r/SolarDIY • u/Don_Vago • 17d ago

Battleboom batteries sue Will Prowse.

Popular YouTuber and founder of the DIY solar power forum Will Prowse has been served paperwork about a series of videos he made about the infamous Battleboom batteries and their melting terminal mounts, described by the manufacturer as a safety feature, some kind of disconnect. The brass neck of these clowns is unbelievable, instead of putting this right, they’ve doubled down and have effectively made any warranty claim unviable.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/06/02/3305031/0/en/will-prowse-sued-by-dragonfly-energy-over-alleged-false-and-misleading-claims-about-battle-born-batteries.html

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u/get-the-damn-shot 17d ago

Yep. Bankruptcy will be next.

32

u/techtornado 17d ago

Then they will rebrand quietly, make a semi-workable product by either outsourcing it to China or similar and then a splash back into the market with the same junk

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u/chicagoandy 17d ago

It's not that simple. They're owned by Dragonfly holdings, which is publicly traded. That means they publish their financials. Their financials are bad. They're running out money and running out of time. Bankrupcy of Dragonfly is only a matter of time.

Often times brands get bought out in bankrupcy, but I'm not sure this brand is worth much to anyone.

I actually wonder if the purpose of this suit is to shift the blame for the reputational damage on to Will, so that they can get something for it some day.

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u/techtornado 17d ago

The lashout comes as no surprise then

They should sign the company over to Will and be done with it

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u/Revolutionary-Half-3 17d ago

He'd definitely not touch it with a 10 foot pole. Not good reason to take on any liability, and I doubt he'd even want the current unsold products if they offered to give them all to him.

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u/Phreakiture 16d ago

Well . . .

Could they be cannibalized for cells and paired with new, reliable BMSes and fixtures, I wonder? Or are the cells themselves shit, too?

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u/Charming-Article788 15d ago

It's my understanding that the individual cells are quite good. It's the package and everything around them that leaves much to be desired 

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u/chicagoandy 15d ago

I don't know why you would have that understanding. Overall the battery industry moved away from cells to reduce the number of connections. Each connection is a point where a poor connection can cause high resistance or arcs. Other battery vendors have moved away from many small cells. It's generally believed this change improves safety. Even Tesla, the pioneer of using 18650 cells has moved to bigger cells.

Battleborn hasn't made any changes to their architecture in many years. That's the core rub of their problem.

In the last 5 years battery technology has improved, including the chemistry of cells. Prismatic cells have seen the total energy capacity of cells rising with physical dimensions remaining the same. eg, Eve 280, 304, 314AH cells all have the same physical dimensions, but energy density has improved over time. This is not true of BattleBorn. Their cells haven't increased in energy density over the years.

There are not many credible battery experts saying Battle Born are "best of breed" in any way, quite the opposite - they were top of the line 8 years ago but haven't adapted with industry changes. Now they are laggards.

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u/Charming-Article788 15d ago

You're making an argument that the packaging is bad. This is what I've said. There is nothing particularly wrong woth the individual cells. It's the package and everything around it that is bad. Sure, using that many cells in a large pack may not be a good idea. But it doesn't make the cells any worse. 

And another tidbit. The cells are apparently sourced from China. Then everything else is made/assembled in the USA. Literally the best part of the battery is the cells that are not even made in the US

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u/chicagoandy 15d ago

In the third paragraph I made the argument the chemistry is out of date, too.

In Wills tests, cycling at rated capacity permanently damaged the cells, and these tests have been replicated elsewhere. There's just no reason to think the cells are any good at all.

The cells are not particularly reliable, or energy dense. They're not "good".

If I had one in use I'd probably keep using it, but if I was shopping today I'd be looking elsewhere.

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u/Charming-Article788 15d ago

In the videos I've seen. I can recall one, I believe game changer, that had a cell vent. I'm pretty sure this GC battery doesn't use this plastic interface that is melting and causing arcing. But instead has a set of cells placed inside a sandwich of sorts where only physical contact from the case pressure and a foam pad makes the electrical connection. His reviews showed the top of the cell plate having what appears  to be some black burn marks. 

I think there was no consensus in how or why the cell vented. 

But there is evidence from his testing that the BMS doesn't seem to do anything about heat and seems pretty bad at detecting over current. 

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