istick 50 watt exploded

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DaveP

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I got it at a BM and their warranty is 30 days so they said I'd have to contact the manufacturer

I'd ask them to contact their supplier and arrange for a credit. By rights, eleaf should be funding replacements since there are so many with safety issues. Anything that fires by itself and gets hit is a liability for the manufacturer. But heck, who's going to sue a Chinese company who ships to America over a $50 device unless a building gets burned down because of it?
 

Ohm Gnome

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I'd ask them to contact their supplier and arrange for a credit. By rights, Eleaf should be funding replacements since there are so many with safety issues. Anything that fires by itself and gets hit is a liability for the manufacturer. But heck, who's going to sue a Chinese company who ships to America over a $50 device unless a building gets burned down because of it?
That's not a bad idea. I appreciate this advice
 

Ohm Gnome

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The B&M by all rights, should be honoring the manufacturers warranty, not setting their own at less. It's not up to their customers to contact iSmoka the manufacturer of the eleaf.[/QUOT I disagree. All stores I've ever shopped in had this same standard operating procedure with any electronic device. Most stores policy is after 30 days you deal with manufacturer. If you buy !a tv at a store its the same way.
 

AndriaD

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That is not really an option, is it? Are you ready to chuck your TV, cell phone, refrigerator, computer, etc? Let's not bash China. They invented the e-cig. ;)

They may not be the best at CS, but they are improving.

I agree completely; just because they have an unfortunate political system is no reason to diss the entire country and their products. Sure, you can get "crap" from China, and you can get it from the US, too, or anywhere else you want to throw a dart at the globe. But when you consider all the many products used daily in the western world that ORIGINATED in China... INCLUDING e-cigs... they're doing *something* right over there.

Andria
 

Completely Average

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Some of the tablet chargers are high amp ... much higher than the 1A suggestion for ecigs. 2A is OK for 26650 batteries, but the 18650 recommendations are 500ma and no higher than 1A.

A little known fact about USB is the charging rate should be controlled by the receiving device, not the charger. The rate of charging should be limited by the wiring pinout on the USB/MicroUSB port on the receiving device. If plugging in an 18650 ecig into a 2A charger results in overcharging then the ecig itself has an improperly wired MicroUSB port. The ecig would be wired for 1.5A+ fast charging when it should be limited to less. I would consider that a design fault of the ecig, not a problem with the chosen charger.

The MicroUSB port has 5 wires. One wire is a dedicated ground. Two wires are for input charging that is limited to 900ma. The other two wires are for data+fast charging if the device can accept it. To receive a charge that is more than 900ma the MicroUSB port has to have all 4 input pinouts wired up for charging, if only the 2 outside pinouts are wired up it cannot exceed 900ma of charging no matter what the charger provides.

The only exception to this would be a proprietary charger that connects to a proprietary device that can use nothing else. I am not aware of any specific chargers like this, but one may exist. If it does, it should be clearly labelled as "Use with device X ONLY" because it's not USB complaint and can damage any USB device plugged into it. The 900ma and fast charging standards have been in place since 2011. Any USB charger or USB device should conform to the same limitations regarding how the ports are wired and how much charge is sent through those wires. Any USB charger or device that doesn't conform should be clearly labelled as not USB compatible.
 

Bikenstein

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I don't know why my last comment did that. I don't know how to fix it either
You took the E and the ] off the end of [/QUOTE]. I have to agree with you. But I will not buy any isticks from any vendor online or B&M unless they will honor the 90 day warranty. They can get a refund, they just don't want to bother with it. Evape.us takes care of their customers. So does the distributor that my co-op guy used. China makes some great products, like my Yihi SX Mini M with a 1 year warranty. I still like the sticks I own. But I also want service.
 

Katya

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The B&M by all rights, should be honoring the manufacturers warranty, not setting their own at less. It's not up to their customers to contact iSmoka the manufacturer of the eleaf.

Many do that. But I agree with you that a good vendor should honor manufacturer's warranty. The ones I deal with usually do--which is why they have my business. All they need to do is send the defective item back to the manufacturer to get a refund or a replacement, but to many it's just too much work.

But Joyetech, who is the distributor for iSmoka, should honor the warranty. I wouldn't give up.

Just my :2c:
 

voodoochicken

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Some of the tablet chargers are high amp ... much higher than the 1A suggestion for ecigs. 2A is OK for 26650 batteries, but the 18650 recommendations are 500ma and no higher than 1A.

I use an EasyACC 4 port charger from Amazon to charge most everything. Port 1 is 1A, Port 2 is 1.3A, The other two ports are 2.1A. I use skinny USB cables for the 1A line so that I know it's the one for ecigs. The others have fatter USB cables plugged in for tablets. That's just the way I prevent plugging the wrong one into an Ecig. I can grab a cable that's plugged into the charger and know what it's good for.
It was my understanding that amps are pulled and not pushed to the device so a higher amp charger is fine to use. Isn't it just the volts you need to be concerned about?
 
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DaveP

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It was my understanding that amps are pulled and not pushed to the device so a higher amp charger is fine to use. Isn't it just the volts you need to be concerned about?

Ohm's law covers current draw based on resistance and voltage, but with USB we are using a "smart" system that can talk to the device and provide the correct current level to the device that it handshakes with. We don't really know what kind of USB controller our ecigs contain, or whether the logic implementation knows how to communicate specs to the charger prevent over current conditions to the internal batteries.

Cheap wall wart USB chargers are a different animal. Some are accurate, but too many are pretty far off the spec, some too low and some too high in charge rate. The chart from the link below tested and rated a number of chargers by brand name. I think this article speaks volumes about why we are seeing some devices heating up or failing during charging. One KMS brand USB charger was rated at 2.1A but delivered 3.4A. That'll heat up an ecig.

A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is very good, but not quite the best
 
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DaveP

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The only exception to this would be a proprietary charger that connects to a proprietary device that can use nothing else. I am not aware of any specific chargers like this, but one may exist. If it does, it should be clearly labelled as "Use with device X ONLY" because it's not USB complaint and can damage any USB device plugged into it. The 900ma and fast charging standards have been in place since 2011. Any USB charger or USB device should conform to the same limitations regarding how the ports are wired and how much charge is sent through those wires. Any USB charger or device that doesn't conform should be clearly labelled as not USB compatible.

What we suspect about Eleaf ecig USB controllers is that they are allowing highly depleted batteries to heat up when charging. That tells me they aren't adhering to the 1A recommended limit for 18650's. When I charge 18650 batts on my Nitecore Intellicharger i4 or my Efest LUC 4 I sense only little heat, only the lightest warmth during charging. Maybe it's the enclosed case that's not sinking the heat to outside air.
 
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voodoochicken

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Thanks for the response Dave but I'm still a little confused. I always thought the amp limit of the wall wart was what it was able to put out and our charging boards on our e-cigs and phones, etc, will ask for the amperage and pull that amperage and no more to charge the device. Is this not correct?
I have heard that the board and the software in a phone for example will do fine with a higher amp charger but will heat up and struggle with a lower amp charger.
If the amps are not pushed and are pulled from your device.. How does a higher amp charger affect heat?
Again.. Thanks for the response and I'll do some more reading.
 
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What we suspect about Eleaf ecig USB controllers is that they are allowing highly depleted batteries to heat up when charging. That tells me they aren't adhering to the 1A recommended limit for 18650's. When I charge 18650 batts on my Nitecore Intellicharger i4 or my Efest LUC 4 I sense only little heat, only the lightest warmth during charging. Maybe it's the enclosed case that's not sinking the heat to outside air.

You're making an apples to oranges comparison.

You're charging IMR batteries with your Nitecore or Efest charger.

The iStick 50W uses LiPo batteries.

Completely different battery chemistry and are not comparable during charging. Also you really have no idea what the amp limit is on the LiPo batteries in the iStick 50W. The LiPo in my Galaxy charges at 2A. Most LiPos can safely charge at 1.5A. Again, these are very different batteries from IMR and you can't make a direct comparison between an IMR and LiPo in charging rate or thermal behavior.
 

DaveP

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You're making an apples to oranges comparison.

You're charging IMR batteries with your Nitecore or Efest charger.

The iStick 50W uses LiPo batteries.

Completely different battery chemistry and are not comparable during charging. Also you really have no idea what the amp limit is on the LiPo batteries in the iStick 50W. The LiPo in my Galaxy charges at 2A. Most LiPos can safely charge at 1.5A. Again, these are very different batteries from IMR and you can't make a direct comparison between an IMR and LiPo in charging rate or thermal behavior.

Heat in battery charging is detrimental to battery life. If they heat up enough to make the case warm to the touch, the circuitry inside is out of calibration, IMO. My iStick should charge without creating excessive heat in a perfect world, just as my 18650 chargers do. My iStick does charge and stay cool if I charge it daily. If I wait until it hits low voltage cutoff, then there's warmth on the case for the initial charge period. On the LUC 4 I could use the two center slots and charge at 2A, but I choose not to because it's a little much for an 18650. 26650 batts can take 2A charges.

My take on charging is still that less is more in terms of battery longevity. If it gets warm, you are probably damaging the cell and shortening the life.
 

james_2k

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max amps of the usb power adaptor is irrelevant, the device will take what it needs.
see here, go to around 12 minutes.




so much fearmongering in this thread though, phones explode while charging and being used all the time, so we going to stop using those too?

consider how many of these have been sold and how many reports there are of this happening. someone said in this thread that there must have been loads of (unreported) venting events with this but there will be FAR more being used totally normally with no issues, people who dont come to the forum.

a satisfied customer will tell 1 person about their experiences, a dissatisfied one will tell 5.



edit:

also would be interesting to see temperature reading while charging, if you press the fire button 10 times when the device is off you get a temperature reading. mine seems to stay around 26/27 when being used. haven't charged it yet though.
 
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