Doesn't sound right

[beetle]

Now, feel free to call me a numbskull but the advice given to a friend of mine doesn't sound right, to me.
She had been dithering about trying vaping instead of the cigs and, probably unwisely, stopped on the spur of the moment, at a certain b&m ecig store to buy some gear and start vaping. Well, £100 lighter and armed with a VTR, 1x 18650 battery, 1 x single bay usb charger and 30ml of 1% nic juice, off she went. Read into the price what you will, vendors can charge what they want and if someone is willing to pay then so be it.

My main concern is not that, but it's that she was told to buy a specific charger and told to only charge the battery from a laptop. To enforce this, she was also shown photographs of burned out wall chargers/adapters and told that this could likely happen if she used anything else besides the laptop. I only found out because she called me asking how long the battery would take to charge, as hers had been charging for ages but charger wouldn't turn green.
Possible crap charger aside, I was under the impression and also from what I've read, that charging from a PC and, especially a lappy, was a no-no. Best is to have a high enough output usb wall socket adapter with the correct, regulated cable for the device/battery, no?

Do you think this is uninformed, erroneous advice to give or is it erring on the side of caution, thinking that perhaps, if something did go wrong, the lappy would fizzle out rather than the battery explode or burn?
As I said, please correct me if I'm wrong but it just sounded rather bizarre information to give a new vaper.

gee

[OneDay]

I suspect it's an over-reaction to the recent news story about the fatality in Liverpool that arose from using the wrong charger whilst using an oxygen tank (!). I've always used a wall charger (Xtar) and never had a single problem.

[davetherayon]

Over-reaction probably. But having said that, I'm ultra-careful with electronics. My mains charger is a Xtar XT2 (if I just read the label right lol, damn you failing eyesight) and my batteries on that are taken off when I have to go out. Even at night I unscrew the attys from the top of the the two Hana clones I have, rather have em in one piece and not have an impending DOOM of melting clones on my hands. Colour me cautious

[chykensa]

To be perfectly frank with you I would seriously call into question the logic of persuading a new vaper to go for something as large and cumbersome as a VTR, and then supply it with only one battery!! To add insult to injury 1% nic juice isn't going to make any inroads to a nicotine addiction!
Please name and shame this vendor before other forum members and lurkers (hi, guys, come on in and join the fun!) get stung as badly as this. THis is abhorrent salesmanship designed only to make a quick buck with no thought to the viability of the gear or the strength of the juice.
Of course there is nothing at all wrong with a VTR, although not for me thanks, but surely a couple of Spinners, couple of PT3s and some 18% juice would have been much more useful and effective; I would love to say cheaper too, but I have my doubts.
There are times when I really wish I could run a vape shop and sell good quality gear to new vapers and really help them get off the fags, rather than line my own pockets.
Grrr, rant over!!

[dreamylittledream]

Charge an 18650 via USB from a laptop?

You are looking 12-14 hours at best there - probably more given how long it used to charge my egos lol

18 series batteries are designed to be charged from a charger - what pray does that shop think a laptop battery runs off?

Tell her to get a decent charger and ignore pretty much everything the shop said - these are the same people that charged her about 40% more than that kit is actually worth remember when it comes to reliability of advice

[igual]

If you use a decent charger like nitecore, xtar, luc that has intelligent charging etc and never leave charging batteries unattended then all should be good.
Use el cheapie crud from China that is sold with some kits , then you get what you pay for.
Using incorrect chargers no matter the device is a big no no . a mobile phone / laptop battery in wrong charger type can be bloody dangerous.
Little ego style chargers that are designed to plug into PC USB port CIG alike types fair enough but I would not be happy using my USB to charge any li on battery like the 18650 for a start it would take an age and put a lot if strain on the circuitry.
Point her in direction of a good charger like this myepack.co.uk/batteries/efest-luc-v2.html
1% nic she may as well vape water forall the good that will do ffor her cravings.
The vtr us a great device but he stung her big time. Crap advice, crap service , crap liquid.
Name and shame this vendor.
I will happily send a couple bottles of 18 mg juice if your friend would like.
Have a look at the approved vendors section on here, at least you'll get good service and good items.

 

[giles]

Did they really sell her 1% juice? That's criminal! If that's what she's got, she should take it back and shout at them. You could be a good guy and give her a few ml of something useable until she gets her own.

I'd guess the charger may be an Xtar - the MC1 is a usb device, nothing wrong with it except it will take maybe 7 hours to charge a 3100 mah 18650. That's with a proper USB connection - which her laptop probably has, but many laptops also have USB ports which charge very slowly. Best to use the wall plug that came with her kindle or iphone or whatever.

I'd think that no 18650 should be left charging unattended unless it is in a charging bag or something like a metal saucepan with the lid on.

[VapingBad]

beetle your friend would be better off and safer with a decent charger Nitecore or Xtar (personally I would not allow a LUC in the house), safer as it would charge quicker and your friend will be less tempted to charge it unattended, a second battery (+insulated battery box to carry & store it in) would also help in this regard. I wonder which 18650 battery they sold your friend as this is just as important with regard to safety and from this you can find out if it is suitable for the VTR or for fast charging. I download the VTR manual and to Innokin's shame they don't state the max input current so best to stick to 550 mA (USB standard) and a good quality supply of this rating should be fine if a computer is not convenient.

I think that people are confusing nic % with mg/ml, 1 % = 10 mg/ml which is still very low to start with.

It does sound the vendor is poor and more concerned with profit than customer's needs, chykensa covers this well.

Good luck to your friend, show them this post so they can see for their self the level of free peer support read and waiting.

[decoy]

its prob tw and they rate there juice nic strange so its prob 10mg

[Deleted]

This thread is just a really sad thread and made me cry

[Perpetua]

Aug 19, 2014 0:41:41 GMT decoy said:

its prob tw and they rate there juice nic strange so its prob 10mg

It may be a little higher going by their chart:






Though it's pretty unforgivable to be selling a complete newbie, kit that most of us consider to be ' advanced '.


I'd be advising your friend to take it back for a full refund and buy something far more suitable for her current needs beetle and that she's likely to have more success with starting out.

[Deleted]

Ditto what Perpetua said

[Deleted]

This sort of thing makes my blood boil. The OP's friend has entered a B&M store in good faith and has, in my opinion, been fed a large helping of bullshit. The problem here is how can this practice be stopped. I'm not a big fan of naming and shaming, but on this occasion, I think it is warranted if only to make others aware and to try and prevent other innocent members of the public being ripped off. From what has been purchased, I personally would only use the VTR, don't have one I prefer the MVP as it suits my lifestyle better, but by all accounts its a top notch device. The charger ??. The battery, well it could be ok, on the other hand it could be a cheap Chinese firecracker. Outlets like these are only pickpockets that allow the customer to use their own hands.

[giles]

Aug 19, 2014 0:35:39 GMT VapingBad said:

I think that people are confusing nic % with mg/ml, 1 % = 10 mg/ml 

Yes, my bad, sorry, too late at night.

[Brambles]

"Best to use the wall plug that came with her kindle or iphone or whatever."

I agree with most which has been said in posts, but need to pick up on this above mentioned by a poster.
NO no no no, this is so wrong. This is why there are battery charging fires. You must use the adapter supplied with the charger or charge lead.

If the charge lead is universal USB then the charger must be of the correct USB spec output. Adapters for kindles, ipads .iphones etc may be of a different spec, some indeed even supplying a higher voltage than 5 volts. These are dedicated supplies for particular equipment and should NOT be used as a Universal USB supply.