Hey guys! I went from a smok X Cube II to a Vaporesso Target Mini which had its own battery in it, and now I've just bought the smok Alien and I found my old set of 18650s and my old nitecore charger. I want to know- would it be safe to charge up those batteries and use them again? As they sat in an unplugged charger for about 6 months, they've run down to about .84 volts when they were fully charged. I did buy a new set today which is in my charger, but just in case I'm curious. I'd never fire anything under 3.7 for obvious reasons.
Old batteries
- Thread starter Ketsuban
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Once an 18650 is discharged below 2.5 volts it's damaged, If they are really at 0.84 volts then they are broken. I'm assuming a typo and that you meant 3.84v which is actually ideal for a 6 month store.
Under 3.7 volts is fine as this is the nominal value, the useful range of voltages is from 4.2 volts down to 3.0 volts.
Under 3.7 volts is fine as this is the nominal value, the useful range of voltages is from 4.2 volts down to 3.0 volts.
Thanks, and I thought it was 6 months but that was just an estimate. They really are that dead so I'll just replace them, thanks! 
Using electrical tape, wrap them long ways to cover both terminals and dump them in a battery recycling bin at a local office store or electronics store.
They're discharged so low, reactivity will be nearly nothing. No worries about them venting violently in the store.
The lesson here is never to leave your batteries in the charger long term.
Especially if it's unplugged. As there's no "one way valve" to keep the charger from discharging the cells over time. The circuit in the charger causes a parasitic drain that empties the batteries and ruins the electrolyte paste.
Turns it into a hard, crystalline structure that binds the valance electrons preventing them from flowing.
The good part is that solid structure also becomes non reactive, AKA more stable and starts to prevent the thermochemical reaction known as thermal runaway that's most often related to venting and hot gaseous production that causes venting.
Once the entire paste is stable (ruined), it's actually safe to dissect the cell.
And by some accounts, the cell is actually landfill safe.
Me, personally, I don't believe something potentially so toxic should be in the ground.
But what do I know?
Tapatyped
They're discharged so low, reactivity will be nearly nothing. No worries about them venting violently in the store.
The lesson here is never to leave your batteries in the charger long term.
Especially if it's unplugged. As there's no "one way valve" to keep the charger from discharging the cells over time. The circuit in the charger causes a parasitic drain that empties the batteries and ruins the electrolyte paste.
Turns it into a hard, crystalline structure that binds the valance electrons preventing them from flowing.
The good part is that solid structure also becomes non reactive, AKA more stable and starts to prevent the thermochemical reaction known as thermal runaway that's most often related to venting and hot gaseous production that causes venting.
Once the entire paste is stable (ruined), it's actually safe to dissect the cell.
And by some accounts, the cell is actually landfill safe.
Me, personally, I don't believe something potentially so toxic should be in the ground.
But what do I know?
Tapatyped
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