Vapcell FYI

[aznsx]

While it's not my general practice to c/p posts from foreign (EDIT: to this forum) sources, this latest one posted today (as with many regarding this mfgr.) involves safety, so I make an exception for those; especially when I see a long-term trend. Call it a PSA (S=Safety);-)

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Don’t want to spend a lot of time on this. This is in regards to the Vapcell SU2 5A.
When it came out they had problems with them smoking and or catching on fire. Supposedly they fixed it. NOT!

Since they supposedly repaired it I’ve had six of them. I believe it was last December when I got them. I’m guessing it was late summer 2024 or fall of 24 when they originally came out.

Now I have two left. Three of them just stopped working and charging. And of course this morning’s electrical meltdown via smoke.

This morning’s masterpiece started smoking like the original one did. I unplugged it while the battery was in there I plugged it back in and it started smoking. I am definitely getting rid of the two I have left. Not worth the chance.

As the title says, “Should be banned from production”.

It’s useless contacting Vapcell, they’ll make excuses or they don’t get back to you.

If Any of you that still have these or thinking about buying them I would think twice about buying them, if you have any, you only need to think once and get rid of them!

Stay safe.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and ones who observe it"

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[PhotonWrangler]

While it's not my general practice to c/p posts from foreign (EDIT: to this forum) sources, this latest one posted today (as with many regarding this mfgr.) involves safety, so I make an exception for those; especially when I see a long-term trend. Call it a PSA (S=Safety);-)

************************************************************************************

Don’t want to spend a lot of time on this. This is in regards to the Vapcell SU2 5A.
When it came out they had problems with them smoking and or catching on fire. Supposedly they fixed it. NOT!

Since they supposedly repaired it I’ve had six of them. I believe it was last December when I got them. I’m guessing it was late summer 2024 or fall of 24 when they originally came out.

Now I have two left. Three of them just stopped working and charging. And of course this morning’s electrical meltdown via smoke.

This morning’s masterpiece started smoking like the original one did. I unplugged it while the battery was in there I plugged it back in and it started smoking. I am definitely getting rid of the two I have left. Not worth the chance.

As the title says, “Should be banned from production”.

It’s useless contacting Vapcell, they’ll make excuses or they don’t get back to you.

If Any of you that still have these or thinking about buying them I would think twice about buying them, if you have any, you only need to think once and get rid of them!

Stay safe.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and ones who observe it"

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Yikes. Thanks for the heads-up Aznsx and glad that you're safe.

 

[ilikeguns40]

Luckily I don’t use that charger. I use an XTAR.

All these issues with this stuff makes me wanna keep using standard AA and CR123 batteries, or Keeppower protected li-ions (never experienced any issue with those)

I’d rather spend money on batteries than risk burning my house down

 

[AZPops]

Just saw your post. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Schokokeks]

I just came across this post, and combine that with the recent fiasco with the H10 cells, and I'm going to just move Vapcell into my "Chinesium mystery products not worth buying."

I get that manufacturing defects happen, but when companies shirk their responsibility, that's worrisome. But, especially with Li-ion cells and chargers. Those can start fires really easily, and even if it doesn't burn your house down, the released vapors can have really, really bad long-term consequences.

Luckily I don’t use that charger. I use an XTAR.

All these issues with this stuff makes me wanna keep using standard AA and CR123 batteries, or Keeppower protected li-ions (never experienced any issue with those)

I’d rather spend money on batteries than risk burning my house down

You know me and my love for Eneloops. I actually also like LiFePO4 cells, as that chemistry can't catch itself on fire. AND, Soshine makes a LFP 10440 that is AMAZING in a Peak Eiger ;)

But, on a more serious note, I'd picked up some incan Maglites to uses as hilariously long AA hosts with M61 drop-ins. While I do have a pair of NiMH D-cells, they take FOREVER to charge (10,000 mAh each), and are really expensive, haha.
That being said, I've found the giant maglites are a really fun host for drop-ins, and it's cool to be able to run things with AA cells. Not to mention, Soshine makes LFP 14500 cells, too, so a 2X configuration of those run an M61 in an MD3, too ;)

I wish I'd read this in time to buy a couple more MD3 hosts during the Malkoff Black Friday sale :/

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I just came across this post, and combine that with the recent fiasco with the H10 cells, and I'm going to just move Vapcell into my "Chinesium mystery products not worth buying."

I get that manufacturing defects happen, but when companies shirk their responsibility, that's worrisome. But, especially with Li-ion cells and chargers. Those can start fires really easily, and even if it doesn't burn your house down, the released vapors can have really, really bad long-term consequences.



You know me and my love for Eneloops. I actually also like LiFePO4 cells, as that chemistry can't catch itself on fire. AND, Soshine makes a LFP 10440 that is AMAZING in a Peak Eiger ;)

But, on a more serious note, I'd picked up some incan Maglites to uses as hilariously long AA hosts with M61 drop-ins. While I do have a pair of NiMH D-cells, they take FOREVER to charge (10,000 mAh each), and are really expensive, haha.
That being said, I've found the giant maglites are a really fun host for drop-ins, and it's cool to be able to run things with AA cells. Not to mention, Soshine makes LFP 14500 cells, too, so a 2X configuration of those run an M61 in an MD3, too ;)

I wish I'd read this in time to buy a couple more MD3 hosts during the Malkoff Black Friday sale :/

What type of charger do you need for LFP cells?

 

[Schokokeks]

What type of charger do you need for LFP cells?

It just needs to be one that has a setting for it. My older Nitecore D4 does LFP, and the newer Xtar ones do, as well. LFP is still fairly common in China (their government went ALL IN on that tech), so most any of the Chinese made ones (that's...all of them?) seem to have a setting. Just check before you buy.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

While it's not my general practice to c/p posts from foreign (EDIT: to this forum) sources, this latest one posted today (as with many regarding this mfgr.) involves safety, so I make an exception for those; especially when I see a long-term trend. Call it a PSA (S=Safety);-)

************************************************************************************

Don’t want to spend a lot of time on this. This is in regards to the Vapcell SU2 5A.
When it came out they had problems with them smoking and or catching on fire. Supposedly they fixed it. NOT!

Since they supposedly repaired it I’ve had six of them. I believe it was last December when I got them. I’m guessing it was late summer 2024 or fall of 24 when they originally came out.

Now I have two left. Three of them just stopped working and charging. And of course this morning’s electrical meltdown via smoke.

This morning’s masterpiece started smoking like the original one did. I unplugged it while the battery was in there I plugged it back in and it started smoking. I am definitely getting rid of the two I have left. Not worth the chance.

As the title says, “Should be banned from production”.

It’s useless contacting Vapcell, they’ll make excuses or they don’t get back to you.

If Any of you that still have these or thinking about buying them I would think twice about buying them, if you have any, you only need to think once and get rid of them!

Stay safe.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and ones who observe it"

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I've been thinking about this so I did a quick search for this issue. I've found a post from a different lighting forum where the OP was able to recreate the failure mode by pulling the DC power connection while a cell is charging at 5 amps. This does seem like faulty hardware or firmware as a charger should never throw a dead short across a battery, no matter what the user does.

My first guess would be that a mosfet that's connected to the battery's positive terminal drifts into full forward bias when the DC power input is removed, causing a low resistance path to ground. That's just speculation of course.

Have you opened it up to see what smoked?