Volt Battery Resiliency

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JoeM86

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So just thought I'd share..

I've had a couple of incidents of absent mindedness/just plain bad luck, but they left me quite impressed. First, over the weekend I accidently spilled a drink all over myself. I quickly ripped my clothes off and thru them in the washing machine and started it. After getting my mess cleaned up and getting resituated on the sofa, I went to grab my Volt. It wasnt there. To make a long story short, my wife ended up pulling it out of the washing machine about 15 minutes into the wash cycle. Needless to say I wasnt a happy camper. I have only had my Volt a week, and when this happened I was about ready to go buy a carton of analogs Ive done a week without. My wife calmed me down (I get mad at myself when I do stoopid things) and proceed to pop off the LED cover and using the "cool" setting, blow dryed my battery for a while. She then just let it sit out all opened up. The next morning she put it back together and guess what, good as new.

THEN, last night I'm laying down in bed. My Volt is sitting on my nightstand, as well as a bottle of water. I thought I started hearing something but figured it was from the TV or something. About 10 minutes later my wife mentions the sound. I look around and realize there was a hole in my bottle of water, a puddle of water on my nightstand, and my Volt right in the middle of it. It was making a sizzling type noise. I got ...... again, feeling like the analog gods are refusing to let me go or something. I jump up and repeat what she had done a few days before. As I'm blow drying it, I drop it in the sink which had some suds still floating around. The LED starts going crazy and then begins to literally smoke. I let it be for a few minutes, then continued drying, and layed it out. This morning, like new.

Seriously?? I'm no electrician but I'm pretty sure electronic devices, batteries, etc, aren't supposed to get along too well with water. So either I'm an idiot or cursed, not sure which :p, but these Volts can take a beating. I don't advise attempting to replicate my incidents, but maybe you can get a little warm and fuzzy from them. Love my Volt more and more every day. Happy vaping!
 

Konstantine

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You might want to keep an eye on that battery when you go to recharge it. Just in case!
This is correct, too much water went inside the battery, the cell itself will hold, the connections are OK too and far apart.
The main problem is the pcb on the airflow switch, if corossion appears on the inside then you are doomed. On the outside of the sensor you might be able to clean it with a fiberglass pen etc, if tracks aren't cut or shorted on this pcb then you are fine.
 

Xaria

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Things happen. Always have backups. Batteries, chargers, cartos, etc. Even consider backup power supply. I live in the sticks and every battery and mod I own, I have corresponding car chargers in case we get bad winter weather. I am scared of going back to analog cigarettes, well that and I stockpile for the impending zombie apocalypse. :)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

kooganani

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Awesome story OP! From the moment I got to "My Volt is sitting on my nightstand, as well as a bottle of water." until the end of the story I was cracking up! And good info too, for getting the moisture out. Your wife sounds like a very smart and patient lady. The fact that I haven't dunked one of my Volt batteries yet is a minor miracle.
 

JoeM86

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Glad I put a smile on your face kooganani :laugh:

Kia2, thanks a million, I think I'm good though. Ive been through multiple charges this last week with it and it is still going strong. And yes it was the same battery. My wife has one that is going bad though, I sent a message using "Contact Us" on the website. I'll PM you details.

I didn't think of the bag o' rice idea, that's a good one. I'm definitely going to be investing in some more backups considering my track record.
 

Konstantine

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People, you can stop wasting food too, there is a thing called silica gel and you can find it (i think cheaper than rice or free) in shoe boxes, new apliances etc etc. Much more absorbent.
I prefer to use bags of activated bentonite (i get them from new telecom equipment) around 1-2 pounds each, just use a zip lock bag and throw anything you like inside.
 

awsum140

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The silica/bentonite suggestion is great. Would probably work well to dry cartos as well.

Back to the OP, what you saw was the result of, what was essentially, a short circuit inside the battery itself. The water, or liquid, conducted inside the battery causing an ALMOST short circuit condition. The sound you heard was probably a combination of the refraction of the water and the water actually boiling from the heat produced. I would suspect that the life of the battery is somewhat shortened, but by moving quickly both times, you averted ruining the battery or having a major problem, like a fire. Even though the batteries are only 250-350 mah, or 650 mah if an X2, they can produce amps under short circuit conditions, enough to make things get really hot really fast.
 
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