Vaper loses an eye from e-cig explosion

Gauss163

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63 year-old Joseph Cavins lost an eye after his e-cigarette exploded. It also started a fire in his house and spewed shrapnel that broke bones in his face. It also includes a more graphic photo of Ty Greer's injuries, which were discussed here before.

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LeanBurn

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:tired: Stories of vapers being injured are nearly a weekly occurrence these days.
 

Dr. Mario

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Ouch... This is why I am glad I run parallel-wired multi-celled and single-celled flashlight...
 

Phlogiston

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You know, I'd read about the horrendous injuries and seen the pictures, but it never occurred to me that a faulty e-cigarette could blind someone. That actually hits home to me more than the burns and corrosive gases do.

Are there any e-cigarette designs that use the cell to charge a large capacitor, which then dumps its charge into the coil, along the lines of the way a camera flash works? Capacitors are often able to handle much higher currents than cells.

You'd need a two-switch design - a latching "on" switch to let the capacitor charge, and a momentary "vape" switch to discharge it through the coil on demand - but it would have the advantage that only one puff's worth of charge would be dumped from the capacitor into something like a coil short, instead of the entire cell being discharged into it.

Capacitors do occasionally undergo catastrophic failures - poor quality electrolytic capacitors in power supplies are notorious for that - but they usually fail open-circuit when that happens, and again, there's a lot less energy in a single capacitor charge.

Would vapers want to inhale puffs of vapour too often for a capacitor charge cycle to keep up?
 

HKJ

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Are there any e-cigarette designs that use the cell to charge a large capacitor, which then dumps its charge into the coil, along the lines of the way a camera flash works?

I doubt that would work, the problem is getting space for a big enough capacitor.

Most of these explosions could probably be avoided if the battery compartment had vent holes and a thermal cut-out.
 

TinderBox (UK)

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Well we need Dyson (can you imaginal it) and other big manufactures making Vaporisers so they are quality tested products and when this go wrong you can sue them, instead of these no name Chinese brands.

Poor Guy loosing and eye but he looks good with the eye patch.

John.
 

bwDraco

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This is the #1 safety issue with vaporizers these days. They overload the battery and cause them to explosively fail. A mechanical vaporizer ("mech mod") can draw so much power—sometimes 30 amps or more!—that even IMR batteries can overheat during sustained operation.

I don't vape and don't plan to start vaping anytime soon, but people are going crazy with such high-power vaporizer coils and exceed battery safety limits as a result, hence the constant reports of vape explosions.

Draco
 

Dr. Mario

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Looks like I have saved my friend a potentially expensive heartache. He have been using vaper for up to three months, until yesterday. He had to see the battery explosion report online (like a Youtube video of a dude having to deal with a pocket rocket in his pocket), and then asked me of my opinion on it. I had to explain to him that battery is essentially an unknown factor if it's not electronically balanced or something like that. He also told me something was off when he took a look at XTAR VC2 Plus charger - looks like he got very lucky (one cell was 28% and another at 38%, so one of the cell is slowly failing - they all both go into the same vaper).

Nevertheless, he also was pretty mad he spent nearly $300, so I told him I would be willing to buy it off him - he said I can do monthly payment next month which we agreed upon (digital vaper also make an excellent variable load PSU which is not its intended usage but who cares), so I got them all. Took a look at LG 3000 mAh cells, and boy, what was the vaper designer thinking (no fault on my buddy)? The battery compartment door pounds on the cell end, so they are now dimpled - I will have to safely discharge them to death then toss them. I don't trust them anymore.
hOYR-CX_hh8ijGVMU9iXh9MeY6G-f1bPWGzPZuHuon0v0jvEhzK-qKUDtm5tHlUw7HdKiVsj6zbQwcd_CpTQ14DziYSTtyPKSdAdSC0z4g02qPpVqdxlw3QMcPJuigdLq6XQU_X1nqkuuKc0zFI_FaXxLNaSKrH0HTenQqOGmbnMTwmU_6etC9SrDgJBtldsAU07wsxiG2nVSKHFgZSTp4Efb5fx9j6KjNsL20ma-u56LuL4fVbbFKi_YGksc8XX37JtzNbRab4EvHl3MBwPoaFNXafHDK0ijdCNvX7bXT9BwEjNPzU9gMxaxb-ThIeodNx6QYIHsQmzouGbu4pyy50XVvirMMTWnPxIcqEyuKXx7oWB98Iba9t5v3vaWPEC1h0CEWg07z4SUXXHztGiNHvjvYCI296o9n9JbT6PUtOh4-eZknhYFWZP4CpPKpujHf-rKsXg6Bvw_Wh30YX5r-wC-U75XVAzGJLKatnni0R0oQ4MnvK7THKUNXuvtNcCJVLY6-FrXVeOyoXJURDBoZbJZ0U9MCS-wF_hHcdhua4qMkXqCTT-VD7EnWPxrp0tG68n3rogeE-yHRAAyZVEmRad2956XsuN8lM5KJ5TxGAf_hTetGVDlEQK=w800-h600-no
 
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CuriousOne

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Actualy, there's nothing wrong with vape devices, if you have common sense and obey the simple rules:

1. Don't use noname, or low drain type batteries.
2. Don't use mods without low battery discharge protection.
3. Don't toss batteries without protective cover into pocket, along with keys and other metal subjects.

That's all.
 

Paul520

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Amazing. I have had one on the table for months, and it going in the trash now!
 

bykfixer

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This thread made me light up a cigarette.

Nah, seriously I had a liquid cartridge pop once while taking a drag and it caused the whole left side of my face to go numb where it spilled.

Not again.
 

Dr. Mario

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Actualy, there's nothing wrong with vape devices, if you have common sense and obey the simple rules:

1. Don't use noname, or low drain type batteries.
2. Don't use mods without low battery discharge protection.
3. Don't toss batteries without protective cover into pocket, along with keys and other metal subjects.

That's all.
There is, not everyone know how to correctly use the multi-celled vapers, which is now the #1 reason they explode. Would someone as ignorant about the battery safety check the voltage of cell to ensure they're all in balance? I don't think so, they wouldn't bother to check, just toss it in, and then puff puff at ridiculous amperage setting.

Single-celled vaper is kind of much more safer because you won't have a chance of causing it to catastrophically fail, unless you're cheapening out on ****fire cells or low-drain cells.
 

vicv

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I'm a vaper. I routinely vape about 60w. Sometime 150 if I really feel like it. There's no danger if you know what you're doing. Use quality cells and keep an eye on them. I just pulled two cells out of mine. One was 3.2v the other was 3.4. That's usually not the case as I use matched cells but this time I didn't. Just don't keep using it till the love voltage alert shows up. On a mechanical mod check the resistance of your build first to make sure there's no short circuit and you're fine. It's common sense and for the most part the people who want to vape at high power do their research first. I still feel it's completely safe
 

Lexel

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Also bad copies of brand vapors is a problem, from outside they look the same but they often have no holes for venting and electrical issues
 
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