Info DIY Ultimate 18650 Power Bank

[mxnerd]

This is probably the best power bank you can make!

You need a 3D printer though.

 

[killster1]

This is probably the best power bank you can make!

You need a 3D printer though.

i would love to just buy one that someone has made looks like such a long project but super cool as i am engrossed with power banks and use them everyday. i wonder how many hours went into this.

 

[mindless1]

The geek in me likes what he made, but it's so convoluted, and crazy that he went to that much trouble but suggests using used or crappy generic batteries in it.

He tried to compare the price of the batteries alone to a finished power bank product, then went on to list (at a minimum) $100+ worth of components, and spend thousands of dollars worth of time to design and build it.

The complexity combined with low quality components, questionable durability, and poor soldering (including soldering directly to the cells no less) gives me concern that he has essentially built a fire bomb that should always be stored in an air-tight metal ammo box when unattended or transported.

He may get lucky and never have a problem with it, but this is something that would end up recalled if it were a retail product, and could be a real PITA to repair if it has a fault that does not result in self immolation and abandonment.

Instead of all that work he should invest in an engineering degree and do it professionally, learning from a team that has more safe design experience... and get a better soldering iron, it's nuts that he's using what he did for projects that elaborate.

Ironic, that I'm impressed with his attention to detail and patience making it, yet I have done too many projects and repairs over the years to not recognize that most people are better off with professionally engineered, separate products for their specific needs.

Sometimes less is more, and safe design is always important with products that have high voltage or Li-Ion cells in them.

 

[mxnerd]

It's really a daunting task building something like this yourself. Just hope someone can something with similar function & size, keep it safe and make it commercially available but also affordable.

 

[killster1]

It's really a daunting task building something like this yourself. Just hope someone can something with similar function & size, keep it safe and make it commercially available but also affordable.

well maybe in the distant future. for now we only have overpriced everything with quality / safety / function. I have been eyeing one of these. Im very excited about power banks after building a DIY tesla wall battery for my house that often times is run from a propane generator.

https://www.goalzero.com/shop/portable-power/
looks cool they sell solar panels to charge them also but kinda mixed reviews about panel efficiency.

looks like the 1250 for 1000$ is a option, will run my fridge for 20+ hours sounds perfect for travel.

 

[Nilrobart123]

Power bank is the most important accessories of your smartphone. Power banks can give you uninterrupted access to play games on your laptops, instant message on the internet, use social networking platforms and book airline, train and bus tickets at the drop of a hat.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd love to get into projects like this but getting actual genuine 18650 cells is so hard. There's basically.. vape shops. That's about it. Even then you may not be guaranteed. Amazon etc is so hit and miss, lot of fakes etc.

Would be nice if there was a place in Canada to buy them in bulk factory direct from Samsung, Panasonic etc and be guaranteed they are genuine. None of this crap of having to source out old battery packs or whatever I just want them direct.

 

[IntelUser2000]

I'd love to get into projects like this but getting actual genuine 18650 cells is so hard. There's basically.. vape shops. That's about it. Even then you may not be guaranteed. Amazon etc is so hit and miss, lot of fakes etc.

I don't think its a good idea to make 18650 packs. It's hard to get them in all same quality to make a pack.

I'm in Canada and I bought 20x NIMH cells for my electric bicycle(which got stolen while I was making it) from a site called batteryjunction.

Simple search shows them selling Samsung and Panasonic cells, if you are interested in checking them out.

 

[mindless1]

^ Buy them all at the same time from same seller, a major brand like LG, Panasonic, or Samsung. Don't buy from some small/individual on ebay or Amazon.

Canada, I don't know the best sources there and would ask in a flashlight (or vaping) oriented forum like https://www.candlepowerforums.com or http://www.budgetlightforum.com where the Canadians are buying... I'm sure some have spent a lot of time researching this already.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah need to be able to find a reliable source so you have a better chance of the cells matching. But ideally your charging circuitry needs to balance charge them and also account for any oddities in cells. It's more tricky when you have many in parallel though which you do to make bigger packs... since those ones absolutely need to be 100% matched or you get a fire. If you have one cell that say, has a short or greatly reduced voltage, then all the other cells will try to dump power into it. Wonder how Tesla does it, they use 1000's of individual cells.