# So what will happen if I go to Chinatown & buy their 18650 batteries for my mods?



## Waine (5/10/16)

Will my mod blow up? Will I get shocked? Will my mod be underpowered? Has anyone got a story to tell, even if it is just for a chuckle. 

I am going to take a walk to China Center tomorrow, look for a DIY scale and buy a 18650 battery and try it in my Ohm meter. Then I will test one of my oldest Mods. With thick rubber gloves on, and perhaps welding goggles. 


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Reactions: Like 1


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## blujeenz (5/10/16)

Waine said:


> Will my mod blow up? Will I get shocked? Will my mod be underpowered? Has anyone got a story to tell, even if it is just for a chuckle.
> 
> I am going to take a walk to China Center tomorrow, look for a DIY scale and buy a 18650 battery and try it in my Ohm meter. Then I will test one of my oldest Mods. With thick rubber gloves on, and perhaps welding goggles.
> 
> ...


Their generic blue wrapped batts are usually meant for 500mw laser pointers, so if you're puting it into a mech it could heat up rather quickly.
Regulated mod, no real problem other than short discharge life, Ive had one in a SVD @ 15W without any drama.


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## daniel craig (5/10/16)

The Amp rating is way over rated so you don't want to use low resistance coils if you using a mech mod. On a regulated mod it should work but it won't be able to hit the wattage you want to hit but it should work if you using low wattage.


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## Waine (5/10/16)

Will 30 to 35 watts on a single battery Regulated mod work? I was thinking of one for my Ohm meter as I hardly use it, but when I do I don't want to have to charge one of my good batteries just to build a coil.


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## RichJB (5/10/16)

If the battery's actual rating is 10A, it should be OK at those wattages. I'm not sure why 10A batts aren't more popular. Pegasus Vapor Academy rates its Type A batteries (10A 3500mAh) as being suitable for vaping up to 35W on a single-cell regulated mod, up to 70W on a dual-cell mod. You'd think that 35W would be fine for these little MTL starter kit setups. Yet even for those, we want to fit a 25R or higher. We seem to favour higher amperage batts in SA and even get nervous with the 15A Samsung pinkies. For the majority of regulated vaping applications, they're fine. At the wattages I vape at, I'd rather have more goop and battery life than more metal and amperage headroom that I'm not going to use.


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## Atsbitscrisp (5/10/16)

The over-speccing just ensures that the battery will not get damaged in day to day use. You could, in theory, run your car on the highway at 120kph in 3rd gear with the pistons and valves playing the most dangerous game of "you can't touch me, na na na na na!" and get away with it. That being said;
a) I don't think that it is a good practice
b) the longevity of said item may be adversely affected
Rather pay for the good battery and have the piece of mind that it will be able to easily handle your day-to-day vaping and will last the time the manufacturer said it would, and then some.


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## Caveman (5/10/16)

RichJB said:


> If the battery's actual rating is 10A, it should be OK at those wattages. I'm not sure why 10A batts aren't more popular. Pegasus Vapor Academy rates its Type A batteries (10A 3500mAh) as being suitable for vaping up to 35W on a single-cell regulated mod, up to 70W on a dual-cell mod. You'd think that 35W would be fine for these little MTL starter kit setups. Yet even for those, we want to fit a 25R or higher. We seem to favour higher amperage batts in SA and even get nervous with the 15A Samsung pinkies. For the majority of regulated vaping applications, they're fine. At the wattages I vape at, I'd rather have more goop and battery life than more metal and amperage headroom that I'm not going to use.



Geez I barely ever go over 20W on my MTL setups. I'd be wary of any battery that isn't sold by reputable vendor. Batteries are one of those things that if it goes wrong, it has the potential to go badly wrong. I would rather fork out a bit more money and have peace of mind than always thinking something might go wrong. Not saying it will and even the highest rated batteries can go wrong. On the other side of the coin, in a regulated device there isn't much that can go wrong, granted that the electronics does its job properly. Just my point of view though.


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## RichJB (5/10/16)

Sure, if it's some cheap Chinese battery that you can't trust, I'd avoid it. But there are reputable 10A batteries. LG for eg have the M series batteries and Panasonic also have a couple. I'm just wondering why these aren't stocked locally. I guess vendors are nervous that people would buy them and crank them up to 70W or something, being unaware of the limitations on them. But the Pegasus oke insists they are fine at low wattages and sells them too. And he is apparently on the same level as Mooch. When Daniel DJLsb trusts the Pegasus guy for battery advice, you know he's not a chancer. I suppose it is a bit risky for vendors, though. This is why the industry desperately needs international standards to conform to.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## kev mac (6/10/16)

blujeenz said:


> Their generic blue wrapped batts are usually meant for 500mw laser pointers, so if you're puting it into a mech it could heat up rather quickly.
> Regulated mod, no real problem other than short discharge life, Ive had one in a SVD @ 15W without any drama.


If you go to Chinatown and buy a mod,in an hour you'll want another.


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## Spydro (6/10/16)

There are many batteries that are over rated, so be an informed buyer before you buy. I will not cut corners on batteries for vaping, over buy in the sense that I only buy batts that will "honestly" do more safely than I will ever task them to do for a solid safety margin. And I will only buy batteries from a reputable vendor that I know is 110% sure what they are selling. That means there are only 2 vendors I will buy batts from, period. Might be others that are also dead honest and trust worthy, but I have known these two for years and they have always proven that I can trust them. 

Buying batts from an unknown/unproven vendor to save a few bucks is risky. There are just too many rebranded batts out there being sold as something they are not by too many vendors that do not have a clue what they are selling, AND by vendors that do but still say that they are something that they are not.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## shaunnadan (6/10/16)

Here is a short excerpt from http://www.ecigssa.co.za/shauns-guide-to-battery-safety.t17245/

*Regulated Mods Internal Safety Mechanism*

A lot of people would say they don’t worry about what they build because their mod will protect them. It will give you an error when you going wrong. I fully agree that this will happen for errors like short-circuits, reversed polarity, and when exceeding the chipsets lowest resistance.

But not all mods are created equally and I have seen me far share of mods DIE a slow and painful dealt because of incorrect batteries and unsafe builds.

My intern is a very dumb person. He got himself an IPV3 li and then instead of buying a pair of decent batteries he went to the china mall and got himself a pair of ultrafire 18650’s because it’s the same thing as his father’s torch and only cost R20.00 each! He then built a Clapton build and pushed his to 100W. After a few min he started to feel his mod vibrate in his hand, smoke started to pour out of the batteries as it leaked and then bang! His mod had melted.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Clouder (6/10/16)

Personally, I would never put those cheap chinamall batteries in any mod! I've heard of way too many batteries exploding. Those batteries are meant for torches and that where they'll stay.


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## Kuhlkatz (6/10/16)

One thing you have to keep in mind is the Quality Control, or rather lack thereof. 
One of the first incidents I can recall about batteries that ignite with no external help needed, was in a series of Dell notebooks. The finding was that metal shavings from the manufacturing process made it into the batteries, and as time progressed, just the normal expansion and contraction of the battery materials, sharp edges & shavings caused fatigue in the insulation, with the result that they self-ignited at some point.

This is one type of battery that I would definitely not want to leave unattended in my house or car, as I'd prefer not having to replace either of those and/or any family members...


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## Christos (6/10/16)

Its like buying a R1000 motorcycle helmet vs one for R10 000. 
You hope never to be in a position that your head requires the helmet but if it ever does...

How much is your safety worth in order to save a buck.


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## zadiac (6/10/16)

A little poem for you...

If you go to Chinatown and buy
You'll probably burn up and die

Happy vaping

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Feliks Karp (6/10/16)

I'd honestly worry less about explosions and more about all the dangerous chemistry that's going to spray out all over your mod and possibly harm you in the process.

I really don't get people who buy cheap batteries, you'll spend about the same amount on juice that will last you maybe a week, and a good battery can last you about 6 months if you treat it correctly, where is it's a complete lucky packet when buying a questionable battery.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Anneries (6/10/16)

I couldn't agree more with this statement: 



Feliks Karp said:


> I really don't get people who buy cheap batteries, you'll spend about the same amount on juice that will last you maybe a week, and a good battery can last you about 6 months if you treat it correctly, where is it's a complete lucky packet when buying a questionable battery.



But I must admit, I have been eyeing some rescued laptop batteries at work, haha. And those I can have for free! But I will wait until I can get my hands on something that I know is safe for vaping.


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## Waine (6/10/16)

Points taken. But what about using one for my Ohm meter, as I stated earlier in this thread? All I want to do is have a battery that will allow me to get a reading and to pulse fire the coil for a few seconds before wicking.


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## JsPLAYn (6/10/16)

Chinatown R30 18650 works but only lasts like 2 hours on 35watts.. tried and tested ..no explosions or venting tho but I bort it at the China mall near blouberg it was red and yellow batteries


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