Battery wrap

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Chuck64

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I have a newer, brighter work light and got a very ugly surprise when I threw my cheater glasses on. My batteries are wrecked. Not bad bad, but there are little tears etc in them. Should I just get new ones as these are 3 years old or wrap them? My first instinct is to break out the electrical tape and do some patch work till I order some new ones. I'm 53 and it's becoming quite apparent visually.
 

bombastinator

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there are heat shrink battery wrappers that will work better but you'd have to order those too. 3 years is a long time for a battery they're probably about done anyway. If it were me id order both some new batteries and some wrappers so id have em on hand for when the plastic on the new batteries gets damaged. I'm not sure electrical tape will work because its thicker than wrappers and frequently tolerances are quite close.
 

Baditude

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Batteries' expected life span are approx. 250 - 300 charge cycles, at which point they will begin to loose their ability to hold a full charge. Even if you didn't recharge them on a daily basis, 3 year old batteries are way past their prime.

Get new batteries. Sooner than later.

Are your battery wraps and insulator rings intact?
Why Repairing Batteries With Cracked Wraps Is Absolutely Essential
Battery tears

Battery Basics for Mods: The Definative Battery Guide for Vaping

18650 Battery Safety Grades -- Picking a Safe Cell to Vape With
 
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Rossum

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The potential hazard of less than perfect wraps depends very much on what type of device you're using the cells in. Is there a conductive surface in contact with the side of the cell? If so, what's that surface connected to? I've got mods in which it would be perfectly safe to run a bare naked cell with no wrap at all, but that's by no means representative of all mods.

If your cells are 3 years old, I'd consider ordering some new ones, and some wraps at the same time. Installing new wraps is really easy.
 

untar

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I've got mods in which it would be perfectly safe to run a bare naked cell with no wrap at all
That may be but the wrap is also for handling the batteries. A naked cell can dead short very easily, with some chargers it's enough to put such a cell in and it will short out on the + contact of the charger. Wear rings or chains, piercings? (well I guess not you :p) And so on and so on...
Naked cell is just an accident waiting to happen, let's not pretend it's ok to use them if the mod is built in a certain way ;)

Everything else has been covered, get wraps they're not expensive or hard to use. Don't lose the little insulator disc on top when you change wraps and take your jewelry off (or tape it) while rewrapping.
 

zoiDman

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I have a newer, brighter work light and got a very ugly surprise when I threw my cheater glasses on. My batteries are wrecked. Not bad bad, but there are little tears etc in them. Should I just get new ones as these are 3 years old or wrap them? My first instinct is to break out the electrical tape and do some patch work till I order some new ones. I'm 53 and it's becoming quite apparent visually.

If those Batteries have been used in a Daily Rotation, I would do what Rossum suggested and Order some New Ones as well as some Battery Wraps.

Then delegate those Older, Re-Wrapped, Batteries to the 18650 Flashlight Brigade.
 

stols001

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I too would suggest more batteries (as well as rewraps) if they've seen heavy use. There's not a good reason not to replace them at this point, the worst that will happen is you may be "surprised" at your improved battery life too... Unless you had a period where they sat on a shelf for a long period (and even then, the batteries age). It's not worth skimping on small items, and be sure to check your new batteries frequently, and pay attention to how you insert them into mods and chargers. It may be something you can isolate to a particular mod or process. I had one mod that just chewed through my wraps, that is what it seemed designed for almost. But, rewraps are cheap (in fact, if you order from IMRbatteries.com they will send a couple free with your order, a nice nod to battery safety if you ask me). So, I'd say replace, and it may be somewhat futile to try and figure out where EVERY nick came from over the past 3 years, but now is probably the time to wear those glasses "as you" charge or replace batteries, and really pay attention to the process.

I can't even begin to estimate HOW MUCH longer my battery wraps last without degradation, now that I pay more attention to how I'm using and charging them, once I discovered how easy a tear or nick can be and learned enough about battery safety TO care about it and etc.

Best of luck, and rewrapping is pretty easy once you learn the process, but it's also even easier to "coddle" your batteries and avoid the process (which is never 100%, I still rewrap batteries from time to time and etc.)

Best of luck,

Anna
 
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Rossum

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A naked cell can dead short very easily, with some chargers it's enough to put such a cell in and it will short out on the + contact of the charger.
Eww! What kind of charger is that?

Wear rings or chains, piercings? (well I guess not you :p)
Wedding ring. 24x7 for the last 32 years. :)

PS: I'm not suggesting anyone should use naked cells.
 
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untar

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Eww! What kind of charger is that?
I don't have a complete list but chargers with several nipples or long (+) will do that easily (eg nitecore intellicharger newi2 or xtar vp4).
Wedding ring. 24x7 for the last 32 years. :)
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