Venting Battery - suggestions...

[beedee]

Was coiling a Goblin Clone from Fastech. Done this a couple of times before, no problems. Checked the coil on an OHM meter - 0.7 -  was fine.

I burn tested on a Smowell DPV 50 6-50W, (first time I've used the Smowell for this).  Did this a few times, smoothed it out a little to get rid of some unevenness in heating up, no problems so far.  

Gave it one last test burn and suddenly got a burnt battery smell,  smoke coming out of the bottom battery vent and the body of the mod heating up.

I put it down and bravely ran away... bit nervous around all this electricity lark anyway and it scared the hell out of me! 

Once it had cooled down I had a close look at the atty, seemed to be no problems.  Got the battery out of the Smowell, got a strong whiff of that acidic/ozone smell of electricity (it reminds me of the train set I had when I was a kid), but the battery looked fine, and the inside of the Smowell was pristine (i.e. no signs of blackening anywhere). Put the battery on a Nitecore charger, reading half full,  when it was recharged to full just before I used it, but it's cool while charging (been on for half an hour now and is nearly full...)  

The battery is, as far as I know, a well regarded one - an Authentic Sony US18650VTC5 3.6V 2600mAh Rechargeable Li-Ion, also from Fastech - 180 good reviews.

Nervously retested the coil on my Athena -   fine.  Wicked it and vaping nicely, so no problem there.

One thing is that I did have a 'beauty ring' that came from a Subtank clone on the atty while I was doing all this (see piccie below), realise this is probably not a good idea anyway (distorts the OHM reading) and won't forget to take it off again.

Maybe this is what caused the problem?

Now am wondering what to do next, a bit nervous about using Smowell, or the battery, again. Any suggestions?

Cheers!

[vapee]

The only thing those beauty rings or the 510 heatsink adaptors can do is sometimes cause the connection not to be as good if the connections are not tight and can cause the ohms to jump or some voltage drop. The smowell should protect the battery though from any shorts and it sounds like that battery should be fine too with the wattage limit of the device. Unless the battery is not a genuine one maybe the continuous amp limit is much lower. If there was any venting it would usually be from the top vent area, would be strange for this to happen without the battery getting hot though. I'd probably not risk using the battery again if that happened though.

edit: just noticed you did say the body of the mod did get hot, I'd think there could be some major issue with the internal of the battery then. Also just noticed you said it was from fasttech, that generally means its a genuine battery hmm, who knows then whats goin on!

[Greg]

The smoke can only occur ifeed there's a fault somewhere. It could be the smowell, short on the board or wiring perhaps. Personally I'd try another battery in the mod and see if any issues arise, not familiar with that mod but can the battery be whipped out quickly if smoke appears. If smoke does appear with a different battery then the mod is likely the issue, is I possible juice has leaked through the 510 and onto the board at any point.

If you do try with a different battery try it without an atty first then if ok with an atty you know has a good coil.

The above is what I would do but if your not happy with what I suggest then please don't try it. Better safe than sorry

[blakey]

I would have serious doubts of the authenticity of an FT vtc5 but that's just me

That battery need to be gotten rid of, I certainly wouldn't trust it after that

[Deleted]

hmmmm......I suspect the mod itself as this is exactly what happened to my daughter with a Smowell DPV 50 6-50W

Got so hot I had to throw it into the garden as you can't just whip the battery out (allen screws)

Destroyed the mod and the battery.........by the time it had cooled down enough to investigate........there was a bit that fell out of the smowell when opened......some module thingy.

[beedee]

Oct 4, 2015 16:03:25 GMT Greg said:

The smoke can only occur ifeed there's a fault somewhere. It could be the smowell, short on the board or wiring perhaps. Personally I'd try another battery in the mod and see if any issues arise, not familiar with that mod but can the battery be whipped out quickly if smoke appears. If smoke does appear with a different battery then the mod is likely the issue, is I possible juice has leaked through the 510 and onto the board at any point.

If you do try with a different battery try it without an atty first then if ok with an atty you know has a good coil.

The above is what I would do but if your not happy with what I suggest then please don't try it. Better safe than sorry

Hi Greg. Don't think this is a possibility, this is why I was using the ring, to make sure there were no leaks into the mod (the Goblin can leak just a little out of the base air hole - but nothing like as bad as my Orchid..!)

[phtumshk]

Most likely some thing loose in the mod shorting rather than the battery imo.
Needs investigating for sure.

[VapingBad]

I would bin the mod unless you have a VapeSafe fuse or similar and the battery has already had it so that need binning recycling. The VTC4 and Samsung 25Rs I have had from FT are fine, but it is always possible that got taken and bought a batch of fakes, but not heard of it so far.

ETA I said bin the mod because regardless of the cause the mod should have never drawn more current that a real VTC can handle.

[tim]

I have 2 Smowell DPV-50's and they both died after 3 or 4 months. They are absolute pants. USB port fell out of one after 6 weeks, but still worked fine (pita changing batteries though). Wattage mode stopped working on the other one after 10 weeks, followed by the other four weeks later. I'd say it was the mod. Very shoddy electronics. A shame, as I like the design.

As VapingBad said, ditch the mod. And the battery, as it's been over-stressed.

[enjay]

And people wonder why I stick with mech mods

[beedee]

Oct 5, 2015 2:07:33 GMT enjay said:

And people wonder why I stick with mech mods

I've always been put off mechs because I thought they presented greater risk of venting, and that you have to do a lot of faffing to ensure they don't fully drain the battery - have I got the wrong end of the stick? (Hope so, give me even more things to buy!). 

Mind you, nothing more dangerous than a mod that is supposed to be regulated but actually isn't! 

[beedee]

Oct 4, 2015 20:36:59 GMT tim said:

I have 2 Smowell DPV-50's and they both died after 3 or 4 months. They are absolute pants. USB port fell out of one after 6 weeks, but still worked fine (pita changing batteries though). Wattage mode stopped working on the other one after 10 weeks, followed by the other four weeks later. I'd say it was the mod. Very shoddy electronics. A shame, as I like the design.

As VapingBad said, ditch the mod. And the battery, as it's been over-stressed.

Interestingly the battery still has that acid smell about it, will not be using it again (shame, great battery and not inexpensive!). Have also contacted Gearbest and asked for a return on the Smowell (I'm not holding my breath for this...)

[tim]

Oct 5, 2015 20:08:35 GMT beedee said:

Oct 4, 2015 20:36:59 GMT tim said:

I have 2 Smowell DPV-50's and they both died after 3 or 4 months. They are absolute pants. USB port fell out of one after 6 weeks, but still worked fine (pita changing batteries though). Wattage mode stopped working on the other one after 10 weeks, followed by the other four weeks later. I'd say it was the mod. Very shoddy electronics. A shame, as I like the design.

As VapingBad said, ditch the mod. And the battery, as it's been over-stressed.

Interestingly the battery still has that acid smell about it, will not be using it again (shame, great battery and not inexpensive!). Have also contacted Gearbest and asked for a return on the Smowell (I'm not holding my breath for this...)

Wise move.

Good luck with the GB return

[beedee]

Oct 5, 2015 21:10:31 GMT tim said:

Oct 5, 2015 20:08:35 GMT beedee said:

Interestingly the battery still has that acid smell about it, will not be using it again (shame, great battery and not inexpensive!). Have also contacted Gearbest and asked for a return on the Smowell (I'm not holding my breath for this...)

Wise move.

Good luck with the GB return

They have allready started with the send photographs / find numbers on outer packaging / what have you done to repair it gambits... 

[enjay]

Oct 5, 2015 20:02:56 GMT beedee said:

Oct 5, 2015 2:07:33 GMT enjay said:

And people wonder why I stick with mech mods

I've always been put off mechs because I thought they presented greater risk of venting, and that you have to do a lot of faffing to ensure they don't fully drain the battery - have I got the wrong end of the stick? (Hope so, give me even more things to buy!). 

Mind you, nothing more dangerous than a mod that is supposed to be regulated but actually isn't! 

I only use certain batteries, sony vtc (not so much now) and samsung 25R's, when they vent they tend to just fizz rather than go bang. Never had a problem though all the way down to 0.06 ohms.

I think really you just have to use a bit of sense like if the mod gets warm after a clouding session I'll set it down to give the battery a rest.

If my vape isn't as good as it was I'll swap the battery out. Using the likes of a say 0.6/7 ohm coil though with a tank the thing will last all day safely without damage to the battery.

Here's my latest mod and atty just to help encourage you



All set for a party with it's bow tie



And onto the main course