Negligent Parent or manufacturing Flaw?? The War begins....3yr Old Severely Burned Exploding-Ecig

[yzer]

Here is an early TV report of the incident.

Child burned after e-cigarette explodes in car charger | FOX13Now.com

We don't know how the e-cigarette was being charged. Fire Marshal says it was being charged with the vendor supplied charger. The TV report shows a 12V socket on the car but I can't tell if that's a cigarette lighter or an accessory 12V socket. We don't know if she was using USB charging and we don't know what kind of charger White Rhino provided. Maybe White Rhino had a 12V charger that has been taken off the site recently.

 

[ppeeble]

The trouble is that the majority of fly-by-night vendors in the UK are buying tons (literally) of cheap generic eGo type batteries from China at a few pennies each. I am certain US sellers are doing the same.
I have bought batteries and shoddy chargers from cheap Chinese sites myself and the quality control is non existent. batteries falling apart and chargers melting is not uncommon. These items are being churned out by the tens of thousands and posted out without ever being checked to see if they work let alone work safely and within parameters.
Because e-cigs are relatively new most people don't have any experience with the product or any comparable device.
A lot of new users will assume that if they have purchased a kit in their native country then it will be fit for purpose. Unfortunately in some cases this can be a dangerous assumption.
I don't know what the answer is but i know news articles like this are ammunition to all those who oppose e-cigs and it makes me sad.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

The lighter ports are dangerous. They're meant to heat an element made of almost the same metal as our coils. It's a nickel-chromium resistance wire or ribbon that looks just like the heating elements in a $10 toaster from WalMart. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to the voltage they deliver.

The power supply ports on late model, higher end vehicles deliver a regulated 5.0v output which should be compatible with the chargers for most cell phones, tablets and e-cig chargers. Even those can misbehave if the vehicle's electrical system has gone awry.

I've had many safe roadtrips where I charged my cell phone or my GPS equipment using the power port. My portable compressor refuses to work at all when jacked into the cig lighter adapter, but inflates my truck and lawnmower tires with no problems when connected to the power port.

This is in a 2004 Chevy Silverado. It's not exactly the latest model, but it does have the two different ports, and the user's manual says not to plug important stuff into the cig lighter, but use the other one.

 

[NiNi]

There was a local news story here about 6 weeks ago: guy charges ecig, ON THE CARPET, from a socket on a common wall between living room and bedroom, leaves it plugged in overnight, he and his wife go to sleep, are woken by their smoke detector. Socket is scorched, ecig and charger (USB to adapter) is toast, carpet is aflame......
"Einstein", with this "near death" experience, decides he's done with ecigs and goes back to analogs.......

All I could say was "Wha............?"

Maybe people are too complacent with all the techno gadgetry and just rely on "plug this in that, and plug that in the wall or *insert whatever*" and match colors or icons into same. I dunno, but lawn mowers didn't have a little gas can icon on the gas tank lid or oil can icon on the oil lid, dad showed us what was what and the dangers, and there certainly wasn't this "Universal" icon stuff all over the world, you had to read and/or figure it out. Remember when anything with skull and cross bones meant "DO NOT TOUCH"? Now it's "Child Proof Lids". By the time my kids were 3, they had mastered that puzzle. And, I'm going to stop right there!

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I don't see a car adapter available on the White Rhino site. Granted, they may have taken that product offline since these reports aired.

Again, I don't see "Kinzie" as the kind of person who reads manuals and understands that Lithium Ion battery powered devices can be dangerous. Maybe I'm guilty of stereotyping, but it is what it is.

Maybe ECF needs a New Members Information sticky on not using your vehicle's power supply system to charge your battery on a regular basis. In a pinch? Ok. On a daily basis? Nuh uh, baby.

 

[bluecat]

I don't see a car adapter available on the White Rhino site. Granted, they may have taken that product offline since these reports aired.

Again, I don't see "Kinzie" as the kind of person who reads manuals and understands that Lithium Ion battery powered devices can be dangerous. Maybe I'm guilty of stereotyping, but it is what it is.

Maybe ECF needs a New Members Information sticky on not using your vehicle's power supply system to charge your battery on a regular basis. In a pinch? Ok. On a daily basis? Nuh uh, baby.

If it is the blacklight model the sell then here is the packaging fromt he site.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0247/9301/files/BlacklightManual.pdf?1792

It reads "something similar to"

When needing charging unscrew and screw on the usb charger and put into power supply (computer car or wall)

The White Rhino model doesn't say either way.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0247/9301/files/WhiteRhinoTrifectaUserManual.pdf?1551


Also saw this on their liquid model.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0247/9301/files/LiquidPDFManual.pdf?1421

It states to make sure to completely drain the battery before recharging. Which I have read not to do.

 

[NiNi]

Blame this on my experience in advertising and weird sarcasm.....

"E-cigs: Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest, all in one convenient product!"

People who come here to the forum, whether lurking or joining, are educating themselves, one way or another. They aren't just buying the "Stick this in your mouth, and that in the electrical outlet". I just learned something about lighter ports vs power ports in vehicles, which is pretty cool!
A locked post or sticky on "basic battery/charger/what to stick or not stick them in" would be great and, hopefully, people would read it.

 

[retired1]

We have a Media and General News forum. And this was already posted. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...fortunate-accident-faulty-batter-charger.html

Closing and moving to the proper forum.