Unregulated Box Mod Battery Care

[augustkk]

Hi, I recently purchased an unregulated box mod that holds 3 26650's. I bought brand new batteries for this, I charge them together, and have them marked to rotate for each install.

What I'm wondering is that these take a very quite a while to charge. And so I have 4 other 26650's that are in good condition that were never matched up because they were used in mods that only use 1 battery.

So is it ok to charge three of these other batteries up and use them in my mod?

Thanks for looking!

 

[RandyF]

Baditude is probably putting together links for you, sorry for the delay. He should be right with you.

<-----this is the forum equivalent of hold music.

 

[RandyF]

Or not.....[shrug]

My first thought would be no, there is a reason they are supposed to be married and rotated, though I couldn't tell you the specifics as to why, I stick with single battery devices.

 

[Baditude]

No links required. As long as these batteries are similar in spec, and close to being the same age and useage, they should be fine.

I'm assuming these batteries are not being stacked end to end (?), and are sitting in parallel side by side. This makes all the difference.

Batteries which are being stacked end to end (in series) need to be the same battery model and married together when new:

"Stacked or unstacked? In some mods, you can fit two 18350's when the mod is configured for an 18650. This boosts the voltage output from 3.6V to 7.2V which means more vapor. Yay. BUT, you should NEVER do this. Unless you are familiar with matching batteries, you are only endangering yourself and others. You may think, "Well, shucks, laptops have multiple batteries in them, why can't my e-cig?" Laptop batteries are specifically designed for stacking and are paired for use at the factory. When using un-matched batteries, they will discharge and provide current at different rates. This means one battery will continuously take more of the stress than the other. You may not notice any trouble at the start, but as the batteries age with use the problem will become more severe. Push the batteries a bit further and now you've entered the realm of thermal runaway. Downside being that one battery entering thermal runaway will push the other battery into thermal runaway. Now you have two small, flaming explosives only inches from your face. "

 

[augustkk]

Yes, they are in parallel, and the batteries are about the same as far as age and useage go. They are lightly used. Thanks so much for the info!