A word of safety to all mechanical users

[icemanistheking]

^^I had those same pangs of fear when I first began using them, especially when the mech or atty (or even battery) would get warm.

The way I best saw it described basically described it not as "warm" or "hot" when there is a short, but as "oh .... that's hot!", and then having to restrain oneself to keep from dropping or throwing the mod.

While that may not be true in 100% of cases, it has been in my experience. I built attys for probably 2 months before I ever had a short, and once, I fired a new build a couple times, and everything seemed okay at first, but it didn't seem to be performing well. Then I touched the topper, and it was so hot it would have easily blistered my fingers/hands had I held on longer. Let it cool off because I wasn't *sure* and didn't feel like messing with the build again (dumb dumb dumb), and fired it once more just to test it...this time, the atty and at least the top half of the mod instantly got that hot again, and sure enough, the coil was touching the center post, it was just hard to tell unless you were looking from a certain angle.

Like I said, don't take that as empirical evidence, but more than likely, if your coil is shorting in your atty, it will be obvious, as it will be much much hotter than your mod or atty has ever been previously.

 

[Chelonian]

I'd love to see pictures, otherwise, I call total Bull.....

Misinformation and paranoia. Never change ECF, never change.

A quick search found this:

E-Cig Explodes In Bartender's Face ( Caught On Camera) - www.copypasteads.com - YouTube

about a month ago there was video of a vaper in the mall having his mod vent on him - he had an idiotic build, however, so it was his fault.

it does happen, usually due to incompetence, occasionally due to carelessness

 

[Strangebrew]

Vape safe everyone.

 

[readmermaid]

If any mod suddenly gets too, too hot in your hand - get it out of your hand!

I think the first impulse is probably to unscrew but you don't know if there's enough time. Toss it out your front door if you have a yard. Or in to your bathtub.

I believe this happens rarely. It's never happened to me. But the best response must be - get out of the way.

 

[icemanistheking]

If any mod suddenly gets too, too hot in your hand - get it out of your hand!

I think the first impulse is probably to unscrew but you don't know if there's enough time. Toss it out your front door if you have a yard. Or in to your bathtub.

I believe this happens rarely. It's never happened to me. But the best response must be - get out of the way.

No offense, but I think it's going a bit overboard to say "throw your mod" if it gets hot. If it starts venting you are going to hear it, and probably feel it as well, and if it's an IMR, I don't believe that is an instantaneous process where the battery explodes if you don't react instantly. And if it's just the coil that's shorted, everything in the atty and on the outside of the mod is still going to be hot as hell, but your battery is likely going to be barely warm and perfectly fine, and you've just wasted a (in authentic buyer's cases) $200 piece of equipment.

 

[readmermaid]

No offense taken. And maybe it is overreacting, 'cause, like I say, it's never happened to me.

But I can say, that for me, if my authentic Caravela suddenly gets too, too hot ('member, we weren't saying merely warm) in my hand, Ima toss it in the yard. Granted, I'll aim for the softest grass part, lol....

 

[regal55]

Nemisis clones are the worst for shorting out, I've been vaping a relatively short time and I've had three of the short. Ashame I love the form factor.

 

[crxess]

Nemisis clones are the worst for shorting out, I've been vaping a relatively short time and I've had three of the short. Ashame I love the form factor.

You need to figure out what the heck YOU are doing wrong!
I have 9 and none have EVER shorted.

 

[anumber1]

You need to figure out what the heck YOU are doing wrong!
I have 9 and none have EVER shorted.

I agree!

I've been biting my tongue over this guy's posts for a few days. Is the Nemesis a "perfect" mod? Nope. Is it dangerous and prone to shorts? Nope.

Dangerous is using mech mods without knowing and understanding them.

The Nemesis is no more dangerous than any other out there.

 

[B1sh0p]

Nemisis clones are the worst for shorting out, I've been vaping a relatively short time and I've had three of the short. Ashame I love the form factor.

I hope people don't actually believe this crap.

People need to do more research. There are plenty videos of people purposely shorting IMR battery's to see what happens. Look them up. It's not quite as violent as people seem to think.

 

[Chelonian]

I hope people don't actually believe this crap.

People need to do more research. There are plenty videos of people purposely shorting IMR battery's to see what happens. Look them up. It's not quite as violent as people seem to think.

I don't see why you would have a problem with vapors being aware that with the wrong setup, bad things can happen.

Sure, you and I know that I protected IMR is dang hard to vent.

The problem is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of new vapers every day. These people, in all probability, don't even know what an IMR battery even is. The proof is on this forum - how many posts have you seen where the OP "wants to blow cloudz", and the extent of their knowledge is that they need to be under an ohm and the lower the better?

Sure, with the proper equipment, I think that you would actually have to TRY to vent a battery.

But people are out there, buying the cheapest 18350's they can and slapping it on a .02 build in that dripper they just got from a friend.

Or pulling batteries from an old laptop. Or looking on ebay and buying the cheapest 18650 they can find. I personally know a guy that didn't buy protected IMR due to the cost.

Those are the people who will vent a battery - and they need to hear this.

 

[USMCotaku]

I don't see why you would have a problem with vapors being aware that with the wrong setup, bad things can happen.

Sure, you and I know that I protected IMR is dang hard to vent.

The problem is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of new vapers every day. These people, in all probability, don't even know what an IMR battery even is. The proof is on this forum - how many posts have you seen where the OP "wants to blow cloudz", and the extent of their knowledge is that they need to be under an ohm and the lower the better?

Sure, with the proper equipment, I think that you would actually have to TRY to vent a battery.

But people are out there, buying the cheapest 18350's they can and slapping it on a .02 build in that dripper they just got from a friend.

Or pulling batteries from an old laptop. Or looking on ebay and buying the cheapest 18650 they can find. I personally know a guy that didn't buy protected IMR due to the cost.

Those are the people who will vent a battery - and they need to hear this.

From my researching, it seems to be the consensus that due to advancement in battery chemistry, non protected high drain (20 amp continuous or better) is the better option.

Sent from my PantechP9070 using Tapatalk 2

 

[sonicdsl]

Regarding battery safety, one can always reference this post from Roly in the ECF Library: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html

 

[Revelene]

And this post, my friends, demonstrates why I don't use Mechs.

Use an electronic device. Be smart. We're in 2014, it's not the 19th century...

Edited for content.

Well, if you don't understand enough about it and don't want to take the time to do it correctly... That may be for the best.

Been using mechanical mods and rebuildable attys for quite some time. Never had an issue that I couldn't resolve.

Cool thing about IMR and Hybrid 3.7 volt batteries is that they don't go thermal the same way Li-po or Li-ion does. IMR and Hybrid vents when they go thermal. They get hot and melt a little but don't explode so long they have proper ventilation. Li-po and Li-ion tend to burst into a violent rage of flames.

Oh, one last thing... Think you are safe using a device with a chipset? My friend has also never had any of his mechanicals cause him problems but had an IMR Li-mn vent in his regulated device.

 

[roosterado]

I am getting my first Mech. I recently started rebuilding RDARTA's for my Seigeli. When I posted my intentions to do this in this forum and that I had bought a 26650 tube for the Seigeli I mention which 26650 batteries I intended to order[protected cell] I knowable member explained to me why I needed Safe Chemistry 20 amp batteries. I followed his advice and order the MNKE's he recommended. I have since downloaded a IMR battery spec sheet, I understand the difference between continuous amp rating- peak amp rating and pulse amp rating' I feel I am and ready to use the Fat Snow Wolf I have ordered along with new IMR MNKE 26650 batteries. I do not plan to build below .5 ohm for a good long while.

 

[Ryedan]

Here's a video of a couple of batteries being shorted. It would be nice to know which Panasonic cell they used, but we all know what a AW 1600 mAh is

Callies Kustoms IMR Battery and AW short circuit observations

Here's Rolygate's latest ECF Sub-Ohm Advisory

 

[Kyi]

Hmm that actually didn't look as scary as I thought, not that I'd want that to happen regardless. Does an atomizer short result in the same reaction as pushing the amp limit of a battery or battery stacking type problems?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Ryedan]

Hmm that actually didn't look as scary as I thought, not that I'd want that to happen regardless. Does an atomizer short result in the same reaction as pushing the amp limit of a battery or battery stacking type problems?

I totally agree venting batteries are not safe Kyi, but as long as they are not counterfeit we should be reasonably safe if it should happen. I'm more concerned with high power vaping and the substances that could produce than this.

They completely shorted those batteries, so resistance was pretty close to zero. If you short your coil in an atty that's a partial short and resistance will not go nearly that low. Let's say you're using a 1 ohm coil and short it at the middle to the cap. You would then have 0.5 ohms, so about 8A with a fresh battery. Short it closer to the positive post and the resulting coil wire will be that much shorter and that much lower in ohms. Typically if you short a coil badly it will melt (pop), break and stop working ending the problem. Of course if you're making really low ohm coils it will that much closer to battery amp limits if there's a partial short.

The biggest issue IMO really is a hard short and that can happen to any mechanical mod any time if something breaks or wears out. Coil resistance is irrelevant here. I've had a mod not fire a few times and of course the first reaction is to hit the button again. I try not to do that, but figure out what happened before I continue. I've never had a mod heat up, but I would do the same in that case.

I don't know anyone who stacks batteries in a mech mod and I don't recommend it. There really is no gain to be had as far as I can see either.

 

[Kyi]

I would never try stacking batteries knowing its risks, just curious if there are different types of shorts or if all battery problems result in the same type of reaction. I used regulated mods for a very long time before I felt comfortable enough to try out a mech. I wouldn't say I am a reckless person when it comes to vaping and safety, but I always worry about accidents and just random things that might happen that I didn't personally cause due to negligence. For example, dropping my mod and having the coil inside my tank becoming loose or moved around, resulting in a short. Just trying to think about IF I did get a short somehow, what would be the most likely cause of it? I don't build very low and I check my build before and after I fill my tanks (I mainly run 2 KFLs) and use AW and VTC5 batteries. I am trying to be as safe as possible but I always fear that 'accident' in the back of my mind.

 

[rj134]

And this post, my friends, demonstrates why I don't use Mechs.

Use an electronic device. Be smart. We're in 2014, it's not the 19th century...

Edited for content.

In 2014 we also have multimeters. Couple them with some education and you can achieve wonderful things, like, using mechs safely.