RBA and Battery Safety

[Larzis]

Ok, so this may be a silly question, but I rather look silly in the name of safety J

Will a short in your coil or wick cause damage or pose a safety risk with your batteries? I know making a super low ohm coil or having the button stay on accidentally in a pocket can, but was unsure on shorts with coil and wick.

Thanks!

 

[markfm]

Same as a short in a purchased atty or carto, which can happen, it depends on what protections your PV and batteries have.

My PV has over-current protection, including short detection. No harm if ultra-low resistance occurs.

Some PV have a "hot spring", designed to collapse on over-current.

In some other PVs, without these protections, use of an inline fuse/circuit breaker takes care of this. They can also be used with a hot spring PV, hopefully tripping at a lower current so the spring doesn't have to be replaced.

Finally, protected ICR batteries will trip on too high a current draw.

 

[Larzis]

Same as a short in a purchased atty or carto, which can happen, it depends on what protections your PV and batteries have.

My PV has over-current protection, including short detection. No harm if ultra-low resistance occurs.

Some PV have a "hot spring", designed to collapse on over-current.

In some other PVs, without these protections, use of an inline fuse/circuit breaker takes care of this. They can also be used with a hot spring PV, hopefully tripping at a lower current so the spring doesn't have to be replaced.

Finally, protected ICR batteries will trip on too high a current draw.

Thanks markfm. I will be using a Zen and iHybrid, which I understand can not take something like a Shortstop.... Too bad.

For batteries I use the AW IMR, and for now have been using an AGA-T on a Provari just to get the hang of things. I also use a meter before firing up and test for continuity on the wick. And for now I stick with coils at 2ohm or higher. So I am probably in some ways overkill on the safety aspect, but rather do this in the beginning than be careless.

 

[Gummy Bare]

Aww, I just posted a thread with kind of the same question. I use APV's at home that I believe have some kind of circuit protection (Vamo, tesla).... but when I’m at work and out and about I use vision spinners and ego twists which I’m kinda worried about having an issue with.

I never had much luck with SS Mesh, so I use silica more (plus I got some ceramic coils in the mail which should make it so I never need ss mesh again).

 

[Gummy Bare]

Just saw My Vapor Store is having a sale on the "Holocron Labs ShortStop" chip if anyone's looking for one. $8.25 until the end of this month. The cheapest I've seen so far. Picked up two of them today to give me some piece of mind on a few mods.

 

[Thrasher]

the only way it poses a problem is if the button sticks on somehow. when using the mod, mech or whatever you will know somethings wrong as it will get hot fast while holding it and usually a sudden sharp drop in resistance will start slamming out the vapor, it may taste bad it may not but sometimes the volume output and how fast the mod gets hot will catch your attention.

i had a 2 ohm coil the other day for some reason drop to 1.3 at work and thought i would pass out from the amount of vapor all of a sudden.

 

[Larzis]

Thanks for the info there Thrasher. Sounds to me like I keep doing what I do now, and pay attention for heat, etc. Something I did with the Zen was start off with a battery that was charged to like 3.6/3.7, then once that seemed ok put a freshly charged battery in.

I have a decent understanding of Ohm law, etc from back in school but that was looooong ago . I guess my biggest concern was something like having a small conductive portion of wick I missed touching the bottom of the tank and frying a battery. Or a rogue coil.

 

[Thrasher]

yea like stated the only way it poses a threat is if you ignore the heat and strange behavior or the button gets stuck or shorts out.

i would suggest to anyone doing rba's is to have a multi meter. i think its worth having around even just to check batteries or coils when something seems out of place. while not super accurate there are many cheap ones that will do the jon ok.

 

[Larzis]

yea like stated the only way it poses a threat is if you ignore the heat and strange behavior or the button gets stuck or shorts out.

i would suggest to anyone doing rba's is to have a multi meter. i think its worth having around even just to check batteries or coils when something seems out of place. while not super accurate there are many cheap ones that will do the jon ok.

Agreed. And aside from checking coils and battery it is helpful checking the continuity of the wick. I thought I had it pretty well oxidized but found a couple of spots that beeped. One of them being right about where the hole would line up.