Exploding eGo-T battery

[robinsegg]

I just had the scare of my life. I had started recharging my eGo-T (1000 mah) about 2 hrs earlier and was reading in the forum when the thing just went off like a rocket! There was a loud BANG and fire and sparks shot out of the end at least 2 feet. I am just glad that it was not pointed in my direction as my face was only about a foot and a half away.

I yanked it out of the USB port and put out the fire that started on my cluttered table. I found the end cap a foot away from the front door, about 25 feet away. There is also a end cap sized dent in the door in a straight line from the port on the computer.

This was about 4 hrs ago, I have almost stopped shaking. Now I am afraid to charge my other eGo batts. It was lust luck that I was here. I had almost gone to take a nap earlier. I don't even want to think of what would have happened then!

I thought there was a cut off on these things. And whatever was inside the batts came out HOT! It just melted through hard plastic like it was warm butter! I will post some pics when I get my camera charged. If I ever recharge a battery again!

robinsegg

This is the best pic I could get with my old phone camera. I'll try to get better ones

As you can almost see, the top is all blackened and the button switch is almost completely melted off. The end cap there ended up 25 feet away, where it hit the front door. That other thing is all that was left inside.

I wish there had been a camera on it at the time. That would have really been something to see! And the sound... very loud roar till it burned out.

 

[Tom10]

I just had the scare of my life. I had started recharging my eGo-T (1000 mah) about 2 hrs earlier and was reading in the forum when the thing just went off like a rocket! There was a loud BANG and fire and sparks shot out of the end at least 2 feet. I am just glad that it was not pointed in my direction as my face was only about a foot and a half away.

I yanked it out of the USB port and put out the fire that started on my cluttered table. I found the end cap a foot away from the front door, about 25 feet away. There is also a end cap sized dent in the door in a straight line from the port on the computer.

This was about 4 hrs ago, I have almost stopped shaking. Now I am afraid to charge my other eGo batts. It was lust luck that I was here. I had almost gone to take a nap earlier. I don't even want to think of what would have happened then!

I thought there was a cut off on these things. And whatever was inside the batts came out HOT! It just melted through hard plastic like it was warm butter! I will post some pics when I get my camera charged. If I ever recharge a battery again!

robinsegg

WOW! - Thanks for telling us about this. I've never heard of anything like this before. However, I do remember reading once about a man who had a metal charging cabinet for his batteries. I also thought there was a cutoff or some other type of protection for the charging of modern batteries. Please do post the pictures. Everyone needs to know about things like this - preferably before someone gets hurt or killed in charging batteries. Maybe something like an old, shorty metal filing cabinet would work to provide some protection in an event like this.

I'm like you - I charge my batteries from a USB port that's about 1 1/2 feet away from my face. So, I sincerely appreciate you posting this information, and I hope that others read it. I charge two Ego-T 1,000 mah batteries about twice a week. You can bet that I will be finding some sort of protective barrier before I charge these batteries again. THANKS AGAIN!

 

[6pointprime]

Hi Robinsegg,

I'm glad you're ok. Can you please post a picture of the eGo?

 

[robinsegg]

I think I will only charge my other one till the light turns green, then remove it IMMEDIATELY! I am just so surprised that this happened. I usually leave my 510's in the charger till I need them. Sometimes they have been there for days. I can feel the being warm while they are charging but they get cold when the charging light goes out.

I am planning on going to VapeFest in Las Vegas next month and will take this with me. I hope there is a Joye rep there I can talk to. It is 5am right now, I have been to bed twice and twice woke in a cold sweat and had to run back in here to make sure that nothing was charging. 8-o

 

[robinsegg]

Hi Robinsegg,

I'm glad you're ok. Can you please post a picture of the eGo?

Thanks 6pointprime, pic posted

 

[wendallb]

Now that is scary for sure, thanks for posting this issue..very glad you are ok..

 

[jeannest]

Wow, I wonder what could have caused it to do this. I'm going to start taking my batteries off the charger when they finish. I generally leave mine on the charger until I need them. Thanks for posting your experience. I'm so glad you weren't sleeping when this happened.

 

[robinsegg]

LOL, I haven't really slept since then, I keep seeing that 2 foot fountain of flames!

I think what happened was that the control that says "I am fully charged now, you can shut off" didn't. So the chager just kept sending power and the batt kept taking it in, till it couldn't take any more.

And POW... there she goes! I really don't know enough about how these are controlled. Weather it was in the adapter that into the usb port, that the batt screws into, or if it was the batt itself. It would help to know this. Would let me sleep easier at least, I still have 3 eGos left that I love.

 

[WiηgC¤mmαηdεя]

Wow, I am glad you weren't hurt, I hope you are going to contact your supplier about this.
Do you know if the unit was a genuine Joye one?

All the best,
Wing.

 

[beckah54]

Scary stuff.....glad you weren't physically hurt. I will now make sure I take all my batteries off their chargers before I go to bed or leave the house.

Thanks for posting about this.

 

[robinsegg]

Thanks, Wing. There is probably nothing the vendor could do about it.As there isn't anything really left inside the metal case, there is no way to tell what caused the malfunction. I do have the charger - a bit worse for the experience, and it lights up a batt as normal. But I don't think I will be using it.

What is left of the batt & charger will be coming to VapeFest-Las Vegas with me next month. I hope there will be reps from Joye Tech there so I can talk to them about it. I really would like to know just what happened.

 

[WiηgC¤mmαηdεя]

Thanks, Wing. There is probably nothing the vendor could do about it.As there isn't anything really left inside the metal case, there is no way to tell what caused the malfunction. I do have the charger - a bit worse for the experience, and it lights up a batt as normal. But I don't think I will be using it.

What is left of the batt & charger will be coming to VapeFest-Las Vegas with me next month. I hope there will be reps from Joye Tech there so I can talk to them about it. I really would like to know just what happened.

True,
They may ask for it sent to them along with the charger so they can forward it to the manufacturer to see what happened to it.
They may even send you a replacement battery and charger, worth a politely worded email to them anyway.

I know if I was a supplier I would want to know what happened to a battery that I had sold to a customer to make it fail dramatically while it was being charged.

Wing.

 

[robinsegg]

True,
They may ask for it sent to them along with the charger so they can forward it to the manufacturer to see what happened to it.
They may even send you a replacement battery and charger, worth a politely worded email to them anyway.

I know if I was a supplier I would want to know what happened to a battery that I had sold to a customer to make it fail dramatically while it was being charged.

Wing.

I am, by far, not the first one to have this happen. I went searching here and found several other reports that sound exactly the same as my experience.

 

[x-smok3]

Wow that is scary, I have been charging my batteries over night. Not again after reading this though. Thanks for posting this thread, I had not seen any other reports of this but I will certainly be more careful about charging.

 

[PVPuff&Stuff]

...I do have the charger - a bit worse for the experience, and it lights up a batt as normal. But I don't think I will be using it.

Just thought I'd reinforce this.... pitch the charger. I'd never plug that one in again. Scary stuff, first time I've heard of anything like this happening.

 

[jackiejunque]

Thanks 6pointprime, pic posted

I don't see the picture. Did you remove it?

 

[Lax]

Just thought I'd reinforce this.... pitch the charger. I'd never plug that one in again. Scary stuff, first time I've heard of anything like this happening.

I strongly disagree!!! Save the charger with what is left of the battery and keep them together to send to either the manufacturer or the vendor that you bought it from. Or if you don't believe either of them will really investigate what happened there are some very intelligent folks here that may be willing to take a look.

But obviously DO NOT USE the charger!

Glad you are ok and hopefully no serious damage in the area.

 

[robinsegg]

I don't see the picture. Did you remove it?

No, it is still there on the first post.

 

[robinsegg]

I strongly disagree!!! Save the charger with what is left of the battery and keep them together to send to either the manufacturer or the vendor that you bought it from. Or if you don't believe either of them will really investigate what happened there are some very intelligent folks here that may be willing to take a look.

But obviously DO NOT USE the charger!

Glad you are ok and hopefully no serious damage in the area.

Oh I will NOT use that charger again! It is in a zip-loc bag with the batt remains. I just plugged it in to a usb port with a 510 to see if it was dead or not.

LOL, would be kind of silly to actually use it again after what happened.

 

[six]

I've given this advice many times on ECF:

Always charge in a safe place. Never leave batteries charging unattended. Never charge batteries while you sleep. If you just can't remember to or don't have time to charge your batteries do the following:

If you have an old dead/decommissioned computer around, remove the power supply and motherboard. Put a surge protector inside the case and run the cord out the power supply hole. Plug your chargers in to the surge protector and then you'll have a nice steel box to charge batteries in. The left side of many computer cases is designed to come off, so lay it on its right side so you have access to the door. Remove it to put batteries on their chargers, and put it back on while they charge.

There are commercial charging bags. They are expensive, but worth it.