What will make a battery fail/blow up/ruin your day?

[DarthV4P0R]

I have been researching mech mods now for awhile and seem to be able to find plenty of information on types of batteries, charging, coils, i know ohms law, but i can't seem to find a "formula" for what will overtax a battery to failure

I've read this post http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...9007-warning-rechargeable-batteries-apvs.html

And understand what KIND of batteries are 'safer' but I can't seem to be able to find exactly what circumstances will cause a battery to fail.

for example--

if i use this battery -- Efest IMR 18350 800mAh

in this Mod -- King Mod Brass - Devices

what kind of tank/RBA can i use? -- what would cause it to fail? Can i use 510 lr boge cartos? If i wrap a nimbus dual coil carto will it blow up in my face?

I have heard you must be careful not to over use the batteries - but im not sure what that even means... If i use it until the battery is out of charge is that a danger?

please help!

 

[Zipp]

Overcharging and overdischarging are the main culprits. Basically, anything that makes it get hot. As for not overdoing it, that just means not draining them below their minimum voltage. Lithium batteries can't be fully drained, as it damages them. Most battery holders have circuits built in to turn the device off when the battery gets low, but mechanical battery holders don't have any sort of protection. It's entirely up to you to monitor the state of your battery and the rate at which it's being discharged.

 

[lolwatpear]

you can buy things as a failsafe in case the battery has issues. I'm still researching it myself.

 

[Thrasher]

a hard short is the most common culprit of battery failure, usually caused by a bad or shorted coil or some other debris in the atomizer or button connection (you drop your mech and button is stuck on).

the lower the resistance. the higher the pull on the battery in some cases like with subohm vaping you reach or pass the amp limit of the battery.

the best formula to figure out a safe zone is use ohms law to find what kind of amperage the coil you will build will put out and then get a battery that easily passes that (a imr AW is rated at 8 to 10 amps depending on size for example.)
http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms_law_calculator.php
a ____ ohm coil and a battery at 4.2v will be X amps etc.

second on the list is cheap crappy batteries.

if not trying to go into subohm vaping a good well known protected battery will do the trick. good ones are capable of around 4-6 amps,(again brand/size will determine some are higher, some are lower)

if not using a protected battery something like a vapesafe fuse is pretty much mandatory for safety.

in most cases the battery doesnt explode - if assembled correctly it will vent gas, and the wrapper on the battery is supposed to be built in a way that allows this. it will however become extremely hot and start to melt.

the explosions usually occur when the gas has nowhere to go - this is why mods and tubes need to be properly vented (little holes).
when a battery vents inside a steel tube and the holes are blocked you are creating a pipebomb.

personally i only use
panasonic
AW
MNKE

too many reports of just crappy performance with other brands for me to want to play with them.

the vapor on the mech will slowly die off as the battery gets weaker. I usually wrap right around 1.2 ohm coils for my mech and they work great for most of the battery life.

the other thing to watch is dont over discharge your batteries, there is nothing on a mech to say "hey the battery is at 3v recharge please"

 

[jclifford]

overcharging, due to a faulty charger will do it. chargers are designed to shut off on completion of the charge. my stock charger will my vamo decided it wanted to continue charging. Destroyed the original battery.

Over discharging is difficult to do, I have found the coil no longer wants to heat up. Once you get used to the mechanical you will know (by the quantity of vape) when it is time to re-charge.

LI ION's are inherently stable, I believe nothing is impossible, but it is quite difficult to make it explode. watch the you tube video I found.
I don't think you can try much harder than this:

Two batteries Li-ion 18650 and hammer -simulation of crushing and hitting. Explode test (lithium) - YouTube

 

[Baditude]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-information/190146-pictures-serious-battery-failure-imr-18650-a.html#post3265928
_____________________________________



The picture of the above Trustfire protected 14500 battery was mine that vented in an AltSmoke BB mechanical mod because the protruding fire button got continually compressed when in a pants pocket. (I thankfully was not wearing the pants at the time.) The resulting over-discharge of the battery caused a hard short and caused the battery to go into thermal runaway.

The mod was found too hot to touch, with both ends of the battery blown out to vent the hot gasses, and the battery itself was partially melted. The pants pocket was scorched. The mod did what it was designed to do, it vented the hot gas through the fire switch, but it required repair by the manufacturer.

In such a mod with no turn-off feature, one should either remove the battery or top atomizer device when not in use.
____________________________________

Despite the occurance that happened in the first link that I posted above, I personally feel that the safer chemistry, high drain, IMR batteries are safer to use in APVs than the protected variety. Li Ion batteries are by nature more volatile and I don't trust the tiny protective circuits built into the battery. IMRs use a less volatile chemistry and are less likely to turn into a fire cracker.

I also believe that larger batteries (18490, 18650) are safer for high performance situations than the smaller batteries (14500, 18350) - their higher amperage provide more room for error.

A 2 Cent mod fuse or Vape Safe Mod fuse provides an additional layer of safety, especially in a mechanical APV that has no built-in processor safety features that the regulated mods utilize.
_____________________________________

I only recommend Aw, Panasonic, and MNKE batteries, like Thrasher suggested. Safety should be your first priority when choosing a battery, not the mAh ratings, which are often misleading in real life situations anyway. A high end battery charger will pay off in the long run - Pila, Nitecore, and Xtar - with more safety features and more advanced charging algorhythms.
_____________________________________

Here are some useful resource links concerning battery and mod safety:

Mechanical Mod Proper Usage Guide

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/announcements-news/271739-emss-ecf-metal-tubemods-safety-specification.html

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/battery-issues/254690-protected-batteries-vs-imr-safety-5.html

Batteries : Vape Safe Mod Fuse 2

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/baditude/4454-7-advice-tips-vapors-looking-try-their-first-rba.html
______________________________________

http://rtdvapor.com/ is an excellent source for genuine brand-name batteries and chargers.

 

[Thrasher]

overcharging, due to a faulty charger will do it. chargers are designed to shut off on completion of the charge. my stock charger will my vamo decided it wanted to continue charging. Destroyed the original battery.

Over discharging is difficult to do, I have found the coil no longer wants to heat up. Once you get used to the mechanical you will know (by the quantity of vape) when it is time to re-charge.

LI ION's are inherently stable, I believe nothing is impossible, but it is quite difficult to make it explode. watch the you tube video I found.
I don't think you can try much harder than this:

Two batteries Li-ion 18650 and hammer -simulation of crushing and hitting. Explode test (lithium) - YouTube

+1

a good charger is worth every penny. even without safety issues a proper charge will keep your batteires in top condition and extend their life as far as it will go.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

Overcharging is the primary means of making a battery go into armageddon mode. Submarine drivers learned this the hard way.

Extreme cold severely limits battery life, and it's very cold in very deep water. The bubbleheads tried to compensate for this by trying to add a little more voltage with their Diesel engines while surfaced. The results were tragic.

There was a thread here (last week or so?) about two people who were charging their e-cig batteries using car charger adapters. One was left unattended in a hot car and went thermal. Another incident involved a woman charging while her husband was driving. There was another thread a year or so ago about a guy who dang near blew his fool head off using a DIY mod. He lost part of his jaw and a bunch of teeth.

I would buy the best charger I could afford and stick to Panasonic or IMR batteries of known quality and manufacture, and even then I wouldn't trust them out of my eyesight. These things can be very dangerous if people get careless.

 

[Vash]

You should also check this out http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...271-micro-coils-increase-vapor-flavor-th.html This is a great way to get awesome vapor production without needing to go to sub ohm coils increasing your chance of something bad happening.

 

[r77r7r]

Other things you can do for safety:

-put your charger in a metal container.

-use a lamp-timer on the charger.

-Definitely get a Battery Case. ( putting in pocket or purse with keys or change - not good).

 

[DarthV4P0R]

so let me get this straight. I have a mod with a 2.0ohm carto/tank and an 18350 battery fully charged inside

I check with a multimeter to see that the voltage is at the proper level, lets say 3.6v

I vape for a few hours, lets say 3.

Then check the batt on the multimeter and see its at 2.4v

time to recharge?