Battery Charging Safety Guidelines

achieve

I thought I would post this information about battery safety. I think this applies to both newbies and experienced users alike. I know that I myself can be very complacent about all types of chargers and batteries, but it should be borne in mind that they can be dangerous if not used properly.

The reason for this post, is that I was talking to a fellow vaper the other day who "unwittingly" tried to charge an Ego battery with a different suppliers charger. The USB charger he was using, which was connected to a USB port on his computer had an output of 5 Volts. As far as I know Ego batteries should not have any more than 4.2 Volt output to battery.

The result was the Ego battery went on fire, but luckily no further damage to property or person was entailed. To moderators here, I do not mind if this post is edited, and I also think it could be worth making a sticky.

BATTERY CHARGING SAFETY GUIDELINES

1. Never leave a charging battery unattended or on charge while sleeping.

2. ALWAYS AND ONLY use the charger made specifically for the battery. Just because a charger has 510 threads does not mean it is compatible with your battery.

3. Charge on non-flamable surface only.

4. Do not overcharge. Remove battery from charger as soon as light turns green.

5. If battery becomes hot remove from charger immediately.

6. DO NOT use USB port on computer to charge. (Voltage can vary in Computer USB ports and this could have a damaging effect both on your battery and your computer!)

7. Clean any e-liquid off battery terminal prior to charge.

8. Always unplug chargers when not in use.

9. Never charge or use damaged batteries.

Gryzor

Feck, I'm forever sticking batteries on charge overnight, not just ecig ones... :eek:

newmark

achieve wrote: »

I thought I would post this information about battery safety. I think this applies to both newbies and experienced users alike. I know that I myself can be very complacent about all types of chargers and batteries, but it should be borne in mind that they can be dangerous if not used properly.

The reason for this post, is that I was talking to a fellow vaper the other day who "unwittingly" tried to charge an Ego battery with a different suppliers charger. The USB charger he was using, which was connected to a USB port on his computer had an output of 5 Volts. As far as I know Ego batteries should not have any more than 4.2 Volt output to battery.

The result was the Ego battery went on fire, but luckily no further damage to property or person was entailed. To moderators here, I do not mind if this post is edited, and I also think it could be worth making a sticky.

BATTERY CHARGING SAFETY GUIDELINES

1. Never leave a charging battery unattended or on charge while sleeping.

2. ALWAYS AND ONLY use the charger made specifically for the battery. Just because a charger has 510 threads does not mean it is compatible with your battery.

3. Charge on non-flamable surface only.

4. Do not overcharge. Remove battery from charger as soon as light turns green.

5. If battery becomes hot remove from charger immediately.

6. DO NOT use USB port on computer to charge. (Voltage can vary in Computer USB ports and this could have a damaging effect both on your battery and your computer!)

7. Clean any e-liquid off battery terminal prior to charge.

8. Always unplug chargers when not in use.

9. Never charge or use damaged batteries.

Great post and advice there achieve, maybe add always use the correct/recommended battery for devices, for example where its recommended to use protected batteries use protected and also if using a double stacked battery device like the Smok Vmax for example charge batteries in pairs so that both batteries run down and charge at similar ratings.

Stefan_Cork

great post,
only little nibble is point 6. USB ports does have same voltage (~ 5v), but the current can vary (A) especially on desktop pc's

achieve

Stefan_Cork wrote: »

great post,
only little nibble is point 6. USB ports does have same voltage (~ 5v), but the current can vary (A) especially on desktop pc's

I debated about putting in that point. Rather than an actual "health & safety" issue, I know I would be very upset, if some battery charging issue caused my computer to die!

Kurz

achieve wrote: »

BATTERY CHARGING SAFETY GUIDELINES

1. Never leave a charging battery unattended or on charge while sleeping.

4. Do not overcharge. Remove battery from charger as soon as light turns green.

You're having a laugh.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

a lot of chargers have protection circuitry (batteries too sometimes) so that you can leave them plugged in even overnight but it's the 'what if' factor.

if a li-ion battery goes wrong, it ****ing goes wrong. it's far safer to just unplug it at night and not have it charging while youi're away.

the likes of a mobile phone or laptop isn't as dangerous as they have layers upon layers of very well tested circuitry inside (althouguh even they sometimes go wrong, like that story of the dude a couple of years back who got 3rd degree burns on his nuts from his laptop), ecigs are so new and generally inexpensive that while they do have protection circuitry inside them most of the time.. you can't rely on them to the same extent you would a dell laptop or a samsung phone.

achieve

Kurz wrote: »

You're having a laugh.

I'm very serious in fact. I have not had a problem myself with ecig chargers and batteries, but it's not worth the risk, and these are simple precautions. But even as SDCC says about better circuitry in modern laptops etc, even these have had some catastrophic failures.

Mike Litoris

I also leave them overnight. I had that overheating thing on a few occasions which I think was down to the contacts on both the charger and battery being dirty/damp as cleaning/drying solved the problem.

I know someone who's charger and battery blew up.

mrplop

I don't leave my batteries charging overnight and with two little kids would feel unsafe doing that anyway.
However as far as the PC charging is concerned I don't think the advice is valid (at least for me) I charged Ego batteries using this method on a few different PC's and never had issues with performance - this was over the space of many months too.

If I ever use Ego batteries again I will definitely use a PC to charge.

If you go to the ECF and read the advice they give about stacking, vents, etc you'd never go near a PV again.

achieve

One of the reasons I advised not using PC to charge battery, is that the person I know of whose battery went on fire when charging, had it charging on his PC. He was very lucky that no damage was done to it. In fairness he was using the wrong charger for the battery!

Xantia

Probably does not happen nowadays but when I had a trog screwdriver it would go active in my pocket.
One time the battery insulation melted off and I was left with a roasting hot silver battery.

Samba

Have one battery that I thankfully spotted going faulty before it was too late, I thought it looked a bit bigger than normal, when I went to check it out I nearly burnt my fingers.

I dread to think what would have happened had I fallen asleep with that charging over night.

As a rule now, I always try and charge my batteries when I know I'll be around for as long as they need to charge.

Still happens on occasion that I forget.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

looked bigger than normal?

was it venting gas inside the chamber or something?

newmark

Samba wrote: »

Have one battery that I thankfully spotted going faulty before it was too late, I thought it looked a bit bigger than normal, when I went to check it out I nearly burnt my fingers.

I dread to think what would have happened had I fallen asleep with that charging over night.

As a rule now, I always try and charge my batteries when I know I'll be around for as long as they need to charge.

Still happens on occasion that I forget.

What type and make battery was it?

Samba

Was one of the standard ego batteries I got with a starter kit, the other one I got is still going strong one year on.

Bulging was mainly at the top end and when i unplugged it and checked the contact, it looked like there was some serious pressure pushing the contact further out than it normally should, it got my attention because it was sat charging on top of something and fell of it's own accord, now that I remember.

I'd say I probably damaged it or the protection circuit failed, I didn't give enough care to the batteries as you should, lost count of the number of times I dropped them and generally mistreated them when I first got my kit.


.

newmark

Samba wrote: »

Was one of the standard ego batteries I got with a starter kit, the other one I got is still going strong one year on.

Bulging was mainly at the top end and when i unplugged it and checked the contact, it looked like there was some serious pressure pushing the contact further out than it normally should, it got my attention because it was sat charging on top of something and fell of it's own accord, now that I remember.

I'd say I probably damaged it or the protection circuit failed, I didn't give enough care to the batteries as you should, lost count of the number of times I dropped them and generally mistreated them when I first got my kit.


.

Id say we all mistreated our batteries at some stage, I used to be the same when I was ignorant to the dangers but am much more careful now. It goes to show anyway that all batteries require respect.:)