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Comment by zackify | Hacker News Reader

Batteries are getting crazy inexpensive. You can get 16kwh for $1850 now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bShGUPU3TQ

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know whether or not this will cause a perma-fire in my home. I wouldn't even know where to begin to determine whether this is a death trap or a great deal. I'm leaning towards the former

Lithium-ion: fire hazard, capable of thermal runaway and pack both fuel and oxidizer, napalm-style.

LiFePO4: safe, unless you crack them and ignite the liquid with a blowtorch, or something.

Lithium-ion: produces its own oxygen, the reason why you get thermal runaways. LiFePO4: Does not produce its own oxygen, any fire (can happen) is limited to the surrounding air.

A trend in home batteries, that we see now (because of killer competition on the Chinese Market / export), is LiFePO4 batteries that have a included fire extinguisher module.

This adds another layer of security beyond:

* LiFePO4 (not oxygen producing)

* Most batteries are encased in a iron protective layer, this reduces the risk of punctures. And also act as a fire suppressor as any fire has a hard time escaping / limited amount of oxygen access.

* Depending on the batteries, they can be installed in a enclosed rack.

* The now often fire extinguisher module in a lot of pre-made batteries.

The chance of a fire from a LiFePO4 install is so small, that your more likely to get a fire from any other part of your house (probably your laptop or smartphone lol ).

Thank you so much for the in-depth answer. Super helpful

Thank you for the info!

...if you want to take your chances with cheap junk in a safety-critical application. I watched about 3 minutes of that video and the number of issues that guy ran into was disturbing. You'd have to be nuts to put that thing in your house.

I am in no position to install a battery system, but if I were, I would definitely build a little cinder-block shed to hold the array. Offset that a good distance from standing structures and instant piece of mind.

Please do not give that guy more exposure than he already has, his advice is going to get someone killed one of these days. He knows just enough to be dangerous.

As my grandma used to say, regarding speaking a foreign language: "enough to get you beat up, not enough to get them to stop"

Why the downvotes?

Conversation instead of anonymous bashing would be appreciated.

Unless you have no good arguments, so I dare you, random aggressive strangers, I triple dare you!

I would strongly disagree. Inexpensive batteries are everywhere now - this is the work of market forces, not some guy on Youtube - and he's one of a handful of people who you can trust to do an honest dissection of a battery. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to check for a handful of basic safety features and characteristics, which is more or less what he does.

Given how many years of experience we have with Will Prowse, it would be helpful if you could elaborate a little on why we should trust your opinion more.

Will Prowse has been around a while now and this is the first time I'm seeing a critique of his safety habits. Please elaborate as he's widely respected in the solar/storage community.

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