Black Fox Boards - East Coast Battery Building Services

It’s been a little long in making this post but here we are! The official public launch of Black Fox Boards’ battery building services!

I am by no means an expert at battery building, but over the dozen or so packs I have made I picked up a few tips and tricks, some shamelessly acquired by stalking the battery builders club thread, others developed by me in the rare stroke of intelligence I occasionally am privy to. But I’d like to share what I have learned in the form of making custom packs! I honestly really enjoy battery making, it allows me to practice skills and exercise a level of precision which I think is really good for me (the solder fumes not so much but I honestly don’t want to live long enough for those issues to be crippling anyways…I’ve seen my grandparents at 90 and honestly I don’t aspire to it), what this means for you is that even though I do these services at profit, I am not here for profit and so it is not in my best interest to cheat you in any way, I strive to be as proud of every battery as I possibly can be, mistakes happen but I will be upfront and honest about everything I can and offer the best customer service within reason.

Just as general house keeping stuff, all batteries are made and shipped from East Coast US (Delaware 19711), and must either be collected in person or will be shipped by the appropriate ground shipping service at the buyer’s expense. I know many people show enough trust in me to purchase small things via PayPal Friends & Family, and while I do not enforce it I will recommend PayPal Goods & Services none the less. As a small time builder I can only offer so much in the form of a warranty, I think the best I can reasonably do is offer a promise of non-DOA assuming the shipping service has not damaged the package in any way and the battery itself shows no sign of being damaged or tampered with (materials/services/reshipping to be covered by me, return shipping to be covered by you), and a limited warranty within 42 days of the package arriving to you assuming no signs of mistreatment or damage to the battery (services to be covered by me, materials and shipping to be covered by you). All sales are final once shipped, any cancelation prior to shipping will be partially refunded between 60% to 80% at my discretion depending on the state of the battery at the time of cancelation. Alternatively I can finish the pack and you can sell your slot (I will hold onto the battery and not refund, once you find a buyer I will send the battery to them and one of you cover any added difference in shipping.

Shipping services of choice are USPS Ground and FedEx Ground depending on location, USPS can offer an insurance plan at a small cost if that is something you are interested in while FedEx is cheaper when sending over longer distances (anywhere west of the Rockies). Shipping is essentially limited to the United States from now on, I hate shipping international and will not do so unless you email me a printable shipping label in which case I am in no way responsible for any issues that arise during shipping. As standard I wrap the battery in bubble wrap in an oversized and tape reinforced cardboard box but am willing to add far more protection at additional cost. If you want me to make a sealed 1/2" plywood and 2x4 shipping crate I will be happy to do so, but it’s going to cost you a hell of a lot more in both my additional cost and the shipping cost for a much heavier package.

I offer a few different services, but mostly pre made parallel groups ready for assembly, partially assembled batteries in blocks ready for balancing and termination, and fully completed batteries ready for installation. Anything else can be requested but I am not sure what else you require. In terms of assembly style I am happy to do anything reasonable, such as ABS spaced brick packs, PCB backed flexible packs, minimal thickness folded nickel packs, run of the mill wire series bridge packs, and anything else with a reasonable level of difficulty. Almost all layouts are possible and I can easily come up with layouts if you can give me accurate measurements of the enclosure space, however if the battery is built to the given specs and still does not fit I cannot be held responsible for your inaccurate measurements so I recommend giving me some wiggle room. I do NOT do salvage work anymore, I may offer salvaged batteries at discount but I will not work with anything you send me unless it is new.

Costs vary depending on difficulty and I will need to work out what is needed for each battery but as a base I charge $3.20 per cell which covers most materials and my time, and a initial cost of $80 to cover the basic DALY bypass BMS and other general components. Additional materials like PCBs, a smart BMS, or spacers will cost extra, as well as more complicated procedures like larger folded nickel sections, flight safe modular designs, and strange configurations that require more difficult assembly. For simple parallel groups it is only $1.40 per cell as a base with a $20 initial cost, and more advanced assembly or materials adds to that. The per cell cost will have a 5% discount for every 50 cells up to a maximum of a 35% discount. Cells are ALWAYS an additional cost, you can either ship them too me, have them delivered to me, or I can just buy them and it is added to your total cost. I reserve the right to change these costs at any time, but all quotes for going rates will be binding unless there is an unexpected expense in which case the added costs are on the buyer.

Obviously I am not the biggest battery builder here so I can’t throw my weight around, if anything seems amiss or unreasonable please don’t hesitate to let me know or call me out, all I ask is that you understand I am trying my best to be sensible but I am just clueless and dumb at times. I just want to make some batteries and offset the cost of the boards I build along with the tools that went into making them at the end of the day.

If you want to track my battery building you can follow me at Instagram.com/BlackFoxBoards, all validation is appreciated and I really like when I wake up in the morning and there are little hearts on my home screen, it helps me tell myself I am a decent enough excuse for a human being and that the world doesn’t disregard me entirely.

Cheers,
Zach Tetra of Black Fox Boards

I know the only reason you children are here is for battery porn…it’s not much but its all mine. These are the last 2 batteries I made, the only ones with the Black Fox Board logo on them, there are more but If you PayPal me enough I’ll make something special and you’ll get to see it first.

image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image image

2 Likes