When Is A Battery Ready For The Recycle Bin

[Sirius]

Hey guys. I'm just wondering if I am wasting batteries. I have discarded Sonys, Efest, and AWs after switch malfunctions.
If it gets hot, it gets tagged for the recycle bin. I have a couple of batteries I'm about to discard because I have used those for about 5 months. Is that way to long to even use a battery?
What batteries do you prefer?

I rarely sub ohm and build around 1.0 ohm coils. Some a bit lower.
Sorry for the noobish questions but with battery safety one of the biggies, just thought I would ask.

 

[Xaiver]

I don't have any experience with batteries getting hot, so I can't comment on that.

Longevity maybe I can help with though. My father in-law has some eGo batteries that he got when he started vaping (And he still uses them) and they still work fantastically. That was 3 years ago. I typically rotate out the set that I'm using after about 6 months, but I'm sure that it's not necessary. Once you get a set habit going, you'll notice that the batteries will stop lasting as long as they used to, and that's about the time that you want to retire them. Their capacity will start dropping and you'll have to charge them more and more.

 

[steved5600]

I only discard batteries if they leak/vent or wont' hold or take a charge. You should be able to get 100s of charges off a battery. Getting hot in a Mech says you may be exceeding it's ability. I have been vaping for two years and have had one battery die from a shorted Voltage tester and two others that were crappy batteries.

 

[williebb123]

pushing the limits will shorten a battery life i always label mine 1,2,3,4,5,6 and i use the odd #'s and my girlfriend uses the even #'s and if one seems to discharge rather quickly i keep a mental note and see if it does the same when used again , when it seems like only 2-3hr run compared to 6-7hr run i will replace it , my aw imr 1600mah lasted me 2yrs if that helps any

 

[Rickajho]

Stressing a battery is never a good thing, especially if you typically like to draw high amps from it. Shorting, exceeding amp limits, charging above 4.2 volts or running it down below 2.5 volts all contribute to the structure of the battery breaking down. Push it far enough and that's when you have thermal runaway & venting, often when attempting to charge a stressed battery.

Erring toward the side of caution is never a bad thing here and no one can answer for how you treat your batteries except you. A dead short with an instantaneously collapsed spring is one thing. A dead short with a magnet switch from hell, a burning hot mod, and a 90 second frantic search for the oven mitts and pliers before you can get the thing apart is something else. The former wouldn't cause me concern, the latter would head for recycling.

The problem with placing stress on a battery is there is nothing to be seen. The breakdown is happening internally, in layers, on a chemical level. When you aren't sure it's better to toss 'em and be safe. Don't know about you, but here a pack of cigarettes now costs more than most 18650 batteries. Everything in perspective, ya know?

 

[rolygate]

Just as an aside, if whatever you are doing is causing a battery to heat up, then you are going past the point of safe use for that battery size.

It's easy enough to fix it because size is everything in a battery. If your penlight size cell is getting warm then you need to go to an 18650, and it'll take that load OK. If your 18650 is getting warm then whatever you are doing needs a 26650. You can't start a truck with a penlight battery and you can't safely pull hundreds of watts out of an 18650. You get what we call a 'VapeBlast' if you try that (sorry, in-joke).