Comment on Best portable Bluetooth speakers?
Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The last time I bought one, I selected a “Polaris V8” for using a removable 18650 battery. I wish that was more common.
- Runtime: infinite (just bring spares)
- Charge time: 10 seconds or so to swap the battery
- Service life due to the battery wearing out: infinite
- Service life due to being a janky no-name product: 3-4 years
So that last bit was disappointing.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Removable lithium batteries like 18650 or 21700 are not really a thing (except for a few hobbies) because they’re inherently dangerous and not a single respectable cell manufacturer sells them directly to end users (you can still buy them from unauthorized sellers though).
You can put your AA battery in the pocket with your keys and nothing scary will happen. Put there a 18650 cell and you might die from severe burns. So yeah, replaceable 18650 are awesome, but we’ll never see them because people are dumb AF.
sagrotan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Untrue. I use them for 10+ years for anything that’s possible (flashlights, powerbank and anything you can power with it) and they’re not dangerous if you follow SIMPLE rules. About as dangerous as a bottle of vinegar. And you can perfectly buy good cells for any application, Sony vtc5 or vtc6 are two examples, never buy cheap ones and NEVER buy from shady sellers. And btw: you shouldn’t put any battery to your keys in your pocket, that is called “stooo-pid” and makes little black holes in your thighs.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Mate, the problem here is not that you know how to use lithium cells, the problem is that most people are dumb and don’t want to learn. I’m using shitloads of 18650 and 21700 cells myself, but I won’t be recommending them to a random person.
Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They’re very common in flashlights, including mainstream brands based in the USA (Streamlight, Surefire) and in a bunch of stuff from the Alibaba to Amazon pipeline. The former uses cells with added protection circuits, and such models will accept generic third-party cells. I’m a bit surprised I don’t hear about the latter exploding on a regular basis, but I have not.
Li-ion cells with protection circuits are safe enough for the average adult to handle without any special instruction; the risks are no different from the removable proprietary Li-ion battery packs that are common in power tools, and used to be common in laptops. There isn’t a safety reason preventing their use in other electronics like Bluetooth speakers, though the business incentive to produce a more disposable product is obvious. New EU rules mandate user-replaceable batteries in the future, though I imagine manufacturers will find ways to make it proprietary and expensive if they can.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah, flashlights is an example of a niche hobby. Vaping is another hobby. Apart from that you won’t find bare cells anywhere else.
On-cell protection circuits are quite bad, protection should be inside the device. I personally never use protected cells, they’re useless. But that leads to people catching fire in their pants. Which happens quite often, sadly.
New EU rules mandate that it should be possible to replace batteries and ban things like glueing and soldering. But it doesn’t mean the batteries should be swappable. It will only make service workers’ life easier, not yours.
Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Flashlights are certainly a hobby for some of us, but they’re also a common tool most people have an occasional use for. Standardized, field-replaceable Li-ion batteries are common in flashlights targeted at a non-enthusiast market.
I agree that devices should not over-discharge or over-charge cells, but the example you gave was people putting batteries in their pockets, presumably with metallic items like coins and keys that can cause short circuits. On-cell protection circuits handle that situation well enough; I recommend carrying batteries in plastic cases, but I’ve never heard of a manufacturer getting sued over a protected cell.
I often use unprotected cells myself, but I’m a hobbyist.
The new rules say that batteries should be removable and replaceable by the end-user. They don’t seem to encourage standardization of battery types though, so they could still be proprietary and ridiculously priced.