was for a reason and was imperative to the process, or it just didn't matter and you did it out of order. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, I'm just a little dumb and it kinda threw me off. Love the video!
I guess don't poke it with any sticks? Or you can do what I did and install in a fire proof cabinet, then install that inside a shipping container.. fuck the sticks have to fire a rocket at it ..
I was wondering the same thing... I'm like what did that do, I thought the idea was to connect them. Watching the sorting, sorting again & resorting, then removing the wrap to rewrap with heat shrink must of took forever. I'm surprised as you spot weld more and more together on the plate it doesn't explode batteries or something. I watch these videos mix & match of power cells and it is interesting as the labeling always says not to mix old with new or varying cell types. I am surprised you can put that many different varying cells together.
@@Gamerz00760 That is why he tests everyone and determines the capacity and then groups them together to try and get a balance for each pack. Lot of work
@@offgridwanabe Right, I only meant I believe it is safer to have all matching capacities. A 2000mah + 3000mah you wouldn't think you would want together for instance. Electricity is interesting to me... AC vs DC, ability to charge or use/extract energy. It would seem like when you proceed to charge batteries they would have trouble charging because each cell has different capacity. Also be difficult to calculate charge needed and how long. It would seem like lower capacity batteries would be over charged or higher capacity batteries wouldn't reach full potential as well. I do a lot with autos, computers and some self taught programming, electricity though is just one of those things to me you might not get a 2nd chance... I'll have to stick with basics, audio & replacement of existing circuits. Having had an order picker battery explode, battery leaks, few 12v car batteries explode, seeing tesla fires from batteries, having known someone at work who died from working on his house wiring, and knowing general dangers... I've been around them to see too much go wrong.
Awesome video! How many laptop batteries did you take apart, about how many man hours did that take and what did you pay for the old laptop batteries (avg each and in total)? So we can get an idea of the cost so far, unless you are at the end of the whole series going to do a complete review of all the steps, the cost of each step and the amount of time it took for each step. Thanks!
The plan was some sort of ROI video but it's really hard, This build was done over the past 12 months in my spare time, looking for cell building, editing and fixing monumental F-Ups. Every battery came from a local highschool via a recycling company. To pay for the batteries I exchanged the referbishment of about 100 Dell desktop computers (Secure erase hdd, full physical clean, new thermal paste, HDD warranty Tests, Memtest, W10 install & 1 hour stress test on each ) because lets face it referb to some is load W10 and blow the dust you can see off and call it refurbished :( SO that was a good solid week of work so maybe 1500-2000 for the cells. It would have been about 500 laptop batteries but they were all premium cells and only 6 cells were unuesable due to zero volt and another (about) 30 had physical damage. All up there was a smudge under 3000 cells processed. When i was organised I was processing about 100 cells perday when I had the spare time to crack open enough batteries. UNFORTUNATELY, this project has taken a quantum shift in the way I was planning to implement so stay tuned for that :)
How safe can it be working with all those cells around in such a small space with no gloves no glasses ? Edited: Great job, don't you think I ignored that!
@@HBPowerwall cost is the number one people care about because they want to know if they can do it themselves.. and some need to know the cost per kwh . so having gone through the trouble is a waste without passing the information
@@ronswanson9368 this is fun to watch, but very dangerous if not done correctly. if you're not a technician, you probably shouldn't do anything this size.
2nd time I've watched this as I discovered when I went to hit "like" at the end 😁 no wonder I thought it was very familiar! Did I waste my time watching this a second time? Not at all, great video both times!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Truly a beautiful job! I just bought the nickel fused by Battery Hookup (using your code :)). My setup will be 14S100P (4x25 cells for each string) ~ 3100mA / cell. My inverter can take a maximum of 4.6KW from the battery (less that 100A @ 48V). Do you think I need to add bus bars or are battery hookup ones enough? Thanks!
@@HBPowerwall Im new to this, i know that batteries and understand the purpose, but what are you making this for, what are you doing with it? And how come you went with one big 3v battery?
@@danking5382 Its not a 3v battery, it is a 48v nominal voltage battery. 14S200P formula: 200 cells are connected in parallel into packs, and 14 such packs connected in serial to rise voltage. So 14x200 = 2800 cells total.
@@HBPowerwall I Have A 10000 Watt inverter that I Got From Wish . com and It's not a pure sine wave inverter but it does work quite well! What is the difference between a pure sine wave inverter and a non-sine wave generator?
I also wonder if spot weld opens and the point of contact can reconnect at anytime. Which means it might be at 1v say and if it rejoins with its parallel 4v battery too much current will flow heating up the cell and explosiob may occur. Hope he is good at spotting.
@@Swenser if you look at the nickel strips he used, its the fused one, if one cell goes bad it automatically breaks the nickel fuse and is disconnected.. so no, if one cell goes bad that cell disconnects.. did either of you even watch the video? Or watch him use a fused strip? Or are you both just severe simpletons? 😂😊
Want to see the final install years later check it out, it's awesome ua-cam.com/video/KgfykvHM95s/v-deo.html [ Part 1 ] You're here, and hopefully enjoyed it enough to continue down the list? [ Part 2 ] Finding out the battery build isn't legal | ua-cam.com/video/HCd2opk9APg/v-deo.html [ Part 3 ] Addressing safety | ua-cam.com/video/EltBFVKStEg/v-deo.html [ Part 4 ] Fixing leaky cells and a low voltage battery | ua-cam.com/video/sOFBYmMenXU/v-deo.html [ Part 5 ] I finally get the battery completed and ready for service, also incorporated my 100,000th subscriber video! | ua-cam.com/video/DAoCK3QNLng/v-deo.html
this is bound to happen. Maybe i skipped to much of the video but is there any form of matching and monitoring? Going from the collor coding on these old cells is not enough imho. If one of these cells gets to much off and gets discharged to much it will indeed go up in flames during charging.
might have paid to watch whole thing.. EVERY cells was capacity tested & IR tested, all rested and tested for self discharge & excessive heat while charging and discharging.. they every battery was sorted into 50mah groups then a balanced battery was built from that. Then there is 2 cell level fuses on each battery, There are so many layers of safety if this thing goes up the security cameras that watch it in 4k will be released on you tube also :) Lets not get into the BMS, shunt trips, shipping container its housed in, ventilation fans based on temp, fire alarm attached to the BMS.. i tire with this essay but you get the idea.
Its a privilege to pick up some tips from pros like yourself..Pete are you using magnets to hold down the cells when you were doing the shrink wrap sleeves....Thanx 👍
That was a ton of work, but amazing you can make that happen. I'm a man of limited patience and would have given up just looking at the amount of batteries!! My wife saw me watching this and said "no no no no no no".!!!
I always double up the spot-welds no matter what the load. Just me, and probably overkill, but it cuts down on the chance of a marginal weld letting loose under heat. What surprises me is how many of those lithium cells you are ok with in your home.
My tests over the years, for stationary storage this is enough spotwelding - if for mobile application I would do it differently. These batteries are not in my home.. They are in my workshop
Pete, that's a colossal amount of work there and a perfect example for the community, well done!
Keed to step it up much more, just a matter of time and money..
Perfect example of what???? Power supply fr nuclear powerplant in case of emergency!!!
@@isaymaybe4601 Err no. Would need one about a million times bigger for that.
As much as I enjoy seeing how this community has rallied its resources and knowledge to develop these 18650 banks, and videos like this are superb, i can’t help but wish I had a neighbour who I could stand behind and watch before taking the plunge.
Well said! I wish I had someone also lol Second guessing myself is a thing !
as long as they are not near the house, i admire doing something like this with recycled batteries, but i just see a huge fire risk, just one cell failure and that whole pack and building its in is gone, being recycled you dont really know the life they have had, could be one small knock away from bursting into flames, would want to keep this a good 50ft away from any habitation.
"Well done!" from me, too, mate. You've put in a herculean amount of effort to bring this huge project to near-completion. For that alone, you deserve a bloody medal! Regardless of the ultimate outcome, don't lose heart. Edison tried a thousand different filaments before he hit upon tungsten for the incandescent light globe. You're already a legend, buddy!
Many thanks! - Battery still sits unfinished due to motivation - but my 5 plus year old battery is still up to the task of daily cycles so I'm grateful for that..
well edison didnt use tungsten but I get the message
My friend, I was around when you first approached You Tube to show people your ideas and progress. Great to see you are as dedicated as ever and still finding time to share your projects. I started collecting old 18650s and managed to accumulate around 150 before I re-assessed how difficult this was becoming here in the UK. There will come a day when I have the time to follow up and gain the necessary skills to make this a far less time consuming hobby. Thanks again and keep up the good work... I am looking at Second Hand Car battery suppliers in Europe for a stock and if I did progress to the real investments required, that would be the start point. I will also have the time to develop a "Follow the Sun " capability. When that day comes, will share under the same thinking as your good self. You are an inspiration my friend, good luck..
Thanks so much Pete. I haven't started yet, but you've just saved me 4 years of development work - so I don't have to re-invent the wheel!
Glad to help!
I love this video! I’ve been obsessed with it for twelve hours straight! It’s a benchmark for UA-camrs and DIYers.
I think there are things i could have done better, but i'll cover that after install
Mate, I remember those cells when I was there, you had literally mountains of them! Great to see them all built and ready to go :-)
TOOOK way too long! Keen to get them installed and in service by next weekend - but will have to wait to see what the work week brings.
2 years after and the video is still very relevant
Definitely subscribing
Thank-You!
Well done mate, when you first started your "professional" approach I was chanting bring back old Pete but you have done a great job found your zone :)
Thanks buddy - old pete doesn't get paid enough from youtubes gota do better for the masses ... i'll sell out just a little for a few extra bucks lol
IT'S YOUR FAULT !!!!
Have you somehow been in close contact with my wife, she says exactly the same thing!
@@HBPowerwall yeah shes says she still loves your quirks and features and also Daniel Ramsey reminds me of Dave ramsey
Gerard Jachymiak I have a brother Dave Ramsay?
Amazing! Great work for the community and congrats on the perfeccionism, attention to detail, and overall quality of the finished build!
Awesome, thank you!
That gives new meaning to upcycling. Just refurbished my laptop battery using cells from an old hoverboard, and built a portable jumpstarter pack with the rest. This is next level though. Really like how the fuse is integrated in the foils.
Thank you for going the extra mile in showing everything including pulling the nickel strip off and redoing it just to show us how. 👌🏼👏
Thanks for tuning in
Me: How much patience do you have?
Him: YES.
---
That's a really hardworking person! Appreciate it, and thanks for making such videos for us!
My pleasure!
@@HBPowerwall where do you get all your 18650 batteries as I can't seem to find them anywhere lol
@@BenCos2018 What part of the world are you in?
@@HBPowerwall ireland
I think I have a link in the description
Brother this is the worst addiction ever! I cant help myself every time I see a laptop battery or anything 18650 related I have to crack it open pull the battery and charge it test it and build it so far I have done 6 50cell power banks using drill controllers and let me tell you they pack more power more amp/hour that any lead acid by far. this is the best invention ever.
I believe this is how it feels to be addicted to crack, cant help it cant stop just gotta have more!!!
Its an enjoyable hobby for sure
@@HBPowerwall I gotta say, you my friend set the standard high for all, like I am already planning my solar and my future battery packs based on your research. Thank You I wish you the best!
I really do try to improve every step i take..
At least with your hobby there is something positive occurring and things being made.. With crack, your every intention is dedicated to an endless search for a means to procure more crack at nearly any cost (including robbing your own mother or equivalent family member) as you will gain an ever increasing suffocating feeling of dread until you procure more. You then smoke it, feel equal parts relief, shame and dread whilst combing your floor for imaginary pieces of crack you didn't drop and fear of things you think you heard and seen that either weren't there or were just normal sounds in an anxiety ridden nightmare of an existence.. Then start the process all over again the next day assuming you were ever able to give up the search for more the night before without being jacked, killed or arrested.. I haven't smoked that soul destroying garbage for 13 years after smoking it for 1 year due to people i was living with at the time who smoked it every night, but very few things can ever compare or ever will.
@@EnhancedCognition yes, but crack
My god it's like Lego for Electricians.
Isn't that most diy stuffs?
@@tutorion314 This means: "This guy is going to kill himself, don't reproduce this."
@@tutorion314 I'm sorry but I don't understand what you said, I don't speak Russian or whatever language that is!
@@StasStelle Does it really? Or are you just messing around? I don't understand what he said! I don't understand Russian, or whatever language that he is speaking!
@@mycroftselene3326 just use google translate XD
You think that's impressive, I just got a new 18V makita LXT 3ah battery. And it's even genuine. Don't be too jealous 😜. Really impressive build, I can't imagine how long that all took, but thank you for sharing your progress with us.
It 12 months to collect, process, test, film & edit :) well worth the edit id say lol
@@HBPowerwall wow that's one heck of a project! A job truly well done.
Are we comparing pweepwee sizes? Because I built a battery pack myself with button cells. Beat that!
With out pics it didn’t happen :)
Awesome video, as usual. I really appreciate all the advice you're giving to the people who's project is to build a battery for their home. Thumbs up -:). Keep them coming...
Glad to help & thanks for tuning in...
Your motivation and persistence is unparalleled. Great job
Yes! Thank you!
Thanks for video and insane amount of work, it convinced me to pick 3.2V LFP cells instead.
ooh shit done over I would 100% do LFP lol no doubt
Absolutely excellent, Pete! Thank you very much for so readily and generously sharing your acquired skills and knowledge.
Many thanks!
GREAT WORK!! That's one of the cleanest-built packs/banks I've seen yet! Those look like perfect welds too, but I still would have done 4 per cell lol.
You know what, in hindsight even tho it would have taken double the time I really should have done 4 after finding almost 40 not connected welds - that search alone took longer than doing the whole with an extra weld per battery..
Ah, Its good to be back at watching something I love watching and in hopes that I have enough knowledge but have enough money and the skills to do this one day. Keep up with the amazing home Improvements and off-Grid stuff that you make.
Thank you
You have my respect for this laaarge battery. I also wanted to use 18650 cells but the effort was "a bit" too high for me. I have now found a simpler solution.
Greetings from Germany 👍😉
Thanks for sharing
This is amazing! I love this kind of stuff, recycling perfectly good batteries for something like this👍🏻And looks very professionally made, thumbs up for that👍🏻 Cheers from Finland!!
Thanks buddy
Sorry to bother U butt just got 52 100 amp hour 3.6amp lithium cells was going to rig as 13 12v battery's for of grid do U have any idea where to get battery manigment system for it
Absolutely mind blowing... you inspire the heck outta me brother... thank you!!!
I appreciate that! Thanks buddy
seeing all those batteries there make you realize why Tesla's are so expensive, as they have 2x-4x the amount of cells shown.
the price follows their build quality closely.. my dream would be to have a whole tesla battery to play with.
Slyztercore Veanged waffle
@@rafaelg6104 pancakes
I love when people that can't afford something good bag the price...
Fantastic, this is a huge battery pack. You have shifted almost all of your home load to 18650 cells, that's great. I have also built small battery packs (3s X 10p) for general purpose use like small UPS/Inverters , some additional lights in car etc.
most of my power is provided this way.. not all tho
Thanks Pete perfect timing I'm about to start my first big power wall. I was watching your old videos for inspiration but it looks like I'll be getting it from upgraded Pete 2020 lol
Yeh, don't do old pete, do new pete lolz
i've built a few battery packs for my dewalt tools but this is so beyond next level!
Yep, one or two more cells :P
@@HBPowerwall yeah, just a bit, I did think about building a small back pack supply maybe a 5s 10p and using one of the spare battery terminals to interface with the tools and for charging, should take some strain of the wrist with some of the heavier tools!
Wow those fused tabs are a really awesome idea!
Thanks for the video!
You bet! fast easy builds too...
Awesome video, the heat shrinking part was mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing!.
I chopped out a lot of that had it in super slow motion looked great jut took too much time
That's very cool Pete. Super impressed, but so much work!!!
Thanks a ton!
@@HBPowerwall yu r da man! I am looking for a way to get more power to my solar system! And this just might be able to accommodate me! Tanx bud! you're da best!
Fantastic build!
I dont know how much power you will typically be drawing off of the battery, but if you are using it to power your whole house or something similar I would not recommend anybody copy your choice of using a single stripped 220v wall wire as a bus bar. If you only use a standard 220v circuit worth of power (in kw) and amperage (A) it will be fine, but anything over those would probably be a fire risk according to your local fire code. In practice Direct Current circuitry and equipment usually uses a much higher current with a lower voltage to deliver a given amount of power compared to AC. Where I live (different area - in the US) 220v home circuits are usually designed for 40 or 50 amps of current continuously. Based on the 40+ all in parallel cell orientation that appeared to be be in the video, and the average 2.5 to 3 amp continuous rating of most lithium 18650 cells, each battery pack could potentially provide 100 amps continuously. Maybe you address this in your part 2 video which I will be watching next.
A simple and easy DIY bus bar I can reccomend for a battery of this KW rating would be a copper pipe smashed flat with spot welds down the middle to fuse it flat. Or you could also fuse if flat by hammering the copper pipe flat with a solder wire or 2 inside lenghtwise then heating it on a gas stove or a grill to melt the solder. It should have thickness very close to a good quality copper bus bar capable of the amp rating you plan to run the batteries at when done.
I think this is a fairly good point. He said he's using 7 gauge copper wire. The ampacity of wire depends on the temperature of the insulator, which I"m not too sure of here, since it's not really a wire, but a battery pack. But the lowest rated ampacity of 7 gauge wire is around 50 amps at 60C (140F). IIUC the rating is based on how hot the wire will get before the insulator will start breaking down, and potentially start a fire. How that works with the addition of a lithium battery in the mix, I'm not sure.
So if you're right and one of these packs has the potential to generate 100 amps, he's overloading the bus bar.
Unless of course there's some other protection built into the circuitry to limit power output from these batteries to less than what the bus-bar will carry. I suppose you could also put in some thermal protection into the circuitry to kill the power if the whole things gets too hot.
Holy cow. That is a huge pack haha wow!
Be nice to have an extra 25kwh to go with my 40kwh already in service for 4 years... Less daily cycling will make my battery last much longer I hope..
@@HBPowerwall that is so crazy haha huge capacity!!!
Wanted 100kwh storage in the early days - But this simply isn't the way to go about loosing your mind lol EV Batteries it would be easier, faster & cheaper!
@@WillProwse is this a good beginner build?
Pause
what an amazing job, very satisfying to watch a montage done so meticulously.
Thanks for tuning in - did you watch the rest of the videos finishing it up?
While I would have the bus bar done differently (I just dont think the soldering job wouldve been enough for me) I think this is absolutely excellent. Well done and good quality overall. Hope its working well for you!
This guy, really love batteries and I love that too 😍👍. I will start to collect a bunch of used battery and start to make it happen.
Good luck with your project
No u wont
Got mine already from the shop lol, cheaper and quicker.
So, how many have you collected?
I can’t believe you just pull those spot welds off lol
Some things need to be done lol and I screwed up but made it look otherwise. You can hide many things on the editing bench!
patience.. beyond normal. He reminds me of a Starfleet engineer explaining warp drive rerouting to the shields. I did subscribe. Thanks
Thanks for the sub - this took a year of going nar not this week lol
14:50
If you want to get a difference in voltage between two points, you can simply put leads of multimeter at this points. This way, you can use more accurate scale.
Thanks for the tip
what if bro accidentally short it.
💥⚡️🔥🔥🔥🔥
Wires will explode
In this setup he could drop a wrench on there and nothing would happen. It will start to get a lot scarier once these things are welded together
Big badda boom
I think that is a video - what do you think.. dead short it and video it ? a million likes and it's done!
Congrats mate, so much effort went into this video clearly. The end product is awesome. 👍 It's my dream to build a battery backup for my flat and take advantage of agile octopus energy tariff....
Go for it! is that tariff really cheap at times? I think they call it load shifting
HBPowerwall It goes to zero occasionally, and there have been a couple of occasions where they have paid consumers to take power. Prices are very high in peak times though. It's kind of an experimental tariff at the moment, definitely one for the enthusiast!
@@spencerwilton5831 Sounds like it would be worth investing in - could save your self some real monies - no solar needed
This is the most insane build i've seen two years ago and ever since!❤
Works perfectly too - even tho it took a long time to actually install
School: "Batteries are not allowed in the school."
Backbenchers:
lol
Thanks for the extra effort in editing :)
There was a touch of extra effort in this one - hope the youtube gods think the same and promote it ..
Crush: "I like people who are interested in batteries"
Me:
I'm me lolz
That's some great content and production value. That kit looks great.
Thank-You - took a long time!!!
I'm a little confused as to the order and placement of things. I was noticing as you were putting in the blanks, you had them installed in places on the cell holder, vertically and horizontally. Was there a reason for the blanks to be placed in that position or was that just what you did because its inconsequential ? I also noticed that you applied heat to some of the batteries in the beginning of the line, then skipped the middle ones, and then went back to the middle to finish. I just wanted to know if that was for a reason and was imperative to the process, or it just didn't matter and you did it out of order.
I hope this doesn't come across as rude, I'm just a little dumb and it kinda threw me off. Love the video!
Someone's been a busy boy 👌🏽
And he even got a video finished lol
This cat’s a genius!! Well done!
meow? thank-you!
The amount of work you put into this project, kudos to you sir.
Much appreciated!
I can't even connect two batteries without causing a fire
Anyways, good job!
I'm sure you can lol
That's exactly the kind of power bank I was looking for to charge my phone.
Well done
iPhone 6?
5:08 "Give them some heat" and proceeds to use a hot air gun. Pete Pete Pete. You should have a DIY conveyor through an oven to automate the process 😜
lol I never want to have to do that many cells it requires automation of the wrapping process lol I WOULD DIE!
Salute to your patience. Classic Video. Loved it
Thank-You !
I genuinely had no idea what was going on or why but I stayed the whole time
My job is done here lol - did you watch the other two parts?
@@HBPowerwall unfortunately not it just popped in my recommended but ill take a look
shows some more of the story, but thanks for the comment anyways - really helps
I'd be too scared to run that inside incase it caught fire, that many modules looks a little dangerous.
Hence the shipping container, then fire proof container THEN the batteries lol
It doesn't help the fact that these are used laptop batteries, all ranging in health.
And mixing brands.. super unsafe
they would do fine in cooled mineral oil, assuming its not too flamable which i think it might be...1 sec
ah just moniter temp
Imagine the fireworks when you poke one with a stick
I guess don't poke it with any sticks? Or you can do what I did and install in a fire proof cabinet, then install that inside a shipping container.. fuck the sticks have to fire a rocket at it ..
the amount of hard work that went onto it is just mind blowing. well done sir
Thank you very much!
You cant test the voltage without disodering the other parts because they are not connected like a string
15:50
True
NERDS. Jk I learned a lot from this video cool beans
Not a chance just to annoy the world.
@new name I'll give it a crack...
@new name There's an "A" in "an," learn it use it.
i would love to make one of these i just dont have enough knowledge of balancing the batterys and adding protection
I really enjoyed watching youtube videos & reading books learning what i know today - i'm not professional it's just a hobby
Just connect every battery in series and short the terminals it will be fun and maybe the last thing you do on this earth
Harshal Sardesai Nah man, Electro Boom would do that and just burn some mustache off. Totally safe
@@blitzmakesunevenmm4323 😂 Yea but not everyone has a twin reminding him to have his pills & sometimes also has a wig 😂
Kaitlyn, if you do those 2 things you take the risky fun out of life. 😄
ur insane, in a great way
There is a great insane? ... I just leveled up!
Simply and in short, RESPECT!!!!!!
THANK-YOU, you're a ray of sunshine in mainly 'It will burn' comments :P
OMG 🤯 bench of batteries i love it 😍
I'm glad to not have a bench of batteries if i should be honest lol
How long did it take you to collect these used batteries?
Took a year to find, process, test, build, film & edit!
@@HBPowerwall how do you find those batteries?
Great job Pete. Please tell me there was a mistake in the pack you ripped the nickel off and not just to show us how lol
Yah, i screwed up lol
I was wondering the same thing... I'm like what did that do, I thought the idea was to connect them.
Watching the sorting, sorting again & resorting, then removing the wrap to rewrap with heat shrink must of took forever.
I'm surprised as you spot weld more and more together on the plate it doesn't explode batteries or something. I watch these videos mix & match of power cells and it is interesting as the labeling always says not to mix old with new or varying cell types. I am surprised you can put that many different varying cells together.
@@Gamerz00760 That is why he tests everyone and determines the capacity and then groups them together to try and get a balance for each pack. Lot of work
@@Gamerz00760 You can, it works - but on paper you shouldnt i guess
@@offgridwanabe
Right, I only meant I believe it is safer to have all matching capacities. A 2000mah + 3000mah you wouldn't think you would want together for instance.
Electricity is interesting to me... AC vs DC, ability to charge or use/extract energy. It would seem like when you proceed to charge batteries they would have trouble charging because each cell has different capacity. Also be difficult to calculate charge needed and how long. It would seem like lower capacity batteries would be over charged or higher capacity batteries wouldn't reach full potential as well.
I do a lot with autos, computers and some self taught programming, electricity though is just one of those things to me you might not get a 2nd chance... I'll have to stick with basics, audio & replacement of existing circuits.
Having had an order picker battery explode, battery leaks, few 12v car batteries explode, seeing tesla fires from batteries, having known someone at work who died from working on his house wiring, and knowing general dangers... I've been around them to see too much go wrong.
Patience requires to do the task: 100 prestige levels
It took some will power to complete
voltage correction: 0.01 V drop. need to say a zero between the point and the one.
great video!! awesome work, man!! i admire you!
Thanks for that!
Awesome video!
How many laptop batteries did you take apart, about how many man hours did that take and what did you pay for the old laptop batteries (avg each and in total)? So we can get an idea of the cost so far, unless you are at the end of the whole series going to do a complete review of all the steps, the cost of each step and the amount of time it took for each step.
Thanks!
The plan was some sort of ROI video but it's really hard, This build was done over the past 12 months in my spare time, looking for cell building, editing and fixing monumental F-Ups. Every battery came from a local highschool via a recycling company. To pay for the batteries I exchanged the referbishment of about 100 Dell desktop computers (Secure erase hdd, full physical clean, new thermal paste, HDD warranty Tests, Memtest, W10 install & 1 hour stress test on each ) because lets face it referb to some is load W10 and blow the dust you can see off and call it refurbished :( SO that was a good solid week of work so maybe 1500-2000 for the cells. It would have been about 500 laptop batteries but they were all premium cells and only 6 cells were unuesable due to zero volt and another (about) 30 had physical damage. All up there was a smudge under 3000 cells processed. When i was organised I was processing about 100 cells perday when I had the spare time to crack open enough batteries. UNFORTUNATELY, this project has taken a quantum shift in the way I was planning to implement so stay tuned for that :)
after watching this i have decided just to pay for my power
Look i can't argue with that line of thought lol if you value time over potential savings it's a good path
After watching this, i decided to make my own nuclear reactor instead.
How safe can it be working with all those cells around in such a small space with no gloves no glasses ?
Edited:
Great job, don't you think I ignored that!
Lol THANKS, I think......
Amazing ❤ but now there's no second hand cells left for anyone else 😂
Lol
How much did all of this cost? and would you recommend others to do the same given the wast supply of rechargable batteries ?
Good question - IF i was given the choice to do it again ... Nup, i'm done lol easier with a Tesla Module
@@HBPowerwall cost is the number one people care about because they want to know if they can do it themselves.. and some need to know the cost per kwh . so having gone through the trouble is a waste without passing the
information
He shared a spreadsheet in the description. $10k, which I assume is AUS? And somehow he only paid $800 for 3000 batteries...🤷🏼♂️
@@ronswanson9368 this is fun to watch, but very dangerous if not done correctly. if you're not a technician, you probably shouldn't do anything this size.
Where did you manage to get all those recycled batteries from? I'd love to have more available for future projects.
This batch was from a local school through a recycling company
@@HBPowerwall You can made tesla)
Check Ebay
China sells a lot of them
he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a youtube video, when he burns his house down he will probably record that and put it on youtube as well.
Would love to know material cost and hours required to do this.
So would my wife lolz - working on it i assure you!
@@HBPowerwall Just subbed and 🔔'd
Awesome one more 😆
Wow. Well done. Such a clean build. Very impressive. Keep up the great work.
Glad you like it
As a Texan all I see here is "free" air conditioning in the summer! 65° here I come!
I can assure you it's not free - BUT is cool!
Imagine once one btry exploded. The rest of it🔥🔥🔥
meh.. we all drive cars... danger is relative
I'd like to see a vape mod that uses this as the power source.
one pull and the whole neighborhood will be wasted lol
2nd time I've watched this as I discovered when I went to hit "like" at the end 😁 no wonder I thought it was very familiar!
Did I waste my time watching this a second time? Not at all, great video both times!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it! BOTH TIMES!
Truly a beautiful job! I just bought the nickel fused by Battery Hookup (using your code :)). My setup will be 14S100P (4x25 cells for each string) ~ 3100mA / cell. My inverter can take a maximum of 4.6KW from the battery (less that 100A @ 48V). Do you think I need to add bus bars or are battery hookup ones enough?
Thanks!
100p is 1 amp per cell, I would double what i've done busbar wise
@@HBPowerwall Im new to this, i know that batteries and understand the purpose, but what are you making this for, what are you doing with it? And how come you went with one big 3v battery?
@@danking5382 Its not a 3v battery, it is a 48v nominal voltage battery. 14S200P formula: 200 cells are connected in parallel into packs, and 14 such packs connected in serial to rise voltage. So 14x200 = 2800 cells total.
@@Mad---Max ah I thought it was parallel, trying to achieve a lot of mah
@@HBPowerwall I Have A 10000 Watt inverter that I Got From Wish . com and It's not a pure sine wave inverter but it does work quite well! What is the difference between a pure sine wave inverter and a non-sine wave generator?
How do you charge that thing
Over the course of years 😂😂
@ArticBlaze12 huh it’s charged by 11am every day , nice big solar system.
A bigger battery
come back to this video in 10 years and batteries will be half this size
This will be in my iphone 31
@@HBPowerwall nah, the iPhone 31 is supposed to run off the earths geo-magnetic field
I thought that was the 32?
It may be the 31 xsmaxiquantumpro
Lol
Great workmanship! New subscriber because of the amount of knowledge shared.
Thanks and welcome
Imagine connecting all of those cells in series
Done, now what :)
@@HBPowerwall I think he means each individual cell ha :)
vxcvbzn imagine a bms that has enough management wires for all those cells.
To run a train
That would be hell of an arc welder xD
Oof, one bad cell in there and it'll be New Year fireworks come early.
I also wonder if spot weld opens and the point of contact can reconnect at anytime. Which means it might be at 1v say and if it rejoins with its parallel 4v battery too much current will flow heating up the cell and explosiob may occur. Hope he is good at spotting.
@@Swenser if you look at the nickel strips he used, its the fused one, if one cell goes bad it automatically breaks the nickel fuse and is disconnected.. so no, if one cell goes bad that cell disconnects.. did either of you even watch the video? Or watch him use a fused strip? Or are you both just severe simpletons? 😂😊
Want to see the final install years later check it out, it's awesome ua-cam.com/video/KgfykvHM95s/v-deo.html
[ Part 1 ] You're here, and hopefully enjoyed it enough to continue down the list?
[ Part 2 ] Finding out the battery build isn't legal | ua-cam.com/video/HCd2opk9APg/v-deo.html
[ Part 3 ] Addressing safety | ua-cam.com/video/EltBFVKStEg/v-deo.html
[ Part 4 ] Fixing leaky cells and a low voltage battery | ua-cam.com/video/sOFBYmMenXU/v-deo.html
[ Part 5 ] I finally get the battery completed and ready for service, also incorporated my 100,000th subscriber video! | ua-cam.com/video/DAoCK3QNLng/v-deo.html
Id love to repleciate this process. Would love to know the cost of this build. So i could compare it to other diy’s
Don't bother buy LFP cells
That will be a great show when they eventually go up in flames
this is bound to happen. Maybe i skipped to much of the video but is there any form of matching and monitoring? Going from the collor coding on these old cells is not enough imho.
If one of these cells gets to much off and gets discharged to much it will indeed go up in flames during charging.
might have paid to watch whole thing.. EVERY cells was capacity tested & IR tested, all rested and tested for self discharge & excessive heat while charging and discharging.. they every battery was sorted into 50mah groups then a balanced battery was built from that. Then there is 2 cell level fuses on each battery, There are so many layers of safety if this thing goes up the security cameras that watch it in 4k will be released on you tube also :) Lets not get into the BMS, shunt trips, shipping container its housed in, ventilation fans based on temp, fire alarm attached to the BMS.. i tire with this essay but you get the idea.
I would be very nervous with that thing inside my home. If shit happens you can't do anything but sit back and watch your life burn down. No thanks
who the fuck would put this in their home lol
This is amazing setting example for community and also helping nature by reusing batteries
also a bunch of time and effort :P
Its a privilege to pick up some tips from pros like yourself..Pete are you using magnets to hold down the cells when you were doing the shrink wrap sleeves....Thanx 👍
Yes they are, I did a video about this a few weeks earlier than this was released..
That was a ton of work, but amazing you can make that happen. I'm a man of limited patience and would have given up just looking at the amount of batteries!! My wife saw me watching this and said "no no no no no no".!!!
hahaha - if i put that much effort into my wife she would be saying yes yes yes - not no no no to me lolz
I always double up the spot-welds no matter what the load. Just me, and probably overkill, but it cuts down on the chance of a marginal weld letting loose under heat. What surprises me is how many of those lithium cells you are ok with in your home.
My tests over the years, for stationary storage this is enough spotwelding - if for mobile application I would do it differently. These batteries are not in my home.. They are in my workshop
Wow. There is a small fortune on the table. :)
Nice work.
Thanks!
Luar biasa,..saya apresiasi untuk menyamakan voltase ratusan battery,.itu hal yg cukup sulit dan berani,..tanpa BMS,.. amazing 👍👍
It has bms, he shows it in next episode..
has everything it should have to keep the internet very happy
Wow. You have an infinite patience on top of the knowledge.
I appreciate that!
This is mindblowing lmao nice work!
Thanks! I finally got it installed a month ago, was a great feeling to finally see it in service even if the plan changed a little over time.
Amaizing video. Crazy idea! :P
Glad you think so!
professional tools are the key, to get not in despair in front of 3000 cells, and get the job quick done :D i like the technique
I would consider all tools I use as DIY, its the details that make a project :) And i like these details
WoW!, what a MEGA PROJECT! 👌👍
Thanks a lot!