WARNING -- My Battery Exploded!

[flowerchild]

I have been battery paranoid since my bike batt exploded on me when i was riding along at speed, frightened me half to death!..I will only charge my batts when im in the same room from a wall chrger and as its at the same height as my chihuahua I put a shoe box over it and try to keep him well clear.
Theres some good info on ECF regarding safety and batts and I also think all new vapers should read it or have a sticky in new members forum.

 

[bryanc]

Really? Are e-cig batteries somehow less safe than the Li-Ion batteries in my laptop, tablet, cellphone, cordless phone, ipod, TV remote, cordless drill, and camera?

Heck, I've easily had over twenty Li-Ion batteries charging unattended for years in my home before I'd even heard of e-cigarettes. Has my house been a ticking time bomb all this time?

 

[flintlock62]

That pic should be put in a sticky! Glad your OK

 

[Aurora-Oblivion]

Glad to hear you didn't get hurt! And it's good you also caught it before it burned your house down, wow!

Now I'm scared of these! Off to read more battery warnings!

 

[Rocketpunk]

Holy moly! Glad you and your's are safe, unharmed, and OK! That had to intense!

 

[meloyo]

You can charge a battery below the recommended amp rating (takes longer to charge)... you just can't charge it ABOVE the charge amp rating of the battery.

Think of it like a hose. You can run as much pressure through that hose as it is rated with no harm. Low pressure ... no problem. However the moment you start pushing more pressure then than hose is rated for, you can blow it.

I'm a total dunce when it comes to the technicals of batteries and chargers. Where do we check the charge amp rating?

I'd like to echo others' sentiments that if possible, we have a sticky on ecig batteries and chargers. And maybe the sticky can include a detailed, layman's how-to on reading the fine print of batteries and chargers and understanding what all those numbers and units mean.

 

[Kibbster]

I don't think watching a battery while it charges will make much of a difference or even being in the vicinity.
The important thing is to only use the charger it came with and if it starts to get hot when in use or when charging then throw it away.

Like has been said, we leave phones and laptops connected to the mains and charging all day and they don't (generally) explode.
Battery charging is safe as long as you use the recommend chargers.

There is always an exception of course, but generally that's because the battery is faulty in the first place and or something has damaged the battery (like getting the contacts wet with juice in PVs.)

 

[bryanc]

I'm a total dunce when it comes to the technicals of batteries and chargers. Where do we check the charge amp rating?

#1: The easiest thing to do is to use the charger that comes with your battery or a charger that you buy after explicitly confirming with your supplier that it is a match.

#2: By law (in the US) it should be printed on the charging unit. Marking may be missing from imported units. If the charger is not properly marked do not use it to charge anything except the thing it was shipped with.

#3: I will post some pictures in a second, but if any of this does not make sense to you, don't risk it.

 

[bryanc]

How interchangeable are these two chargers?

 

[flowerchild]

Really? Are e-cig batteries somehow less safe than the Li-Ion batteries in my laptop, tablet, cellphone, cordless phone, ipod, TV remote, cordless drill, and camera?

Heck, I've easily had over twenty Li-Ion batteries charging unattended for years in my home before I'd even heard of e-cigarettes. Has my house been a ticking time bomb all this time?

I have known somebody whos house with his car collection go up in flames due to his camera batts being left unattended overnight on a wall charger. these explosions might not happen often thank goodness but wouldnt want to be the person who was a victim of it either..I am very cautious and i also have a boarder living with me who has worked for exide battreys for many years and some of his stories would freak anybody out.

 

[bryanc]

Answer:

Hey, the Voltage on those is the same! (4.2V, we only care about the output voltage). Cool.

But wait, one of them outputs 100mA and the other outputs 150mA,

Also, the one on top shows the polarity with a little diagram with the positive and negative coming out of this circle thing.

The one on the bottom doesn't have a polarity diagram at all, which means....

That I don't KNOW ENOUGH about the compatibility of these chargers so I MUST assume they are INCOMPATIBLE.

 

[muffluvin]

here's a linky for the bag

 

[DizGrizz]

Lithium Ion/manganese/polymer/etc. batteries can produce and incredible amount of current. If they break down (which can be caused by excess discharge current, excess charge current, physical damage, or just internal failure), they can explode violently as in this case.
Don't be complacent folks, these are not toys and should be handled with the utmost care.
Never use a charger that you don't KNOW is rated to handle the battery and vise-versa.
If you must leave a battery to charge unattended (i.e. overnight), use a charge-safe bag...it could save your ...

Really, these things can produce short-term currents in the hundreds of amps and the heat that goes along with it produces exceedingly rapid gas pressures...no joke. This is especially true of the unprotected batts (most eGo batts are unprotected).

Don't want to scare you...ok, I do...be safe folks. It's better to look the fool by be overly cautious than to be the fool looking at the burned rubble. My

 

[Strigoi]

Really? Are e-cig batteries somehow less safe than the Li-Ion batteries in my laptop, tablet, cellphone, cordless phone, ipod, TV remote, cordless drill, and camera?

Heck, I've easily had over twenty Li-Ion batteries charging unattended for years in my home before I'd even heard of e-cigarettes. Has my house been a ticking time bomb all this time?

You're kind of missing my point. People like to leave batteries charging overnight and possibly in different rooms. They'll also use the incorrect charger (as is the case here) and that can cause issues. If something goes haywire with your cheap Chinese charger you could have a very serious issue. The chances of this happening are somewhat slim, but they're still very real. I've read enough posts on here over the years about people having batteries do some weird .... while charging.

Here's an example of what can happen when an 18650 blows up while in a device (flashlight for this example).

Ultrafire 18650 3000mA exploded

edit: He was running stacked 18650s and not following proper procedure for that. It still shows what can happen when they let go.

 

[DizGrizz]

Oh, man...can't believe I got so carried away to not thank jmalone for his cautionary tale and to tell him I'm so glad nothing more serious happened. Glad you came out the wiser and "richer" man, bro.

 

[mostlyharmless]

If you have a multi-meter, you should occasionally check the voltage your batteries are putting out right out of the charger. Most should be around 4.2V. If they consistently test higher, your charger is overcharging the batteries and it may be time to replace it or the battery.

 

[DizGrizz]

Holy ...! That's massive! Glad they guy just got a little banged up and not "taken out".
For real, gang, don't be screwin' around thinking these are just big "AA" batts that you can abuse.

 

[bryanc]

Right. I agree. But let's not fearmonger, let's educate.

 

[Strigoi]

Right. I agree. But let's not fearmonger, let's educate.

It's not fear mongering. People generally have no idea what can happen when one of these batteries decides to let go. It might be a little poof or flames and .... flying everywhere.

My biggest point is people using the wrong charger for their battery or fully trusting their cheap, mass produced Chinese chargers.

 

[kiwivap]

I'm glad you weren't hurt jmalone.

I took some pics of a lipo safe bag. This is with a trustfire charger, but you could use a lipo bag for an ego pv:



Click on the pics for a bigger view. They start off with the charger, then I have it in a metal pan. I usually put the bag in the pan, but got a better photo of it out of the pan.
The last pic shows the LED lights on the charger. Some people say they don't like not being able to see the charger LED lights, because its best to remove a battery once charged. With this one I can see the LED through the bag. With smaller pv batteries this is different of course, but they can still be put in the bag, and a charging bag is a good asset to have.

Also, as you know now, use the charger that is for the battery.

Just very glad that you weren't hurt by the battery explosion. Thanks for joining and posting.