Battery Venting Question

[tj99959]

The batteries are basically a can. They will always vent from the top. The biggest issue with mechs is that they're designed with vent holes in the bottom while vent holes for battery are up top. If the battery swells and blocks access to the bottom vents, then you have a pipe bomb ready to burst because it no longer has anywhere to vent.

Personally I think mechs should be abandoned. Yes, I have some. Yes, they look nice and are very compact. But they pretty much no safety features whatsoever. I used them at a time when regulated mods were maxing out at 15watts, so anything more required use of a mech.

With very affordable regulated mods that go up to 200W and multi-battery setups to split the load up (so a single battery isn't seeing all of it), plus all the safety features they build into them, I see no reason at all for a mech. Mine are sitting in the back of a drawer never to be used again.

Mechanical mods only need one safety feature .... YOU!
The only reason a mechanical will ever vent is because the operator is using their head for a hat rack instead of the safety feature.

add:
As far as vent holes ... there are never enough. So the common sense approach is to not have a battery vent!
Batteries ONLY vent if something is wrong! So DON'T do it wrong!

 

[Mike 586]

IMHO, in the vast majority of instances the holes are there as a facade, to give the appearance that the product was designed to vent as opposed to actually being tested and designed to vent.

With mechs its painfully obvious, but with an awful lot of regulated devices, the sheer speed at which they come out with new models, I think believing they do anything more than doing theoretical math and some basic functionality testing before rushing a product to market wouldn't be realistic.

To be honest, the only companies I believe to actually design and test to ensure their products handle catastrophic failures safely would be Innokin and possibly Provape.

 

[tj99959]

IMHO, in the vast majority of instances the holes are there as a facade, to give the appearance that the product was designed to vent as opposed to actually being tested and designed to vent.

With mechs its painfully obvious, but with an awful lot of regulated devices, the sheer speed at which they come out with new models, I think believing they do anything more than doing theoretical math and some basic functionality testing before rushing a product to market wouldn't be realistic.

To be honest, the only companies I believe to actually design and test to ensure their products handle catastrophic failures safely would be Innokin and possibly Provape.

So the obvious solution is to prevent those "catastrophic failures".

 

[Rossum]

So the obvious solution is to prevent those "catastrophic failures".

You'll never be able to prevent all of them. Poop happens. And when it does, the gasses coming from the battery should not be contained and allowed to build up pressure.

 

[WharfRat1976]

Vent holes shment holes. Look at all the exploded mechs. Most with vent holes. If you are dead shorted and an imbecile, a vent hole will not save your ears from getting blown off. Dont dead short your gear and you will never have to worry about vent holes shment holes.

 

[Bunnykiller]

just use a proper build, correct batteries and avoid "hybrids"

 

[Tommy-Chi]

I wonder if anyone here would be willing to test venting from devices. I'm not suggesting making batteries vent, but maybe a moderate to high speed camera and some particulate/solvent that could be used with the same force of a venting battery.

Could be the new UL logo for vaping!

 

[sig-cmt]

Don't put your batteries in upside-down, kids! It may seem like a good idea at first, but there is an actual reason why everyone isn't doing it already.

What? Inverting your batteries is standard practice in competitive circles where the drawback is realized and accounted for. There are mechs which specifically instruct the user to invert installed cells as such. These include the Sub Ohm Innovations Legendary Subzero, the Kennedy Enterprises Roundhouse and all Vaperz Cloud tubes.

I mentioned this in another thread and I will mention it again: So long as you verify the integrity of your wrap(s) (which should be done regardless), a mechanical with vent holes and cell(s) installed with the positive oriented towards the bottom of the mod is arguably safer than the inverse.

The slotted button of the Roundhouse doubles as a not-so-subtle indication of how a cell should be oriented...

 

[sig-cmt]

I wonder if anyone here would be willing to test venting from devices

I have seen an HG2 vent up close and personal. Flames and all. It was a sooty affair which served to confirm the adequacy of the vent holes of an authentic MCV Raptor. The most difficult part in cleaning the post-vented Raptor was removing the mix of soot and PVC from the threads.