| ▲ | 0_____0 8 days ago |
| 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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| ▲ | Workaccount2 8 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| 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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| ▲ | 0_____0 7 days ago | parent [-] | | 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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| ▲ | znpy 8 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > 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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| ▲ | 0_____0 7 days ago | parent [-] | | 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. | | |
| ▲ | fc417fc802 2 days ago | parent [-] | | The issue isn't the electricity, it's the chemicals that react with water. An insufficiently large volume of water will make things substantially worse, at least temporarily. Larger volumes will be able to rapidly remove enough heat that it will be a net benefit. |
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