It's not about the cost, I emailed battery university, they said that no battery should be sold without protection, they said that whoever is selling unprotected IMRs is irresponsible because all batteries need protection. Everyone in the vaping community is saying unprotected IMRs, yet battery university tell me do not buy these. To be honest I don't know what to do but you can understand why I went with ICR protected
That makes no sense to me at all. IMR batteries have never been protected, and I have never heard of a "protected IMR battery".
What's sad about that is Battery University has been THE go-to battery authority. I wonder if you got a noobie person answering your questions?
Using an unprotected IMR or hybrid battery in a regulated mod should be reasonably safe because
the mod itself has built-in protection in the processor. It will detect a short circuit and either refuse to fire or turn itself off automatically. Being that IMR and hybrid batteries are safer chemistry than a ICR battery even with its own rudimentary protection circuit, I wonder if Battery University understands the application that we are dealing with using electronic cigarettes.
A mechanical mod is an entirely different situation. These should have a Vape Safe Fuse whether you are using an IMR, hybrid, or protected battery, as there is no processor providing protection.
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The following is from the second part of my blog "Deeper Understanding of Mod Batteries".
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Protected vs. Unprotected
There is a common misnomer in the vaping community that a protected battery is safer to use than an unprotected battery. There is a belief that a protected battery will prevent you from over-drawing your battery and prevent it to explode or vent gas. I'm not certain where this belief started, but it needs clarification.
A battery labeled as "protected" does not always prevent you from applying a higher current draw than it is capable of handling.
The term "unprotected" is vague and often misunderstood. It can mean a "safe chemistry IMR or hybrid" that doesn't use a protected circuit, or an "unprotected ICR battery". Unprotected ICR batteries should NEVER be used in a mod; they are used in other applications such as flashlights or laptops. - Baditude
The protection circuits in batteries vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but
primarily prevent you from over-discharging (using the battery past its minimum charge rating) or
over-charging the battery. The "protection" moniker is not all-inclusive either. Some will provide just over-discharge protection, others have over-charge protection, and
in some batteries over-current protection.
You will have to hunt down the data sheet from the battery manufacturer to find exactly which protections are provided, or hope that your merchant has this listed online. Protected batteries are quite often longer in length than their unprotected counterpart. This is due to the additional circuitry that is embedded in the battery. Confirm measurements before you commit to purchasing.
Now, this said, lithium ion batteries have what's called a
PTC or Positive Temperature Coefficient circuit. This is built into the battery just above the positive terminal and is present regardless of any "protected" labels. The PTC is designed to raise the resistance of the battery as the temperature of the battery rises.
The theory behind PTC is that as the resistance goes up, the current draw from the battery goes down - Ohm's Law. This helps prevent most accidents from becoming catastrophic, but
it should not be relied on. The PTC is designed to be unobtrusive and
you can still over-draw the battery if you aren't paying attention. The PTC circuits can also fail if exposed to static electricity or from a faulty charger. When a PTC fails, it often fails in a position which allows you to continue using the battery without fault."
