Lithium battery failure = boom (I'm okay)

[eskimoroll]

I was sitting at home this morning happily vaping on my Magnum Box mod when all of a sudden it goes boom and gives off a small explosion with gas venting out of the box. It scared the crap out of me and I'm glad I wasn't injured. I made sure to get clear of the vapor immediately and once I felt sure that everything was okay, I opened the case.

What I found surprised me. It doesn't appear to be a short circuit but rather one of the CR2 cells had a failure. It may have been user error (overcharged, undercharged, etc) or a manufacturing defect but the bottom line is that the battery failed in a dangerous manner. On the positive side, the battery looked fine except that it flipped open a small tab on the positive end where it vented the gas. That's a safety feature that I'm glad worked otherwise I would have had an explosive fire failure which is far more frightening.

Oh and the magnum box? It's perfectly fine and working like a champ. I'm just a bit skittish around the CR2 batteries now though. Anyone have a good source of some reliable CR2s that are protected?

[ApOsTle51]

that's a major reason these things will be banned , having an unstable power source so close to the users face.
I wonder what kind off safeguards and standards mobile phones have with their batts.

Still , glad your all ok Eskimoroll. I'm guessing the failed battery was un-protected ?

and don't forget a protected batt will be a millimeter or two longer than the un-protected variety.

[Sun Vaporer]

Eskimoroll--Glad to hear you are alright there---must have scarced the vape out of you. I would hate to see what an 18500 would do. I do not know of a source for protected CR2's --only the Cr123's---if I come across one I will post-------again, glad you are ok----Sun

[Cobain76]

I had a similar problem with the spiderfire cr123's, I unplugged the charger with the batteries still in and placed them in my bag and left for work. As I got about a mile down the road something exploded and I thought someone had shot at me. Then I realized my bookbag in the backseat was on fire and the smoke was filling my truck up. I pulled over and got it put out the batteries looked like little grenades, there was copper all in my bag the charger was melted and the usb passthrough that happened to be in there also melted along with a bottle of liquid. Needless to say I would never use unprotected batteries again nor would I store them with my backup equipment. My guess is they were overcharged and one or the other exploded taking the other one with it.

[500KV]

Originally Posted by ApOsTle51

that's a major reason these things will be banned , having an unstable power source so close to the users face.

Really makes you stop and think doesn't it?
Eskimoroll said the gas "vented out of the box".
What would happen to a sealed device with the same failure? That's the million dollar question.

[Walrus]

I'm holding my breath and waiting for it. If you don't know what it is... don't worry, you will.

[eskimoroll]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Yes, the battery was unprotected and my guess is that I probably overcharged it. If I knew where to get protected CR2s, I would have gone with them.

As for cell phones, laptop and cellphone lithium battery explosions have been going on for a while resulting in recalls and lawsuits. Hopefully e-cig manufacturers are using quality protected batteries from a reliable source. Me blowing myself up with a homemade mod is one thing but mass producing and marketing a device with cheapo batteries is asking for trouble.

Oh and I expected that vented gas + sealed container = shrapnel. Very scary thought.

[500KV]

Originally Posted by eskimoroll

Oh and I expected that vented gas + sealed container = shrapnel. Very scary thought.

Exactly. I'm gonna drill a couple of small vent holes in my pipe mods. The're ugly anyway so won't hurt the looks.

[youfillintheblank]

Holy fudge!!! Is this the one you made based on my idea?? I only ask because I've never had a failure on one of my batts thank god, but wondering if you've ever dropped a battery, had it in your pocket around other metal objects, or maybe run it really really low on charge, etc....something that made it go wonky before the explosion?

There was some discussion somewhere that these dealextreme batts ARE protected but I took the plastic wrap off an old one and it had no PCB so they can't be protected. The funny thing is that they behave like they are protected...when the charge gets low they just stop working, they go from big vapour to none, and that is one of the characteristics of protected cells. I play it safe with mine and charge them once a day no matter what. you can do that with Li-Ions, they like frequent charges.

Originally Posted by eskimoroll

I was sitting at home this morning happily vaping on my Magnum Box mod when all of a sudden it goes boom and gives off a small explosion with gas venting out of the box. It scared the crap out of me and I'm glad I wasn't injured. I made sure to get clear of the vapor immediately and once I felt sure that everything was okay, I opened the case.

What I found surprised me. It doesn't appear to be a short circuit but rather one of the CR2 cells had a failure. It may have been user error (overcharged, undercharged, etc) or a manufacturing defect but the bottom line is that the battery failed in a dangerous manner. On the positive side, the battery looked fine except that it flipped open a small tab on the positive end where it vented the gas. That's a safety feature that I'm glad worked otherwise I would have had an explosive fire failure which is far more frightening.

Oh and the magnum box? It's perfectly fine and working like a champ. I'm just a bit skittish around the CR2 batteries now though. Anyone have a good source of some reliable CR2s that are protected?

[LuckySevens4U]

Imagine that. Unprotected batteries going boom, and I get slammed for advocating for use of protective batteries. ::::::::sigh::::::: Glad you are okay. This is why I still am even concerned about the Janty Stick. I will not purchase a device without protective batteries and an on/off kill switch.