Exploding eGo theory - Please comment

[KeithB]

It seems like many of the stories lately of venting/exploding eGo batteries have come from eGos that were charging a)in the kitchen or b) on a computer USB port. This makes me wonder if the problem might lie in the current being supplied to the charger and not so much a problem with the charger itself.

Whenever a larger appliance like a refrigerator or microwave (or even a hair dryer) comes on, your see a power sag in that circuit and when it shuts off you'll see a surge in the power. You can often see this in you household lighting. I believe the same might happen on some computers when some components power on (I'm thinking of my somewhat antiquated DVD drive that makes plenty of noise as it gets up to speed). I'm wondering if that surge might me enough to over stress the batteries/charger enough to lead to batteries failing.

If this is the case, I'd think using some kind of conditioner on the power supply, like many people use with their computers, might help with the safety concerns associated with a Li-ion battery spewing flames and toxic gasses.

I am not an electrician or an engineer, so I may be completely wrong on this. I'd welcome any comment on this from anyone who feels qualified to do so. Also, anyone interested in testing this theory?

 

[36tinybells]

I am also no electrician/engineer. You may have a valid point there. I have put all chargers on a surge protector since a lightening strike took one charger out early in my vaping experience. However, it seems to me a common thread in many of the ego/charging/blowouts is using a different charger than intended for charging. (i.e. ego clone battery with ego charger) That being said, I am waiting on a charger bag from amazon ($9.49) and will charge all ego and mod batteries in it for now on. Better safe than sorry.

 

[rielevilnside]

Has anyone had experience using a solar panel charger?

 

[Vchick]

imho I don't think they are correlated, in fact I would think due to the fact that for alot of homes, having my batteries where the gfi outlets are located as well as being a room that has alot of traffic to monitor any problems would be more beneficial, again just 2c.

I haven't seen in the the most recent thread (todays) if the charger was the correct one being used for the battery. The user expressed different mah battery (not the ones supplied originally in the kit with the charger) and I'm not sure if anyone has confirmed that the output was correct. The previous one (a melt down a few days back) was confirmed that the user had not used the correct charger.

That being said, it isn't worth patching together a kit, any kit. If you didn't buy it together as a kit, don't assume that because the battery threads into the charger that it's good.

 

[KeithB]

From what I've seen, the latest incident occurred with the proper charger.

Are you suggestion that GFCIs are located in high traffic areas and therefore you're more likely to notice a problem? Possibly.

Are you suggesting that GFCIs would protect from a power surge? I don't think that they do.

I would have thought this might attract some attention and discussion. I was wondering if this might possibly be an underlying cause for some of the battery failures that have been happening lately or if I was just full of crap.

Seriously, does anyone that knows more than I care to comment on this?

 

[orson]

GFCI receptacles do not protect from a power surge.

They monitor the balance of current flow between the two sides of the circuit.

If they sense an imbalance they trip. Hence the name "Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter", if their is an imbalance in current flow then current must be flowing to ground. Ground can be the ground wire on the circuit or through your body into the floor and onward through any conductive path.

I cannot think of any scenario of a battery/charger failure that would trip a GFCI protected circuit, other than if the outlet itself melted, in which case the GFCI circuitry might fail anyway.

 

[midficollege]

Does this have any ramifications as far as the "safety" of a car charger, either a charging box through the DC outlet, or just a DC to USB plug?

The car turns on, turns off (losing current to the battery) if you go to fill it up with gas or need to stop for a few minutes or whatever, rapidly.

Is this a safety problem (i.e. am I going to have an electrical explosion/flammable gas discharge feet away from a 10 gallon tank of combustible hydrocarbons?)

 

[Rocketman]

Keith,
The voltage sag/recovery you experience with a heavy load on the AC line is sort of slow. The series voltage drop in the house wiring goes up, especially when a motored device comes on until it 'gets up to speed'.

Slow surges, coming in from the electric company are also "slow" and there are time of day changes based on the area load on 'the grid'. Short term surges, like a lightning strike 5 miles away, appliance switching noise spikes, especially microwave ovens, or devices with non-resistive power factor (inductive or capacitive) can effect all the wiring in the house. Excluding the lightning strike, switching transients can be hundreds of volts. High voltage, low energy spikes can damage unprotected electronics. Thus the market for surge protectors. They do nothing for the slow surges and sags, but short out high voltage spikes to prevent them from continuing on and causing damage. They are rated for peak pass voltage and maximum single strike shunt energy.

Connecting an e-cig charger, without a good surge protector, to the same socket, or even the same circuit branch, with something like a microwave oven is not a good idea. Don't run large motorized appliances (blue ray player is OK) off the same surge protector as your expensive electronics.

 

[KeithB]

Short term surges, like a lightning strike 5 miles away, appliance switching noise spikes, especially microwave ovens, or devices with non-resistive power factor (inductive or capacitive) can effect all the wiring in the house. Excluding the lightning strike, switching transients can be hundreds of volts. High voltage, low energy spikes can damage unprotected electronics. Thus the market for surge protectors.

So then, do you think it's possible that the root cause of some of these battery failures might lie in the power being supplied to the charger and not the charger or battery? That is what I'm really asking, I guess. If so, this seems like it would be a relatively easy problem to address and a real fire hazard that no one seems to be aware of.

 

[Rocketman]

The 'appliance' spikes that gets though a properly functioning and regulating charger, probably not.
Unless they temporarily* damaged the charger , or permanently damaged the charger.
A large enough spike could make it all the way to the cell and damage the thin spiral wrapped electrodes.
Those that blow while on a laptop are protected by a laptop power supply connected to the AC mains (unless on battery power), then to an internal DC to DC converter driving a 5 volt regulated USB line. High voltage spikes making it all the way through that to the eGo internal cell is unlikely.
*Voltage regulation may be 'upset' by a voltage spike. Unplugging could reset the confused charger.



Awareness is increasing, slowly.
A safe charging location, and a charging bag (Google Li-po charging bag) is the current 'best practice'.

 

[KeithB]

OK, it sounds like it's unlikely then. I just wasn't too sure how well charges and wall warts that cost me under $10 could handle these 'appliance' spikes.

 

[Rocketman]

Still best to not plug in any electronics next to the fridge, AC, or microwave.

I don't think the $10 chargers and wall warts handle spikes well at all.
But failures of an e-cig charger on a laptop USB most likely wasn't caused by a spike. So no common failure mode there.

 

[oldfatguy]

Ok, gotta ask, how about the pass through batteries? Are they safer than the regular ego? I started changing over to the pass through a few months ago but still have what I had assumed were useable regular ego batteries and 520 batteries. After reading all of this today I am about ready to buy a steam powered e-cig battery except I would hate to shovel the coal to keep it running.

 

[Rocketman]

Can't answer. I don't have any.
I would have to stand up to pull out an answer LOL.

Don't really know.