Battery Wrapping 101

[AngeNZ]

This thread at FT absolutely blew me away.

To summarize: a vaper used a battery similar to this condition:

in a VV Pulse X mod. When removing the battery (it was a tight fit), the plastic guard disintegrated and the positive and negative battery elements became bridged by the positive terminal of the mod. There was a scary crackling sound and the smell of burning plastic.

The resulting battery:

A simple battery rewrap would've stopped this from happening.

It made me extremely grateful that we have people at ECF like @Mooch and @Baditude and others, who push battery safety awareness into new and old members alike

 

[DaveP]

Some mods aren't designed with enough clearance for a standard heat shrink wrap on top of the factory wrap. I have a bag full of wraps and a heat gun, but I hesitate to double wrap a cell and I also don't like the tight fit in a mod with an over-wrap. I only rewrap a cell if the factory wrap gets damaged and then I remove the factory wrap and put a Brother label on the cell before I wrap it with clear heat shrink wrap. That way I know what's under the wrap.

All it takes is a small tear on the positive outer edge to create a serious short (there are no non-serious shorts).

 

[icepickmaker84]

Holy crap, that battery looks awful! I rewrapped a few 18650’s yesterday and added to my Minion army.

 

[TrollDragon]

Took these two from customers last week.

 

[mimöschen]

In all my years of vaping I haven't been able to damage my wraps that badly.
Ok, a tiny nick here or there, but never ever something like that.
Seems to me they are installing/removing their cells with a monkey wrench.

 

[Tabac man]

That's grim.

 

[TrollDragon]

In all my years of vaping I haven't been able to damage my wraps that badly.
Ok, a tiny nick here or there, but never ever something like that.
Seems to me they are installing/removing their cells with a monkey wrench.

There are some really poorly finished contacts out there with very sharp edges and a tight battery fit.

 

[TrollDragon]

The customer with the 30Q had actually burnt his thumb on the battery. I told he he was lucky he still had a thumb or hand for that matter.

 

[mimöschen]

There are some really poorly finished contacts out there with very sharp edges and a tight battery fit.

I'm not reluctant to use clones and such, so I've got some mech squonkers with sub-par contacts as well, but in the end it's all a matter of how careful you treat your cells. If you damage your cells like that however, you don't care at all no matter the contacts.

 

[Baditude]

My 24 old son vapes. Out of curiosity I asked him what batteries he was using. (In a SMOK regulated mod of all brands ) He only knew the color, so I asked to see them.

They were some LG HG2's with terrible wraps, and an AWT brand who Mooch said was only a 10 amp battery.

We went online and I showed him pictures of 18650 batteries which exploded and the physical trauma they can cause. He was flabbergasted. I showed him Mooch's Battery Blog for future reference. I gave him a few battery replacements (LG H2 and Samsung 30Q) because I keep at minimum 8 spares on hand.

I also explained to him about battery specifications, that not all batteries are the specification shown on the wrapper. You know me.

 

[TrollDragon]

My 24 old son vapes. Out of curiosity I asked him what batteries he was using. (In a SMOK regulated mod of all brands ) He only knew the color, so I asked to see them.

They were some LG HG2's with terrible wraps, and an AWT brand who Mooch said was only a 10 amp battery.

We went online and I showed him pictures of 18650 batteries which exploded and the physical trauma they can cause. He was flabbergasted. I showed him Mooch's Battery Blog for future reference. Gave him a few battery replacements because I keep about 8 spares on hand.

90% of the vapers out there don't know how dangerous Li-Ion cells really are.

 

[Baditude]

90% of the vapers out there don't know how dangerous Li-Ion cells really are.

I agree. I cringe when popular You Tube reviewers throw in some off brand 18650 battery that I've never heard of with a rating of 40 - 50 amps on the wrap. They need to educate themselves as much as the average vaper, maybe even more so.

 

[greek mule]

Took these two from customers last week.
View attachment 839155

You have very clever customers!

 

[Baditude]

You have very clever customers!

I'm assuming he charged them for the new batteries?

 

[TrollDragon]

You have very clever customers!

I'm assuming he charged them for the new batteries?

Neither really wanted to buy a new battery, but they were convinced otherwise. It's amazing how cheap people are wanting to save $10. Most not in the know will classify an 18650 the same as a NiMh rechargeable, just bigger.

I always make it a point to inform customers who are buying their first mod about the dangers of Li-Ion cells and stress how serious this information is. An informed vaper is hopefully a safe vaper, but there is no guarantee.

 

[Baditude]

Neither really wanted to buy a new battery, but they were convinced otherwise. It's amazing how cheap people are wanting to save $10. Most not in the know will classify an 18650 the same as a NiMh rechargeable, just bigger.

Oh, I know. Some will spend $100 - $200 dollars for a new mod and atomizer, but they freak out when you ask them for $7 for a Sony, Samsung, or Lg battery with the right specs. I always tell them that batteries are the most important piece of gear that they'll own. Don't cheap out with cheap batteries. They're not as safe. will perform poorly, and won't last as long as a quality battery. They'll save money over the long term by investing in a high quality battery.

I asked my son why he bought AWT batteries. He said the vape shop guy said that was the best battery they had because it was 40 amps. I told him not to go back to that shop.

 

[AngeNZ]

The customer with the 30Q had actually burnt his thumb on the battery. I told he he was lucky he still had a thumb or hand for that matter.

Your CS is way better than mine, after 10 years in retail I MUCH prefer working on a farm. I would've called that guy a freakin' eejit

 

[AngeNZ]

To me the difference is also that - thanks to the knowledge we now have (which is thanks to a lot of work by you guys), we all know a tiny nick, or a tiny tear in a wrap is a bad thing. And to bench that battery until it's rewrapped.

Even after a year of using external battery mods, before I put a battery in a mod, I check it. It's an automatic ingrained behaviour. And I got that knowledge, all from lil ECF

 

[DaveP]

Not every vaper is an ECF member. It's hard not to learn battery basics if you spend enough time on an ecig forum. There are consumers and there are enthusiasts. It's up to the vape shop owners to make sure that people who buy from them are told about basic ecig safety, IMO. 18650 and larger lithium cells in pockets are a terrible accident waiting to happen. We've all seen the videos.

 

[DaveP]

The customer with the 30Q had actually burnt his thumb on the battery. I told he he was lucky he still had a thumb or hand for that matter.

If you are wearing a ring and it gets across the case and the positive contact you could lose some skin or worse. Top edge wear on a cell is a serious condition, especially if a weld occurs with battery contact.