I have googled. I have read. I also searched this site. I was happy to find two separate tutorials for re-wrapping batteries. I was also able to gain some knowledge about battery safety. (Thanks elr contributors)
Here is the question. FINALLY. ha
I have a small tear in one of my batteries. The wrap is still on. With all the protections that regulated mods offer, will it detect if the Battery is in trouble with the torn wrapping?
Sounds like a noob-ish question. But it’s getting late and I am paranoid.
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Never a good idea to use a battery with a torn wrap. Will it defect? Don’t know. Some mods have plastic sleeves and if the tear is covered by that sleeve you may get by.
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I have some batteries with tears or tiny cuts (fingernail cuts) at one end or the other and use them, on mostly all my regulated mods, except the ones with a metal base.
Main thing is the battery is protected all the way, from end to end with plastic sleeve.
I have yet to find out, because I make sure them tiny scratches are placed properly in the right place in the regulated mod, until I get a chance to re-wrap them.
regulated mods detect atty short, low battery. But I would not trust them to detect a tiny scratch or tear in my battery.*strong text Do not use battery with torn wrap
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They will NOT detect a torn wrap. I’ve seen the results of people tossing batteries with shredded wraps into their mods, and it’s usually none too pretty. The outer casing of the battery(the metal can under the wrap) is the battery’s ENTIRE negative terminal-The only thing that isolates that negative terminal from potentially shorting is the wrap.
If the tear is on the side or on the bottom/negative side of the battery, you have two choices. You can set the pair aside until you can get the damaged wrap replaced or you can cover the tear with a small piece of tape(electrical tape works well, but even cellotape works in a pinch) If the tear is on or close to the positive terminal of the battery, DO NOT USE IT UNTIL YOU REPLACE THE WRAP. The positive terminal is bare and when it’s placed in your mod it touches more metal that’s a little bigger in diameter than the actual terminal. There’s not a lot of real estate there and if there’s a tear up towards the positive terminal you’re looking at milimeters between normal use and boom. Why risk it?
OK-So maybe I went a little melodramatic there. But one of the biggest problems I’ve seen is in regards to battery safety. The cells we use aren’t the AA’s we placed in our Walkmans and Game Boys, kids. They hold a lot of energy. When things go sideways, that energy has to go somewhere and it’s usually in the form of a bang or fire or both. I’m not trying to fear-monger; I’m just trying to remind people of some safe battery practices.
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@Laura5 my best advice is, based on the cost of a wrap and the time it takes to rewrap, simply do it. No reason to take a chance.
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NO they will not detect a torn wrap, and I will also strongly suggest that you don’t use the battery before you can rewrap it. @paingawd explained the reason for this in more detail than I’m going to add.
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There’s really not much space between the positive and negative poles of an 18650 (just the positive pin is the positive, the rest under the wrap is the negative). It just takes a tiny metal clipping that got away when you were making a coil or a little piece that broke in your mod when it last dropped and a bit of bad luck to short out your battery.
Your regulated mod can protect itself in most cases by detecting a short and turning itself in a protection mode, but if your battery physically shorts out, there’s absolutely nothing the mod can do about that.
Plastic battery sleeves are a great improvement over the metal ones, but they’re no guarantee that nothing will ever happen. Always make sure your batteries are safely wrapped, always make sure your mod is clean and doesn’t have any defects before operating. Seriously, the few bucks a new mod or battery costs is nothing compared to the life changing injuries you can get because you didn’t pay attention.
I bought a very cheap roll of see-through tubing from ali express at nearly no cost. I cut 72mm parts off it and double-wrap it around every new battery that I buy, hairdryer on it and it’s done. If and when my batteries get damaged, I either change the wrap immediately or have the battery recycled. Heck, I even do it for all my friends when I see the sorry state of their batteries… it’s no effort, no cost.
If your mod doesn’t allow a double-wrap (most do), please watch some instruction videos on youtube to see how to safely remove the existing wrap, re-use or replace the protection ring around the positive pin and rewrap it.
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A wealth of information. I did set the batteries aside. I will be buying wraps. I am enamored with the idea of putting a second wrap on just to be sure.
Thankyou everyone… this is all excellent advice.
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Probably one of the most important parts of the re-wrap is the positive post terminal insulator. Get some good plastic ones as spares.
This can cause issues on some mods causing the fit to be so restrictive the batteries will not fit
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Thanks David. Also something I did not think about.
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