How safe is charging in a regulated mod?

[VAPER#2311]

Recently got a couple of 18650 regulated devices after using only mechs for a couple of years and was wondering if I can trust the charging on the boards (I remember a couple years ago they might have been responsible for blowing batteries up)?

I move cities and countries quite often so wondering if I can ditch my charger, or is it still highly recommended to only charge on them dedicated chargers.

BTW my old wall plug charger broke and so only use my Soshine single battery usb charger is that just as dangerous?

The devices I have are an Istick Pico and SMY SDNA 75

 

[HondaDavidson]

Depends on the quality and condition of your battery.. If everything is within spec it is just as safe as a stand alone charger..... The problem comes when everything is not as it should be battery wise..... and the battery decides to go critical, during charge. This is also when most batteries leak smoke. It's better to fry a stand alone charger than your mod. Use you mods charger as the back-up to a stand alone.. when out and about and such. It's just as easy to carry a spare battery as it is to carry a charging cable.

 

[AndriaD]

One other point comes to mind. If you charge the battery in the mod, you may be tempted to use it "pass-thru" -- but unless the manufacturer states that the mod is INTENDED to be used as a pass-thru device, it should NEVER be done, as it puts a great deal of stress on the battery just at the time when it's most unstable and most likely to have some unpleasant incident happening -- while charging -- do you really want that mod next to your face when it decides to have that unpleasant incident? The ONLY mods I would ever use as pass-thru devices are those made by Innokin; they state that this is possible, so they've taken the stress to the battery into account.

I agree with HondaDavidson; it may be fine to use the in-mod charging as a backup, but it's probably not the safest thing to do; removable batteries are intended to be charged in a charger. When you use batteries in ways other than what was intended from the get-go, you get into perilous country, and considering how powerful these batteries are, it's just not safe or sane to try and push them to perform in ways they were never intended to perform. If you're stuck somewhere with a dead battery, no charger, but do have access to a USB/micro-USB cable, then ok, do what you have to -- but don't vape it while it's charging for god's sake, unless it's an Innokin.

Andria

 

[Angrygod50]

.I've done it in a pinch in the car with both the Pico and eVic mini but it's always best to use an outboard charger.
I have had a mod vent while charging and won't consider buying a mod without removable batteries now.

 

[VAPER#2311]

ummmm maybe I should have been more specific, have the vaping electronic boards (specifically the Joyetech and DNA75 boards) have reliable overcharge protection and amp regulation so it doesn't draw power that it can't handle (i.e. if it charges at 1amp but plug it into a 2 amp charger does it regulate it down like 99% of all charging devices?) as that was the problem for the early smart phones that exploded and assume that was the problem with the old egos blowing up.

Venting batteries are not a concern with only vaping but every other electronic device out there but recently there seems to be no problem with phones, speakers and laptops and wondering if the same technology is being used with vaping devices these days. I have had a phone battery swell to twice the size because the Samsung board was overcharging a 3rd party China made battery and know batteries are commonly the weakest link so know to only buy tested and tried batteries. Back in the day I used to always take my phone battery out and charge it on a separate charger due to this reason (2009 - 2012). Are we still in this age for vaping tech? Or can manufacturers be trusted to be testing their devices?

There's a risk to charging anything and wondering why vapers specifically say not to, yet charge all their other LIPO (phones) or 18650 devices (laptops) directly through the charge boards? Is there a reason for this?

 

[Chainvapor]

My 2 cents - The DNA chips are designed with extremely well regulated charging. I charge my DNA200 Releaux using the charge port exclusively. Any other regulated mod that I own that uses external batteries (18650) I charge externally in my LUC 4 bay charger. So far I have never had any problems using this philosophy, but YMMV. HAPPY VAPING!!

Sincerely,
Mr. Chainvapor

P.S. I never use any of my mods as a pass-thru so that would not apply to me.

 

[cascadian]

Recently got a couple of 18650 regulated devices after using only mechs for a couple of years and was wondering if I can trust the charging on the boards (I remember a couple years ago they might have been responsible for blowing batteries up)?

I move cities and countries quite often so wondering if I can ditch my charger, or is it still highly recommended to only charge on them dedicated chargers.

BTW my old wall plug charger broke and so only use my Soshine single battery usb charger is that just as dangerous?

The devices I have are an Istick Pico and SMY SDNA 75

DNA devices, single cell devices and parallel cell configuration devices are entirely safe to charge in device. That is assuming that the cells are in good condition. The internal charges are, in my opinion, not optimized as well as a quality external charger. This will reduce the life of the cell and more readily allow for a marginal cell to fail during a charge cycle. I charge in device more than frequently but never would exclusively. I charge at least once a week on a quality external charger. For me that is the Xtar VC4. I never charge in device with series cell configuration devices that are not an Evolv Vapor DNA product. I tried it in a few and the results were alarming with cells becoming dangerously out of balance after just a single cycle.

 

[VAPER#2311]

DNA devices, single cell devices and parallel cell configuration devices are entirely safe to charge in device. That is assuming that the cells are in good condition. The internal charges are, in my opinion, not optimized as well as a quality external charger. This will reduce the life of the cell and more readily allow for a marginal cell to fail during a charge cycle. I charge in device more than frequently but never would exclusively. I charge at least once a week on a quality external charger. For me that is the Xtar VC4. I never charge in device with series cell configuration devices that are not an Evolv Vapor DNA product. I tried it in a few and the results were alarming with cells becoming dangerously out of balance after just a single cycle.

Great, thanks for the information

I guess it was some wishful thinking to save some suitcase space and have less travel adapters

 

[outwest]

I would trust a DNA device. I wouldn't trust the others. Remember, they're made in China, where $ is more important than consumer safety.

 

[BoomStick]

If it's made in the states or japan, I trust it. China, dedicated chargers only. And only certain manufacturers even then.

 

[AzDoug]

I've noticed that onboard charging didn't charge to the same level as in my i4 charger

 

[NickyGiaccone]

The IPV6x charges my LG HD4s well. Not as long as I thought for a charge and no issues. If the batteries aren't as long lasting after 5 months then I'll buy new ones. OTher than than the previous mods I've had didn't charge well even though they claimed to charge batteries internally via usb.

 

[nightshard]

How well a mod does balanced charging depends on the charging module.
The way to check balanced charging is to have a mod fully charge the batteries then pull them out and check them with a voltmeter.

In order for a mod to support pass through, the charging module needs to stop charging while the batteries are being discharged and even then it's not a good idea since batteries require a rest period between charging and discharging.
In the case of a catastrophic failure while charging in the mod, both batteries and mod will be destroyed.

 

[AndriaD]

How well a mod does balanced charging depends on the charging module.
The way to check balanced charging is to have a mod fully charge the batteries then pull them out and check them with a voltmeter.

In order for a mod to support pass through, the charging module needs to stop charging while the batteries are being discharged and even then it's not a good idea since batteries require a rest period between charging and discharging.
In the case of a catastrophic failure while charging in the mod, both batteries and mod will be destroyed.

The only mods I know of that *overtly support* pass-thru are the fixed-battery mods made by Innokin -- vv3/vv4, original Coolfire4... and that original box mod of theirs, what is it, MVP? I wouldn't try to vape pass-thru style with any other brand or type of mod, and even though it is overtly supported by those Innokin mods, it's still somewhat risky. Best to try and limit it as much as possible -- when you first start vaping and that's the only mod you have (so far! ) then sure, but once you have more than that one, it's really better to vape one while the other is charging. It will make the charging take longer in any case.

Andria