Hi All - from a shaken up Provari AW 18490 battery owner!

[Baditude]

Is it just me,but looking at the posted photos, the battery that failed appears to be INSIDE the provari.....it's coming out of the metal tube so it appears the battery that failed was inside the mod?

No, what you see in the pic is just the battery itself. It has mushroomed from the expanding gas. Like an accordian. It's already been established the vented battery was in a pocket in the bookbag loose along with another battery when the incident occurred.

 

[Katya]

which is why, when I help newbies, I still believe in starting them off on a good joyetech twist or spinner because it is pretty hard to blow one up and the newbie person usuallly doesn't have a whole lot of knowledge about battery safety yet and shouldn't be using a "mod".

There's a reason we call them Advanced Personal Vaporizers.

 

[Baditude]

which is why, when I help newbies, I still believe in starting them off on a good joyetech twist or spinner because it is pretty hard to blow one up and the newbie person usuallly doesn't have a whole lot of knowledge about battery safety yet and shouldn't be using a "mod".

Fact is, new vapors are starting out with mech mods loaded with sub-ohm coils set up by B&M vendors, without a word about safety. Some of these customers haven't a clue about ohms, amperage, hard-shorts, hot spots, let alone know about battery safety. There was one of these noobs who began posting wondering why his hot spring was collapsing and why his mod and battery were getting so hot.

We're going to be seeing more and more of these situations as more novices start out with mods and skip the cigalike and ego stages altogether. Mods are called Advanced Personal Vaporizers for a reason.

We need stickies at the top of the New Members Forum with topics on mod and battery safety.

Speaking of which, where's our Forum Administrator? He hasn't posted since June. Who's running the show here?

 

[retrox]

Is it just me,but looking at the posted photos, the battery that failed appears to be INSIDE the provari.....it's coming out of the metal tube so it appears the battery that failed was inside the mod?

Negative. The battery has expanded, shedding the shrink-wrap, and its innards have ejected upwards. A sobering sight to be sure, but the battery died as safely as could be expected.

 

[Nermal]

I agree that the battery was a spare outside the device, Racehorse. I do think it would have been much easier to cut through the fog if we could have sat down with the OP in direct conversation.

 

[Nermal]

This little quote from the first post seems to contradict this:

unfortunately I've lost my confidence just a couple of months in because the AW battery exploded, spontaneously in my bag at work. (no, there was no metal in the cushioned pocket it was in). Thank goodness no one was hurt, even if a few of us are a bit shook up....

So, seems storing them in your ecig, unless its plastic, is not a good idea; you have to take them out between vapes and put them in a plastic container - given the massive pressure, smoke and fire that came out of my bag you'll need a bullet proof plastic tub!!!

 

[Rickajho]

To all of you helpful individuals who recommended that I turn off my battery before carrying it around with me:

When you see my future post in which I wonder why my fully charged battery is not working, at which point I have driven myself to the brink of insanity by plugging and unplugging it from the charger 43 times, cleaned and replaced 6 tanks, quadruple-checked all connections, and done 18 hours of research on the internet to try to figure it out, please remind me to simply turn my battery on.

Oh we are soooo gonna remind you!

 

[Rickajho]

I'm confused by the pictures. Is the tall burned up thing the ProVari?


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That's the battery. A Li-On battery is built in layers - something like a film type capacitor. The top of the battery tube blew off and the built up pressure shot the layers out of the tube in a sorta accordion like fashion. Like one of those kiddie party favors that you fling causing the paper roll to extend out.

 

[ScandaLeX]

Fact is, new vapors are starting out with mech mods loaded with sub-ohm coils set up by B&M vendors, without a word about safety. Some of these customers haven't a clue about ohms, amperage, hard-shorts, hot spots, let alone know about battery safety. There was one of these noobs who began posting wondering why his hot spring was collapsing and why his mod and battery were getting so hot.

We're going to be seeing more and more of these situations as more novices start out with mods and skip the cigalike and ego stages altogether. We need stickies at the top of the New Members Forum with topics on mod and battery safety.

Also, where's our Forum Administrator? He hasn't posted since June.

@Bad with all due respect I don't think we should point all the fingers at the B&M vendors. I cant speak for what takes place in all stores--the ones I've been to, all they know how to do well is actually sell a device and that's where their knowledge ended.

These forums alone talk about sub-ohm coils like it's the wave of the future and all it reads like to me is dangerous and it's real easy for a new vaper to get caught up in someone else's sub-ohm thrill.

 

[Rickajho]

don't know if it's been said but you could carry them in a LiPo bag, used by RC enthusiast, they are usualy fire proof.

Not loose batteries you don't. That isn't any more effective at preventing a short than what the OP did. You can't throw them in a LiPo bag and think that's gonna prevent loose batteries from making a short contact.

 

[Baditude]

@Bad with all due respect I don't think we should point all the fingers at the B&M vendors. I cant speak for what takes place in all stores--the ones I've been to, all they know how to do well is actually sell a device and that's where their knowledge ended.

These forums alone talk about sub-ohm coils like it's the wave of the future and all it reads like to me is dangerous and it's real easy for a new vaper to get caught up in someone else's sub-ohm thrill.

I didn't mean to hijack this thread concerning sub-ohm coils, or vendors who sell them already set up and sold to novices. From what I've read this is common place in southern California. The AltSmoke store here in Cincinnati has a strict policy to not make coils under 1.0 ohm, which I feel is very responsible on their part.

I and a few veterans have cautioned novices who want to or already have been using sub-ohms, but we get criticised by those using them as being fear-mongerers. Although I haven't investigated them yet, I've been encouraging novices to research micro coils as a safer alternative.

OK, back on topic. Nothing happening here folks...move along.

 

[Katya]

@Bad with all due respect I don't think we should point all the fingers at the B&M vendors. I cant speak for what takes place in all stores--the ones I've been to, all they know how to do well is actually sell a device and that's where their knowledge ended.

These forums alone talk about sub-ohm coils like it's the wave of the future and all it reads like to me is dangerous and it's real easy for a new vaper to get caught up in someone else's sub-ohm thrill.

It's a complicated matter. I don't know about B&M stores and what goes on there, but I've read horror stories. My SoCal store is run by a very knowledgeable vaper--but the business of stores is to sell things.

I do agree with you on the sub-ohm/mech mod/rebuildable/40 watt vaping mania that seems to be taking over this forum. I've begged many times that proponents of this kind of vaping don't recommend it to brand new members--to no avail.

I have no idea what, if anything, can be done about it.

 

[Rickajho]

Is it just me,but looking at the posted photos, the battery that failed appears to be INSIDE the provari.....it's coming out of the metal tube so it appears the battery that failed was inside the mod?

Already answered I believe but - no. That's the metal battery tube - sans the melted off plastic wrap - with the battery innards having been shot out what appears to be the top of the battery.

 

[lightboy]

Was that battery in the Provari or loose in the backpack? If it was in the Provari, how about a pic of it. Was your PV in the same pocket as the loose batteries? I would really like to figure out just what caused this.

It does look as if the IMR battery performed as intended during thermal runaway (you still have a backpack for us to look at)

This is what runaway looks like with Li Ion calls
Lithium Ion Battery Explosion - YouTube

The battery was nowhere near the PV!! They were in completely separate compartments. That's why I'm so shocked at provapes response.

There is one, soft, cushioned pocket in my rucksack, it had some plastic pens, a plastic smart card and two aw 18490s. One of them exploded for no obvious reason.

 

[Baditude]

It's a complicated matter. I don't know about B&M stores and what goes on there, but I've read horror stories. My SoCal store is run by a very knowledgeable vaper--but the business of stores is to sell things.

I do agree with you on the sub-ohm/mech mod/rebuildable/40 watt vaping mania that seems to be taking over this forum. I've begged many times that proponents of this kind of vaping don't recommend it to brand new members--to no avail.

I have no idea what, if anything, can be done about it.

Well there's nothing that can be done unless the higher management of this site determines that this is indeed an unsafe application for vaping. ECF has made policies in the past of not adding suppliments like caffeine to e-liquid. Rolygate made the recommendations of using IMR batteries over protected Li Ion batteries as an ECF policy. There's probably other things they have made policies on that I'm not aware of or have forgotten.

The problem is, if sub-ohms becomes an unapproved application, there will still be those who continue to practice it, and others wishing to try it. "Banning" open discussion of the topic can cause an even more dangerous situation as dangerous experimentation can take place with even more potential for disasterous results. At least as it is now, open discussion allows the veterans to try to caution novices to be more safe.

Fact is, I suspect this site is without adequate management at the present time. I won't say any more as I don't wish to get into trouble.

 

[Rickajho]

The battery was nowhere near the PV!! They were in completely separate compartments. That's why I'm so shocked at provapes response.

There is one, soft, cushioned pocket in my rucksack, it had some plastic pens, a plastic smart card and two aw 18490s. One of them exploded for no obvious reason.

Ok, from the other end of things - what charger was being used with the batteries? Did you ever check to see what the voltage of the batteries is (was) coming off the charger you are using?

 

[Baditude]

The battery was nowhere near the PV!! They were in completely separate compartments. That's why I'm so shocked at provapes response.

There is one, soft, cushioned pocket in my rucksack, it had some plastic pens, a plastic smart card and two aw 18490s. One of them exploded for no obvious reason.

Any metal can make a connection to the battery and cause a hard short (short circuit). Two batteries touching each other, metal to metal, can do the same thing. Perhaps you weren't aware of this.

Therefore, I still don't understand how you can blame Provape for your mistake of not using the proper battery case to keep your batteries separate from metal objects, including each other. What did Provape do to wrong you?

 

[dice57]

Thats why they all have or should have 10 second cutoff. Fire your battery for 11 seconds, if it doesn't flash and shut off, get a new one.

No, in fact Provari and several other mods have a 15 second cut off

Try as I might but I fail to see how you can connect the positive and negative terminals with two batteries an a Provari.

One simple cause, static electricity. Nylon is notorious for creating static electricity when rubbed together with metal involved. It would be easy for me to imagine static electricity starting the short.

which is why, when I help newbies, I still believe in starting them off on a good joyetech twist or spinner because it is pretty hard to blow one up and the newbie person usuallly doesn't have a whole lot of knowledge about battery safety yet and shouldn't be using a "mod".

My first ego came with explicit instruction to never recharge it unsupervised or it can and will explode.

The battery was nowhere near the PV!! They were in completely separate compartments. That's why I'm so shocked at provapes response.

There is one, soft, cushioned pocket in my rucksack, it had some plastic pens, a plastic smart card and two aw 18490s. One of them exploded for no obvious reason.

Let's see now, hmm what's on the end of your plastic pens, does it have a clasp, what's the ball point made of? hmmm

Hmm, What's on the end of your batteries, what's the side of you batteries made of under the outer plastic wrap? hmmm

Maybe Satan? Nope I believe it's metal

The fact is that it happened. The fact is that the user did not use safe battery storage practices. Shame on you, you lucky lucky person. You weren't maimed and did not damage your pvd. At worst you had to change your undies. At best you learned a valuable lesson. Count your blessings, accept your mistake, order a new battery and vape on,

tis obviously user error, Batteries don't come from any vendor fully charged, that's why the recommend to charge them before use.

Or is it in your nature to blame others for your own mistakes.?? Just asking, cause I've heard some people are like that and can't accept responsibility.

Vape on!

Vape the World!!!

 

[The Ocelot]

Is it just me,but looking at the posted photos, the battery that failed appears to be INSIDE the provari.....it's coming out of the metal tube so it appears the battery that failed was inside the mod?

That's why I asked the questions I did earlier. I knew it wasn't a ProVari in the picture, but I thought that metal at the bottom belonged to a mod.

 

[The Ocelot]

All this talk about batteries...

Am I the only one concerned about the astronaut? He looks like he had a very bad day.

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ETA: I just noticed this was my 10,000th post. Thank you NASA.