Ego-T battery exploded

[Can_supplier]

It is critical for eGo chargers to supply ~.5 Amps.
I think your problem was that the charger is .1 Amps.

Lower amps is only going to result in a longer charge time. The 420ma charger is actually the "fast" charger for use with eGo batteries only. The 510 charger which can be safely used to charge eGo batteries is lower amps (don't remember off the top of my head) and only increases the charge time.

The issue here was the over voltage. 5V when it should've been 4.2V. Also we have no idea of what if any voltage regulation was used in the charger. If it was straight through from the USB, the USB was running at a higher voltage or had a voltage spike, the volts may have gone higher than 5.

I have no idea what purpose a 5V charger with 510 threads would have. But clearly as demonstrated here, it is not just important but its CRITICAL to use the chargers that were designed and intended for the battery you are charging.

 

[PVPuff&Stuff]

I too would like to know where these chargers are coming from.

510 threads, 5V, .1a

OP, where did you get this item...was it included in a kit?

 

[FsckCigs]

On a related note, i'd like to make a request of any vendors who might be reading this. It would be great if vendors would stock charging bags (such as Lipo bag)...they are very reasonably priced and I think a lot more people would use them if they could just throw one in their cart while ordering e-cig supplies (as opposed to having to buy from somewhere else).

 

[PVPuff&Stuff]

Looking into it today, thank you.

 

[Katya]

As others have already noted, eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers are designed for 4.2V max and their chargers are rated at 5V in and 4.2V out @ 420mAh. I use them with a wall adapter (DC 5V--500mAh). [I don't recommend using computer's USB ports to charge batteries, BTW, but that's a different story.]

That said, please remember that:

CHARGERS FOR EACH MODEL AND BATTERY TYPE ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!
CHARGERS SHOULD ONLY BE USED WITH THE MATCHING BATTERY!!!!!

Use Joye 510 chargers only with Joye 510 batteries (or eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries--it will take forever but it's safe).

Use Joye eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers only with Joye eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries--they are compatible and fully interchangeable.

DO NOT use eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers with 510 batteries!!!!

So that was the easy part. But things are more complicated than that....

Not all "ego style devices" are compatible. There are plenty of knockoffs or "generic" eGos on the market that use reverse polarity (don't ask me why). The most notable example is the JSB VGO: never ever use VGO chargers on Joyetech eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries (or vice versa). Another example I know of is the FS eGo (made by Farsee). I'm sure there are others like that.

 

[Semiretired]

Definitely sounds like more standards are due...

 

[PVPuff&Stuff]

Do we know that for a fact or are you just guessing? AFAIK, the OP doesn't know the output of his charger...

Check out the first post, there is a photo attached. It does appear to be a 510 threaded charger that provides 5V at .1 amp
Looks like the threads from the charger have melted out and are still stuck on the battery. Not sure what that lump of burnt stuff is on the left...

 

[Katya]

Check out the first post, there is a photo attached. It does appear to be a 510 threaded charger that provides 5V at .1 amp
The threads from the charger have melted out and are still stuck on the battery. Not sure what that lump of burnt stuff is on the left...

I did look... but I was looking at the other picture... Sorry, You're correct. Oops...

I edited my post. Thanks, PVPuff!!!!

 

[Allan.GH]

I wonder if anyone has noticed what REALLY happened here.

We have a story, with believable evidence submitted of an incident of a battery popping-off; with access to the individual making the report, and information gathered which answers crucial questions.

In LESS than one hour, the exact cause of the incident was positively identified.

Can you name a single other alleged incident, in the past 6 months, wherein the reported catastrophic destruction of a battery followed even a remotely similar pattern?

Admittedly, NLA should be contacted and asked if there is a legitimate engineering case for their battery charger yielding an output voltage of 5VDC, or is this state of affairs simply instigated to support the "proprietary game"? Moreover, they should be asked to change their connector to a proprietary connector, if they want to continue to play this sort of game, and to issue a recall of their existing charger products.

However, in keeping with the tenets of responsible consumerism, users need to educate themselves with respect to electronics. I hope that nobody takes this to offense, but we have people who are woefully uneducated with respect to the electrical devices they are putting in their mouths. Does nobody else see this as a recipe for disaster?

To the end of consumer education, please consider this link to be my humble contribution to every beginning or experienced vaper in safeguarding themselves the very best way they can--through self-education.

I truly hope that this is the last we ever hear of such a thing happening.

 

[Randyrtx]

I took a look at the NLA Website. My best guess is that their batteries have an internal charging circuit, so the USB charger provides raw USB voltage, and the internals take care of the rest.

An honest mistake on the part of the OP, but it underscores the need for us to check our equipment specs carefully!

 

[illuxion]

I wonder if anyone has noticed what REALLY happened here.

We have a story, with believable evidence submitted of an incident of a battery popping-off; with access to the individual making the report, and information gathered which answers crucial questions.

In LESS than one hour, the exact cause of the incident was positively identified.

Can you name a single other alleged incident, in the past 6 months, wherein the reported catastrophic destruction of a battery followed even a remotely similar pattern?

Admittedly, NLA should be contacted and asked if there is a legitimate engineering case for their battery charger yielding an output voltage of 5VDC, or is this state of affairs simply instigated to support the "proprietary game"? Moreover, they should be asked to change their connector to a proprietary connector, if they want to continue to play this sort of game, and to issue a recall of their existing charger products.

However, in keeping with the tenets of responsible consumerism, users need to educate themselves with respect to electronics. I hope that nobody takes this to offense, but we have people who are woefully uneducated with respect to the electrical devices they are putting in their mouths. Does nobody else see this as a recipe for disaster?

To the end of consumer education, please consider this link to be my humble contribution to every beginning or experienced vaper in safeguarding themselves the very best way they can--through self-education.

I truly hope that this is the last we ever hear of such a thing happening.

You're asking people to take basic DC theory before vaping? It needs to be short and simple, warning stickers on abnormal products. If you get a charger that is a 5v DC passthrough it should state WARNING:for 5V products only, this would make the consumer think twice before plugging and unknown batt.

Actually K.I.S.S.(keep it simple stupid) The easier it is to vape safely the better it is for the general populous. Most people don't want to be bothered with trivial stuff, they just want it to work and not blow up.

Honestly I find the fault in NLA for not making sure to point out that the charger is for their products ONLY.

 

[Can_supplier]

You're asking people to take basic DC theory before vaping? It needs to be short and simple, warning stickers on abnormal products. If you get a charger that is a 5v DC passthrough it should state WARNING:for 5V products only, this would make the consumer think twice before plugging and unknown batt.

I think unless one has taken advance DC theory they should stick to products that were designed to work together.

Just because your garden hose will fit and fill your car's gas tank doesn't mean it was designed for that purpose. It also doesn't require a warning label on the garden hose

We are not going to get manufactures to post warnings like that, we are not even going to get manufactures to stop making products that can fit another product but for another purpose like this. We are dealing with China where there are no rules.

For this one the vaping public is going to have to take responsibility for their actions, unfortunately. Stick with products designed to work together from reputable retailers.

 

[Sicarius]

Now I got images of mammas filling gas tanks with garden hoses. Ta for that.

 

[illuxion]

I think unless one has taken advance DC theory they should stick to products that were designed to work together.

Just because your garden hose will fit and fill your car's gas tank doesn't mean it was designed for that purpose. It also doesn't require a warning label on the garden hose

We are not going to get manufactures to post warnings like that, we are not even going to get manufactures to stop making products that can fit another product but for another purpose like this. We are dealing with China where there are no rules.

For this one the vaping public is going to have to take responsibility for their actions, unfortunately. Stick with products designed to work together from reputable retailers.

And again thinking of this from the analogue standpoint, is the average smoker a chemist by trade? Chemist by the US terminology and not that of the pharmacological standpoint, but that of someone that understands the chemicals and additives put into tobacco and/or juices for vaping. You're excepting everyone from street sweepers to CEOs to understand basic EE before vaping?

I say that's a pile of bollocks. For vaping to ever exceed/succeed smoking it needs to be simple en masse or it will never take hold. If you'd care to drivel about ohm's law, kirchoff's law, or maybe some maxwell equations I'm all up for it. It stands that the average user can't be bothered with such nonsense and the information provided needs to be as simple as possible.

 

[Song]

As others have already noted, eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers are designed for 4.2V max and their chargers are rated at 5V in and 4.2V out @ 420mAh. I use them with a wall adapter (DC 5V--500mAh). [I don't recommend using computer's USB ports to charge batteries, BTW, but that's a different story.]

That said, please remember that:

CHARGERS FOR EACH MODEL AND BATTERY TYPE ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!
CHARGERS SHOULD ONLY BE USED WITH THE MATCHING BATTERY!!!!!

Use Joye 510 chargers only with Joye 510 batteries (or eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries--it will take forever but it's safe).

Use Joye eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers only with Joye eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries--they are compatible and fully interchangeable.

DO NOT use eGo/Riva/Tornado fast chargers with 510 batteries!!!!

So that was the easy part. But things are more complicated than that....

Not all "ego style devices" are compatible. There are plenty of knockoffs or "generic" eGos on the market that use opposite polarity (don't ask me why). The most notable example is the JSB VGO: never ever use VGO chargers on Joyetech eGo/Riva/Tornado batteries (or vice versa). Another example I know of is the FS eGo (made by Farsee). I'm sure there are others like that.

Can you tell me how can you check if the charger and battery uses reverse polarity or not? I assume you just meter it and if voltage comes negative its reverse polarity? Just want to make sure of it.

 

[Katya]

Can you tell me how can you check if the charger and battery uses reverse polarity or not? I assume you just meter it and if voltage comes negative its reverse polarity? Just want to make sure of it.

Yup!

Provided, of course, that the leads are plugged into the multimeter correctly.

 

[Switched]

Can you tell me how can you check if the charger and battery uses reverse polarity or not? I assume you just meter it and if voltage comes negative its reverse polarity? Just want to make sure of it.

Take your MM and reverse the leads on a battery, it will read a - voltage e.g -4.2V. Connect them properly (red+ and black-) and the output will be 4.2V. When testing we know the centre post to be positive - connect to the red cable and should a neg value be displayed = reverse polarity.

 

[DarkAynjil]

Yup!

Provided, of course, that the leads are plugged into the multimeter correctly.

Just got an image of someone setting a dmm to amps and shorting a battery in my head...

Anyway, too many people are completely unaware that lithium-ion batteries explode/catch fire if overcharged even slightly. Part of the reason for this is that we're used to lion batteries in phones and other well-known electronic devices that meet UL compliance here in the US, which leads to a false sense of safety from a consumer stand-point. The problem is that most (if not all) of these devices are made in China, where no such standard exists. Vaping and e-cigs as of now are a sort of fringe industry, which is why you see so many scams and rip-offs in malls and "free" trials on web-pages. Also disconcerting is the lack of consistency in a lot of products for the same reasons.

 

[Allan.GH]

Actually, I've found the standards that the Chinese impose upon the manufacture of their eCig goods to be extremely high. Where I've seen problems crop-up is when an American vendor starts pressing the Chinese manufacturers on their ExWorks pricing per unit. When a buyer pushes the price down far enough, the Chinese will give them what they paid for--junk.

I have seen vendors selling factual garbage as eCig/vaping products, at ridiculously low prices, and the quality of what they offer can be traced-back to the vendor's own greed. When I see a 20% to 50% failure rate on such offerings, I have difficulty seeing the profit potential on haggling prices so low that quality goes out the window.

 

[DarkAynjil]

Wish I could say I agree with you - but I haven't seen it. The goods I have seen coming out of the Chinese provinces are horribly assembled, usually. This happens even in "high-end consumer electronics". I have witnessed too many sloppy solder jobs, fuses tied indirectly to ground, and other such nonsense to say that Chinese manufacturing standards are high. In fact, most Japanese manufacturers have slowly started to move all of their final assembly out of China for that reason (the fact that China is communist is probably an excellent political reason for them as well). Ironically, you are correct in that American vendors are the ones pushing them for boatloads of low-margin merchandise, which could be the start of the vicious cycle...