18650 not charging, damaged cells, completely drained due to testing? not sure

[JuniorNA]

Not sure if in right forum.

Hey guys, i was doing some testing on a home made mod, and I was literally just testing connections to the atty from a battery. Like actually just electrical taped pos and neg to the battery and then touched the battery connector so i knew where it needed to be soldered. Well then i installed a switch and did not do it right (i'm a computer guy, not a wiring/electrical guy) I ended up setting up the switch the wrong way, and I was completing the circuit wrong and I used the wrong switch (i used a normally open switch instead of normall closed)...so the LED would stay on and then I would hit the switch and the LED would go off. While i was holding the button to keep the LED off, the battery went to about 200 degrees and I had to drop it because it was so hot. Ever since then I am not able to charge the battery. Did i do a complete drain on that and damage the cells because I did not wire the switch right? I've tried putting them in the charger but the light stays green and does no go to red, and I tested voltage, i'm getting maybe 1v out of the normal 3.7. I hear the atty going but it's at 1v instead of 3v. Did I completely damage these batteries by doing this?

It's not about ordering new ones, thats no problem, but its about learning what i did wrong and how I actually depleted the battery in seconds and damaged the cells to the point that they can't recharge. When i held that switch to shut off the LED, it was wired wrong so i was actually completing the full circuit and I had both the switch positive and negative going to battery and atomizer positve and negative going to the battery, that is a big no no...that i have now learned

Any idea if these batteries are shot? When i say hot to touch i mean literally had to drop them because of how hot they god at the negative end.

 

[Java_Az]

Sounds like you did a direct short meaning the positive and negitive were hooked directly together. Just doing that for for just a second or two can damage these types of batteries. If it wont charge it is for sure shot. Just chalk it up to learning. You know now not to do a direct short on them and you also might want test your circuits with a volt meter before hooking up a battery to make sure it isn't shorted.

 

[JuniorNA]

yeah, I figured that too. Now i know how to setup a switch without having to ruin a battery first. I will def chalk it up to learning. Thanks for the help. That sucks

 

[Switched]

yeah, I figured that too. Now i know how to setup a switch without having to ruin a battery first. I will def chalk it up to learning. Thanks for the help. That sucks

BTW that batt is toast and should be tossed.

 

[JuniorNA]

Yeah I ordered two new ones. One high drain and one regular. Although when using an 18650 i don't think high drain makes a big difference... Thx guys

Sent from my HTC Droid Incredible

 

[grantemsley]

Be sure you are ordering PROTECTED batteries. My best guess as to what would cause a battery to heat up like that is a short on an unprotected cell - it's essentially trying to pump an infinite amount of current through that wire.

A protected cell should have triggered the over current/short circuit protection and turned itself off. If you don't know how to tell the difference between protected and unprotected cells, there are posts on the forums or ask and I'll explain. You can get seriously injured using unprotected cells. Imagine what would have happened if that battery was inside your device, and it took you longer to realize it was that hot.

Get rid of that battery. It's toast.

 

[Switched]

Yeah I ordered two new ones. One high drain and one regular. Although when using an 18650 i don't think high drain makes a big difference... Thx guys

Sent from my HTC Droid Incredible

There was a thread a while back discussing this. IMR is wasted on 18650s as LI Ions do supply sufficient current for our needs. Therefore, going for longevity pays greater dividends.

 

[JuniorNA]

It definiately was a protected battery. It said it on the battery and it said it in the description when I ordered it.
The problem was I wired the positive of the switch and positive of the LED together, then the negative of the switch and negative of the LED together, then touched both of them to the battery (pos/neg) and it became scorching hot. So protected or not, I still think i would have done a direct short and fried it...correct?

Yeah, i'm kinda terrified now to go through with the custom mod, because I feel like i'm going to do that somehow...and B. i feel like I can't solder the positive and negative to the battery connector and will mess it up also. This issue caused a lot of emotional distress

 

[JuniorNA]

There was a thread a while back discussing this. IMR is wasted on 18650s as LI Ions do supply sufficient current for our needs. Therefore, going for longevity pays greater dividends.

I saw that same thread. I'm sure it will still work fine though. the highdrain is 1700mah, more than I need to last the day, and the regular Li-Ion is 3000mah which will probably last me 3 days. SO now i atleast know to wire a switch, and i have a bread board to test to make sure all circuits are ok and not screwed up. I can use those bad batteries now (they are pushing out 1v) because they are still getting the LED lit, and I can still use that as a test to make sure connection is ok. It doesnt have enough volts to fire an atty, but It will help determine if the wiring is correct...so I can make use of them without being scared of using brand new ones that i purchased. Or i can just use a regular nonrechargable 1.7v battery...to test the switch/led/and atomizer.

 

[grantemsley]

The way you wired it up is a short circuit - current will travel through the LED even if the switch button isn't pressed. But that should have triggered the short circuit protection on the battery. Maybe the protection circuit of the battery was bad.

On my mod if I create a short circuit (by say touching a screwdriver to both the inside and outside parts of the atty connector) the LED will shut off immediately, and turn back on when I remove the screwdriver. That's the battery shutting off. If yours didn't do that, it's definitely damaged and not safe to use.

 

[JuniorNA]

Thanks all. These were definitely protected batteries. I went back to the site I ordered them from and looked at the description and they are

Ultrafire BRC 18650 3.7v 3000mAh Protected Rechargable Li-ion B

So apparently the protection did not kick in, or perhaps the way i had it wired no protection could have stopped it ? I'm not sure, all i know is that i blew out these batteries in seconds, and had to order more. I ordered a high drain protected, and another ultrafire protected - I will not be doing that again that's for sure.

All my testing will be done on a regular 1.5v non rechargeable AA battery....that's all i'll need to make sure my wiring is in tact and correct.

 

[grantemsley]

Depending on the resistor you use, that might not be enough to light the LED. Your best bet is to use a multimeter.