The SLB Vapros V1 is Dangerous

[Drewsworld]

Hey Road...Thanks so much...I really appreciate your vids and your wifey's humor as well. I will confess I rarely watch all the videos , but I do try and keep up with some. I have an email in to the head of sales (who I deal with exclusively) and NEVER do ANY business with their Skype reps because of extreme communication difficulty that I have had in the past. I got extremely FRUSTRATED with one rep to the point that I didn't do business with them for over a year until I visited the factory in person. For some reason when they see me they treat me differently! They also realize that they are bound to see me face to face a couple times a year. I actually always have a great time there now! The head sales guy Joe is a pretty good guy and go's out of his way to be prompt and polite with me.
Send me an email at DGliem00@gmail.com (thats double zero) and I would be happy to give you his direct contact info....I will bet he will take care of you. Thanks again,
Drew

 

[r77r7r]

I purchased direct from slbsmoking.com for the purposes of doing the review, The first unit self fired twice, once in my bum bag (think its called a fanny pack out there in the USA ), the second time was with it sitting on my desk, the company were informed at that time and replied they agreed it was "switch problem" type fault, they then tried to get me to pay postage again for the replacement unit to be sent and after a few chats back and forth about if you send out faulty units don`t expect to get paid they agreed to send a brand spanking new device out, and they did, all sealed up and sparkly , except that did the same less then 24hrs later whilst sat on a table , i had another word within the lines of "Guess what just happened again" and they immediately went offline, and so far not a peep from them, So i did the vid editing (if you can call it that) to transfer from review to alert. so yeah, direct from the factory outlet (SLB)..lucky i had the camera handy to catch it really..although the wife was a little nervy with the hissing .

Someday you folks have to stop laughing at us about that one, lol. Besides, it's politically incorrect over here to use the word "Bum".

 

[roadhoguk]

Hey Road...Thanks so much...I really appreciate your vids and your wifey's humor as well. I will confess I rarely watch all the videos , but I do try and keep up with some. I have an email in to the head of sales (who I deal with exclusively) and NEVER do ANY business with their Skype reps because of extreme communication difficulty that I have had in the past. I got extremely FRUSTRATED with one rep to the point that I didn't do business with them for over a year until I visited the factory in person. For some reason when they see me they treat me differently! They also realize that they are bound to see me face to face a couple times a year. I actually always have a great time there now! The head sales guy Joe is a pretty good guy and go's out of his way to be prompt and polite with me.
Send me an email at DGliem00@gmail.com (thats double zero) and I would be happy to give you his direct contact info....I will bet he will take care of you. Thanks again,
Drew

Thanks for that Drew, i will fire him off an email and see what is what with it, the chappie i was dealing with was called jason-slb but as i said its all gone very quiet . You just made Julie (Mrs Roadhoguk) smile for saying you watch us when possible, glad you enjoy the vids .

Someday you folks have to stop laughing at us about that one, lol. Besides, it's politically incorrect over here to use the word "Bum".

LOL!

 

[oldsoldier]

@ Drew and any other suppliers that may still be monitoring this thread:
Pulling the trigger and issuing a sitewide safety advisory wasn't a decision taken lightly on my part. But there was enough independent verification of issues with this particular device that it needed to be brought to the attention of our membership and site visitors. I realize it probably caused a flurry of email activity to suppliers on the subject, but the safety of our community always comes first on ECF. I'm glad that you and other suppliers are on top of the situation and are available to give updates and clarify the situation.

 

[Para]

I don't think anyone can be critical of issuing the alert. I'm glad Drew is here to gather facts and communicate with the manufacturer and get some answers.....it speaks well of him that he's here and taking a lead position

 

[buffaloguy]

Question, the new smoktech groove vv/vw box mod uses a 3800mah li-po battery. I was planning to buy one tomorrow or friday. Should I be concerned that it uses a li-po battery internally?

I will note that im already aware never to use a different charger than the one that comes with the unit.

 

[Sluggo]

Teorethicaly, What if you were to open the device up, remove the battery and replace it with a protected 18490 or something and disable the connection (to prevent autofire), then would it be safe?
What I'm asking here, is if there are other faults with this unit except for the battery type and possible burning attys because of autofire?

 

[skydvejam]

As a heavy lithium polymer user being a model aircraft junkie I can tell you that the same battery chemistry is also in everyone's laptops as well as electric cars with some lithium ion being used as well. What is happening is clearly thermal runaway and there are several causes for this and typically not limited to just one thing causing it. Lipo tech is changing rapidly, these devices are using what in theory is the safest set up of just one cell in the battery, but if they are using sub standard cells, instead of the internal heat that sometimes develops creating a blockage of current, it can cause a tear accelerating the heat and helping to induce thermal failure. Another large factor is how far the device allows you to discharge your cells, if the voltage is allowed to get too low, it is near impossible to recharge the batteries without thermal runaway. Overcharging is a serious issue with these cells as well, either the rate or capacity, you go too far with both and your really asking for trouble.
I have thought about making my own mod using lipo's for my own personal use, I do have several chargers though made just for this chemistry, and would be using high quality and rather pricy lipo packs, I have only had one pack burn up on me in flight, and a couple from crashes. I have seen several at the field burn in crashes and one go on a charger due to over charging when the operator chose the wrong voltage to charge at.

 

[skydvejam]

And after watching the video, it looks like over discharging creating a cell that is too low. These are dangerous devices even if they used the safer less dense li-on tech, if they are using denser lipo tech these could really be an issue. I would highly suggest if people have these unless they have a way to either D/C the battery they keep them in a safe area. Risky battery's in my hobby are charged out doors in a BBQ over cement. Indoor charging are in a fire safe bag under direct supervision.
My two cents worth is to remove these from the house or physically D/C the battery from the device if possible if it is using Lipo tech.

 

[LordDavon]

As for this morning, SLB has put out an official statement, and recalled the SLB Vapros V1.

Vapros V1 quality issue announcement

 

[Projectguy]

Is there any people that actually HAD a problem with this device that have posted? Im not trying to encourage unsafe practices, but I have been using one of these for a month and haven't had any issues. I have removed them from my site until I hear from the manufacturer but I understand that there might have been a group buy where factories will often dump their defective units, Quality Control etc.. issues to those type of one time orders. To date I haven't seen ANY issues or heard from anyone that has had an actual documented event. Any information anyone has would be greatly appreciated. As far as being the most dangerous battery , they are what is inside of all our cellphones...Please don't do your battery research on You tube folks!!! Thanks,
Drew

Drew

You have a very valid point however I would rather err on the side of caution. Our community is under so much scrutiny that any incident that gets out into the public media will condemn all e-cigs regardless of who builds them or who makes them. DO we want the FDA who continue to have lies on their web pages about e-cigs to add yet another lie that "e-cigs catch fire"? As an aside Li ion batteries have, according to the latest media reports, been the cause of the problems on the Boeing 787 which the FAA have just grounded.

PG

 

[Drewsworld]

Did I miss something? There have been no Thermal Runaway Vapros...I have only seen videos of atomizers or cartomizers activating which according to the factory is a software bug. No need to put it in a bag and stand outside and watch it...I have seen no reports of them activating or imploding without something attached (atomizer,cartomizer, etc...) so if you think yours is activating remove whatever is attached to it and DON'T use it!

 

[oldsoldier]

The SLB recall is definitely a step in the right direction for handling the situation. But I believe it will cause some more confusion since the official recall notice posted on their site is vague. They didn't address how they want to handle the returns and refunds. Spending ten more minutes clarifying the logistics of the process would have been a good idea. As it stands now people will have to email their suppliers or SLB directly to find out what is going on...

 

[mrfixit]

I am not an expert by any means but I do know that when you transport or rather mail a cell phone or any device that uses a Lipo battery the battery has to be removed from the device. Personally I think all vapping devices that are mods should have batteries that are removed for charging period. Also when not in use for extended periods of time take out the batteries and never leave your atty, tank, whatever you're using attach to your mod when charging or when you're not using for long periods of time either. That just makes sense to me. Safety starts with us the user I feel. Sure we should expect and demand a certain amount of safety from the manufacturers of devices using this technology. But in the end we the consumer should know how to operate and care for our devices in the proper manner. These types of batteries as someone else stated are being used in many of the devices we use every day. I wonder what a failure will look like from one in a car? We've seen the videos of cells and laptops going up in smoke. Just be familiar with how your device works and do what is recommended for charging and operating them. Great job on getting the word out to people as quickly as you all did.

 

[muldrick]

I have emailed (yesterday) each of my customers that purchased these.
So far I've only received 2-3 responses related to this.
If you are a customer who purchased one of these please discontinue use immediately and create an RMA on the site.

 

[Tourlounette]

Just received that from SLB:
"

Sorry to inform you that there is a serious quality issue of VAPROS.
Pls check the Announcement from the link: Vapros V1 quality issue announcement

In order to avoid any safety problem, now our company is recalling all the VAPROS that were shipped to customers.
We deeply apologize for this. Hope you can collect all the VAPROS that you bought from us and send them back to us.
We will bear the shipping cost and give you the refund. The refund can be used for our other products on your choice.

Returns will be sent back to us to Hongkong.
I will send the address and contact information to you tomorrow.

Thanks very much for your support and your kind feedback on our products all the time.

Have a nice day!

Thanks & Best Regards!"

 

[skydvejam]

Drew - I had read how someone had a smoking battery, that would have been a minor thermal runaway.
Mrfixit- I know at least for over seas shipments we were prohibited from mailing Lipo's if they were not installed inside of the device, rather crippling when you are a model airplane junky deployed in a combat zone.. That has been lifted as of now.