Lava Tube Battery Scam

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cozzicon

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Honestly, counterfeiting products in China is nothing new. So, how does any supplier even know that they have genuine products or not? How do we know if we've ever even owned a non-counterfeit product? These batteries are so plain my kids could probably paint any battery red and throw a simple aw sticker on it and I probably couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. I've only had my LT for about 30 hours so I don't yet have an opinion of this battery. I have been hitting it hard all day and I still have 3.8v.

Love the LT and think Volcano is handling this mess extremely well. I'm a happy customer.

As far as I know, there is only one way to get AW batteries and be totally sure:

Buy them directly from Andrew Wan.
 

nomochokes

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Mar 4, 2009
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I've been enjoying this thing for about 3 hours and all of the sudden the display flashes about 5 times and I get nothing. I checked the staus of the battery and it reads at 3.8v. I bought an extra battery so I put that in and it seems to be working fine for now. I put the original battery back on the charger so I'll see what happen once I get it fully charged.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks!
 

bluegrasslover

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I've been enjoying this thing for about 3 hours and all of the sudden the display flashes about 5 times and I get nothing. I checked the staus of the battery and it reads at 3.8v. I bought an extra battery so I put that in and it seems to be working fine for now. I put the original battery back on the charger so I'll see what happen once I get it fully charged.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks!

Not yet. My battery is lasting longer than I expected it to so far.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 

tj99959

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  • Aug 13, 2011
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    I did ask them some questions about the battery "problem", this is a quote from the reply, "We are still looking into the actual maker of the batteries. These are safe to use and are LiNM batteries. "

    How would they be able to tell if they are LiNM / IMR?


    That's where I'm at with this. Just what chemistry are the bats if they are not IMR's?
    If they are not safe chemistry, and not protected .................. oh my!!!!!!
    Until they can tell us exactly what the bats are, I don't think I would want to use them.
     
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    Maximillian

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    I haven't seen anything yet saying the batteries in question are not in fact imr's. As I understand it, and I don't claim to be any type of battery expert, imr is a type of lithium ion battery based on lithium ion manganese oxide chemistry. Safer than the original type of lithium ion battery (a lithium ion ferrous oxide cell? ICR? Not sure).

    The only thing in question, to the best of my knowledge, is the brand of the battery. aw is a brand. imr is a type of lithium ion battery. The batteries sold by volcano had the aw brand on them, but are not in fact aw's. If, as it turns out, they are also not imr batteries, that opens up a whole new kettle of fish.

    But, once again, I haven't heard any reports yet of these being the unsafe chemistry batteries.

    Maximillian the Mostly Mischievious
     

    Tersur

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    Sep 18, 2011
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    If there not protected the Lavatubes saftey features should still work. Protected batteries are Nessisary in normal mods. The Smart mods you can get away with non protected (though unless you have a smart charger thats where you can get in trouble.
    [/b]

    That's where I'm at with this. Just what chemistry are the bats if they are not IMR's?
    If they are not safe chemistry, and not protected .................. oh my!!!!!!
    Until they can tell us exactly what the bats are, I don't think I would want to use them.
     

    cjb313

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    Jun 14, 2010
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    I am not sure why, but some folks feel that this is a personal attack on Volcano and go so far as to say that we the consumer weren't ripped off but Volcano was.. I can't stress enough that this is NOT about volcano the company so much as it is about a particular part (battery) not being what it is supposed to be..
    This scenario is not really different from the many big car manufactures Recalls.. A wrong or faulty part is discovered and everyone who purchased that particular model gets to have it replaced with the correct part.. It's that simple !! Volcano should do a recall on the batteries and ship everyone real AW batteries (as advertised) with a return label for you to return the clone batteries..
    At the end of the day this is a Business, and if a company can get duked that easily into believing that they were being supplied a type of battery that never existed in the AW line before they ordered them, then that makes a statement.. Also what about the long term effects ?? Nobody can say what this may or may not do to the lava tube or it's circuitry.. For Pete's sake Volcano STILL can't even tell us anything about this battery other then it's NOT an AW.. Doesn't that seem a bit "off".. Also considering there's no information to what this battery is capable of doing, why would Volcano take the chance buy continuing to sell them just without the sticker ?? It actually reminds me of the whole Ford Pinto thing, where so many people had to die before Ford made a $2 change in the construction.. Although Volcano has been upfront with it and offers a refund on the batteries bought separately, they still have not stated whether they will offer you the same $12 refund for batteries that came with the units sold as a kit.. Also what about the 10% discount everyone used. ?? Is that going to factor in on what you get back as well ??
    Although the whole pinto thing was one example.. a much better one would be a situation that happened to me.. A while back a huge Name Manufacture of Two stroke dirt bikes were offering a factory Racing package for AMA riders.. One particular part of that package was a wiesco forged power piston.. Well come to find out that some dealerships were getting generic Cast pistons from Taiwan and using them instead.. I happened to be a victim of this but I had found out early do to some porting I was having done.. When the story broke the big named company said that these "other" power pistons performed just as well and there was no HP decline or any other difference that they could tell.. A year or so down the road these cheap pistons were exploding during races, because of cracking at the piston skirts and tearing apart your top end and damaging your cases too.. I'm glad I pulled the cast piston out and purchased a genuine forged one.. In the end the big Manufacturer was only offering money back for the piston, and damage that was proven a result of the pistons to your top end and not a dime more !! so many people got stiffed.. All because there should have been a factory recall immediately with no burden to the consumer, just like how Toyota and other companies handle their problems recently (and now all is forgotten).. And still keep brand loyalty..
    I again an not condemning Volcano, I just don't know how this happened and went on for so long without suspicion and also how did Volcano really find out that these batts were not AW ? Why would the company selling them to volcano burn themselves, by telling Volcano we stiffed you, BTW, how many more would you like to buy to put up on your site... and better yet Volcano, as a designer of the LT mod never suspected a problem and how did this got by the whole R&D dept. Maybe because the ones that they were using were not the same type as they sent to the pre-order folks.. I can certainly almost be sure that the prototype I saw at LV vapefest didn't have a generic battery in it.. They admitted that, and to why that they didn't choose to use that battery that had a better top plate and lasted longer.. I'll never understand.. But neither will I understand how some feel Volcano can do no wrong and has a halo around them.. For me this is about Money spent on what was advertised not Volcano's entire future reputation, as my money is not picked off a tree and I know I'm not alone there by far..

    I think that it's best to wait until you have a genuine battery that you're comfortable with before you use a battery that you nor Volcano has a clue what the heck it actually is.. Times are tough and money is tight for everyone of us consumers so it's up to the money makers.. to make this right and if you think differently then ask yourself if back when you were still smoking analogs if you opened your pack of Camels and found Winston's in there.. Would you say, heck it still lights up and smokes ?? Or would you demand nothing except the brand you like and buy for that reason...
     
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    Nomoreash

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    Also what about the long term effects ?? Nobody can say what this may or may not do to the lava tube or it's circuitry..

    The circuitry in the LT will be fine. No matter what battery they finally decide to claim it to be the circuitry in the LT has amp limiting and discharge protection built in.

    I again an not condemning Volcano, I just don't know how this happened and went on for so long without suspicion and also how did Volcano really find out that these batts were not AW ?

    They were contacted by AW and informed it wasn't a AW Branded battery. That link is on post 6 of this thread.
     

    nomochokes

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    Mar 4, 2009
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    I have used both of the batteries that came with my kit. At first everything was great but then all of a sudden they both would flash about 10 times when I pushed the button and I got no hit. I put them both back on the charger for a while but the problem is still there.

    Has anyone else had these issues? I'm just tring to determine if it's the knockoff batteries or the devise itself.

    Please let me know if you've had these issues and what can be done to fix it.

    Thanks!
     

    woooozzaa

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    Jun 10, 2009
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    I was under the impression the LT was designed to only take safe chemistry batteries, seeing how regular Li-ion's trip/protection cirtuit make them a little over 65mm in length and won't fit inside the unit properly. I did not get my LT from Volcano ecig since I'm up north but the seller I did purchase it from rated the batteries at 1700mAh which made me assume they simply were "unbranded" IMR chemisty cells. If these where to be regular unprotected batteries, wouldn't the mAh rating have been on par with most trustfire 18650s at around 2200-2600 mAh?

    In any case I'm glad to hear Volcano ecigs are making things right for there customers.
     

    Nomoreash

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    I was under the impression the LT was designed to only take safe chemistry batteries, seeing how regular Li-ion's trip/protection cirtuit make them a little over 65mm in length and won't fit inside the unit properly. I did not get my LT from Volcano ecig since I'm up north but the seller I did purchase it from rated the batteries at 1700mAh which made me assume they simply were "unbranded" IMR chemisty cells. If these where to be regular unprotected batteries, wouldn't the mAh rating have been on par with most trustfire 18650s at around 2200-2600 mAh?

    In any case I'm glad to hear Volcano ecigs are making things right for there customers.

    Yes protected batteries will likely be to long due to the protection circuit plus they don't have the current output needed for a boost circuit.

    Volcano has stated that although the batteries in question aren't AW they are indeed LiMN/IMR/High Drain chemistry.
     

    studio52

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    May 11, 2011
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    Having a Provari and a Darwin in my collection, I was lucky enough not to have been involved with a Lava Tube Purchase. I was turned off to the way it was being sold, in a kit only, at first anyhow, thats my understanding. I do not generally buy my AW batteries from vendors Im not totally familiar with. I wonder what kind of great deal the vendor got on the price of those fake AWs? Usually when something like this happens its because there was some GREAT deal involved. It is to their credit though that they are making it know that there was a scam on those batteries.

    Good luck with the exchange, or use of those fake AWs.
     

    cjb313

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    First off, I'm really tired of hearing people say "I'm glad to hear volcano is making it right" .. Really ?? What ONE person has got an exchange equal to $12 per battery ?? Because I can almost guarantee that they will not give you a full refund with the battery that came with the kit because it was a "special package price" and if you bought a spare, you likely used a 10% off coupon which will be deducted off too.. Doing right, is to mail every LT owner genuine AW batteries for each of the counterfeit batteries.. That's making it right !! What is so special about volcano that people pucker up nice and good for ?? This is crummy deal for everyone who waited and waited for a VV MoD.. plus it's right before Christmas!! Volcano's true test to see if their a big league company that's going to make this a recall (which in fact it should be classified as one) and if handled like a recall, I'll will be glad to retract my statement and do some puckering up myself to Volcano, so I guess it's on !! LoL !! Also if they cut a deal that went bad with the batteries, I have to wonder is that the only corner cut ?? Anyhow the battery I got sure looks a heck of a lot like this one:http://www.onlybatteries.com/webimages/images/17170.jpg
     
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    L7D4N

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    They have stated that, but if they don't even know who makes the underlying cell, how can they be sure they are LiNM?

    I agree with this 110%.

    I purchased the full kit, with two extra batteries for a total of three, and haven't gotten a response on my refund request as of yet.

    My biggest fear is these batteries being unprotected Li-On, for obvious reasons. I attempted to confirm on Volcano's forums, but I was told they are Li-Mn with no proof. What I don't understand, is how reviewers have been getting *days* on these 1600mAh IMR's Volcano sells, including myself, while genuine IMR users get roughly 12 hours or so. I went two days through 6-7mL of juice and still had plenty of battery life left @ 5v. This would make me inclined to think unprotected Li-On...
     

    cozzicon

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    Summary of issues:

    1. The supplied batteries are not AW brand. AW does not make a flat top IMR.

    2. The batteries are alleged to be IMR cells form a trusted manufacturer.

    3. Some people are not sure what to believe.

    Can I suggest that someone who has these batteries remove the plastic coating from the battery, and see what is underneath? Usually, when batteries are counterfeit the wrapping underneath the "branded wrapping" shows their true spec, and sometimes origin.

    It seems imperative to me, that these be proven and shown to not simply be unprotected LiON batteries, and actually LiMN. Also removal of the plastic may reveal a protection circuit- or not.

    The issue here is consumer vigilance. And I've been hovering my finger over the buy button for a Lavatube for a bit. I want to know what cells I'm getting. Because if they are simply unprotected LiON batteries- they are DANGEROUS.

    The danger rests in the differences in discharge tolerances. An unprotected LiON battery can be discharged to the point it is damaged. Once that happens it is either unusable or *dangerous*. A protected LiON battery can be discharged to the point where the circuitry either shuts off, or renders the battery unusable. IMR's while they use the same chargers, have different properties, and do not explode... they "cook". which is to say they might get hot and ruin your mod. But they won't kill you or maim you.

    Any PV that uses boost regulation needs to use a battery that has enough current available for a boost to 6v even at the bottom of it's charge curve. Which is why IMR batteries are used with most boost regulated mods because they have a high current potential. They also are safer.

    My biggest concern, is unprotected cells being passed off as IMR cells. And there is a previous poster who mentioned that the batteries seemed to have "stopped working" which would be the earmark of an over discharged protected, or unprotected, LiON battery.

    So my "alarm threshold" has been reached. Can someone remove the covering and post pictures of the markings?
     
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