Plastic coating at base of battery on the e-power 14650s

[jb0nez]

The plastic coating at the base of my batteries keeps getting peeled back (I think it's getting cut by the sharp edge of the chargers), which eventually exposes the circular PCB and kills the batteries. I've tried reinforcing the area with electrical tape but it no longer fits into the tubes, and I broke a battery doing this. This has happe.ed to all my stock batteries, and two Trustfires.

Is this just one of the costs associated with using e-cigs -replacing batteries every 3 months? I do use them heavily in my e-power; I'm always charging a few and rotating as they die. On a side note I got an IMR one and it lasts about 1/3 as long as a trustfire. But its plastic coating has stayed intact.

I do have an Ultrafire and so far it seems intact but it's also newer.
Any suggestions?

 

[steved5600]

Perhaps a pic of the charger and battery damage would help someone come up with a fix or workaround.

 

[jb0nez]

ok here's the batteries and chargers. The battery with the hairline fracture above the circular PCB is dead now (just has a hairline cut above the PDB), death happened when I tried to put a little strip of electrical tape on it to try an push the PCB down. The others I;m just very gentle when inserting...and one of those only vapes for 2 seconds then shuts off (the one on the left I think). Needless to say I'm very cautious putting batteries in now.

 

[Thrasher]

must be they dont fit the charger correctly or your being rough on them, i use a couple different versions of the 18650's all different lengths and never seen this happen on mine, and they are a few months old now, i suggest a better made charger.

 

[RichardV]

Are you pulling them out of the charger negative end first? This could be causing the damage by the battery sliding against the slider under spring pressure.I have not had this problem, I pull the battery down against the sliding neg. post then remove the pos. end first.

 

[yzer]

The shrink tubing that covers the Smoktech 14650 ICR battery is poor quality and wears out fast. I had the same problem. I found that Trustfire Blue 14650s have a much more durable wrapper, but they won't handle as many charge cycles as the Smoktech batteries. You might want to try a couple of the e-Fest 14650 IMR batts that Crystal Clear Vaping sells. These IMRs have less capacity than the ICRs, but a higher discharge rate. They may also have a decent wrapper.

Trustfire Blue and Smoktech ICR 14650 batteries. Despite what the labeling says both have a capacity of about 1050 mAh.

Smoktech 14650 ICR

Smoktech 14650 ICR

Trustfire Blue 14650 ICR

Trustfire Blue 14650 ICR

 

[yzer]

Be careful when handling these batteries, especially when inserting into chargers or a battery tube. Here are two Trustfire Blues that I used for nine months. They are retired now. Still in good physical shape, but don't hold much of a charge anymore. I keep them around as backups.

I use the same charger, just more of them.

Looks like a Christmas tree at night

 

[jb0nez]

Oh, of course I'm pulling them out carefully--i push back against the spring loaded negative side, lift the positive side out, then gently let the spring cone forward pushing the battery with it. But based off the pics I see posted of batteries much older than mine, I must still be handling them too rough. The one imr I have is still intact but that's because I hardly use it, like I said it lasts so much shorter. I have two ultrafires coming, I'll be much more cautious with loading and unloading, and see if the wrap stays. Once the wrap goes the battery is a goner.

 

[bubbalou32]

A word on the E-fest IMR 14650 batteries from CCV - I got a set but haven't had them long enough to see how well the plastic wrapper hold up. But they are a few mm shorter than the Smoketech cells that come with the E-power. A rare earth magnet or stretching the spring in the tube will fix that.

 

[yzer]

A word on the E-fest IMR 14650 batteries from CCV - I got a set but haven't had them long enough to see how well the plastic wrapper hold up. But they are a few mm shorter than the Smoketech cells that come with the E-power. A rare earth magnet or stretching the spring in the tube will fix that.

That's good info on the e-Fest 14650. I haven't tried it. The Trustfire and E-Power 14650 ICRs are much longer than you might expect. They measure 67 mm long, not 65 as the 14650 name would suggest. That PCB on ICRs adds length. They are too long to fit in my Trustfire TR-001 charger.

When I carry spare batts around I keep a pair in a pill bottle. That saves them from a lot of wear and keeps them from external shorts. There are also some plastic cases around that will fit 14650s but just use the pill bottles. These came with my dog's prescription.

 

[steved5600]

Yea your suppose to be removing them Positive + side first. You can repair that with simple tape or thin heat shrink. But no matter the kind of repair make sure it will not make the battery too big to fit in your mod.

 

[jb0nez]

Yeah I tried a repair with some electrical tape pulled tight so it'd be thin and cover up just the areas that had become exposed. Even just one layer of electrical tape was too much, it wouldn't fit easily, I put it in and the battery had already stopped working (maybe the PCB had become so loose that my taping it down finally cut some connection) then I had to really pull to get the dead battery out.

I haven't even mentioned the Trustfire that worked for a month then just died. Green light when I pop it in charger, no LED when put in tube, and no vape.

Hoping to have better luck with Ultrafires. If not I'm going back to stock since they're half the price.

 

[Thrasher]

get an AW or panasonic, they are top rated for a reason....

 

[jb0nez]

get an AW or panasonic, they are top rated for a reason....

This seems to be the boxed answer for anything battery related.
14650s are hard to find-just getting one is a feat, if anyone has leads on known AW or Panasonic ones let me know.

Of course that's just referring to the cells inside anyway, the wrapper still must be durable,, like I said once it starts to peel at the edges that battery won't be lasting much longer no matter what's inside.

 

[yzer]

get an AW or panasonic, they are top rated for a reason....

Actually, AW does not sell a 14650, in either ICR or IMR.

 

[yzer]

I have purchased TrustFire Blue Protected ICR 14650s twice from FocalPrice. No problems with these batteries. The last order was in August when I purchased eight of the batteries for $31.20, shipping from China included. Shipping takes about three weeks.

The bad news: FocalPrice has re-organized its website and most of the product categories have not re-appeared. I can't find these batteries at FocalPrice right now.

If you buy 14650 ICRs make sure that they are protected ICRs. There are 14650 ICR batteries out there that are not protected. These are not safe to use in an APV. IMRs have safer chemistry and don't require protection circuitry.

 

[denali_41]

i get all my batteries here ,never once have i had happen like what you are describing !!
Genuine AW Batteries at RTD vapor

the pcb board on good batteries is soldered on , both + and - connections,,so they can be moved around without stopping connection !!

 

[yzer]

i get all my batteries here ,never once have i had happen like what you are describing !!
Genuine AW Batteries at RTD vapor

the pcb board on good batteries is soldered on , both + and - connections,,so they can be moved around without stopping connection !!

Once again, AW does NOT make a 14650 in either ICR or IMR. I see that RTD has the E-Fest 14650 IMR, which is also sold by CCV as mentioned earlier.

 

[denali_41]

Once again, AW does NOT make a 14650 in either ICR or IMR.

ONCE AGAIN !!! i gave him the supplier website of where i get reputable batteries

 

[dsy5]

The shrink wrap on these batteries seems to be pretty brittle. There is a shrink wrap that can be had for batteries - where I work we had some white colored shrink wrap made for 3 cell AAA battery packs. They did sell a single cell size, but I do not have a source for it. A Google search may turn one up.

I've had the same thing happen to a couple of my Trustfire 14650's - I still use them as is and have not had a problem; yet. Sometimes the batteries do tend to get scraped by the spring-loaded terminal of the charger, even when you are trying to be careful!