Tricks to revive auto battery?

[bev135]

Anybody know of any tips or tricks to try to revive an auto battery that quit working?
This is an original Vapor King ash cap XL battery. When I put it on the charger the tip blinks and the charger light says it is charged. When I put a carto on it I just can't get it to fire at all. Have tried different cartos -- no change. I tried raising the post and that didn't help either. Seems like maybe it's the switch.

Any ideas for a last ditch effort before I toss it?

 

[SnowDragon]

Hi bev135,

Sorry to hear you are having a problem with that auto battery. If you are game I'd like to ask you a few questions and have you try a few things. When exactly did the battery stop working, while you were vaping, after charging? Does the LED on the battery come on if you blow directly onto it? After you raised the post and put a carto on could you feel the 2 posts engage and was there a hair line gap between the carto base and rim base of the battery? Twist up a small piece of tissue into a mouse tail and insert it into the center post hole, it should go in about a half an inch. Is there any juice on the tip of the tissue?

 

[EleanorR]

He's being perfectly serious, Bev.

If you can answer Snow's questions, he may indeed be able to salvage your battery.

 

[bev135]

Oooh, I'm excited to have something to try!

I believe the battery stopped working after charging. It's possible that it quit working while I was vaping and that's why I thought it needed charging. But I think I would've noticed that -- I usually notice batteries getting gradually weaker just before they start flashing.
I cannot get the LED to come on by blowing into the battery.
After raising the center post I did get some resistance from the carto so I'm pretty sure the posts made contact.
Yes, there is a hair-line gap between the carto and the battery. (Never noticed that before!)
I got a bit of twisted tissue into the center post hole (boy, that thing is tiny!). I don't see any juice on it but there does appear to be a small amount of black residue on the tissue.

Thanks!

 

[SnowDragon]

Well I'm sorry to say Bev that I think your prognosis was correct and the switch has failed. A small amount of black residue is perfectly normal so we can cross out excess juice in the battery as a culprit. It also sounds like you are pretty good at detecting battery fade so we can remove excessive deep cycling too. As long as the switch is properly functioning the battery LED should light up when you blow directly into it.

The only other thing I could suggest would be to take a needle and along the edge of the battery housing and ash cap you will see a small slotted hole. Take the needle and pop off the ash cap, inspect the ash cap for residue which might have blocked off the slot you used to pry it up. Of course if there is any wipe it off, replace the ash cap and give it a go.

But this is one of the 1 in 10,000 type of things which rarely occurs and you sound like you really good with your batteries. In any case give it a shot after you pop the ash cap back and if it doesn't work....you have done all you can do. If anything else you can get a good look at the "electronic" portion of an e-cigarette. On the chip you may notice a tiny little metal square, put the needle on it and at the same time touch the other end of the needle on the housing.

If you are at the right place....you can make the LED light up.....woohoo!!!

 

[bev135]

I have to admit that I do notice battery fade but I don't always respond to it by switching batteries and charging the faded one. So excessive deep cycling could be a problem (depending on how much it takes to qualify as excessive and how dead a battery is before it's considered "deep" cycling).
Anyway, I will check the slot at the ash cap for debris but, like you said, that sounds like a long shot.
This is one of the batteries from my original starter kit that I got last July. It has served me well and tolerated being dropped a number of times. This one has gotten so much use that the logo is even wearing off!

Taking a look at the guts of it and playing around to get the LED to light up sounds like it might be fun.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[SnowDragon]

Hehehe.... I thought this was a relatively new battery...ya I'd say you got your monies worth! When batteries reach the end of their life they will charge faster and their in-use time shortens greatly. If you are only getting 40 minutes of use out of your battery and it only takes 35 minutes or so to recharge....the end is near.

You are most welcomed Bev.....

 

[bev135]

I pulled the ash cap off to take a look and found ... a little ball of pocket lint! But apparently that wasn't the problem -- nothing seems to get this battery to fire up.
And it did seem like the cycle time, both in use and on the charger, was getting shorter so I guess the battery itself was getting close to the end of its life even if the switch still worked.
Now that I think of it, another one of my older batteries is doing that too. It's hard to tell how long "normal" is when they're in use because sometimes I huff on them a lot harder than others. So recharge time would be a good thing to watch.
I think I saw batteries in the latest sale from V4L so maybe it's time to pick up a couple more.

I did get the LED to light up! There's an awful lot going on on that tiny little circuit board!
Next I'll see if I can pull the guts out of the tube and see what's in there.

 

[EleanorR]

RIP, battery.

 

[waylonjessi4ever]

whats i do with my older reg size diamond 808 ( manual ) that button is acting up ? or maybe switch ? maybe done ? i tried the hit it one something method ,did not work ,past warranty .....

 

[Morandir835]

There's last ditch effort Ms. Nancy, you can try soaking the button end in alcohol for 24 hours. It's not guarantee to work perminately, but worth a try.

 

[waylonjessi4ever]

the whole end ? like in a shot glass ?

 

[Morandir835]

Exactly Ms. Nancy, just let it dry for 24 hours afterwards, and give it a few good shakes before letting it dry. Was able to get one of them to work flawlessly until the end of it's charge cycles using that method, another 3 though only got another 2 days-3weeks out of.

 

[incantius]

if all else fails (this is totally untested on e-cig batts but does sometimes work on laptop batteries) put the battery in a freezer bag (make sure it's a freezer bag!) and toss it into the freezer over night. let it have time to prperly warm to room temp (i usually just let it set for 24 hours just to be safe) then try it out.

 

[plarkinjr]

if all else fails (this is totally untested on e-cig batts but does sometimes work on laptop batteries) put the battery in a freezer bag (make sure it's a freezer bag!) and toss it into the freezer over night. let it have time to prperly warm to room temp (i usually just let it set for 24 hours just to be safe) then try it out.

Interesting! I've never heard of that. Any idea why or how this might work? I suppose it could make sense: slowing down the electrons enough that it "resets"?

 

[incantius]

that's a good guess but i R not a techogeek like some folks around here lol. i just know that it works sometimes. a friend geek of mine told me about it and it worked so the proof was in the pudding so to speak...

here's a link to a reputable source about this: http://hackaday.com/2005/08/26/how-to-laptop-resurrection-and-upgrade/