The advent of the affordable lithium 12V automotive and powersports battery has been a game-changer for so many enthusiasts, myself included. A lithium battery can make the electrical system of an old vehicle feel newer and maybe even make your systems work with more vigor than before. But lithium batteries are also not something you want to roll the dice on.
Today, Lewin wrote about how a lithium battery fire almost consumed a classic RX-7. This lithium battery might have powered a huge custom sound system, and the vehicle’s owner allegedly had the battery sitting on a trickle charger before it went up in flames. Our Internet detective readers figured out a few interesting bits about the alleged battery, which could have been a Limitless Retro Pro 56. Bizness Comma Nunya notes:
So…. this is VERY relevant to my job, and previous jobs.
Just a quick look at the specs on the battery, and one single thing stood out for me:
This battery doesn’t have a BMS…
Take that and let’s assume that the quality of the LFP cells is from a bargain basement supplier (think the opposite of a CATL, BYD, etc..)
On top of both of those points, this was hooked up to a trickle charger. Was the trickle charger rated for this battery? Was the battery rated for the trickle charger?
Recipe for failure
While batteries without management systems can still be useful, you have to be careful because the battery itself has no way to prevent a thermal runaway event before it happens. A BMS can work to prevent a battery from being charged or discharged too much. A BMS can also try to protect the battery from temperature damage and help balance the cells for longevity.
Thankfully, there is a cheat code. You can buy a battery with a built-in BMS like the Noco I have pictured above.
Today, I wrote about how Toyota gave Tundra 5.7 V8 buyers the option to buy a warranty-compliant supercharger from their dealers good for 504 HP. Kevin B Rhodes says:
You can’t make a racehorse out of a pig, you just end up with a faster pig.
Then comes TheDrunkenWrench:
Then come on down to Fine Swine Racing! We’ll saddle your sow and make you go “wow!”
Finally, Alexk98 has some bizarre news about the tariffs:
Well I’ve got incredible news for any Lada owners out there, Russia was NOT on the tariff list! Despite the US having a $2.5B trade deficit with the country in 2024, Russia is getting no new tariffs, meaning your Lada Niva parts won’t change much in price at all!
You may be wondering, so surely some other countries were forgotten from the list then, given Russia is hardly a US ally right? Well you’d be mistaken, even uninhabited islands are covered by this round of tariffs, so surely there can be no excuse for “forgetting” to add Russia to that list. Do with that info what you will.
Belarus, Cuba, and North Korea aren’t on the tariff list, but Syria is. Look, I’m bewildered, too. Anyway, here are some more pictures of the Hot Wheels dioramas that have shown up on my doorstep:
Have a great evening, everyone!
Lithium Batteries what type of chainsaw do you folks use to replace yours – is the same you would use for NIMH?
Is that a widebody Brabus SLC in your diorama??
The comments on swine and race cars reminds me of the Tillamook Oregon tradition of Pig-N-Ford racing, https://www.tillamookfair.com/p/fair-info/pig-n-ford-race which involves Model T speedster with porcine passengers. Oregon Field Guide did a segment you can find online
Thanks for the COTD shout-out!
Also glad that your LFP motorcycle battery DOES in fact have a BMS.
I live my LiFePO a quarter mile at a time.
hahaha ok, this is a good one
My first COTD – yeah!
No way would I put a random cheapo lithium battery in a car. They are great technology, but they can be VERY dangerous if not used exactly correctly. and for the cheapo ones, you may not know what “correctly” actually entails. I had what was supposed to be a good quality pack for one of my R/C planes go up while on a GOOD charger – which is why I only charge the things OUTSIDE. Just a little 3-cell pack for my 2M motorized sailplane, but it still melted a hole in my driveway.
Those dioramas are seriously cool! Is that an HO scale GM Fishbowl and an N scale RS3 peaking in?
I didn’t expect my angry ramblings about the tariff news to end up on here, but I’ll take it!
Russian Bukhanka Van imports are about to go through the roof!
Would it make sense that those aren’t on the list, just because all imports from them are already banned, so there aren’t any imports to actually tariff? I don’t care enough to research whether that’s the case or not, but it would make sense
That was the explanation I heard, but then they’d have to explain why we’re putting tariffs on barren islands full of penguins.
National Security. America has to start producing it’s own guano again.
Besides, penguins are very bad people…Very bad…I saw it in a movie…
If the tariffs were being implemented by someone smarter, sure. But judging by all the other dumb shit he’s done I don’t think this would be the reason. Biden put a 100% tariff on Chinese cars and Trump said make it 200%! Bigger number better! So nuance and logic aren’t really factors.
You would think on it’s face that that is a reasonable explanation, but the US had over a 2 Billion dollar trade deficit to russia in 2024 but had multiple billions of trade flowing in each direction, which is to say, there is absolutely trade to be tariffed. Any explanation given falls very flat on it’s face when uninhabited islands were added to the tariff list.
Hooray! ‘Ol Gil is finally back on top!
How many COTDs can I put ya down for? A lot? Please say a lot. I need this.
I NEED this COTD, my wife’s gonna leave me!
In the remote control world, the battery management is generally top balancing handled by the charger. The user has to have some knowledge too. Such as: make sure the cells are close in voltage to start, how to figure out the correct C rating to charge the pack and that the pack itself is good to be charged.
As lithium moves into the mainstream of automotive aftermarket/hotrodding, it’s gonna take a while for people to actually conceptualize and respect just HOW MUCH stored energy is in a battery cell, just waiting to fuck up your day.
it shouldn’t stop anyone, but folks need to understand the forces they’re wielding when playing with pissed off pixies crammed in a tiny tube.
Troll them with chaos majick. And sharp, pointy sticks. They like to burn things. Mischievous little bastards.
That’s the best description of electricity I’ve ever read.
I can’t take credit, Chris Boden is an absolute wordsmith. If you’ve never seen his youtube stuff, he’s like Bill Nye for adults.
Yep, crazy how a small little pack can huck a plane around the sky. Much less helicopters! Those can do things that appear to break physics.
Just put it in terms of gasoline. Most people understand a tank of gasoline burns and there is about 3-4x as much potential heat in a full tank of gas as in a battery.
Gasoline is not an oxidizer. Do you even NFPA 704, bro?
As a Ph.D. chemist I’d have to say yes. How about you?
A typical car engine is somewhere between 20-40% thermally efficient at turning the energy stored in gasoline into mechanical energy whereas a battery and motor gets about 90% of the stored energy in the battery into mechanical energy. Thus all else being equal a car needs ~3-4x as much energy stored in gasoline as in a battery to do the same work And don’t worry, you’ll have all the oxidizer you’ll need should the gas tank rupture.
Most lithium batteries nowadays (even cheaper ones) have BMS built-in, some even have ‘smart’ BMS’s that can balance at lower voltages (not just top-balancing) with Buetooth & phone apps that show you charging state at cell level.
Makes no sense to cheap out on some no-name bottom-of-the-barrell crappy battery that could set your ride or your house on fire just to save $50.
I’m talking about recreational remote control vehicle battery packs. Those don’t have an internal BMS. They have balancing leads that plug into the charger alongside the main charge leads. In that use, the battery is charged as needed and kept at 50% charge when not in use. It’s one less point of failure in a pack that will regularly experience high G forces.
For about every other application, yes, an internal BMS should be used.
Great, now he’s gonna fill the US with cars built in Cuba, Belarus, and North Korea. A nation full of Trabants.
Go on, tell me you don’t want to see someone drop an LS motor into a Trabant…
Playing the long game – if we pay the Swedes for the 1000 Volvo 144’s sent to North Korea (that they haven’t paid for 50 years later), we could probably repatriate them with no problem.
Those dioramas are awesome! Were they crafted or ordered? I’m wanting something like that for my collection I have of cars I’ve owned in hot wheels form, but more diner style.
http://www.google.com
hot wheels diner diorama
Really? With a google it response? I was wondering if there was a specific kit she ordered and made them or come ready made like that.
Mercedes did an article on it recently:
https://www.theautopian.com/the-coolest-way-to-display-your-hot-wheels-cars-is-in-this-shockingly-accurate-mini-gas-station/
Dang I totally missed that article, thanks!
I am located in Europe and search results showed various nice handmade examples, even 3D printed. So there are a few options in a less than 100 $ range