Check Your Battleborn Positive Terminal!

[DaveInDenver]

The problem seems obvious in the 3rd video tear-down.

There's a plastic form between the internal busbar and the terminal.

Giving benefit, maybe running it insulated with a bolt was a failed attempt to be a fuse. That's a big benefit of the doubt.

This is not ideal, the guy in the first two videos is right. This is not safe mechanically as different materials expand/contract and there's no way to fix it without opening the case or/and a redesign. Even if it wasn't the electrical tie mechanically it seems kind of weak. If the plastic cracks that terminal flaps in the wind even if happens to not start arcing.

The battery itself (e.g. cells, BMS, thermal and current protection) may be safe electrically. This is a failure at the fuzzy boundary between battery and load.

The heat and arcing here is creating a failure mode that's basically the same as if you didn't do a good job connecting it on the tab. The location of the heat in proximity to the cells is more problematic, though.

Being internal in a case that is not intended to be opened or serviced it's incumbent on the supplier to do better. It would be different if the user could open the enclosure to inspect, look for deformation or loose fasteners. Maybe some iterations have a fuse or breaker to bridge this spot.

Since you can't do any of that it's on them completely. I would be concerned if these are in your system. Relying on the epoxy discoloration to indicate overheating isn't a comforting prospect.

 

[jkam]

As competition heated up, Battleborn continued to keep their battery prices very high.
And still do compared to what else you can get.
They won't be around much longer with a business model like they continue to use.

 

[HoganW]

As competition heated up, Battleborn continued to keep their battery prices very high.
And still do compared to what else you can get.
They won't be around much longer with a business model like they continue to use.

Their stock is basically worthless now vs during the pandemic. It's not just the problematic business model.

 

[HoganW]

LOL...

Yes, I understand it's not expected that a battery is going to constantly be discharged and charged at the listed rates, however the rates provided BB, which is the same as Will has configured, are continuous. The BMS shouldn't be triggering the high-temp cut-off when the battery is being charged and discharged at the continuous rates specified by BB themselves.

 

[dstefan]

LOL...

Yes, I understand it's not expected that a battery is going to constantly be discharged and charged at the listed rates, however the rates provided BB, which is the same as Will has configured, are continuous. The BMS shouldn't be triggering the high-temp cut-off when the battery is being charged and discharged at the continuous rates specified by BB themselves.

Battleborn just can’t quit over promising and under delivering … as well as over pricing!

I’m in no way defending BB’s bad design, warranty and customer service, and terrible lack of transparency, but this test along with reading all the problem circumstances reported in Prowse’s forum seems to indicate that the problems appear to be more likely with high draw constant discharging and charging.

I guess we’ll have to see. But for folks like me who bought these 5 or 6 years ago before the explosion of cheaper, well made competitors AND who use these inconsistently and well below the maximum specs, I think it provides a bit of, um… perspective, if not assurance.

Sure wouldn’t want a BB under any circumstances now, though. And if I had a bank of these in a home solar or heavy draw mobile situation, I'd sure be working hard to replace them.

 

[donmontalvo]

So Will Prose kicked a hornets nest with a teardown video of a failed 100AH BB by showing that it was, according to him, a design flaw with the mounting of the positive terminal leading to overheating, melting of the plastic frame through which the + bus bar was bolted to the + terminal using an aluminum bolt.

The + terminal was loose and wiggling, the bright red epoxy seal was heat discolored to brown, the votage and current were dropping out and there was internal arcing inside the case.

Battleborn has made this exponentially worse by responding very defesively that this is an intentional failsafe to prevent thermal runaway, which maybe is true as there appears to be no cases of runaway, but . . . .

Long story short, quite a few pretty bad failure stories have emerged in the last six months and even more since the teardown vid. Evidently Battleborn is . . .well, embattled . . . as DragonFly energy the brand’s parent company has had a stock value collapse from 2023 from ~$150/share to less than $1. Of course, everyone on Prowse's forum is predicting bankruptcy, so much for those 10 year warranties, which they appear to not be honoring by creating hurdles such that nothing short of a new failed battery out of the box is able to be warrantied.

Since I have one of these, bought 5 years ago, which has performed flawlessly, I was concerned and I went through all 28 pages of the thread on the forum https://diysolarforum.com/threads/battle-born-battery-issue.110295/ and checked my battery — all good outside the case internals, but still concerning. Hard to know what to think or do, but I really don’t have high current in or outflows with my battery — it’s a small camper, no inverter, and never draws more than 6-8 amps. It’s DC DC charged at 25amps.

From the thread, which is exploding, my takeaway is that the problems seem to come with either multiple battery installations, some with exposure to weather or extreme vibration, and heavy use — eg, high amp charging or discharging. Although, there are also anecdotal reports of single battery, lightly used failures that BB refuses to warranty.

Teardown


BB Response


Different, older comparison of BB vs Lithionics high end batteries

Installed two in 2024, both working fine. Thermal camera shows normal temperatures, even when putting batteries under strain.

 

[Alloy]

Installed two in 2024, both working fine. Thermal camera shows normal temperatures, even when putting batteries under strain.

Not now but how about next month/year? For decades there's been fire issues with aluminum (which BB used) electrical terminals. Do a search for "house aluminum wiring". BB didn't use any of the processes required for aluminum so the resistance of the connection will increase as the aluminum oxide (almost as hard as diamonds) builds up.

 

[kmcintyre]

It's interesting to read and see the changes in this company and they hype around them. If you go back in time, everyone said "buy battleborn" and now???? The interesting thing to me is that it took so long to find this issue. Is it really new or ? Also, if you go to their facebook page, they pretty much delete/control all the comments (I'm assuming) they receive regarding this issue. Really though, just fix the problem and don't make the consumer the victim and admit the issue and don't try some lame excuse.

 

[craig333]

I bought a used battery from a medical company that Will recommended. Its been great. I really hope it doesn't keep anyone from going Lithium. So much better than AGM.Not that I didn't get many good years from my AGMs.