What testing should every battery review video include?

[EZPZ]

You might also want to test for HIGH temp cutoffs.

 

[WorldwideDave]

You might also want to test for HIGH temp cutoffs.

He has done that for years - might not be on his list?

 

[BaylentheSky]

OMG can you please test for short circuit protection? A lot of the batteries claim to have it, but I (ahem, on purpose) tested this on a couple batteries and 1 failed spectacularly (older dumb DC House 24V 100Ah) and 1 passed with flying colors (ECO-Worthy Smart 12V 150Ah).

 

[1ufvlsi6x]

Currently my videos follow this protocol:

• Do a capacity test
• Check for overcurrent protection
• Once I find the maximum continuous load without tripping over current protection if it's present, I do a high c rate capacity test
• Hit it with a heat camera while I'm doing above testing
• Check for low temperature protection probe and test it
• Search for loose connections
• Point out globs of solder if present. Ensure proper temperature was met for solder to flow and create good connection
• Price comparison
• Check bus bars and balance lead for connection issues
• Insulation between the cells
• Proper fixation for cells. Compression not necessarily required but they need to be fixated
• Check if balance leads and main supply conductors are protected
• If the BMS is excessively small, do a load test pushing it to the limit. Use heat camera.
• Check for cell count. If it's not a 4S or 16S pack, will mention it. 15S is not compatible with 16S systems.
• Mention if it's UL listed
• Check for DC rated circuit breaker or fuse. MCCB ideal.
• If battery is being connected to inverter where closed loop communication is easy to set up, I will test it out. I usually avoid doing this because I hate communication.

When it comes to build quality assessment, I have to go with what I see. I can't list out the millions of issues that arise in these builds.

But when it comes to actual testing, do you guys think I should do more? What do you think I should test on every pack? Is there any crucial things that you think I'm missing?

I actually did find something important missing in your videos. The exact model of the BMS the simple 12Vs have. It would help for considering to rebuild them into a 16S or generally figuring out how to charge them for top balancing because some BMS models might have static setups.

You disassemble them anyway, so it would be only a matter of reporting what is inside.

 

[geordi]

You may already do this but since I am Data constrained I do not much watch videos. Weight and size measurements of battery and see if they correspond to what the Seller claims they are.

Just a thought on that - You can change the Youtube quality settings manually, you don't need to let it choose for you. Often a quality setting of 480 or less is more than sufficient - especially for videos where you are more interested in the audio rather than the video. That pulls something of several hundred MB down to well under 100 in most cases.

I'm not sure if you can change the settings under your account profile so that it persists on all videos, but you can definitely do it on each video by hitting that gear and dropping it as low as 144.

 

[JWLV]

Do the FedEx drop survival test.

 

[Will Prowse]

Do the FedEx drop survival test.

That's a great point. I remember about 5 years ago they mentioned that they had some UL that they conformed to where they had to drop test. Pretty crazy this didn't catch it.

 

[JWLV]

Obviously an accurate drop test is difficult to do and repeat with consistency. But I do think you should show pictures and talk about how the package came when you received it.

In another thread many people described Vevor batteries with paper thin padding that offered zero protection during transport.

A battery is only good if it survives the shipping when it gets to you. Proper packaging protection should weigh heavily on a review score.

 

[JWLV]

FedEx drop survival test — it seems funny and made up but it’s actually a real thing.

A FedEx drop survival test is a type of durability and integrity testing that simulates the potential impacts a package might experience during distribution through the FedEx network.
Developed in partnership with the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), these tests, such as the ISTA 6-FEDEX-A test for small parcels, evaluate a package's ability to protect its contents by dropping it from various heights and onto different faces. Other related tests include impact tests, compression tests, and vibration tests.

Types of drop tests

• FedEx Small Parcel (ISTA 6-FEDEX-A):For packages up to 150 lbs, this involves dropping the package onto a flat, firm, and non-yielding steel base.
• FedEx Freight: For non-palletized freight, specific procedures are followed to test different drop orientations, including the most vulnerable corner, shortest edge, medium edge, and longest edge, as well as different flat faces.
• ISTA 3B: This is a performance test for FedEx Freight LTL (less-than-truckload) shipments.

How the tests are performed

• Packages are dropped from specific heights, typically 0.8m and 1.2m, onto all sides.
• A pendulum can be used for impact tests, where the pendulum is raised and allowed to swing freely to strike the package at a designated point.
• The test evaluates the package's ability to protect its contents, and different test procedures are used depending on the package's size, weight, and contents.

 

[geordi]

Then to complete the test cycle, it is handed off to the local UPS operation, who drives a forklift tine into it at speed and pushes it "accidentally" off a dock to be run over by a truck tire.

This may only be a slight amount of hyberbole.

 

[wpns]

I’ve worked with a drop test machine, and while I have every confidence that they can produce repeatable results, I’m not sure we want Will to be dropping multi-KWHR bombs, even in his bunker. That big battery box with the collapsed shelves and another one recently that generated an internal short? Yikes! That’s a manufacturing test.

 

[1ufvlsi6x]

Overkill app lists the BMS model

That's not physically possible for what I meant. Most 12Vs are purely isolated with their BMS self-contained (no communication port or bluetooth).
Either the manufacturer has to report the exact BMS model or Will has to tear the batteries down.

 

[LydMekk]

Less testing and teardown of 12V batteries please.
Can't be very important in todays 48/51.2V markets.
Luring yahoos to buy 4 and "make" a 48V battery with all its accompanying problems.

Better to focus on server rack or standing versions of 48/51.2V.
Inverters/SCCs/combiner boxes etc. is nice.

I-BMS system etc. for control/overvies of larger installations.
Remote control of PI5/tablets with BT for control room over CAT6 etc.

 

[JanisD]

I think it could be valuable to have the info and comments of placement / fixation and thermal characteristics of BMS - especially in 12 V batteries.

For example: I saw pictures of BMS placed on top of cells wrapped in some plastic - no chance it gets good ventilation if loaded for a while.
Or if it's only fixated with some glue or simply sandwiched between cells and whatever - doesn't gives confidence in case of vibrations or thermocycling.
Likewise for 48 V batteries - one situation is to see BMS with MOSFETS on top and free space around, BMS on side (or with potentially hot elements below) in tight place is completely different game.

Also it could be nice to have some comments on power connections: are they easy accessible, are they protruding outside the footprint, in case of 48 V batteries is there a risk to short the DIY lug to case.

 

[faultcurrent]

Drop tests are used in all sorts of instances you don't expect. I, unfortunately, used to repair those little Sharp organiser things. The official post repair process in the service manual included, amongst other things, dropping the thing onto a hard surface from various heights and confirming it still worked.

 

[1ufvlsi6x]

I just wish I knew what kind of BMS and BMS setup my old 12V ANENJI LFPs have, so I could decide easier if I want to rebuild them to a big 16S with a new BMS. If they balance properly currently internally (they have equalizers externally so that's not an issue) then it wouldn't be important.

PS I might end up tearing down 1 of them, but I don't want to wreck it and ruin a series completely (I'm NOT buying another 12V again).

 

[JWLV]

Less testing and teardown of 12V batteries please.
Can't be very important in todays 48/51.2V markets.
Luring yahoos to buy 4 and "make" a 48V battery with all its accompanying problems.

Better to focus on server rack or standing versions of 48/51.2V.
Inverters/SCCs/combiner boxes etc. is nice.

I-BMS system etc. for control/overvies of larger installations.
Remote control of PI5/tablets with BT for control room over CAT6 etc.

A large percentage of new solar people just start at 12v. I know I started at 12v many years ago because it just felt safer. I've changed many car batteries and working with 12v was safe in my mind. At the time, thinking about 48v just scared me that I might electrocute myself. A few years later, I went to 24v by putting 2 batteries in series. Replaced all the 12v gear with 24v equipment. Blah blah blah. Yea, i regret spending all that money and should have gone to 48v from the beginning. But in doing so, I built confidence in working with batteries, inverters, solar panels, etc. Learned some safe practices and what not to do. Even back then I dead shorted a 12v battery and burned my hand pretty bad. If that battery was 48v, I don't know...

 

[Chispas]

How about a long term test, hooked up to some panels, SCC & inverter, then do a series of charge/discharge cycles over say, 6 months ? Then repeat the initial performance tests ?
I know, we've had the conversation about 24 V, you made your position clear, but most of the manufactures you cover make these so testing them might be useful to some people ?

 

[WorldwideDave]

Less testing and teardown of 12V batteries please.
Can't be very important in todays 48/51.2V markets.
Luring yahoos to buy 4 and "make" a 48V battery with all its accompanying problems.

Better to focus on server rack or standing versions of 48/51.2V.
Inverters/SCCs/combiner boxes etc. is nice.

I-BMS system etc. for control/overvies of larger installations.
Remote control of PI5/tablets with BT for control room over CAT6 etc.

But he started with campers and RVs and motorhomes and that is a huge amount of his followers. The RV community seems to prefer big Ah single batteries or parallel small batteries for 12v still. I’ve been to many installers. They still peddle battle born 12v even in 2025!

 

[geordi]

Speaking of the RV market - I’m in that world too. I’ve had a BUNCH of 12v batteries get cooked by Victron gear, even after programming the EXACT charge numbers from Interstate. Not happy about that.

Right now my 40’ diesel pusher has NO batteries for the engine / chassis, but everything is connected to a single 34 AH Ohmmu battery that my Tesla rejected. I’m using that b/c at the moment it is the only 12v battery I have laying around that has any life in it, and it only needs to be enough to run the lights and the furnace, and I know it has a BMS in it that SHOULD prevent it from being overcharged by the Victron. No communication with it, and as far as I know I have to just “treat it like a lead acid” and let the BMS manage it. The Victron inverter hasn’t killed it yet that I know about… But I still don’t really like it.

I obviously can’t use that to start the engine. So since I can’t seem to keep the Victron MPII 2x120 inverter from cooking and killing lead batteries, are there any lithium that COULD be a starting battery for a big diesel?

 

[WorldwideDave]

Open new thread about your Victron. It obliviously is more than an inverter. Must have charger built into it. Not sure how an inverter could cook a battery. Maybe drain one or put a battery into overcurrent protection or low voltage protection or over temp protection. Again…new thread for that issue.

Also the question of what lifepo4 could start a diesel pusher is a great question to post in the batteries forum. I’ve wondered that too.

 

[MrSparkle]

Holy cow can you link a post to this? Use my impact on these every single day and never had it break

And here is a fresh post with broken main terminal of 12V, 100Ah battery.
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/dc-house-negative-terminal-broke.115412/
Question is, if that is factory defect or operating fault. Seems like rare fail, yet still.

 

[dornak]

Accuracy of the bluetooth app for monitoring the battery.

 

[mvonw]

Test the heaters! (if any or if BMS supports it)

 

[HRTKD]

Less testing and teardown of 12V batteries please.
Can't be very important in todays 48/51.2V markets.
Luring yahoos to buy 4 and "make" a 48V battery with all its accompanying problems.

As already stated in a couple of posts above, the RV community is, by and large, using 12 volt batteries and not in series. The market for 12 volt drop-in batteries is still huge. If a company can't get their 12 volt battery right, I sure wouldn't trust their 48 volt battery.

Test the heaters! (if any or if BMS supports it)

This is a good addition.
- Does it even work?
- What temp range does it use out of the box?
- How hot do the heating pads really get?