#how to get lithium ion battery

[yatiinfotechsolution]

[three-dee-ess]

Hey I saw your post about the puffy battery and my 3DS has that (it’s starting to crack the case). I knew it was affecting the battery life but I didn’t know that it was dangerous. How would you go about repairing/replacing this?

ok this is going on my FAQ after this. possibly in my pinned post.

Contact your local *non emergency* number and ask them how to dispose of a puffy lithium ion battery. Follow their instructions.

To remove the battery from the case (which is the best thing to do in that situation) follow the instructions linked in my pinned post "for physical 3DS issues" (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Nintendo_Handheld_Console)

Be as careful as possible to NOT puncture the battery.

for getting a replacement, just look at the number on your 3DS's battery and type that into amazon. Should be plenty of results, all around $10~$20 USD and they should work perfectly fine. check the reviews if you are worried.

Again, if you have any battery that is bending or breaking the case, is is a legitimate explosion hazard. That battery can explode into a fiery ball of toxic gas. It is in your best interest to dispose of it as soon as possible.

this also goes for batteries inside of ANY electronic device. Switch batteries, macbook batteries, phone batteries, electric bike batteries are also examples of lithium ion batteries that get a lot of usage and often can get overcharged.

resource links:

[transmutationisms]

okay so i’ve never really grasped this, might as well ask now — how exactly does the cyberspace & nft stuff mine resources? i’ve heard the basics (i.e. crypto mining uses energy and what not) but i’ve never been able to understand how internet connects to real resources. could you sort of explain that (along the lines with the spam email post) in a simpler way?

ok, put very simply: it's easy for people who only interact with the internet as users to treat 'cyberspace' or 'the virtual world' as immaterial. i type something out on my phone, it lives in the screen. intuitively, it feels less real and physical than writing the same words down on a piece of paper with a pencil. this is an illusion. the internet is real and physical; digital technology is not an escape from the use of natural resources to create products. my phone, its charger, the data storage facility, a laptop: all of these things are physical objects. the internet does not exist without computers; it is a network of networks that requires real, physical devices and cables in order to store, transmit, and access all of the data we use every time we load a webpage or save a text document.

this is one of google's data centres—part of the physical network of servers and cables that google operates. these are real objects made of real materials that need to be obtained through labour and then manufactured into these products through labour. the more data we use, the more capacity the physical network must have. google operates dozens of these data centres and potentially millions of servers (there is no official number). running these facilities takes electricity, cooling technologies (servers get hot), and more human labour. now think about how many other companies exist that store or transmit data. this entire network exists physically.

when you look at a server, or a phone, or a laptop, you might be glossing over a very simple truth that many of us train ourselves not to see: these objects themselves are made of materials that have supply chains! for example, cobalt, used in (among other things) lithium-ion batteries, has a notoriously brutal supply chain relying on horrific mining practices (including child labour), particularly in the congo. lithium mining, too, is known to have a massive environmental toll; the list goes on. dangerous and exploitative working conditions, as well as the environmental costs of resource extraction, are primarily and immediately borne by those who are already most brutally oppressed under capitalism: poor workers in the global south, indigenous people, &c. this is imperialism in action. digital technologies cannot exist without resources, and tech companies (like all capitalist firms!) are profitable because they exploit labour.

all commodities require resources and labour to make and distribute. digital technology is no different. these are material objects with material histories and contexts. nothing about the internet is immaterial, from the electromagnetic waves of wi-fi communication to the devices we use to scroll tumblr. it is, in fact, only by a fantastical sleight-of-hand that we can look at and interact with these objects and still consider the internet to be anything but real resources.

[seat-safety-switch]

If your living conditions are anything like mine, then you also exist inside one of the largest, most complex machines ever devised by humanity. I speak, of course, of a city. Cities are full of hundreds of thousands of interacting components that all have to work well in order to accomplish their goals. When even one small sub-system breaks down, it has unpredictable effects that can lead to societal failure. Last weekend, we came real close to that red line.

As I’ve talked about previously, I have picked up a part-time job at City Hall. More specifically, I work directly for The Mayor Himself as a sort of dirty-tricks specialist. Like all the best jobs, I got this through nepotism: we went to high school together, and he knows I certainly didn’t follow him through the rest of his life after that. To his elite buddies and hyper-rich golf pals, I might as well just be a weird unhoused person that he occasionally gives a thousand dollars to in large manila envelopes.

Although the idealists and dreamers out there might not like it, sometimes you do need a dirty-tricks guy to get things done. Last weekend, that problem was the park garbage cans. These are bear-proof bins, even in parts of the city that has never seen a bear not manufactured by the Ty Corporation, and they are very durable, but they are not fireproof. Kids had been throwing their disposable vape batteries into them, which caused little lithium-ion explosions when they were compacted in the trash truck. Rightfully, the trash truck operators were very concerned about this turn of events, and refused to pick up park trash until someone Did Something About This.

I’m definitely no expert in electrical engineering. In fact, I got banned from the local elementary school for teaching kids about how to burn the insulation off of stolen copper wire. What I do know, however, is that necessity is the mother of invention. I went to the public library, hopped on the ol’ Wikipedia, and figured out what the combustion temperature of those pesky vape batteries were. Then, I devised a prototype. The Mayor visited, but in disguise (wearing a sweatshirt over top of his Brooks Brothers suit) lest the opportunists from Channel Four Action News were lurking in the bushes trying to find non-union sex workers again.

So, yes, I did start a forest fire by strapping a propane-fired 2.2-litre Chevrolet pushrod four to the bottom of a garbage can and then venting the exhaust ports directly into the trash. I had not factored in that, without liquid cooling, the head gasket would fail and the engine would tear itself free from the bottom of the can, shooting burning fuel all over the dry tinder grass of the Saint Accidents Semi-Accessible Park. You will note, however, that the batteries were not what started the fire. Mission accomplished, I say, but politics has a way of moving the goalposts on you.

[luvv4j4ybe11]

Hi babies!! I wanted to come on here just to give you guys an explanation/update on why I haven’t been active, so listen up🫶🏽!

Yesterday, I came home from my classes to the whole house smelling like smoke, and my dogs trying to run out the door. The smoke detectors were going off and it was obvious that there was a fire happening because of the potent smell, so immediately I took the dogs outside and started to look for where tf the smell was coming from, and once I got closer to my parents room and opened the door wave of smoke and heat hit me. The fire was already put out but it was extremely hot in the room, and the fire only went out because the windows were closed and so was the door (thanks to my dog, bishop- he literally saved all the animals lives because he decided to use my parents bed as his personal litter box so😭..). But had those two things not have been closed, me and my family would be homeless. The reason the fire started was because my momma left her fan charging (which had a lithium ion battery- which get extremely hot and create a lot of fucking smoke.) on the side of her bed-even tho her gut was telling her not to. But shortly after I found the fire I called my mom, then my dad, and then my sister. We got all the animals out the house and then called 911. Everyone’s ok, just mentally exhausted and heartbroken over how much my parents lost.

This is what I came home to-

And this is what my parents room looks like now -

We’re still waiting for the insurance company to come and take pictures, so we’re limited to how much we can clean and move, but other than that we’re ok. The whole situation couldn’ve been sm worse if my mom had her door open and windows open, but luckyiky she didn’t. And luckily for us insurance will cover most of what needs to be replaced, so thank you so much universe and whoever tf created insurance for that😭

I love you all, and thank you for all the concerns for my absence and thank you guys for still writing for me and @aperiraa ‘s event, we both appreciate it deeply. And I promise I’ll read all of you guys fics and annotate them!! They all look amazing so far, like yall are so fucking creative FOR WHAT? I want all of you guys brains in a jar rn🤗!

[angie-j-kay]

So how's YOUR week going, Angie?

I started a new job, at a warehouse that is a huge local employer. I'd worked there before, and it had been DISMAL, but I heard that things had improved there and I needed some dough so I reapplied.

NOPE.

Orientation was Friday morning, and by Friday night I had emailed HR expressing my concerns. Our OSHA trainer, between weird complaints about "wokeness" and the Second Amendment, had skipped over some government-mandated safety training. Among these, and the one I was most concerned by, was the Hazmat training. Said training was just a one-page multiple choice test, which he handed us and then gave us the answers to. "Number three, A. Number four, D. Number five, false... Okay, now sign them and hand them back." When I said that I'd like to actually READ the test at the very least, he started using me as an example to the rest of the orientation class that "I'd better not see you making fun of people who can't read!"

You know that advice you read online where you should follow up and document EVERY interaction with managers and HR on email, to cover your butt when things go wrong? Yep.

By Wednesday, I had an email chain with HR recorded, including the details of an HR rep telling me that I would never ACTUALLY be exposed to hazardous materials on my floor, so that mandatory training wasn't going to be a big deal anyway, so no worries.

My floor dealt with alcohol-based perfumes, aerosol hairsprays, aerosol insecticides, and portable phone chargers with lithium-ion batteries. All of these have to be packed in specific ways for shipment or they're a huge safety hazard to everyone in range, and they are NOT getting packed in those ways. I know, because I managed to get a photo on my phone of said dangerous packing, and it's not the warehouse packers' faults because if they went through the same orientation I did, THEY WERE NEVER TOLD NOT TO DO THIS.

Anyway, I just learned that there's a government OSHA office less than 45 minutes away from my house. Guess who I'm taking this email chain and photograph to next Monday!

[millepara]

bye for now...

I DIDN'T cry in the arcade, I swear I didn't, depending on what your definition of crying is. lmao. I knew my eyes were less dry than usual but no one else would have.

I'm surprised, shocked even, that all three cabinets were still working. as mentioned here and there, I haven't been able to play for various reasons for a long time, so I have no idea how many people are still playing here. all I knew is from Luna posting about her trip where she encountered various defunct cabinets. I assumed that the ones at my home arcade would be the same. I guess that's the difference between tokyo and osaka at work... admittedly my arcade is hardly the top pretty series arcade in osaka, though. it's closest to the station so it's frequented by a lot of tourists etc passing through to spectate, which means it gets loud/a little unpleasant sometimes, which probably drives away most of the serious (?) primagi players (and those of other games too). but I can handle that if it means I'm not having to pack up all my cards and eject my usb and move after every single game.

anyway, none of that matters because I'm moving out of osaka and primagi is moving out of existence. the whole 3ish? hours I played today not a single other person came to play primagi until I was packing up to go. I was able to play and record everything I wanted to without being rushed or distracted or whatever. I almost didn't go at all because I'm moving next tuesday and it feels really irresponsible to go to the city and play at the arcade for hours this close, but... while packing I found a lithium ion battery that had swelled up into a mouse-sized pillow and the only place in the goddamn prefecture that will dispose of sick batteries happens to be a 20-minute walk away from my arcade. so I had no choice but to go!

luckily I set aside some coords & MAGIC☆VITAMIN's ids just in case back when I packed my pretty series box, so I already had that ready in my bag! kind of wish I'd gone over all of my coords a little better or picked coords that matched each other better, but I was focused on packing quickly at the time, and I didn't even use one of the coords I brought, so that doesn't even qualify as a regret. a little closer to a regret is how my larger usb did that thing where it gets too excited and stops recording in the middle of my game, so I spent the the last half of my arcade time muttering please please please PLEASE keep recording dont freak out you can do it come on come on--but it always does this so in a way, it was just like old times. back in the arcade with my wretched usb at my side. I got everything I wanted to record in one piece, at least, though it took a couple tries sometimes.

I was planning on only getting friend cards because I love looking at them and I don't need to start collecting coords on my final day of playing the game lmao, but!! I forgot or didn't know there are pretty rhythm coords in primagi!! I knew about the pripara and prichan ones, but other than Mirai's they were mostly stuff I don't care abt seeing on my idols... but the pretty rhythm ones!! they added so many details and definition to update the coords for primagi, and I love looking at that sort of thing!! I only did extra shopping one time when pure premium wedding and rainbow 7th coord showed up in the same game, and then with the random cards you get at the end of the game I managed to finish both, as you can see at the beginning of this post :)

I ended up playing an extra game with Milk because I wanted to see her in the wedding dress, and I was planning on playing one final game with Biscuit, but then... well, I'm totally unaware of the new songs aside from Miruki's Puzzle Buzz one, so I just chose the Himeme/Mychara Girls duet because I wanted to see a Milk/Biscuit pretty rhythm duo, and.... oh my god. it was the cutest song in the world, even (impossibly!) cuter than Buzzle. my idols got engaged......... in pretty rhythm wedding dresses..... . it seemed like too perfect a place to finish my primagi career (and I had to record it twice bc of my usb) (and I didn't particularly have any coord/song in mind to use for Biscuit after that) (and right after hearing morning and gift in the arcade after so long it was a direct hit to my idol emotions) so I finished up and went home.

I'm really glad I got to play one last time. I had already resigned myself to the fact that I just wouldn't get to, that's how it had to be and it sucks that I'm moving at the same time, and I figured it would be fine because I haven't been able to play regularly. but I feel so relieved since I went! I'm going to the middle of nowhere so I won't be able to play aipri verse regularly even if I want to (tbd), so I think this nice long farewell concert helped me feel ok about primagi ending and moving away and whatever aipri is going to be instead of just like... it's inevitable, so oh well.

I haven't had time to check the vids yet. fingers crossed that they turned out fine...

[medicdoodles]

DRAtchet week 2022 Day 6: Indiscreet Photo.

(First Day)||(Day 5)||(Day 7)||(Last Day)

In which Deadlock's and Ratchet's relationship is told in snapshots but maybe they should see who behind the camera.

After all of that fighting done that night, Deadlock managed to keep Ratchet. More than that he finally, finally has Ratchet's permission to enter his home. They actually started to move in together. Even though Ratchet's house has no furnishings or even a bed, this is pure bliss.

So the first thing he moves over to the house is the bed. Not because Deadlock can't handle the floor but because Ratchet is going to have recover for the next few weeks. They found a chop shop that could fix up almost all of the damage from the muggings. Everything except his hands.

All of the technical aspects go over his head, but the jest of it is that the wiring will mimic the exoskeleton. However it will always be five nanoseconds delayed. It wasn't much and to a normal mech the difference wasn't even noticeable, but Ratchet. Ratchet notices instantly, he ran five simple tests and picked up on how much slower his new hand is.

He's grateful, none of the mechanics think he isn't. However, Ratchet asks if they could just allow him to repair his shattered hands. So coming home every night he sees Ratchet sitting down on the bed, trying to navigate fixing it.

Deadlock can really see how much those five nanoseconds matters. How much slower and sloppy his work is. Before he used to be as gentle as snow, but now he can barely hold his hand in the air.

He is proud of Ratchet, the mech might have been ready to give up on them, but he was always determined to healing. It will take a lot of work and practice to get him back in tip top shape, but Deadlock knows that if anyone could rebound it's him.

Last night Ratchet made a big break through. He got two of the fingers to work, they're still unreliable, certainly not ready for any kind of work. However, Deadlock believes this is a good enough reason to celebrate. "Trust me. This place has really good Electric Indium Rocks."

"But what if I don't like Electric treats." Ratchet hooks his new working arm his and rest his head against his chest as they walk down the street. A date, a real and honest date. While the first time at the club was nice, this one is honest.

"You can order something else. I'll just eat what you don't want." Deadlock opens the door to the and leads Ratchet to sit at the table on the back wall. Walking away to set their order was harder than he expected it to be. The Ratchet shaped cold spot makes the distance worse but it isn't long before he goes back.

Sitting to make sure that any bad actors would have to get through him before they could touch Ratchet. "There's an open seat over right there." Ratchet makes a pointed look at the sad looking barstool across from them.

"Yeah?" He laughs it off. No point in letting Ratchet convince him to switch seats. "Well since you said that you don't like Electric so I got some Lithium Ion and Battery Ooze." Placing the bag that the assistant gave him all of the treats scatter on the table.

"That looks like more than those two." Ratchet picks up the round one that is rolling towards the edge of the table. Eating the whole thing in one go, shaking his head from the strong sour taste.

"Maybe you should let me pick them." He shouldn't be laughing, it's not very romantic, but-

"I think you've done enough choosing." Ratchet moves to take the one Deadlock was starting at. Holding it up to his lips, shaking it back and forth, but his hand freezes up, dropping it. He stays still, not one word. Keeping his hand in the same position, shame seeping out of his field.

"Here." Deadlock picks up one of the cooper nuggets and feeds it to him. He can feel his chapped lips, his warmth breath, and soft gaze. "I think you'll like this one better."

That's how they spent the night. Deadlock picking up whatever snack he deemed tasty and feeding it to him. Watching the flickering of emotion as different flavors cross his tongue. The way his thoat works and the ever growing fuel filling him up. It states a more primal instinct and knowing that it was he who fills his lover. Well it's a good thing that he moded his panels to stay lockdown until he turns the code off.

"I shouldn't have eaten so much." Ratchet puts his fist in front of his mouth to keep to fuel in. "I don't think I can drive let alone walk back." Primus he is cute enough to eat.

"I don't know..." Deadlock let's his engine purr. "You can afford to eat more." He rubs Ratchet's plating. "I don't mind carrying you home."

Ratchet gives him that cute little pout. "With your weak ankles, ya right."

"The two of you were very cute. Right Deadlock?" Was the caption on the photo.

---

More time passes and Ratchet has fixed enough of his hand that all fingers are moving. He still has trouble holding things and they start to shake if they stay up for to long. It was a huge improvement, but more than that it gave Ratchet back his confidence. He even had gain that sassy sawy when he walks. The air of authority comes back to full force as he goes back to repairing mechs off the streets.

Tonight, the two of them are heading back to the shop. As Ratchet's has to go through one more exam before they clear him for duty. Bracing himself as the enter the shop, the deep smell of blood never truly goes away. "Well wer here." He bangs on the chains hanging on the wall.

"Cool your thrusters." A saw blades starts spinning, "We'll be ready in a bit." Another spark lights the corner of the room and he swears he can hear someone screaming in pain.

"Have a seat." Ratchet took his hands and drags Deadlock to the seat next to him. "We can make out while we wait."

"Huh?" He turns to face him only to get a sight full of Ratchet's smile, was he teasing him.

"Oh no you don't." The red sports car comes from the other side of the room. His paint is always emasculate, and at first Deadlock didn't trust him to be an actual doctor. "If Breakdown and I can't make out at work than neither can you." He makes his way towards Ratchet, bending down to hold up his hand and running scans. If Deadlock is jealous only Ratchet notices as he just sends him a smug look.

"What's the diagnosis, Knockout?"

"Good." He flips the hand over and starts testing his sensitivity. "In fact you fixed this to almost match the original specs. Practically made a miracle." Deadlock puts his hand on his thighs to express his pride. "Impressive."

"Let me see." Breakdown comes from upstairs and joins the three of them. "Yeah." He takes the hand from Knockout and gives it a stress test. "You may need a bit more time for all of the sensors to work but yeah great work."

"Choppshop." Knockout whistles for the owner to come over. A big mech or rather a group of mini insecticons that form the hulking mech. His two sets of eyes stare deeply into Ratchet's hand as the silicone hairs press against it. "So?"

"He'd save us a lot on supplies, and I ain't got time to reformat alloy."

"What's going on?" Deadlock takes a look at Ratchet. The exchange between him and the rest of the crew is suspicious.

"I ment to tell you." Ratchet moves to run his fingers down his thighs, comforting him. "I was thinking about joining the shop." He looks down keeping gaze away from his. "You know- to help others." It wasn't him asking permission, at least not yo Deadlock. More like he was asking Choppshop to join and is telling him as a formality.

"I get it Ratch." He links their hands together.

"Then let's update the staff picture." Breakdown pulls out a camera hands it over to Deadlock and pushes him out. The rest of the mechs pose themselves around Ratchet. Look at him with a knowing smile as they wait for him to take the photo.

"Say Gasoline."

"This is the place your Ratchet works, correct?" The caption of this group photo reads.

----

Another long, painful shift, Deadlock and the rest of the stunt crew get a half jorn break to refuel and stretch out their legs. Today has been especially tough since two of the main actors switched acts and now they have to start training all over again.

Another dent fender and a twist bumper. He is one of the lucky ones as the guy next to him as a burnt interior filters, with his tire sticking out of his chassis. The other bot in front of him has it worst as he caught the preform in root mode. His axel is twisted and his hip dislocation, he won't be able to transform until that gets fixed.

There's suddenly the crowd starts to whisper, commenting on a new vehicle that is headed this way. In fact it looks a lot like-

"Hey Drift." The mech behind him shoves his shoulder to grab his attention. "You see that bot? The alt mode looks kinda cute no?"

He doesn't get a chance to reply as said vehicle transforms in front of them. To his surprise Ratchet is here and Deadlock realizes that this is the first time he's ever seen his alt mode. It was another shock that he really was not an ambulance. "What are you doin here?"

"I had some extra time." Ratchet then pulls out a crate wrapped up in organic fabric. It was red, with gold hearts, clearly Knockout's but cute. "I figured we could have lunch together." He turns his face away from him, and Primus is he blushing. "To be honest," Ratchet keeps his head away but his eyes come back to look at him. "Breakdown suggested this, and I didn't have anything better."

Maybe it was the heat of the day, or the bruise of his battle scar, but Deadlock can feel his vents kick into high gear. "Yeah." Oh that was the wrong thing as the bot he was talking to face palms. "Here." He takes Ratchet's hands and tries to guide him to sit down on the floor next to him. That was until his bumper starts acting up and tumbles onto the ground hard.

"What happened?" Ratchet drops down to examine the situation. Putting both hands on eithet side of his shoulder to turn him over. The light of the sun makes a ring around his head, like straight out of a dream. That is palling in comparison to the genuine concern in his eyes as he waits for a response.

"Just my fender acting up." He manages to sit normally. Ratchet rushes to his side, he wraps himself around him. Deadlock closes his eyes and waits for the gentle touch. So it's a hard wake up when Ratchet digs into where his vehicle front is stored. He yanks out his fender and with his two hands untwists it. "Ouch." He tries to hold back a yell.

"Sorry." Ratchet gives him a hug, rubbing his face on his chest and planting a kiss.

A whistle brakes the moment. "What's a mech got to do to earn something like that?" Deadlock's coworker says as he continues to watch the two of them. When he coughs and the smoke from the wreckage comes out of his mouth, Ratchet is pulling away.

"What's wrong with you?"

"You tell me." The bot stands up and the rubber from the tire sticks out. No other words is said as Ratchet makes his way to the mech and starts to get to work. Unfortunately, more of the crew came to get repairs. It ate into their lunch, and by the time Ratchet was finished the sun went down and most of the circus left.

"I'm sorry Deadlock." Ratchet gives him another hug.

"It's alright. I got a nice view of you at work." A blush creep up on his face and Primus he was so cute. Cute enough to eat, and he would have if he doesn't have work tomorrow.

"Hey you two." The both of them both follow the voice that calls for them. When they both tracked it the a mech with a camera took their picture. "Here." He sent the image forward. "I figured that I should give you something as thanks." He raised his arm and bent it to show it was fixed now.

"Hmph." Ratchet steps away from him. "Just don't do anything reckless. I don't want to come back to fix it."

We wouldn't want the Ring Leader to know that his new medic is swapping paint with the Decepticon's most prominent weapon. Right?

-----

"So... Deadlock." Ratchet stands at the front of the door, ready to head out for work. They haven't had much time together, this had been the only day in the last few months. "I've been giving it a lot of thought." He lifts his head to look at him but his eyes shift elsewhere. "And maybe it's too early for you but. We should move in together."

Those words ring loudly in his head. It shouldn't matter much, the two of them sleep together here on their off days. While yeah, it wasn't often, it was just enough that Ratchet trust him to rest next to him. The idea to have him everyday, to hold him, to be able to watch him fall asleep and wake up to him. "Uhh yeah." He answers so eloquently. "I'll get all my stuff ready to your place by next week."

Ratchet gives him the most beautiful, genuine smile ever. The world turns perfectly and the sun shines ever brighter. "Okay. I'll get the house ready for you. Tomorrow I'll give you the passcode and a key."

The times the photo has no caption. It's just a grainy picture of Ratchet opening the door to their appartment. A letter behind it has today's date, a list of mechs and the bounty amount. It has no signature, no contact information. The photos were a clear sign that they have ways of tracking him down. More important, they were threatening Ratchet and once he gets out of this mess he will deal with them.

"I'll do it." Deadlock looks at the two goons in front of him. He left his blasters at home and they don't hand theirs over. "But then you already knew that." If he wasn't tied up in the chair he was sitting in he would have attacked them.

It was the first sign that his weakness would put Ratchet in danger. The beginning of the end.

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

july 4, 2021 7:30 p.m. adam's house

[wyatt] i'm gonna ask again...

[grant] alright, well, let me put it this way. what i didn’t like was very, very specific to me. it was a me thing and you are totally different than me. we are different people and the time period won’t even remotely be the same for us, so things will have changed. so, the experience i had isn’t going to be the one you would have. it’s not worth talking about because it just doesn’t matter.

[wyatt] boo, that’s not an answer.

[grant] okay, yeah, i hated it. still, i would absolutely, like, with every fiber in my being and all of my heart encourage you to go play college hockey if you’re interested. and yes, at the school i went to, if you’re interested in that school in the future. it’s so far off from now that you shouldn’t worry about it but you know what your dreams are and you should follow them. don’t ever listen to anyone else. do what you want. you know yourself best.

[grant] the only thing i'd say–and this goes for literally everything in life–is that if you do something and think it’s going to be amazing and you find out it’s not, trust yourself enough to leave and change paths. don’t stay with something if you’re not having a good, healthy, or safe time.

[grant] now i'm really going to get off my soapbox. i'm not here to lecture you. boring! gross! i'm supposed to be the fun uncle.

[wyatt] safe? did you get arrested or something? my friend at school has a big brother in college and he's in jail for selling cocaine.

[ezra] HAHAHAHA!

[grant] uhh–

[grant] i don’t know what to say but, uhh, i have never been arrested.

[wyatt] so, you didn't get arrested like papa?

[grant] you know about uncle paddy going to jail?

[ezra] he has his mugshots in his car!

[grant] oh, i forgot about that.

[wyatt] wait, why did you call him–

[grant] uncle paddy?

[wyatt] he’s your dad.

[grant] oh, no, buddy, i'm about to destroy your whole worldview…

[ezra] hey, the dragon is here! geez, the head chopping thing took soooooo long.

[grant] yay, alduin time! RIP to the others, though.

[grant] but, um, buddy, he’s not my dad. and your dad isn’t my brother.

[wyatt] liar!

[grant] i didn’t know you didn’t know!

[wyatt] how’s he not your dad? you wear glasses like him! and you laugh like him!

[ezra] wait, what?

[grant] i guess you’re confused because he calls me his son? and, well, your dad and his siblings and i call each other by, like, sibling-y terminology.

[grant] my mom is your grandfather and aunt bridget’s older sister.

[ezra] no! great-grandma aoife and great-grandpa joseph don’t have another–

[grant] no, no, they do.

[ezra] you're lying! liar liar pants on fire!

[grant] i am telling the honest truth! and i'm sorry to surprise! i really thought you knew.

[ezra] well, uh, you can still be uncle grant because you’re cool. you fly planes and do cool stuff like that, and you’re nice and funny and good at video games.

[grant] aww, i still make the cut? i'm still good enough to be an uncle?

[wyatt] of course! but if you become less funner than uncle alex, then you’re gonna get fired from the uncle job.

[grant] at least i know the terms of the contract!

[grant] but damn, you don’t like alex?

[wyatt] he’s kind of annoying. and he and lilly have a crusty white dog. i'm scared of crusty white dogs. they look evil. they’re gonna eat my limbs in my sleep.

[grant] that’s very oddly specific.

[ezra] i'm scared of sporks.

[grant] sporks?

[ezra] and i don’t like ladders.

[grant] okay, but sporks?

[ezra] it’s a fork but uglier and stupider.

[grant] you know what? valid. you’re not wrong.

[wyatt] i hate clowns, too!

[grant] also valid.

[wyatt] you aren’t scared of anything?

[grant] lithium-ion battery fires.

[wyatt] what?

[ezra] that’s a lot of big words.

[grant] yeah, lithium-ion battery fires, especially on a plane, and people being mean to me. germs, too. can’t forget germs.

[wyatt] if i sneeze into an open hand, would it make you cry?

[grant] yeah, a little bit.

[grant] don’t make me summon the crusty white dogs.

[ezra] summon! summon! summon!

[biggestdev]

Converting a battery backup to Lithium because I hate myself

I've got a whole bunch of battery backups in my home, one on each computer, and a big one in my server rack in the basement. I've also got a few out "in the wild" at some of my family's places. They're great, where I live in the northeast US, the power grid is stable enough that most outages are only minutes long, and these backups (technically called a UPS - Uninterrupted Power Supply) do a great job keeping computers running through them.

My issue is the batteries. They all run on lead acid batteries, aka the same kind that's in your car, and they dont last long in this kind of environment, I'm lucky if I get 3 years out of one. On top of that, their battery life detection is terrible, It's about a 50/50 shot whether I get a warning about a dead battery pack before the next power outage takes it down without warning. Keeping track of that with just one or two is annoying, let alone 10 of them!

Lithium UPS's exist, and theoretically last many years longer, but they are many times more expensive than a normal backup. I'd like to not spend new-car money replacing a dozen UPS units, so I did some math instead.

I have a husk of a ups (no battery), and I tested it out: the open circuit voltage on the battery cable is 27.6 volts, which just happens to be almost the exact voltage needed to float charge a series of 8 Lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePo4) batteries!

Why is that exciting? Usually when you think of lithium batteries, you think of lithium-ion (also can be called lithium-polymer) batteries. These are the batteries in your laptop and phone... And also Tesla cars. They hold more energy than a LiFePo4 battery, but are very sensitive to temperature, over and under-voltage, over-charging, and over-current conditions. Abuse them too hard, and they swell up and pop! That's why Teslas seem to catch fire more often than other cars: most other companies gave up range for a battery chemistry that isn't a ticking time bomb, like LiFePo4.

These LiFePo4 batteries can take a beating compared to Li-ion ones. Most importantly, they can be "float" charged, that is, left on the charger 24/7, without worrying about overcharging it and blowing caustic smoke everywhere. This is critical, because I'm attempting a direct drop-in swap for the old lead battery in this UPS, because float charging a lead battery is basically a requirement, and doing that to a Li-ion battery is asking for a fire!

Using a Li-ion pack would require a custom charging circuit, as the UPS's 27.6V is not correct for any configuration of Li-ion, and would either under charge the pack, losing me 50% of my capacity, or overcharge it, and make it explode. It would also have to stop the batteries from being float charged, again to keep the battery from exploding, while fooling the UPS into thinking a battery is still attached so it doesn't beep at me all the time, and my head is spinning just thinking about how that would work. Much easier to give up capacity for a simpler, and more robust battery.

This UPS can deliver 900 watts of power on battery, that equates to roughly 30 amps of current from the 27.6V battery pack. Adding a safety factor, I bought a BMS (Battery Management System) rated to 50 amps. A BMS is essential, as it offers extra protection against short circuits, over and under-charging and temperature cutoff. Also cell balancing, which keeps all the cells at the same level of charge during use (if they go out of sync-that's bad, is all I'll say for now). The batteries are rated for 120 amps continuous draw, so I am well under the limit where the cells would self-immolate.

With all that said, here's the guts:

Looking close, you might see that I had to cut some plastic out to make it all fit. That's an error on my part-I didn't measure right. If I make more, I'll definately be using a smaller cell, so it will be a proper "drop in" mod. Lots of drilling, cutting, and filing to make this all fit!

It took several hours to link up the cells, terminate the balancing wires (the small red spindly ones), and and stuff them in the battery box. That's a LOT longer than I was hoping it would take, but the on-the fly mods took a lot of time. but eventually, it all fit in, and I was able to test it:

It works! I unplugged it from the wall, and it stayed on! For now, I am in full helicopter parent mode, since I don't want to deal with a lithium fire, even though my math checks out and the UPS should never get the the point that these cells are ever "abused". I only leave it on when I'm in the room, and when I leave, I unplug from the wall, and remove the red lead from the battery, so no charge enters or leaves while I'm not there to watch it.

In theory, the only issue with this retrofit will be a useless runtime meter. The "minutes of runtime" meter is measuring the voltage of the battery as it discharges to estimate how much longer it will last, and the voltage drop over time is different for lithium and lead, so the meter won't be measuring accurately. Once I'm confident it won't explode randomly, I will likely install it permanently somewhere in one of my compters.

Wish me luck!

[bnkbgvbzbuf876986387nogj]

Doubling battery capacity is one way to increase the range of an electric vehicle (see also the Mini E, which sacrifices its rear seat for a larger battery and gets 104 miles), but this option is far from sustainable since it also doubles the amount of energy needed to manufacture the battery. It also doubles the costs, of course. The battery of the $ 109,000 Tesla Roadster sells for $ 30,000, as much as an entire Nissan or Mitsubishi vehicle.

Nobody has investigated how much energy it takes to produce a Tesla Roadster battery, or any other EV battery for that matter, but you can get an idea of it using an online tool from Carnegie Mellon University. Corresponding to these data, $ 30,000 of economic activity in the storage battery sector (including the production of li-ion batteries) equals an energy consumption of 23,222 kWh - that’s almost 6 years of electricity consumption by an average British household. The battery has to be replaced after a maximum of 7 years.

These figures suggest that the embodied energy of the battery - not considered in any research paper that investigates the ecological advantages of electric cars - makes up for a substantial amount of the total energy cost of an electric automobile. At the advertised energy use of 21 kWh per 100 miles, 23,222 kWh would take the Tesla 109,938 miles (176,929 km) far. That’s almost 30,000 km (18,600 miles) per year, or 80 km (51 miles) per day. The low “fuel” costs are only half the story if the “fuel tank” itself is that energy-intensive.

Miracle battery

Today, just like 100 years ago, EV proponents are divided on the question of how to market electric vehicles. Some keep emphasizing the fact that most people never drive further than 30 miles per day - therefore the current batteries are well suited to perform their task. Most cars will be charged overnight, battery-swapping stations and fast-charging will do the rest.

Others, however, keep hoping for a revolutionary storage technology that will eventually give EV’s a similar range to that of gasoline cars. This belief is supported by press releases like this: “Nanowire battery can hold 10 times the charge of lithium-ion”. It is interesting to note that the arrival of such a miracle battery has been “just around the corner” for over 100 years now:

“A large number of people interested in stored power are looking forward to a revolution in the generating power of storage batteries, and it is the opinion of many that the long-looked-for, light weight, high capacity battery will soon be discovered.” (source, 1901).

“The demand for a proper automobile storage battery is so crying that it soon must result in the appearance of the desired accumulator [battery]. Everywhere in the history of industrial progress, invention has followed close in the wake of necessity” (Electrical Review, 1901).

Edison himself promised a radical improvement to the lead-acid battery at the turn of the 20th century. It took almost a decade before the Edison battery appeared on the market, and even though it had some advantages over the others, it was very expensive (the price of a gasoline powered Ford Model-T) and far from revolutionary.

The promise of a miracle storage technology reared its head again in the 1960s and 1970s, when electric cars went through a short revival:

“The consensus among EV proponents and major battery manufacturers is that a high-energy, high power-density battery - a true breakthrough in electrochemistry - could be accomplished in just 5 years” (Machine Design, 1974).

The range of most electric (concept) cars in the 1960s and 1970s was considerably lower than that of early 1900 electrics. This was because they were still making use of similar lead-acid batteries, while the cars themselves were already much heavier and more powerful.

Realistic electric vehicles - scenario 1

The miracle battery might one day arrive, but history teaches us not to count on it. What would definitely yield results, on the other hand, is to use existing technology and downsize the car. There are two ways to do this, as was briefly noted above. The first is to go back to early 20th century electric vehicles and equip them with modern batteries. This would extend their range spectacularly, as much as a (not yet existing) nanowire battery could.

If you were to put the lithium-ion battery of the Nissan Leaf in the 1908 Fritchle, the vehicle would have a range of about 644 km (400 miles). If you put a lithium-ion battery with the same weight of the Fritchle-battery inside, you get about 700 miles (1,127 km) range. Add to this the fact that we now also have lighter and more efficient motors (and other vehicle parts) and the range will become even greater.

Even with the headlights and the heating on, driving home over windy hills and muddy roads, such a car would give a safe and comfortable range, similar to that of today’s gasoline vehicles. Moreover, it would consume less energy: the Fritchle used around 7 kWh/100 km, the Nissan Leaf at least 15 kWh/100 km.

A better range is much more than a convenience for the driver. It would also mean that we need fewer charging and battery swapping stations, which would greatly lower the costs and the embodied energy of the required infrastructure. In short, slower EV’s would make EV’s a whole lot more likely. Interestingly, we don’t even have to streamline them. Early electrics had style, and at low speeds aerodynamics is not an important factor in energy consumption.

Realistic electric vehicles - scenario 2

Of course, slow vehicles with the appearance of a horse carriage will not appeal to everybody. But there is another way. We could also downsize the electric car by designing much lighter and fuel efficient vehicles. This is shown by a concept EV like the Trev. This vehicle’s performance is comparable to that of the Nissan Leaf or the Mitsubishi i-MiEV: it has a top speed of 120 km/h (74.5 mph) and it accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (60 mph) in less than 10 seconds.

However, its battery is almost 5 times lighter (45 kg or 99 pounds) and the vehicle itself (including the battery) weighs only 300 kg (660 pounds). In spite of its higher performance, it consumes as much energy as the Fritchle: 6.2 kWh/100 km, half the fuel consumption of the Nissan. Yet, the range of the Trev is similar to that of the Nissan or the Fritchle: 150 km or 93 miles. The reason is of course that if you design a much lighter vehicle, it will also have a much smaller battery that consequently holds less energy. With gasoline powered automobiles, the potential of weight reduction is much larger.

Nevertheless, a vehicle like the Trev would have almost as much benefits as a Fritchle with a 2010 battery. It would still require an elaborate charging infrastructure, but because of its much smaller battery it would seriously relieve the problem of peak demand: fast-charging could become a realistic option without the need to build hundreds of new power plants. It would also have the substantial advantage of holding a battery that is much less energy-intensive to produce.

We cannot have it all

Of course, there are many more possibilities than the two scenario’s outlined here. It would not kill us to drive at speeds of 20 mph, on the contrary, but there is so much potential in downsizing the automobile that we don’t have to go all the way back to the early 1900s to get a decent range.

We could tune them up a bit so that they could get 60 km/h or 40 mph (only sligthly faster than the 1911 Babcock Electric Roadster pictured above) and accelerate just fast enough to leave a crime scene or flee from a mad elephant.

At 60 km/h or 40 mph a trip of 600 kilometres or 400 miles would take 10 hours, instead of 5 hours at a common motorway speed. This does not sound like the end of the world. It’s definitely a whole lot faster than going by foot (120 hours) or by bike (30 hours). We could also equip the Trev with a somewhat larger battery so that it gets a better mileage at the expense of a somewhat lower speed. Or, yet another possibility: keep the Trev like it is but limit its speed to that of the Fritchle.

If we want more speed, we have to sacrifice range. If we want more range, we have to sacrifice speed. If we want to keep the (energy) costs of the charging infrastructure within reasonable limits, we have to sacrifice speed or size. The lesson to be learned here, is that we cannot have it all: range, speed and size. And yet, that’s what we are trying to do.

[yatiinfotechsolution]

[seat-safety-switch]

Everyone knows me at the dump. I don’t mean this in a bragging sort of way. In fact, I hate this fact. The reason why everyone knows me at the dump is that Mr. Jones, the dump operator, has posted the CCTV footage and blurry cell-phone camera pictures of my face on the break room wall. Even the youngest probie at the dump will look at me, every morning, while they wait for the coffee machine to dispense their mandatory cup of black joy.

You can probably guess why this has happened to me. I love junk, and the dump has a lot of that junk. To me, it is offensive that the dump hoards that junk. They keep it from me, using excuses like “sanitation” and “safety,” but safety is my middle name. If they would just give me a chance, then I would be the best they’ve ever seen. I’d even remove and sort the little lithium-ion vape batteries that haven’t exploded yet, out of gratitude.

Of course, we both know why I’m digging through trash at the dump. I don’t want old Betamax VCRs, or mouldy cardboard boxes heralding products from a bygone era. Well, I do, but I don’t want them more than I want a two-stroke dirt bike, and I’ve seen tons of those over the years get callously tossed into the debris pile by the great unwashed. They’re always getting thrown out for little reasons, like “carb jet plugged,” or “caught on fire,” or “couldn’t get anyone to buy it on Craigslist for septuple the market value so I threw it away out of spite.” I could save these bikes, and to be not allowed to save them is literal torture.

Just like anyone else would in my shoes, I started wearing elaborate disguises to the dump. Sometimes I could loot one, and throw it into the back of my car, and be gone before the dump operators (there weren’t even security guards yet, back then) could catch up to me. I had enough disguises – and enough cars – that I could pull this off for a little while. Then, used cars got really expensive, and the folks in my neighbourhood started using security fasteners to hold on their license plates. I started to escape by tighter and tighter scrapes, until one fateful day.

That bastard Jones figured me out. He came from Chicago, of all places, a city which I’m pretty sure doesn’t even have a dump. And he knew my kind. He set a trap: an agonizingly pristine, 1989 Yamaha XT225. Sure, it was a four-stroke, but it was still love at first sight. It was planted right on top of one of the big piles of disposable diapers, visible even from the highway. Even knowing it was a trap, I made plans for months to grab it.

The joke’s on him, though. I’ve started my own private dump, and I’ve paid the government to start outsourcing dump operations to me. We’re an extremely efficient operation, much more affordable for the taxpayer than the wasteful public dump. How so, you ask? Well, we are much more selective with what waste we accept, and we wrote one helluva contract, which had a bunch of big words that confused the gin-addled politicos that signed it out of desperation to meet their “lower taxes” pledge.

Here’s how it works. We charge the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, and we get first pick of any internal combustion engines that are in the back of the garbage trucks. Everything else goes down the road to the regular dump. We’re making a fortune. If we keep putting out numbers like this, I’m sure there will soon be layoffs over at Jones’ shithole. Hell, maybe I’ll even hire him to manage security around these parts. Can’t have anyone walking off with my good trash.

[mutimatuti]

god I hate how lithium-ion batteries are now a norm and are being shoved into every device you can think of

it's the biggest reason I'm so against unnecessary wireless devices such as headphones or mouses, they rely on needless resources and contain batteries that get more dangerous as they age

[professionaloddish]

Ok so I kinda got a secret to share. You see the first Pokemon I ever actually (sort of) caught in Paldea was

This guy! I kinda kept them secret for a while because of the whole circumstances of our meeting and how they aren’t like any Pokemon I’ve seen before! But I’ve been riding them around Paldea and realized that they’re less of a secret and more of an open secret. Also I get a kind of headache? Or something to that effect when they’re around and I focus too hard on them. Don’t think that’s normal but whatever their name is ‘lithium ion battery’ or ‘Ion’ for short.

[your-god-empress-lavender]

Calcium sulphur batteries (uwu)

Okay, so, i've become interested in z-pinch studies for aerospace purposes (i'm really excited about the prospects, everything works on paper, but i naturally want to actually witness p+N14 fusion for above 0.01% of available protons before i go trying to get the materials to build a real liquid fueled SSTO fusion rocket, especially since there are thousands of folks way smarter than me who have presumably thought of this before and we don't have it yet, so yeah). Anyways, if i want the extremely large electricity input without making my electricity bill higher than a whole month's rent and getting my roommates mad at me, i'll need to collect solar or wind in a battery bank. Since lithium batteries are just about all immoral and expensive (yes i am writing this on a device powered by lithium batteries, it would be lovely if capitalists would take a hint and switch to things that just objectively perform better and are cheaper, but whatever), i figured this would be a nice excuse to experiment around with some new battery designs. Since all of them will require sulphur, i won't be able to really get into it before mid may due to some concerns about the smell and risks of getting sulphur powder everywhere (it's very yellow and hard to clean out), but i felt i might as well share my preliminary ideas. First off, in order to make the organic sulphur polymer, i'm looking to explore mostly citrate based polymers, perhaps with phenylalanine mixed in in order to both give more bulk as well as providing nitrogens for sulphenamides to form. Since i'll need urea later, i was also considering partially polymerizing urea with citric acid and adding that into the molten sulphur mix, but i'm less confident in the stability of that and a bit concerned about the potential noxious fumes produced. Regardless, that's the short of the sulphur cathode, details will definitely change after i refind that paper which went over a great way of preventing insoluble polysulphide production. I'm also gonna experiment with anode material and even the ions i use. I know i said "calcium sulphur batteries" in the title, but due to how common aluminium is and how much easier magnesium is to work with (and the fact that their specific energies are higher), i'll also be considering those two. Even beyond that, there are so many potential anode materials, including even amorphous carbon and carbon nitrides which i'd love to test since there's just so much to improve on and i'd rather do a lot of experiments with cheap to make materials and potentially land on a great solution than accept something subpar because it took less effort. Anyways, of the materials i plan on using, there's magnesium sulphate, aluminium sulphate, calcium chloride, potentially other calcium salts (is the salt with taurine soluble in water? IDK, can't find an answer so i'll test it), charcoal, vegetable oil, urea, and phenylalanine. Those may seem like an unrelated hodgepodge of compounds, but they've been chosen because they're what i have/will soon have and they're also all extremely cheap. If the urea works out well in the battery, i may have to make this project a meme and attempt to make a z-pinch device with as much urine as possible (use it to make ammonia for the plasma, to make the batteries, and i'm sure there's some way to use urine in a capacitor (maybe just distilling off the water to use as a dielectric? idk, it's been a while since i tried making a capacitor)).

Anyway, i really didn't expect this long trainwreck of a post to end with discussions of urine, but what can you do? This is all probably nonsensical, even by my standards, but basically i want batteries and i think i can make them cheaper per megajoule of stored energy than the ones i could buy, even accounting for the inevitable failed experiments.