Ask Hackaday: When Good Lithium Batteries Go Bad

Friends, I’ve gotten myself into a pickle and I need some help.

A few years back, I decided to get into solar power by building a complete PV system inside a mobile trailer. The rationale for this doesn’t matter for the current discussion, but for the curious, I wrote an article outlining the whole design and build process. Briefly, though, the system has two adjustable PV arrays mounted on the roof and side of a small cargo trailer, with an integrated solar inverter-charger and a 10-kWh LiFePO4 battery bank on the inside, along with all the usual switching and circuit protection stuff.

It’s pretty cool, if I do say so myself, and literally every word I’ve written for Hackaday since sometime in 2023 has been on a computer powered by that trailer. I must have built it pretty well, because it’s been largely hands-off since then, requiring very little maintenance. And therein lies the root of my current conundrum.

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Even With AC, Hazmat Suit Isn’t Really Cool

We’ll admit that the coolness factor of an air conditioned faux spacesuit made out of a hazmat suit will largely depend on where you wear it. At your next chess club meeting, maybe a hit. On a blind date, probably not. [Saveitforparts] apparently doesn’t mind and the combination of very warm weather and the donation of an expired hazmat suit, spurred his imagination as you can see in the video below.

A battery pack, a blower, and a box full of frozen water bottles completes the ensemble. Wireless temperature sensors show the outside temperature as well as temperature inside different parts of the suit. Does it work? We guess it must, but the roar of the fan is deafening and we have doubts about the frozen water cooling system. On the other hand, if you’re shooting a low budget science fiction thriller, this might be just the thing.

Even [Saveitforparts] admits this isn’t really practical and, as we suspected, he decided to get out of it as the condensing water started to run down his legs. Turns out astronauts and tank drivers use an undergarment made with small tubes of flowing water to stay cool.

This project reminded us of the positive pressure suit we saw a bit ago. Not to mention the one that went full body.

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