Are your battery wraps and insulator rings intact?

[Baditude]

Just a visual reminder of why wraps and top insulator rings on batteries are so important. Both are extremely important to prevent shorting out your batteries. This photo was posted on Mooch's Facebook. This is why you NEVER use a battery with damaged wrapping, even if you don't have the cash for replacment

Also shows why you should never charge batteries unattended. And why charging on a fire resistant surface is recommended.

The Xtar VC4 is a quality charger, but that fact won't prevent a fire if your battery is in poor shape.

Why Repairing Batteries With Cracked Wraps Is Absolutely Essential

<---- missing insulator ring on positive end

 

[Asbestos4004]

Good job, Baditude. Thanks!

 

[sonicbomb]

I can't look at purple Efests without feeling angry and mildly nauseated.

 

[jcoopercam]

Well, mine were fine til I started taking them in and out of my Therion DNA75C. There's a trick to getting them in and out. God bless you if you've figured out how to cycle them before ripping the covers.

 

[Nick N]

I have some on the way from eBay. $4.95 shipped from Brooklyn, NY for 50 precut 18650 wraps with 25 adhesive insulators. Really no reason not to pick some up NOW.

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[jfcooley]

Actually no. I have one torn wrap.

However have insulator rings and wraps in my FT cart. Battery is retired until they get here.

 

[Alien Traveler]

I can't look at purple Efests without feeling angry and mildly nauseated.

I use one for over 3 years already. It is my favorite battary because of its mah. By far better than LG.
Disclaimer: I vape at 10 W.

 

[Fidola13]

Just a visual reminder of why wraps and top insulator rings on batteries are so important. Both are extremely important to prevent shorting out your batteries. This photo was posted on Mooch's Facebook. This is why you NEVER use a battery with damaged wrapping, even if you don't have the cash for replacment

Also shows why you should never charge batteries unattended. And why charging on a fire resistant surface is recommended.

The Xtar VC4 is a quality charger, but that fact won't prevent a fire if your battery is in poor shape.

Why Repairing Batteries With Cracked Wraps Is Absolutely Essential

<---- missing insulator ring on positive end

Thanks for this scary reminder. Just checked my batteries. All good.

 

[Belhade]

I had one tear at the top and the insulator ring slipped around. That promptly got wrapped in duct tape and disposed.

 

[Rossum]

The Xtar VC4 is a quality charger, but that fact won't prevent a fire if your battery is in poor shape.

I own two kinds of XTAR chargers, VP1s and VP2s. I've always preferred the VP1s because the 18650 cells I use fit in them "just right", i.e. there is practically no side-to-side wiggle room. The VP2s will accept up to a 26650 cell, and thus have lots of side-to-side wiggle room, which bothers me because the positive terminal in the charger has the potential to dead-short the cell if the insulation at the top of the cell is deficient and the cell isn't perfectly centered.

I notice that the bay in which a cell died is one of the "wide" ones.

 

[chellie]

I have some on the way from eBay. $4.95 shipped from Brooklyn, NY for 50 precut 18650 wraps with 25 adhesive insulators. Really no reason not to pick some up NOW.

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I did that a few weeks ago and any of my wraps that were at all damaged -- even super minuscule - were rewrapped. It was super easy to rewrap.

 

[puffon]

I'm surprised these chargers don't have short protection.
Maybe they do, but this one failed.
Of course the best protection is us.
Always check wraps before they go in a charger or mod.

 

[Rossum]

I'm surprised these chargers don't have short protection.
Maybe they do, but this one failed.
Of course the best protection is us.
Always check wraps before they go in a charger or mod.

There is nothing you can do with the electrical design of a charger to prevent a battery with deficient insulation near its positive terminal from getting shorted. The only thing that can help prevent this is the physical design of the charger its bays.

 

[stols001]

Yep. Inspect the wraps. Do it on arrival, and then early and often.

Rewrapping IS easy. I should probably get some insulator rings to have on hand though, there is no reason not to, especially at that price. If I threw away every battery that ever got a nick, tear, etc., I would be wasting my money a lot, although I will say my battery handling has greatly improved, thanks to much more attention to how I insert batteries (whether into mod, or charge). I vastly prefer batteries I do not have to "pop out" even with a ribbon. My MVP-5 (first mod) was just unkind to wraps. I ended up retiring it (although it still works). It's beaten up and was a total workhorse, but the battery compartment seemed to be designed to chew through wraps.

Batteries and wraps have my full attention thanks to ECF! I wish there were a way to disseminate that information further, although Mooch certainly appears to be cornering his space in the YouTube market, so hopefully that helps, too.

I kind of shudder, remembering how I used to treat batteries, internal charging, passthrough, batteries, etc.... Until I got here and learned about their importance. LOL.


Anna

 

[Asbestos4004]

There's an MVP 5?

 

[Baditude]

I'm surprised these chargers don't have short protection.
Maybe they do, but this one failed.

There is nothing you can do with the electrical design of a charger to prevent a battery with deficient insulation near its positive terminal from getting shorted. The only thing that can help prevent this is the physical design of the charger its bays.

I agree with Rossum. All the quality chargers have short circuit protection. There's no logic behind your comment that this charger's protection failed.

A battery which has a defective or missing insulator ring, or torn wrap near the positive terminal, can short itself despite short circuit protection being present in the charger.

That ring and plastic wrap serve a very important purpose. If missing, the metal "can" containing the electrolyte solution completes the electrical circuit when it touches the charger's electrical contact. This causes the battery to over-discharge causing it to over heat and either vent or go into thermal runaway.

 

[puffon]

I agree with Rossum. All the quality chargers have short circuit protection. There's no logic behind your comment that this charger's protection failed.

Yes, sometimes my logic fails me, until I get enough coffee in me.
The chargers protection wouldn't stop a short, caused by the charger contacts bridging the battery positive/negative due to a torn/missing wrap or insulator.
Always a good idea to check the wraps/insulators and proper battery placement in the charger before plugging in the charger...

 

[Rossum]

That ring and plastic wrap serve a very important purpose. If missing, the metal "can" containing the electrolyte solution completes the electrical circuit when it touches the charger's electrical contact. This causes the battery to over-discharge causing it to over heat and either vent or go into thermal runaway.

Yep. Not really any different that what causes a battery to vent or go into thermal runaway when someone puts it in the same pocket as some loose change.

 

[Asbestos4004]

Yep. Not really any different that what causes a battery to vent or go into thermal runaway when someone puts it in the same pocket as some loose change.

All of my loose change has short protection. 1's, 5's .... the occasional 10.....

 

[Nick N]

Batteries all rewrapped, initially tried a hair dryer but it wouldn't get hot enough even on high to get a consistent shrink. Dug out the 'ol heat gun and it worked much better (and faster).

The OEM wraps were somewhat brittle and definitely needed to be replaced. I noticed little tears on the positive side of my batteries after getting the RSQ squonker and it was likely I was trying to remove the battery by using my fingernail to pry it out from the bottom instead without moving or removing the bottle first.

Now that I have 240+ wraps I can afford to remove it however I like. [emoji16]

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