Battery safety oops!

[Vapenstein]

I’ve been around awhile and I did something really stupid today. It can and will happen to any of us. I make mistakes but I tend to learn from them, so hopefully this is a one off for me.

I loaded my batteries in my parallel unregulated today in series orientation. I have a BMI regulated series box that is my main vape, and I just had a momentary lapse. Just about the time the second battery was clicking home I realized my mistake, right before all the solder in my box started to glow. I didn’t even try to pry a battery out, I was about 10 feet from the front door and I moved faster than I had in a while throwing the box out into the lawn. The battery door was off and throwing it dislodged a battery, so I went to check it out. The batteries seemed fine and were only very warm but not hot, so I threw them in my charger and they read 3.91v, so I let them charge and they seem fine. They didn’t overload for long because the melting solder broke the circuit. The box is DOA. As far as I can tell I should be able to take it apart, rewire and solder it and it’ll be fine.

In any event, this is why we stress battery safety so strenuously here at ECF. Bad things happen if you build beyond your battery’s limits or aren’t paying attention.

 

[Mooch]

Thanks for sharing that. Glad it wasn't any worse!

 

[r77r7r]

Any advice on avoiding that? Maybe a big P written in marker in the battery compartment?

Glad everything is OK.

 

[Vapenstein]

Naw my battery sleds are labeled. It was just me not paying attention to what box I was using while I was obviously thinking about something else.

 

[Froth]

Me not paying attention is exactly why I don't own a series mod, I wouldn't have a problem if I ONLY owned series mods but having one mixed in with a few other parallel mods is just waiting for me to forget what I'm holding. Glad it didn't go any worse, any pics of carnage?

 

[Vapenstein]

Glad it didn't go any worse, any pics of carnage?

not much in the way of carnage, it looks like as soon as the solder points on the sled melted it broke the circuit, and when I chucked the box out the door and dislodged a battery it saved my batteries from venting

 

[sonicbomb]

Complacency is a wicked old tart. She's caught me with my pants down a couple of times too.

 

[serene.in.dallas]

Thanks for sharing. If you vape long enough your bound to have a bad day and a "whoops" moment. Hell, batteries can even vent seemingly of their own volition.

 

[Baditude]

So-called "battery expert" here.....

One day I was working away in my kitchen, somewhat distracted from multi-tasking while cooking. My battery charger is located on one of my kitchen counters, and noticing that one of the batteries had a full charge, I removed it from the charger. Spontaneously, one of the pans on the stove began boiling over, and I somewhat absent mindedly put the charged battery in my pants pocket while I dealt with the overflowing pan.

After taking care of the boiling pan, I began to notice a burning sensation in my pocket. I knew immediately what was going on, and immediately removed the battery from the pocket and dropped it into the sink. It was hot enough to nearly burn my bare fingers, and I was able to hear a slight hissing sound as the battery vented hot gas.

So, even a so-called safety expert can have a moment of stupidity. I was not aware that there was a coin in my pocket.

(* Batteries should never be put into a pocket or purse where they may come into contact with something metalic. Doing so can complete the electric circuit of the battery, cause it to over-discharge, and go into thermal runaway.)

 

[edyle]

the way those common Duracell or Energizer batteries are coloured, it's not so easy to put them in the wrong way without noticing,

but with many 18650 batteries:

they look pretty much the same right side up or upside down .


I have painted the negative sides of my batteries with a marker just to help with the visual clue, and I don't even have a dual batt mod and my dual bay chargers are independent bay too. (I used to have a dual bay that got fried from inserting a battery the wrong way more than a year ago)

 

[smacksy]

It just makes me happy all my high-powered dual batt VW box mods have reverse battery protection.. Never owned a dual parallel box, or mechanical box so those could be different..


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