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People Are Using Recycled Laptop Batteries To Power Their Homes (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the diy dept.

New submitter gooddogsgotoheaven writes: DIY Powerwall builders from around the world are harvesting old laptop batteries and turning them into powerful batteries capable of supplying energy to their entire homes. "It's the future. It's clean, simple, efficient and powerful," Jehu Garcia, one of the most popular powerwall builders, told me. He and people like him are deciding for themselves what the future of alternative energy will look like, instead of waiting for technology companies to shape it for them. "The end result is being able to rely on something I not only built myself but understand the ins and outs of to power some or all of my electricity in my home. That is inspiring," Joe Williams, another powerwall builder, told me.

2 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Re:IDTS by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Meh, you build yourself a little block shed separated from your house. Problem solved.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  2. Re:IDTS by Athanasius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That was also my first thought, before I read TFA. Searching on 'safe' in it I find these quotes, and it's not all the hits:

    Gathering enough batteries is only the first step to building a DIY powerwall. Every cell then has to be tested—not all are safe enough to be used, several hobbyists told me. Lithium-ion batteries have a limited lifespan: Some laptop batteries harvested end up having too little capacity to be used.

    Most hobbyists I spoke to said they don't keep their powerwalls inside their homes for safety reasons or to comply with local regulations.

    One of the most frequent topics that came up in my conversations with powerwall makers was safety. Fusing together hundreds of recycled lithium-ion batteries is dangerous, and could cause a fire if done incorrectly.

    On the DIYpowerwalls forum, there are dozens of threads dedicated to preventing these massive, homemade electronic devices from catching ablaze. YouTube too is littered with videos warning powerwall builders that their projects are unsafe.

    DIY powerwall makers often aren't engineers or electricians. Most, including the most popular—like Jehu Garcia—lack formal training altogether. But they remain mostly unfazed by safety concerns, and said that more recently, makers have pushed each other to engineer more safeguards into their rigs.

    So, there is definitely some caution here, and awareness that such pre-used batteries may not be useful enough due to low charge levels.