Need some help figuring out why my Smok Alien fried itself.

[sam_enough]

My Alien 220W mod fried itself in the same way to another poster. New batteries came, I put them into the charger to check charge, they were both showing 80% charge. Put them into the Alien box, one battery vented on firing.

For about 3 days the Mod seemed to be working fine with other batteries (which had been working no problem for 3 months or so). I plugged the mod into USB to charge (which I do quite often on the move), burning plastic, dead mod. The batteries inside were fine inside an old mod but the PCB is fully cooked.

I took back to the shop as the mod was only 5 months old, they refused to replace on warranty because I had mentioned that a battery vented. IMO this is not a legal way to avoid a warranty claim in the UK, a device with replaceable batteries can only be fit for purpose if it can protect itself against battery failure (or failure of any other non-OEM user replaceable part).

 

[retired1]

If you had returned the mod immediately upon having a cell failure, you'd have probably been alright. But to wait 5 months until another issue crops up? I don't blame the shop at all in that case.

 

[sam_enough]

If you had returned the mod immediately upon having a cell failure, you'd have probably been alright. But to wait 5 months until another issue crops up? I don't blame the shop at all in that case.

But the module worked fine after the cell failure (I didn't buy the faulty batteries until I had the module 5 months already) why would I have been motivated to return it then?

The point really is any electronic item has to be warranted by the manufacturer for minimum 12 months. If an item has "consumable parts" like batteries where the manufacturer doesn't supply an OEM/warranted version, then the item isn't fit for purpose. So in the UK at least I would say any Mod which breaks due to a battery can only legally be marketed if the warranty extends to failures caused by batteries.

 

[retired1]

But the module worked fine after the cell failure (I didn't buy the faulty batteries until I had the module 5 months already) why would I have been motivated to return it then?

Because:

1. If you suffer a failure, that's an immediate red flag that something is wrong inside your mod.
2. Just because it "worked" afterwards doesn't mean there were issues.
3. You were very lucky that something more serious didn't happen.

Battery safety isn't something to be lackadaisical about. You should have returned the mod immediately after the cell failure happened. Waiting 5 months will pretty much invalidate any warranty exchange, regardless of the item or company.

 

[sam_enough]

Because:

1. If you suffer a failure, that's an immediate red flag that something is wrong inside your mod.
2. Just because it "worked" afterwards doesn't mean there were issues.
3. You were very lucky that something more serious didn't happen.

Battery safety isn't something to be lackadaisical about. You should have returned the mod immediately after the cell failure happened. Waiting 5 months will pretty much invalidate any warranty exchange, regardless of the item or company.

I'm just going to write to the SmokTech UK distributor quoting the Supply of Goods Act. If SmokTech made and required OEM certified batteries or required the user to be certified in testing batteries they would have a leg to stand on. But as they supply a product without batteries they don't have a leg to stand on.

 

[retired1]

But as they supply a product without batteries they don't have a leg to stand on.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You're going to try to enforce a foreign rule on a company in China? Good luck with that.

You really do need to educate yourself on batteries and battery safety. Mooch's blog would be an excellent place to start.

Mooch's blog | E-Cigarette Forum

 

[stols001]

Yeah, open it up and look at it sure.... How long have you had it and is it still under warranty? If it is, you can certainly send it back but from the sounds of things you may not want a *replacement* as much as a refund.

Anna

 

[JadidasKV]

My Alien 220W mod fried itself in the same way to another poster. New batteries came, I put them into the charger to check charge, they were both showing 80% charge. Put them into the Alien box, one battery vented on firing.

For about 3 days the Mod seemed to be working fine with other batteries (which had been working no problem for 3 months or so). I plugged the mod into USB to charge (which I do quite often on the move), burning plastic, dead mod. The batteries inside were fine inside an old mod but the PCB is fully cooked.

I took back to the shop as the mod was only 5 months old, they refused to replace on warranty because I had mentioned that a battery vented. IMO this is not a legal way to avoid a warranty claim in the UK, a device with replaceable batteries can only be fit for purpose if it can protect itself against battery failure (or failure of any other non-OEM user replaceable part).

What kind of batteries did you put in that vented?

 

[stols001]

Well, you can try whatever you want to try with whom you wish to try it? You may be legally in the right, but unfortunately if a shop can find a reason to void your warranty, they are going to. That would include any poking around inside done that isn't ah, invisible, since that's... Modifying the mod as it were?

Personally, if I had to return a defective product, at this point I could legitimately state that I had NO CLUE what happened, that's usually what I do with any other electronics I own.... If it's out of warranty I'll usually hand it off to my husband the engineer who will either fix it, or cannibalize it, or sell off the parts and whatnot.

Anna