Performing An Autopsy On 15 Dead Battle Born LFP Batteries

February 16, 2026 by No comments
More molten plastic spacers between the bus bar and terminal. (Credit: Will Prowse)
More molten plastic spacers between the bus bar and terminal. (Credit: Will Prowse)

Because size matters when it comes to statistics, [Will Prowse] decided to not just bank on his handful of failed Battle Born LFP batteries when it came to documenting their failure modes. Instead he got a whole gaggle of them from a viewer who had experienced failures with their Battle Born LFP batteries for an autopsy, adding a total of 15 samples to the data set.

Interestingly, the symptoms of these dead batteries are all over the place, from a refusal to charge, some have the overheating terminal, some do not show any sign of life, others have charged cells but a non-responsive BMS, etc. As [Will] notes, it’s important to test batteries with a load and a charger to determine whether they are functional not just whether you can measure a charge.

Although some of the batteries still showed enough signs of life to be put aside for some load testing, the remaining ones were cut open to check their insides. This revealed the typical molten plastic at the terminals, but also a lot of very loose connections for the internal wiring. Another battery showed signs of corrosion inside, which could be due to either moisture intrusion or a cell having leaked its electrolyte.

While the full results will hopefully be released soon, the worrying thing about this latest batch of Battle Born LFP batteries is that they span quite a few years, with one being from 2018. Although it’s comforting that not every one of these batteries is necessarily going to catch on fire within its approximate 8-year lifespan, a lot seems to depend on exactly how you load and charge them, as [Will] is trying to figure out with the upcoming load testing. With the unit that he recently purchased for testing it turned out that lower currents actually made the melting problem much worse.

Between this video and the much awaited follow-up, [Will] actually got his hands on a troubled 300A-rated industrial Battle Born battery. During testing that one actually failed violently with a cell venting and the loose BMS rattling around in the case.

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What The FDA’s 2026 Wellness Device Update Means For Wearables

February 16, 2026 by 1 Comment

With more and more sensors being crammed into the consumer devices that many of us wear every day, the question of where medical devices begin and end, and how they should be regulated become ever more pertinent. When a ‘watch’ no longer just shows the time, but can keep track of a dozen vital measurements, and the line between ‘earbud’ and ‘hearing aid’ is a rather fuzzy one, this necessitates that institutions like the US FDA update their medical device rules, as was done recently in its 2026 update.

This determines how exactly these devices are regulated, and in how far their data can be used for medical purposes. An important clarification made in the 2026 update is the distinction between ‘medical information’ and ‘signals/patterns’. Meaning that while a non-calibrated fitness tracker or smart watch does not provide medically valid information, it can be used to detect patterns and events that warrant a closer look, such as indications of arrhythmia or low blood oxygen saturation.

As detailed in the IEEE Spectrum article, these consumer devices are thus  ‘general wellness’ devices, and should be marketed as such, without embellished claims. Least of all should they be sold as devices that can provide medical information.

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A Basic Guide To Shielding

February 16, 2026 by 2 Comments

[GreatScott] has recently been tinkering in the world of radio frequency emissions, going so far as to put their own designs in a proper test chamber to determine whether they meet contemporary standards for noise output. This led them to explore the concept of shielding, and how a bit of well-placed metal can make all the difference in this regard.

The video focuses on three common types of shielding—absorber sheets, shielding tapes, and shielding cabinets. A wide variety of electronic devices use one or more of these types of shielding. [GreatScott] shows off their basic effectiveness by putting various types of shielding in between a noise source and a near-field probe hooked up to a receiver. Just placing a bit of conductive material in between the two can cut down on noise significantly. Then, a software defined radio (SDR) was busted out for some more serious analysis. [GreatScott] shows how Faraday cages (or simple shielding cabinets] can be used to crush down spurious RF outputs to almost nothing, and how his noisy buck-boost designs can be quieted down with the use of the right absorber sheets that deal well with the problematic frequencies in question. The ultimate upshot of the tests is that higher frequencies respond best to conductive shielding that is well enclosed, while lower frequency noise benefits from more absorptive shielding materials with the right permeability for the job.

Shielding design can be a complex topic that you probably won’t master in a ten minute YouTube video, but this content is a great primer if you’re new to the topic. We’ve covered the topic before, too, particularly on how a bit of DIY shielding can really aid a cheap SDR’s performance. Video after the break.

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A Computer That Fits Inside A Camera Lens

February 16, 2026 by 13 Comments

For a long while, digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras were the king of the castle for professional and amateur photography. They brought large sensors, interchangeable lenses, and professional-level viewfinders to the digital world at approachable prices, and then cemented their lead when they started being used to create video as well. They’re experiencing a bit of a decline now, though, as mirrorless cameras start to dominate, and with that comes some unique opportunities. To attach a lens meant for a DSLR to a mirrorless camera, an adapter housing must be used, and [Ancient] found a way to squeeze a computer and a programmable aperture into this tiny space.

The programmable aperture is based on an LCD screen from an old cell phone. LCD screens are generally transparent until their pixels are switched, and in most uses as displays a backer is put in place so someone can make out what is on the screen. [Ancient] is removing this backer, though, allowing the LCD to be completely transparent when switched off. The screen is placed inside this lens adapter housing in the middle of a PCB where a small computer is also placed. The computer controls the LCD via a set of buttons on the outside of the housing, allowing the photographer to use this screen as a programmable aperture.

The LCD-as-aperture has a number of interesting uses that would be impossible with a standard iris aperture. Not only can it function as a standard iris aperture, but it can do things like cycle through different areas of the image in sequence, open up arbitrary parts or close off others, and a number of other unique options. It’s worth checking out the video below, as [Ancient] demonstrates many of these effects towards the end. We’ve seen some of these effects before, although those were in lenses that were mechanically controlled instead.

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Retrotechtacular: Mr. Wizard Jams With IBM

February 16, 2026 by 5 Comments

You may not remember [Mr. Wizard], but he was a staple of nerd kids over a few decades, teaching science to kids via the magic of television. The Computer History Archives Project has a partially restored film of [Mr. Wizard] showing off sounds and noise on a state-of-the-art (for 1963) Tektronix 504 oscilloscope. He talks about noise and also shows the famous IBM mainframe rendition of the song “Daisy Bell.” You can see the video along with some extras below.

You might recall that the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” paid homage to the IBM computer’s singing debut by having HAL 9000 sing the same song as it is being deactivated. The idea that HAL was IBM “minus one” has been repeatedly denied, but we still remain convinced.

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Illustrated Kristina with an IBM Model M keyboard floating between her hands.

Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The NEO With The Typewriter Shell

February 16, 2026 by No comments

Isn’t this glorious? If you don’t recognize what this is right away (or from the post title), it’s an AlphaSmart NEO word processor, repackaged in a 3D-printed typewriter-esque shell, meticulously designed by the renowned [Un Kyu Lee] of Micro Journal fame.

An AlphaSmart NEO in a 3D-printed, typewriter-esque enclosure, complete with big knobs.
Image by [Un Kyu Lee] via GitHub
If you don’t want to spend roughly 40 hours printing ~1 kg of filament in order to make your own, you can join the wait-list on Tindie like I did. Go here to figure out which color you want, and email [Un Kyu Lee] when you order. In the meantime, you can watch the assembly video and then check out this playlist that shows the available colors.

Assembly looks easy enough; there’s no soldering, but you do have to disconnect and reconnect the fiddly ribbon cables. After that, it’s just screws.

This design happened by accident. A friend named [Hook] who happens to manage the AlphaSmart Flickr community had given [Un Kyu Lee] a NEO2 to try out, but before he could, it fell from a shelf and the enclosure suffered a nasty hole near the screen. But the internals seemed fine, so he got the idea to design a new enclosure.

I don’t believe the knobs do anything, but they sure do look nice. There’s an area along the top where you can clip a light, since the NEO has no backlight. There are also two smaller slots on the sides if your light won’t clip to the top.

I’d really like to do this to one of my NEOs. I have two NEO regulars, but reviewers on Tindie report that it works just as well with those as the NEO2.

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How Volunteers Saved A Victorian-Era Pumping Station From Demolition

February 16, 2026 by 8 Comments
D-engine of the Claymills Pumping Station. (Credit: John M)
D-engine of the Claymills Pumping Station. (Credit: John M)

Although infrastructure like a 19th-century pumping station generally tends to be quietly decommissioned and demolished, sometimes you get enough people looking at such an object and wondering whether maybe it’d be worth preserving. Such was the case with the Claymills Pumping Station in Staffordshire, England. After starting operations in the late 19th century, the pumping station was in active use until 1971. In a recent documentary by the Claymills Pumping Station Trust, as the start of their YouTube channel, the derelict state of the station at the time is covered, as well as its long and arduous recovery since they acquired the site in 1993.

After its decommissioning, the station was eventually scheduled for demolition. Many parts had by that time been removed for display elsewhere, discarded, or outright stolen for the copper and brass. Of the four Woolf compounding rotative beam engines, units A and B had been shut down first and used for spare parts to keep the remaining units going. Along with groundwater intrusion and a decaying roof, it was in a sorry state after decades of neglect. Restoring it was a monumental task.

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