Sure, but I will have to go through a couple of months worth of youtube history, I was binge watching anything about Lithium Ion when I was working on this:
As a result I have a very long article on Lithium Ion battery safety and pack construction in the works, but exactly for the reasons the GGP lists I'm pretty careful about releasing that, I want to triple check everything before putting it out there to ensure that the net result is a positive one.
Also: I don't like the youtube format for stuff like this. It would be far better to have these things as blog posts rather than as videos, that would make them much more searchable and easier to annotate.
But just to give you two memorable items: at some point Will shows himself working with naked steel tools on a massive, fully charged, unfused battery pack. Just one wrong move or a dropped tool and the carnage would be substantial. That shows to me that he may have good theoretical knowledge but doesn't really know all that much about working with this stuff in practice and how to do so safely. In another video there is a whole slew of balance wires coming out of a pack, crossing and recrossing with abandon. Balance wires are usually not fused, the wires rubbing means that if that installation were for long term use that eventually the balance wires would short out and if you're lucky it would just result in a balance wire evaporating, if you're unlucky it would start a fire right next to a massive Li Ion battery, something that you really don't want to do because of their thermal sensitivity. The risk is that the whole pack would ignite and good luck putting that out.
I went to the ETS in Amsterdam, a school for electrical technicians, mid level. The one thing that was drilled into us over and over again during the practical parts of that education is that in the electrical world there are young safe technicians and young sloppy technicians, but there are no old sloppy technicians.
Just because I am young doesn't mean anything. I know what I'm talking about. I started coding and building robots when I was 13, and circuit design at 15. Solar power is dead simple.
Yeah I can work with raw terminals because I don't make silly mistakes. I've been working with low voltage DC for decades. Most of the systems I throw together are for educational use. Those balance wires were probably a rapid prototype pack where I was testing something. I know what I'm doing and how it works. And wow you're so dramatic about the balance wires why don't you criticize the companies that offer their pack configurations in ways that you complain about? There are many companies that throw these packs together and sell them to unsuspecting people, and you are giving me a hard time when making a quick pack to educate or test something? Give me a break
> I started coding and building robots when I was 13, and circuit design at 15. Solar power is dead simple.
Similar, but I would _never_ play fast and loose around batteries of those sizes just because I felt like I won't make "silly mistakes". Everyone, even professionals who have been doing dangerous work for decades, make silly mistakes. That's why professionals don't fuck around. One wrong move with large lithium cells and you've got a massive jet of fire in your workshop that can't be put out.
Similarly, I'm a woodworker and while I feel like I know what I'm doing around a table saw these days, I _always_ make sure to have my adrenaline pumping when making cuts. I Point and Call my safety checklist every single time. I wear my safety glasses for even the simplest cuts off the table saw. And guess what? It has saved my bacon. It's the simple, mundane, "I don't make silly mistakes" days that cost you.
> And wow you're so dramatic
It's better etiquette to address the content of a comment rather than lob insults against the commenter. The former is less argumentative and can be more informative. Strive to enlighten and inform. Nobody learns anything useful from phrases like "you're so dramatic", "Give me a break", "you are giving me a hard time", "Are you kidding me?", "You have no clue what you are talking about", etc.
> Yeah I can work with raw terminals because I don't make silly mistakes.
This attitude will cost you dearly and is exactly the difference between being a responsible educator and someone who probably should pause to ask themselves if they are on the right track.
You are setting a bad example and many thousands of people will follow in your tracks adopting your very unsafe practices as though that's the way to do it. Some of them will end up hurt.
It pretty much validates my earlier assessment but I'm actually a bit surprised that you would come out to make it so obvious.
> Those balance wires were probably a rapid prototype pack where I was testing something.
Yes, but that's not what matters here. What matters here is that people see you work and believe that's the way it's done. With authority comes responsibility.
> And wow you're so dramatic about the balance wires why don't you criticize the companies that offer their pack configurations in ways that you complain about?
That's whataboutism. We're discussing you, not some company. These tricks don't really work on HN.
> There are many companies that throw these packs together and sell them to unsuspecting people, and you are giving me a hard time when making a quick pack to educate or test something?
Yes, I'm giving you a hard time because you are at the same time claiming to be educating and you are advocating unsafe practices while doing so.
> Give me a break
Unlikely, and after this comment far less so.
But thank you for clearing up any ambiguity about where your feeling about responsibility lies.
Wait, you do realize I am still wearing safety glasses and following basic safety precautions, which I state over and over again. I sound like a broken record repeating this stuff. I can work with raw terminals, because I know what I am doing, and I follow basic safety protocols every single time. That is why I am not dead. If I was wrong, I would be dead. I cover safety in every video.
And yes, I hope people follow my advice more than the other channels. People on this website are suggesting people use cobalt based chemistries that have dangerous thermal runaway reactions, from recycled products, which is dangerous. And then my channel complains constantly on the importance of low temp charging disconnect, OCPD, high voltage and so much more. What am I doing wrong here? How you read my comment, makes me realize that you never did watch my videos. You really have no clue what you are talking about. Using recycled NMC cells will burn your house down, plain and simple. And people in this group who think they know what they are talking about are recommending to do that instead? What???
Yes, with authority comes responsibility, and the only reason people follow me is because I cover every single detail, and I substantiate my claims with relevant literature in the lithium ion space.
I had commented to this affect on his channel and my comment was removed. Same with other channels where people are drilling without hand and eye protection.
That's really bad because your comment would at least give people a chance to calibrate the degree to which they should trust this stuff. Any video that aims to be instructional should at least spend some time on the safety aspects of what they are doing.
I usually always wear eye protection. YouTube deletes comments constantly. And leaves the spam comments. Have you not used YouTube in the last ten years? I can't stand it
I can't tell how Youtube decides what to keep and what to remove or if my comment was removed by a bot or by the channel owner. On a traditional forum a moderator would tell me if something was out of line.
For what it's worth if you are the Will Prowse from Youtube I do appreciate the videos you make. Your channel has exposed me to companies I didn't know existed. The Hysolis tear-down was interesting and saves me from having to take things apart and risk warranty arguments with the vendor. There are some shady vendors making bold claims and it is nice to see which ones are the real deal.
I spent an hour yesterday deleting spam, and then I get emails from long time viewers stating that their comments have been removed. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is. I try to fix this every single day, and I get my long time viewers to report the spam. Youtubes system is awful.
Thank you!! Hysolis is awesome, and with the LF inverter, you can easily work on it yourself. I am glad my videos help :) There are tons of scams online these days, and I love exposing them.
There are tons of scams online these days, and I love exposing them.
Please keep up the great work. That is a very worthy battle and will save people a lot of frustration and money.
I plan to get 3 of the Hysolis portable units. Last I checked they didn't have the external battery available as an option yet so I've been holding out. I'm also hoping they have custom shipping options because Amazon uses UPS and they track snow into their trucks which isn't great for electronics. That inverter is heavy so it will be on the floor of the truck for sure.
That's hopeful, with that kind of following he has some serious responsibility. At the same time, I cringe when I see people working with large packs on workbenches with loose metal laying around, totally irresponsible pack geometries where balance wires cross and recross each other with abandon, recycled cells that have visible external damage and so on. Youtube is a great way to pick up some 'worst practices' thinking that if these youtube stars are doing it it must be ok.
Like what?! Can't any of you people backup your claims. It's just empty complaining on this site without evidence. It's driving me nuts. Show me what I said or have done that was wrong.
Mate, I've been following you for a while and have a generally positive opinion of you. I think you're not going to have a good experience coming here with your guns out. I watch all your videos, but wouldn't I be a fool if I just absorbed what you say as gospel? You don't do this yourself, don't you?
I'm happy for you and your success and I'm very happy there are people out there like you changing their life outcome out of sheer will, while providing the community with unbiased product reviews and independent tests.
Please don't take the criticism as a personal attack. Unfortunately, I just don't recall which information you said at some point that made me cringe. Like I said, I've watched a lot of your videos and haven't had any cringe moments like this for a while now.
EDIT: also fyi, this website has an automated banning process if you're a new account with too many downvotes. Unfortunately, the few messages you've written have a confrontational tone that usually attracts a lot of downvotes. If you care at all, may I suggest that you avoid that tone/style. I'd love if you posted here in the future. Take that as you will.
No of course not, I just see people on this site stating to use recycled NMC cells that are capable of burning down their house with one wrong move, then saying my videos are dangerous. I cover safety all the time, more so than any other channel I know. I do not understand why people are saying these things. I work very hard to make my videos, and people here on this site who do not understand batteries are trying to criticize me. It really makes me mad.
And thank you. Just figured out the automated banning process and am using a VPN now. I just want to respond to people, and I hope they can provide evidence of when I did something dangerous. Or said something wrong. And yes, I see what you mean about the downvotes. I am very upset right now because I could argue every point made against me here. I also allow people to criticize whatever they wish on my forum, so it makes it hard on this site where I am instantly censored if I get downvotes. It is very frustrating.
Just a tip that while HN looks like reddit, it's not reddit. And deliberately so.
E.g. you can't downvotes responses to your own comment. This to steer into a different type of conversation.
I can't say I've fully internalized it, but it does make for much less shitposting compared to reddit.
The downvotes i don't think are due to disagreement or even anger.
I understand your frustration (especially since the critique is so unspecific), but i believe the downvotes don't mean what you think they mean, and it's not personal.
Is going to bolster your reputation as safety conscious or harm it, besides your general attitude in this thread. You are quite clearly advising people to copy this design, you make money of them doing so. Even a one-off should be better designed, let alone something intended for duplication.
I had you down as well meaning but a bit out of your depth at times, let's just say that that didn't improve based on the interaction here and your various comments.
That's a functional system that is 100% safe. There is no battery inside either, and I am using surface mount components that are recommended to be used on wood. It's a great little box. What's your problem with it?
