Waydoo Battery Safety Concerns

efoils – Electric Hydrofoil Surfboards
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Dear Efoiling Friends!

So this is not an easy post for me to write. Everyone who followed my activities over the past years knows that I am a huge fan of efoiling. I want everyone to succeed, I love to share, I love the DIY community and also love the commercial efforts out here. And we have to make this work, I am very much interested that efoiling has a great future. I have been working with my friend Don Montague and his team since I started with efoils and we have been very concerned about battery safety all along. This is not about competition and bringing someone down. We all need to work together on safety and we have collaborated on safety topics with our friends at Lift and Flite in the past.

Unfortunately right now I am seriously concerned about the future for efoils. Dangerous products have entered the market at costs more people can afford. I am all for affordable products but safety has a price and we need to take this seriously. If not, we will all go down in a similar death spiral as the burning Hoverboards.

I am sure all the efoil builders here will agree, building an efoil is not an easy project. We operate in a harsh environment, we have thermal challenges, high currents and we need lots of power (10x more than electric bicycles) and we can not accept shortcuts that jeopardize safety.

You all saw that David W. Hill’s house burned down on December 21st 2020. I contacted the Lincoln/Nebraska fire department and Jason Relford, Fire Inspector/Investigator of the Lincoln Bureau of Fire Prevention, just today confirmed that the Waydoo lithium battery was the cause of this fire. They are working with a private investigator to attain more information as to the particular failure of the device. We heard horrendous stories about water ingress, Waydoo’s recommendation to simply drain the water and put it back on the charger. This is crazy.

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Two Waydoos batteries were taken apart and they had serious safety issues. I feel that it is our duty to inform our Waydoo riding efoil friends and keep them safe. Please put your Waydoo battery in a safe location now. And yes, salt water ingress can cause battery fires, this is being discussed in other threads already.

Both examined batteries had pinched seals that would have allowed water to enter the battery if they would have been used. See images with descriptions for other safety related design flaws.

Call to action: Fellow efoil companies, please do better, up the safety even if the price goes up. This is not good for anyone. Waydoo, you rushed to market and cut corners on battery safety to make a quick $. Please recall your batteries. Burning batteries will kill efoiling. Together we can keep efoiling alive. Riders: Please thoroughly investigate the product’s battery safety before you make a purchase. Again, this post is not meant to piss on the competition or to bring Waydoo down. This is to bring everyone up. We love good competitive products. A rising tide lifts all efoils :slight_smile:

Happy new year everyone!

Merten

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I don’t see a fuse either… unless we are counting the single XT90, LOL. Did you try to test what would happen if the main leads are shorted?

Thanks for looking out for the community! There are a number of scary things you pointed out with this design. These safety oversights sold to the masses at scale is very scary. I hate to think about people stowing/charging these on boats underway and at crowded marinas.

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Thank you for this information I do love my Waydoo but these flaws are scary. I will examine my seals to make sure they are secure but are you suggesting that the battery is dangerous even if water doesn’t get in through the seals ?

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I just realized the seals your showing are on the inside of the battery which means I have to take apart my battery pack. Shoot I don’t want to do that what if I can’t get it back together properly and the seals were ok to begin with until I messed with them. I really need a warranty technician to do this type of work.

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Scary stuff. Thank you for warning the community.
I would suggest at least to get fireproof bag or box to store the battery

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Nice… Just got this Extover Bubbles and tested it with a Lipo Battery short cut… Impressive stuff… Works well :call_me_hand:

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Great work tearing them apart for us thank you! This is a disastrous battery pack with no minimal safety features! Every single waydoo battery pack is a fire risk! Coming for EV industry I see No vibration or impact damping considerations, No thermal dissipation , stupid sealing approach for marine intended battery! And those connectors from RC hobby! I was so exited that Waydoo will bring some energy and momentum to the competition but they actually going to destroy this sport for all of us!
I am so disappointed and please do yourself and your family a favor and stay away from waydoo.

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bat-Safe Battery Charging Safe Box might be a good idea. this one is too small but you get the idea.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/batsafe-lipo-charging-case-baf-bat-safe/p698675?gclid=Cj0KCQiArvX_BRCyARIsAKsnTxNClXmUESNs9to66P7wj12PgPeFK5U_6CwOVsP5Rt6Y6h_tjYzrThcaApQhEALw_wcB

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This is a statement from a Waydoo employee:

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Are you saying that was a lie?

A bunch of Waydoo riders have also reported their boards going completely out of control. These things don’t just pose a risk to the sport, they’re a risk to everyone around them including innocent bystanders:

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When I tried the pyrobubbles almost 2 years ago, it was the only thing I could get at the time. It was suggested by a lithium ion battery expert from a German university. All details at: https://e-surfer.com/en/lithium-ion-battery-storage-and-transport/

I am currently working on a new article with better solutions. The pyrobubbles turned out to be not very handy. In the interest of time: I went for Zarge aluminium boxes in combination with Cirrux pillows: https://cirrux.de

I am currently working with Zarge to offer boxes in different sizes. I have already one here and it makes a good first impression.

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Thanks for sharing, Merten. I hope you are doing well. Happy New Year and stay safe!

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The new solution looks like this:

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Inside is a Radinn battery (which is really huge in its dimensions). This size works for all kind of batteries including Lift, Jetsurf and Lampuga (which is also huge). But since it is so big it is not good for smaller batteries like Lift. So I have to come up with multiple sizes.

Article should be ready soon. For urgent requests send me a pm through:

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Imagine if you have to put your Tesla in safety bag!

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Hyundai just told 470,000 owners not to park their car in the garage because of fire risk but at least they are doing the right thing by contacting owners + recalling the cars to fix them.

Waydoo has not issued a recall for any of the major flaws that have been identified. Maybe this incident will finally convince a consumer safety organization to intervene. I would not want anyone to ride a Waydoo near my family after seeing all the reports of runaway boards going out of control at full speed. That could easily maim or kill a person, especially a child.

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Merten,

Why would the investigators. call you before me?

*I’m calling bullshit on your story. *

*I have a call in with them to see if they even talked with you. *

The real slim shady
David

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Hi David,

I don’t know. I reached out to the fire department on December 31 2020 and received a reply from Aishah S. Witte, J.D.,SHRM-CP | Administrative Officer on Jan 4th where she put me in touch with Chief Bill A. Moody. Yesterday Jason Relford, Fire Inspector/Investigator Lincoln Bureau of Fire Prevention, finally emailed me confirming that the fire was caused by the Waydoo battery. I am glad you are safe and please share more information about this incident if you can.

Thank you.
Merten

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#yougetwhatyoupayfor

There were always cut corners on the Waydoo. They’ve been pointed out so many times its scary. Unfortunately the general consumer that does not do decent research will always get caught out. I honestly can’t see Waydoo coming out of this. They are going to have to replace every single battery as it is a defective design.

Are you a sneaky Waydoo agent posing as David? hmmmm

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Every battery, every fuselage, every long mast… unless they have extremely deep pockets I don’t see them recovering either.

Also strange that the real David W Hill has not commented on the Waydoo FB group where he originally posted the story. Waydoo seems to be communicating on his behalf, which makes me wonder what sort of communication happened between them behind the scenes. I wouldn’t put it past Waydoo to offer some sort of deal in exchange for silence so they could bury this whole fiasco.

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Thanks to pacificmeister The evidence is in wide open for everyone to see! There is a big chance Every single wydoo battery will catch fire eventually just wait for it. Horrible manufacturing process and quantity!

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