Whether you like it or not, battery safety is a vital part of vaping. If we don’t want our newsfeeds flooded with stories of teenagers disfigured by exploding vaporizers, we have to spread this knowledge far and wide. So give this article a read. It might just come in handy one day.
A vaporizer battery is nothing special.
It’s nearly identical to the battery you keep in your pocket year-round, inches away from your genitals. I’m talking about the lithium ion in your cellphone. The same type of battery you’ll find in your laptop. And your tablet. And your PS4 controller.
They’re everywhere. And for good reason. Lithium ion chemistries offer plenty of power while staying relatively safe. They’re so safe, in fact, that they are the most common battery type used in medical devices. They’re even attached to human hearts.
Virtually all battery-powered devices released within the last decade use them. They account for almost half of all batteries today.
So why have vaporizer batteries been the focus of so much hate? Aren’t they the same as your cellphone?
Aside from the fact that it’s now cool to hate on vaping, the answer lies not in what they are, but in how they’re used.
While vaporizer batteries are no less safe than cellphone batteries, they are more prone to user error.
You see, major electronic companies have long “idiot-proofed” their batteries.
Cellphone Battery
Your smartphone uses a custom-designed lithium ion, chosen specially to meet the physical demands of the device. It is tested thousands and thousands of times in the most stressful conditions your phone can produce. And then it’s tested some more.
Unless you play “kick-the-battery” or purchase an unofficial knock-off, smartphone batteries are never stressed beyond their safety ratings.
Vaporizers are a little bit more open-source than that.
A lot of 18650 batteries in a box
Many of the devices sold today do not include a “manufacturer approved” battery. It’s up to YOU to choose a battery that can meet the physical demands of your device. And if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy to choose an unsafe battery.
So, what happens if you choose a bad battery?
“Young dad’s leg turned BLACK after his e-cigarette battery exploded ‘like a firework’ in his pocket”
“Teen recovering from facial, neck burns caused by classmate’s exploding e-cigarette battery”
“Ogden teen hospitalized after e-cigarette explodes”
The good news is that safe batteries are easy to find—if you know what you’re looking for.
If your eyes gloss over when you hear terms like “continuous discharge rating” and “voltage discharge cutoff,” you can scroll down all the way to the bottom, where you’ll find a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read).
But whether you like it or not, battery safety is a vital part of vaping. If we don’t want our newsfeeds flooded with stories of teenagers disfigured by exploding vaporizers, we have to spread this knowledge far and wide. So give this article a read. It might just come in handy one day.
Table of Contents
Vape Battery Shapes and Sizes
Standard Battery Specifications
Battery Safety Ratings
Battery Chemistry
18650 Brands
Unregulated vs. Regulated Mods
Multiple Battery Mods
Charging Your 18650s
Battery Storage and Care
TL;DR
1. Vape Battery Shapes and Sizes
Various ecig compatible batteries
Since lithium-ions all work on the same basic principles, you could technically power your vaporizer with almost any battery.
But it should go without saying—don’t just stick a random battery in your vape. The likelihood of it being able to handle the demands of your vaporizer is low.
So it pays to know about the types of batteries you’ll be using in your vaporizer.
The two we’ll be talking about today are external round cells (mainly 18650s) and internal lithium ions.
External Round Cells
You’re probably familiar with 18650—the tall, chubby cousin of the AA. It’s the most common battery used in vaporizers, and can be purchased from any vape store in Canada.
But you can also find 10440s, 18500s, 18350s, 22500s, 22650s… You get the point.
So, what do all of these numbers mean?
It’s really quite simple. These numbers refer to the size of a round lithium ion cell.
Battery diameter (e.g. 18, 22)
Battery height (e.g. 35, 65)
Battery shape (e.g. cylinder, non-cylinder)
Battery size and Dimensions visualization
As I mentioned above, 18650s are the most common battery size for vaporizers. They produce the right amount of voltage, and many of them can handle the high-current discharge necessary for vaping.
Special Considerations for External Batteries
Round-cell external lithium ions are designed with exposed contacts. Like the AAs in your TV remote, this makes them easy to use in any device where they’ll fit. But also like your AAs, they’re vulnerable to a number of issues:
Touching conductive materials (like loose change) to their positive contacts can short and damage them
Damaged/torn battery wraps will expose their negative contacts, making them dangerous to handle
Conductive debris on either contact can cause a short
Inserting your batteries upside down may cause a hard short
You also need to be wary of counterfeits.
Because most companies producing 18650s only sell to large OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturers), the batteries you find at your local vape shop have been passed through the hands of several middlemen.
A large OEM first purchases 18650s from the original producers. The batteries are separated into different bins based on their quality. The best bins are used by the OEM or sold at a high markup, and the rest of the batteries are auctioned off to smaller local distributors.
Many of these local distributors then rewrap batteries with their own branding (Trustfire, Efest, etc.), or in some cases, with wrappers trying to imitate other brands (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc.). In many cases, these batteries are then sold off to exporters, who may also change their wraps.
As a result, it can be very hard to tell if you have an authentic battery or a rewrap.
Unless you have your own battery-testing equipment, do not order batteries from websites like FastTech, DHGate, or AliExpress.
Always purchase batteries from trusted vendors.
A vaporizer battery is nothing special.
It’s nearly identical to the battery you keep in your pocket year-round, inches away from your genitals. I’m talking about the lithium ion in your cellphone. The same type of battery you’ll find in your laptop. And your tablet. And your PS4 controller.
They’re everywhere. And for good reason. Lithium ion chemistries offer plenty of power while staying relatively safe. They’re so safe, in fact, that they are the most common battery type used in medical devices. They’re even attached to human hearts.
Virtually all battery-powered devices released within the last decade use them. They account for almost half of all batteries today.
So why have vaporizer batteries been the focus of so much hate? Aren’t they the same as your cellphone?
Aside from the fact that it’s now cool to hate on vaping, the answer lies not in what they are, but in how they’re used.
While vaporizer batteries are no less safe than cellphone batteries, they are more prone to user error.
You see, major electronic companies have long “idiot-proofed” their batteries.
Cellphone Battery
Your smartphone uses a custom-designed lithium ion, chosen specially to meet the physical demands of the device. It is tested thousands and thousands of times in the most stressful conditions your phone can produce. And then it’s tested some more.
Unless you play “kick-the-battery” or purchase an unofficial knock-off, smartphone batteries are never stressed beyond their safety ratings.
Vaporizers are a little bit more open-source than that.
A lot of 18650 batteries in a box
Many of the devices sold today do not include a “manufacturer approved” battery. It’s up to YOU to choose a battery that can meet the physical demands of your device. And if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy to choose an unsafe battery.
So, what happens if you choose a bad battery?
“Young dad’s leg turned BLACK after his e-cigarette battery exploded ‘like a firework’ in his pocket”
“Teen recovering from facial, neck burns caused by classmate’s exploding e-cigarette battery”
“Ogden teen hospitalized after e-cigarette explodes”
The good news is that safe batteries are easy to find—if you know what you’re looking for.
If your eyes gloss over when you hear terms like “continuous discharge rating” and “voltage discharge cutoff,” you can scroll down all the way to the bottom, where you’ll find a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read).
But whether you like it or not, battery safety is a vital part of vaping. If we don’t want our newsfeeds flooded with stories of teenagers disfigured by exploding vaporizers, we have to spread this knowledge far and wide. So give this article a read. It might just come in handy one day.
Table of Contents
Vape Battery Shapes and Sizes
Standard Battery Specifications
Battery Safety Ratings
Battery Chemistry
18650 Brands
Unregulated vs. Regulated Mods
Multiple Battery Mods
Charging Your 18650s
Battery Storage and Care
TL;DR
1. Vape Battery Shapes and Sizes
Various ecig compatible batteries
Since lithium-ions all work on the same basic principles, you could technically power your vaporizer with almost any battery.
But it should go without saying—don’t just stick a random battery in your vape. The likelihood of it being able to handle the demands of your vaporizer is low.
So it pays to know about the types of batteries you’ll be using in your vaporizer.
The two we’ll be talking about today are external round cells (mainly 18650s) and internal lithium ions.
External Round Cells
You’re probably familiar with 18650—the tall, chubby cousin of the AA. It’s the most common battery used in vaporizers, and can be purchased from any vape store in Canada.
But you can also find 10440s, 18500s, 18350s, 22500s, 22650s… You get the point.
So, what do all of these numbers mean?
It’s really quite simple. These numbers refer to the size of a round lithium ion cell.
Battery diameter (e.g. 18, 22)
Battery height (e.g. 35, 65)
Battery shape (e.g. cylinder, non-cylinder)
Battery size and Dimensions visualization
As I mentioned above, 18650s are the most common battery size for vaporizers. They produce the right amount of voltage, and many of them can handle the high-current discharge necessary for vaping.
Special Considerations for External Batteries
Round-cell external lithium ions are designed with exposed contacts. Like the AAs in your TV remote, this makes them easy to use in any device where they’ll fit. But also like your AAs, they’re vulnerable to a number of issues:
Touching conductive materials (like loose change) to their positive contacts can short and damage them
Damaged/torn battery wraps will expose their negative contacts, making them dangerous to handle
Conductive debris on either contact can cause a short
Inserting your batteries upside down may cause a hard short
You also need to be wary of counterfeits.
Because most companies producing 18650s only sell to large OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturers), the batteries you find at your local vape shop have been passed through the hands of several middlemen.
A large OEM first purchases 18650s from the original producers. The batteries are separated into different bins based on their quality. The best bins are used by the OEM or sold at a high markup, and the rest of the batteries are auctioned off to smaller local distributors.
Many of these local distributors then rewrap batteries with their own branding (Trustfire, Efest, etc.), or in some cases, with wrappers trying to imitate other brands (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc.). In many cases, these batteries are then sold off to exporters, who may also change their wraps.
As a result, it can be very hard to tell if you have an authentic battery or a rewrap.
Unless you have your own battery-testing equipment, do not order batteries from websites like FastTech, DHGate, or AliExpress.
Always purchase batteries from trusted vendors.