Battery Basics

reboot

With batteries being an intregal part of all our lives these days I wondered if there is space and interest for discussion/ thread on the subject.

I've been working with various types of batteries all my life and notice in recent years how many good packs are dumped mostly because of the faults in the charging / battery management systems,but the individual cells are mostly fine.There may be one cell in a large pack needing replacement, mostly around the 18650 Lithium Ion type widely use.

Topics to consider may be power banks, small pv solar charging set ups, reusing batteries to run LED lighting,,inverters and so on. Big savings can be made and useful power tools and many gadgets can be saved from the dump.

One billion AA batteries are dumped every year.

Just a thought if anyone's interested. Thanks.

Wanderer78

we cant keep discarding such resources, an astonishing amount of environmental damage is done by the mining for the minerals of batteries, and with the rapid demand for such, we cant keep this up....

it seems to me that breaking down and recycling batteries must be very difficult, do you think this is the case?

reboot

Completely agree,and that's why I've held back from going down this discussion path.

Safety is a Hugh concern,with the tragic case of the family just yesterday, in a house fire around an Ebike charging. You could set fire to the house with a battery the size of your little finger!

It could be difficult without pictures,YouTube have many post,good and bad already on the topic.

Also as you touch on ,corporate concerns,would like you to throw it away and buy another one,and UK reluctant to post batteries to this part of the world.

I do see questions popping up on powerbanks and a little interest in small scale solar PV projects say around 5v USB charging.

Maybe the Longest journey begins with the first Electron,as the ancient Greek might say.

Wanderer78

we clearly need to make the whole process of recycling batteries easier, we can spend the day castigating manufacturers of batteries, and rightfully so, but we actually need them to be a part of the process, but we also need good regulation to maintain a healthy sector, batteries are absolutely critical for our energy needs, and becoming more so to....

ive been recently checking out dismantling videos on youtube, theres some fairly volatile materials there, hence why good regulation is required, but id love to know what percentage of batteries are actually truly recycled, the whole process needs to be made as safe and easy as possible, or manufacturers simply wont get too involved....

unfortunately our manufacturing sectors have only truly become viable (this is questionable of course) by the easy disposable model, but this clearly isnt sustainable, including, and in particular in relation to batteries, but again, this is where regulation and manufacturers must work together, no easy task though, clearly manufacturers need to be able to make a profit, and we need them to make and recycle them....

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120807966#Comment_120807966

Are there many ways to check the physical health of a cell?

I've read through some of the testing and shipping standards, which are fairly thorough.

What was determined to be a the cause of the ebike fire?

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120808579#Comment_120808579

If we are specifically speaking of 3.7v lithium,ion etc,say 18650 cells I find around 80% of cells in disguarded battery packs are capable of bringing up to a useful capacity . I'm a fan of the Turnigy accucell type of charger,which will .charge any type of battery. A rough way to test a small cell is to very quickly touch an analogue ammeter across the cell hoping not to blow a fuse in the meter as your putting a short across the cell. Should maybe be qualified by Don't try this at home! If say the meter is on one amp range the needle will quickly go to full scale.Some will say,who doesn't use digital multimeters these,I say only if I have to.

As to the Ebike fire I'd guess we may never be told for several reasons,but a fatal fire was caused some years back when an elderly gentleman plugged the wrong charger into an e cigarette, it caught fire burning the house down.

It's easy for folk to get confused when many chargers terminate in the same DC plug,which shouldn't, but sometime does fit the wrong device,it was never intended to charge.

E bikes,like EVs should have multi pin leads as part of a battery management system, BMS,this will balance individual cells,and is generally specific to that battery pack type,so should be safe.

reboot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120808535#Comment_120808535

I find recycling centres in general pile battery pack on top of each other in a wheelybin, mixing the various types,and who knows how they end up.Certainly taking any away for a reusing purpose is a definite no no,.

The big box holds 12 lead acid car batteries, and oddly I find 12v non rechargeable batteries used in rural areas for electric fences.

I've successfully pleased local farmers by suggesting we take 12v lead acid old car battery, which may not turn over a starter motor at hundreds of amps,but will run an electric fence particularly if a cheap solar panel is across it.

reboot

Why keep throwing AA batteries away,when you could plug in a rechargeable powerbank ?

Some say,the little workshop has many PPs,(Pointless Projects), my point being ,if they don't work out,it doesn't matter,they were Pointless to begin with , but might prove to be an interesting thought experiment, in this case,no wiring required.

RTE stopped Dab transmissions,saying only 5% of the population bought the radios. My friend still plays Gold all day from a Set top box,via digital TV.

Have to be aware here of DUCT regulations, (Don't U cross Threads)

These radios,also receiving FM of course, in this case came only with 4 AA batteries. But have a USB 5v socket.

Couldn't hold out to batteries.

Getting to the point, Lidl have power banks this week, big capacity,10 Amp hours, meaning you can draw 1 amp for 10 hrs,half an amp for 20 hrs etc.

I won't buy AA batteries, but simply plug the power bank into the back of the radio,charge it up in a month or so ,job done.

Similar thought experiments may be applied to a variety of PPs, like garden lighting, Pond pumps,etc.a 1amphr lithium 3.7v rechargeable cell replacing 2 AA non rechargeable ones.