Ok let's just say you over discharged your battery, overcharged, or fire your mod when there is a short. What actually happens next? Does it start venting immediately and explode? Does it get really hot first so you can maybe stop firing when you realize whats happening? I'm just curious, just in case it ever happens or how to notice it early on so I can deal with it. What should I do in case I notice the mod is getting hot or the battery starts venting? I guess just toss it the hell away from me??
what actually happens when you experience a short or battery failure?
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An over discharged battery usually simply stops firing, I have fired my VTC4's to the point where they don't fire and read 2.7 or 2.5v numerous times and they always charge right back up, seems to me that quality cells can take some pretty good abuse.
During a hard short they get hot very very quickly, and usually a sparking/arcing popping sound accompanies the event. Get the battery away from you, and if possible unscrew the mod or quickly attempt to remove whatever is causing the short. The hotter the battery gets, the more likely it is to vent. If you're using a high quality IMR battery the possibility of a "violent" venting is almost 0% IMO, many reports of vented high quality IMR batteries have resulted in the batteries simply getting very hot and no longer working afterwards, perhaps hot enough to melt the shrink wrapping but with no spewing of gasses or anything crazy going on.
During a hard short they get hot very very quickly, and usually a sparking/arcing popping sound accompanies the event. Get the battery away from you, and if possible unscrew the mod or quickly attempt to remove whatever is causing the short. The hotter the battery gets, the more likely it is to vent. If you're using a high quality IMR battery the possibility of a "violent" venting is almost 0% IMO, many reports of vented high quality IMR batteries have resulted in the batteries simply getting very hot and no longer working afterwards, perhaps hot enough to melt the shrink wrapping but with no spewing of gasses or anything crazy going on.
Over discharging a battery is not unsafe, it will just shorten the battery's life or if you take it really low could kill it outright.
Overcharged also depends on how much, but this is one thing that can get really nasty. If your charger fails to stop charging I think all of our lithium ion batteries will get hot and eventually burn. And even the best charger can fail. This is why I don't leave batteries on charge when I'm not awake and in the house. I also take them off the charger when I see they are charged.
A short is the ultimate example of exceeding the maximum safe amp draw of the battery. The more you exceed that current draw by, the quicker things go south. Your battery and therefore the mod will heat up. If you are using good IMR or hybrid batteries (not counterfeit cells that could be anything and not ICR cells) and you have the mod in hand you should notice that heat-up. This should only happen while you are firing the mod. If your battery goes into thermal runaway it's going to vent and keep making heat for a while and there is nothing you can do to stop it. This does not happen instantaneously, but how long it takes depends on the battery and how close to a full short you've got. There are videos out there of shorted batteries that take 15 - 60 and sometimes more continuous seconds before they vent.
So if you notice your mod heating up, stop, figure it out and fix the problem before continuing. That should stop the process before it becomes a problem.
If a couple of problems happen at the same time I can imagine a scenario where the mod will short while it's just sitting there not being used. OTOH, I might well have more of a chance of winning the lottery than having this happen to my mod.
You can also have a situation where the mod fires continuously without you pressing the button. As long as there is no short, the problem in this situation is heat from the atty. Batteries vent when they get too hot and this can cause it, but with IMR and hybrids it has to be really hot. I'm always aware of the status of my mod's lock ring and where the mod is. If it goes in my pocket it gets locked out. If I can't lock it out, it doesn't go there. If I can't stand the mod on its switch without it firing I don't put a atty on it that I can't lay down sideways. And if I leave a mod with a battery in it unattended, I lock out the switch and unscrew the body so the battery does not make contact in the tubes.
If I suspected my battery has gone into thermal runaway my plan is to grab the closest handy cloth or anything appropriate so I can carry the mod (it's gonna be or get really hot) and get it somewhere it can't do harm if it gets too hot, or the cell burns. I live in a house and my plan 'A' is to walk it out the door and toss it onto the grass. If I couldn't do that, plan 'B' is to take one of my heavier pots with a lid from under the sink in the kitchen, put in in that and walk the whole shebang into the garage. Putting the pot on the stove is IMO the next best scenario.
IMR and hybrid batteries should not explode when they are shorted. My batteries are either AW or Sony VTC series cells bought from known good suppliers and I trust them not to blow up, but they can make a lot of heat if they vent and that can lead to fire. I believe the venting process also makes some nasty chemicals that you don't want to inhale.
Vape safe and vape on
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Great question BTW, I wish more vapers would research questions like this instead of blindly assuming nothing will ever happen.
Ryedans answer is spot on, I melted down a battery when the insulator in an old genni failed. The switch became very warm so I unscrewed it and dropped the battery right away. It was an AW IMR. The jacket had begun to melt and it was very hot but that was the extent of the damage.
Had it been a cheap battery and/or been allowed to remain in the device, the outcome could have been very different. Most people just don't realize or respect the amount of energy stored in our batteries.
My best advice, if your mod or switch starts becoming unusually warm, drop the battery and check your atomizer. If it becomes very hot, chuck it out the door and let it cool down, the check everything. Better safe than sorry.
Ryedans answer is spot on, I melted down a battery when the insulator in an old genni failed. The switch became very warm so I unscrewed it and dropped the battery right away. It was an AW IMR. The jacket had begun to melt and it was very hot but that was the extent of the damage.
Had it been a cheap battery and/or been allowed to remain in the device, the outcome could have been very different. Most people just don't realize or respect the amount of energy stored in our batteries.
My best advice, if your mod or switch starts becoming unusually warm, drop the battery and check your atomizer. If it becomes very hot, chuck it out the door and let it cool down, the check everything. Better safe than sorry.
Although I agree that the majority of today's batteries are much safer (safe chemistry IMR or IMR/hybrid batteries) than the ICR chemistry Li-ion batteries used & recommended just a couple of years ago, IMR batteries can vent rather dramatically. Rare, but can happen.
The below Trustfire "protected" ICR Li-ion battery was at the time (two years ago) the recommended battery to use in a mechanical mod (How times have changed). It went into thermal runaway when the firing button became stuck in the on position in my first mech. Mod quickly became too hot to touch/hold, ruined the mod, almost caused a fire, and scared the crap out of me.
Below are pictures of AW IMR batteries which went into thermal runaway. The first pic is of an AW 18490 IMR which went into thermal runaway after coming into contact with some metal (coins, keys, metal zipper ?) in the pocket of a book bag. Imagine this occuring in a metal tube mod. This was a genuine AW battery (purchased from an authorized AW vendor - Provape). The second pic is of another incidence which was also an AW battery failure from a couple of years ago (unsure of where this AW was purchased from so I can not verify it was a genuine AW).
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html
Battery Basics for Mods: IMR or Protected ICR?
The below Trustfire "protected" ICR Li-ion battery was at the time (two years ago) the recommended battery to use in a mechanical mod (How times have changed). It went into thermal runaway when the firing button became stuck in the on position in my first mech. Mod quickly became too hot to touch/hold, ruined the mod, almost caused a fire, and scared the crap out of me.
Below are pictures of AW IMR batteries which went into thermal runaway. The first pic is of an AW 18490 IMR which went into thermal runaway after coming into contact with some metal (coins, keys, metal zipper ?) in the pocket of a book bag. Imagine this occuring in a metal tube mod. This was a genuine AW battery (purchased from an authorized AW vendor - Provape). The second pic is of another incidence which was also an AW battery failure from a couple of years ago (unsure of where this AW was purchased from so I can not verify it was a genuine AW).
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ecf-library/129569-rechargeable-batteries.html
Battery Basics for Mods: IMR or Protected ICR?
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