He also has no understanding of the hazards associated with storing large amount of energy - in any form - in a small space and I'll bet he's either un-insured, or hasn't read the fine print in his home insurance policy.
Any of those go pear-shaped and its all going up in smoke - probably along with his house.
And he's added more fuel (plywood) just to make sure.
Whether the energy is mechanical (flywheels), chemical (battery), water (pumped storage dam), compressed air (air cylinders)... the stored energy significant hazards and frequently sufficient to guarantee the house will be destroyed, one way or another.
This is why IMHO the most appropriate way to store energy - if done with batteries - is on the scale of a suburb, with a "big box" building built for the purpose roughly the size of a Bunnings, with all the protection equipment.
But not in domestic homes.
The other problem is the industrial waste when batteries have had it. If we all did this the planet would be poisoned several times over. This is why hybrid and electric cars are really only a stop-gap until we find a better solution - vehicles with large batteries are not a long-term solution environmentally.
And the last problem is energy density - to date there is still no viable solution for aircraft or heavy haulage vehicles (truck, diesel locomotives or farm machinery) apart from jet fuel and diesel.
Why would he go to all that effort, and then solder the batteries into place? A better solution would be a series of parallel (awesome wordplay!) slide-in bays, so the batteries could be hot- or cold-swapped. Then all he would need is a little health meter on the front of each, so he can see at a glance how each cell is doing.
What others have said is right, though. I wouldn't put this within 20m of my house. These mass-made, cheap quality 18650s can give off an extraordinary amount of energy when they let go. And the last thing you would want is for a catastrophic cascade with 4000+ of the suckers.
A concrete pad, in a ventilated tin shed away from the house, mounted on a non-conducting back-panel, sprayed in a fire-retardant coating. Then only connected to a separate circuit, running items I won't miss.
This is why hybrid and electric cars are really only a stop-gap until we find a better solution - vehicles with large batteries are not a long-term solution environmentally.
Yeah, where is my Mr Fusion? It is 32 years since they were conceptualised!
I loved seeing the Ford Nuclear Powered Concept Vehicle which from memory was in the 70's. A ute with a nuclear reactor in the back, what could go wrong
