Creating my single biggest D.I.Y. battery with 2800 18650 cells recovered from used laptop batteries

[ Part 1 ] You're here, and hopefully enjoyed it enough to continue down the list?

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Thanks for tuning in as always!
Pete
#DIYBATTERY #18650ed #diypowerwall

[ahaveland]

Pete, that's a colossal amount of work there and a perfect example for the community, well done!

[micrchap]

"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!

[brad]

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.

[christopherleubner]

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.

[gutarman]

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!

[nigelwilliamson]

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..

[derubersoldatx]

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!!!

[bojuwoyebabatunde]

2 years after and the video is still very relevant

Definitely subscribing

[chaunceysnodgress]

I love this video! I’ve been obsessed with it for twelve hours straight! It’s a benchmark for YouTubers and DIYers.

[kevbarry]

My god it's like Lego for Electricians.

[aigomorla]

seeing all those batteries there make you realize why Tesla's are so expensive, as they have 2x-4x the amount of cells shown.

[ElementalMaker]

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.

[danielramsay]

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 :)

[VishnuHaridas]

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!

[TheKilowattChallenge]

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 :-)

[zxcvbnmmification]

Thank you for going the extra mile in showing everything including pulling the nickel strip off and redoing it just to show us how. 👌🏼👏

[joshnabours]

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.

[RicardoBarrote]

Amazing! Great work for the community and congrats on the perfeccionism, attention to detail, and overall quality of the finished build!

[vladanseget]

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...

[Helpsmallbusinesses]

Your motivation and persistence is unparalleled. Great job