Riva Battery/Charger Incident (pictures)

[NicLiq]

My husband has a Riva battery that won't hold much of a charge. We have 3 chargers from 3 Riva kits, so he also tried to charge it on the other chargers. Finally decided the battery was bad. He then put another Riva battery on the last charger he used, went outside, and this is what he found when our son was yelling that something was on fire (smoking) by his laptop:

I've told him over and over that he can't just leave batteries charging, but he worked on circuitry in the Air Force and he thinks I overreact. I use mod batteries and will only use my charger when I am sitting at my desk beside it.

So, if you are like him, please consider getting a LipoSack bag. I'm thinking that the bad battery damaged the charger, then the charger killed the next battery he put on it; so he's out 2 batteries, 1 charger, and he could have lost his laptop (and more if it wasn't discovered quickly).

 

[RIMP]

Thanks for posting. I never leave batts charging overnite or when I'm not there. Good warning.

 

[NicLiq]

Thanks for posting. I never leave batts charging overnite or when I'm not there. Good warning.

Thanks RIMP, I think there's more of a false sense of security with these type of PV batteries.

If anyone has a battery that's not acting normal, and you know it's not your charger, quit using it.

 

[Raynen]

OH WOW.

...this reminds me of last weekend. I wish I took pictures... But anyway, I had gotten a used battery to try out the eGo (and I love it so I now have a kit thanks to an awesome ECFer who has become my super best ECF friend ) and put it on a charger. I was at my cottage with my best friend (IRL LOL she also vapes) and we're drinking, having a blast. Thankfully I had one other eGo batt because I unscrewed the batt and knew something was wrong. I then pressed the button once and the ENTIRE THING FELL APART! Battery threads, the innards... everything. The BUTTON even went missing and I have yet to find it. I wasn't even upset, it amused me in fact, for some reason. That was a ridiculous moment!

 

[grandmato5]

Great reminder that it important to be very careful when charging our batteries. Most of the time all will be fine but every once in a while things will go wrong and could lead to a disaster.

 

[Pamdane]

Just an idea, for the those like me who still charge overnight or leave the house with a battery charging: I set the whole unit in a large Pyrex bowl on an oven mitt. I did have a charger start smoldering once. The surge protector shut the unit off. All is well, no damage.
Think outside the box(or inside the bowl, whatever!).

Just do you are aware, there was a batch of chargers with Rivas a while back that were known to be bad. It was late 2010 I believe. So to those considering ordering a Riva, make sure you get it from somewhere with high turnover, or if off classies, find out when the unit was first purchased.

 

[NicLiq]

We've had bad luck with those Riva chargers, but I'm sure they weren't old enough to be from the bad batch because they were from Liberty-Flights in late March 2011. I guess it's probably safer to have the charger short out than having the battery explode :/

Raynen, you should have taken a picture, I know it isn't funny, but imagining it made me laugh too.

 

[JustaGuy]

This is funny....but scary.

I'm vaping a Riva 510 just bought from LF for $33, saved 50% from an eGo set. Anybody had similar problem with Joye eGo chargers? Maybe the difference in price IS the quality? I think my next set will be eGo, had no problems with Joye 510 set.

Btw, PC USB ports are ALL supposed to be 500 ma. With new USB II and III ports (higher data transfer rate), any exceptions?

 

[NicLiq]

We have a Joye charger and it looks identical to the Riva charger. I think Riva is a solid/safe product even though it's lower priced. I really believe that this whole episode could have been avoided if my husband had just accepted that the battery was failing - it's entirely possible that it had been charged nearly 100 times.

From now on, we're only going to charge by wall outlet and I have one of the lipo safe(r) charging bags coming in the mail.

USB is 500-900 mA, up to 5v, depending on the version. I don't think the computer port had anything to do with this, but I don't want to risk harming any computer here from now on.

 

[JustaGuy]

We have a Joye charger and it looks identical to the Riva charger. I think Riva is a solid/safe product even though it's lower priced. I really believe that this whole episode could have been avoided if my husband had just accepted that the battery was failing - it's entirely possible that it had been charged nearly 100 times.

From now on, we're only going to charge by wall outlet and I have one of the lipo safe(r) charging bags coming in the mail.

USB is 500-900 mA, up to 5v, depending on the version. I don't think the computer port had anything to do with this, but I don't want to risk harming any computer here from now on.

You're probably right, it's the batt. Aren't most batts supposed to have 250-300 charging cycles? I'm sure Joye fails too, using both Riva and Joye now so we'll seee. I wish the manufacturers and vendors everywhere offer longer batt warranties. One place I shopped had 7-days. Come on!

 

[NicLiq]

You're probably right, it's the batt. Aren't most batts supposed to have 250-300 charging cycles? I'm sure Joye fails too, using both Riva and Joye now so we'll seee. I wish the manufacturers and vendors everywhere offer longer batt warranties. One place I shopped had 7-days. Come on!

Yes, some are reporting 300 charges, but to be fair, I'm sure my husband dropped this one more than once, probably stepped on it, didn't always wipe off the end from juice drips, and possibly didn't even take the time to make sure it was all the way screwed into the charger. I would give it at least 50% user error LOL

 

[bruiser]

It says on LF's site to unplug the charger before screwing the Riva 510 battery onto the charger. I think they are referring to the eGo charger, and not the Riva charger.

 

[zoiDman]

Just an idea, for the those like me who still charge overnight or leave the house with a battery charging: I set the whole unit in a large Pyrex bowl on an oven mitt. I did have a charger start smoldering once. The surge protector shut the unit off. All is well, no damage.
Think outside the box(or inside the bowl, whatever!).

Just do you are aware, there was a batch of chargers with Rivas a while back that were known to be bad. It was late 2010 I believe. So to those considering ordering a Riva, make sure you get it from somewhere with high turnover, or if off classies, find out when the unit was first purchased.

After reading the thread below...

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...cussion/204956-18650-battery-caught-fire.html

I have started to charge my batteries inside a metal pan also.

 

[NicLiq]

It says on LF's site to unplug the charger before screwing the Riva 510 battery onto the charger. I think they are referring to the eGo charger, and not the Riva charger.

I think both chargers are the same. At least that's one thing he always did.

 

[Raynen]

No worries it WAS pretty funny! And I was a little too tipsy to handle both my PV charger and a camera

 

[Winkos]

Just an idea, for the those like me who still charge overnight or leave the house with a battery charging: I set the whole unit in a large Pyrex bowl on an oven mitt. I did have a charger start smoldering once. The surge protector shut the unit off. All is well, no damage.
Think outside the box(or inside the bowl, whatever!).

Just do you are aware, there was a batch of chargers with Rivas a while back that were known to be bad. It was late 2010 I believe. So to those considering ordering a Riva, make sure you get it from somewhere with high turnover, or if off classies, find out when the unit was first purchased.

Good idea!

 

[Thank You]

only time i charge my batteries is when i'm on the pc... i'd be to paranoid letting it charge while i'm asleep or out the house.

good post.

 

[JustaGuy]

Hey, NicLiq, I've had nightmares about my Riva charger since reading this. Kidding.

But I do keep checking the charger while in use and it dawned on me - my Riva batt has a small, sensitive, blue led button that lights up when being charged and sometimes that button is facing down. If there's enough pressure, the button could be PRESSED while charging. You'd have power coming from the charger as batt is trying to release, currents going both ways and...

What say you, electrical gurus?

 

[Ever1ast]

Wow... thanks for posting that. Ive never thought twice about leaving them charge overnight, but I am now. Guess it was just a false sense of security that they'd work the way they're meant to but obviously that's not always the case.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[NicLiq]

That's a good observation JustaGuy, I would think they aren't sophisticated enough for the button to be disabled once connected. I used to always turn mine up so I could see it blink when I plugged it in.

Ever1last, I used to only worry about the mod LiMN ones. The Riva and eGo batteries don't have memory, so it's okay to unplug them when you're not around, and plug them back in later.

I would have thought my husband learned a lesson, but I saw one of my pink Riva batteries hanging from his laptop today. I asked him why and he said he didn't feel like going out to the garage to charge it :face palm:

I no longer feel bad that he's stuck using pink batteries until his new kit arrives.