# 18650 Bath



## playa4life (19/5/17)

Woke up at 3am. Felt peckish. Decided to have some tea and rusks. While water was boiling for my cuppa, I decided to check on my 18650 which was doing a slow charge on my external charger. Decided it had done enough charging and took the charger out the plug. Attempted to take 18650 out but it flung out that charger so fast and nose dived straight into a 3 hour old bucket of washing machine second cycle rinse water (we're conserving water). It probably spent no more than 5 seconds underwater before I fished it out. Blew and shook it off and placed into dry rice container. I'll let it sit there for now. Worried what I'm gna do later today. I have no spare 18650 while this one dries out.
Question: Is/will my 18650 still be good to use safely in a few days? 
I know (hope) I'm not the first person to have flung his 18650 into a bucket of water


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## Necropolis (19/5/17)

I wouldn't risk using it again if it was me.


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## Vape_r (19/5/17)

Saw this on a Facebook page a couple days ago. Unwrap it, leave it in rice and rewrap it and you should be good to go. Treat it as if you would a juice spill on your batteries.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## stevie g (19/5/17)

The rice thing is a myth if anything it will insulate the item and stop water from evaporation. 

A battery has too be air tight or the chemicals would leak out, I think you'll be fine after 5 seconds.

Reactions: Like 2


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## playa4life (19/5/17)

Vape_r said:


> Saw this on a Facebook page a couple days ago. Unwrap it, leave it in rice and rewrap it and you should be good to go. Treat it as if you would a juice spill on your batteries.


Never rewrapped a battery. Would need to get a battery wrap ASAP.
Drove to work this morning holding the battery outthe window so that the cool N2 traffic could help clear out any water droplets left in there...
So dropping my 18650 in water is gna make me smoke a cigarette total it seems. I was doing so well. Just about a week off the cigarettes today. 
Sigh


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## GerritVisagie (19/5/17)

Lose one battle to win the war brother. 
One loosie does not a war lose. 



Sent from my iPhone 7+ using Tapatalk

Reactions: Agree 1 | Winner 1


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## playa4life (19/5/17)

There's no way I'll be able to break away from the office today.
Been holding onto that loosie which I bumbed off a colleague this morning. Hope I can get some wrapping material from one of the maintenaince guys onsite.


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## stevie g (19/5/17)

Sticky tape!.


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## playa4life (19/5/17)

stevie g said:


> Sticky tape!.


Insulation? 
Just took off the insulation now and ptinted new labels. Will hopefully get some clear heat shrink from maintenance dpt later


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## stevie g (19/5/17)

playa4life said:


> Insulation?
> Just took off the insulation now and ptinted new labels. Will hopefully get some clear heat shrink from maintenance dpt later


emergency measures call for emergency solutions


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## Gazzacpt (19/5/17)

The battery will be fine. I hav.e more than one that got wet. No issues.
If the maintenance dept does not have thin wall heat shrink in the size you need ask them for if they have Kapton tape. It looks like a off yellow sellotape but is used for electrical insulation amongst other things.

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Can relate 1


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## Shooterbuddy (19/5/17)

Dropped my Minkin into the bath. Took batteries and mod put it in rice for two days and three months later everything still work 100's

Reactions: Like 1 | Useful 1


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## SmokeyJoe (19/5/17)

Im highly overcautious and basically full of crap. 
Having said that, i cant see how this would be a problem, just as long as you make sure its 100% dry and re-wrap them properly making sure the top white ring is in the correct position

Reactions: Like 1


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## wiesbang (19/5/17)

playa4life said:


> Never rewrapped a battery. Would need to get a battery wrap ASAP.
> Drove to work this morning holding the battery outthe window so that the cool N2 traffic could help clear out any water droplets left in there...
> So dropping my 18650 in water is gna make me smoke a cigarette total it seems. I was doing so well. Just about a week off the cigarettes today.
> Sigh


If you can get to Brackenfell. I will give you some wraps bud. Will even wrap it for you if you want me to.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Reactions: Winner 3


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## Silver (19/5/17)

Let us know what happens with that battery @playa4life 
And thanks for sharing this
I have learnt a few things from this thread


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## Stosta (20/5/17)

wiesbang said:


> If you can get to Brackenfell. I will give you some wraps bud. Will even wrap it for you if you want me to.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


Way to go @wiesbang !

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Kuhlkatz (20/5/17)

While water in electronics may play havoc, water on a battery is not the end of the world. If the juices inside the battery can not leak out, then juices outside the battery cannot leak in. With low voltages, the resistivity / conductivity of water will not be enough to cause any issue like battery venting due to fast discharging. Perhaps if you dunk it in a highly concentrated saline solution, but normal water not.
Prolonged exposure to moisture (water) may cause corrosion of the exterior, which a shoddy wrap may help on by trapping water under the wrap which prevents it from evaporating.
When in doubt after it got dunked, just inspect the battery after the original wrap is removed to ensure no corrosion or marks is visible on the exterior and below the top cap. If none is visible, you should be ok to use the battery again after a proper re-wrap. A once off dunking should normally not be a problem, but careless fishermen should perhaps check their batteries every once in a while.
After a wipe with a towel or some TP, a quick treatment with a low-heat hair dryer or a pressurised air blast should also be fine to dry it off. Just don't overdo it if you go the hair dryer route - you only want to dry the surface and not cook the insides, which could cause it to vent.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1 | Informative 4


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## playa4life (20/5/17)

Update:
I got hecticly busy at work yesterday and my mod and battery - which was still in the bag of rice - was on my desk. One of the riggers walking past me, noticed my mod and stopped to chat some vape talk. I explained to him what happened and we left it at that. The dude came back 15 minutes later with a battery wrap and heat gun in hand. Fished out the two grains of rice which got lodged in between the positive gaps and proceeded to rewrap my battery. He then took out his Nitecore 4 bay charger and multimeter. Tested battery - It passed. Then proceeded to charge my battery for a bit in his Nitecore. 
Within 30 minutes I was vaping away again. 
Never met this guy in my life but he saved the day for me. 
Also, he let me try out some of his premium juice. Nice stuff. Nice guy! 
I love how the vape community pulls together! 
Thanx to all for the advice and those who offered to assist.

Reactions: Winner 9


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## Silver (20/5/17)

Kuhlkatz said:


> While water in electronics may play havoc, water on a battery is not the end of the world. If the juices inside the battery can not leak out, then juices outside the battery cannot leak in. With low voltages, the resistivity / conductivity of water will not be enough to cause any issue like battery venting due to fast discharging. Perhaps if you dunk it in a highly concentrated saline solution, but normal water not.
> Prolonged exposure to moisture (water) may cause corrosion of the exterior, which a shoddy wrap may help on by trapping water under the wrap which prevents it from evaporating.
> When in doubt after it got dunked, just inspect the battery after the original wrap is removed to ensure no corrosion or marks is visible on the exterior and below the top cap. If none is visible, you should be ok to use the battery again after a proper re-wrap. A once off dunking should normally not be a problem, but careless fishermen should perhaps check their batteries every once in a while.
> After a wipe with a towel or some TP, a quick treatment with a low-heat hair dryer or a pressurised air blast should also be fine to dry it off. Just don't overdo it if you go the hair dryer route - you only want to dry the surface and not cook the insides, which could cause it to vent.




Epic @Kuhlkatz 
thanks for explaining that all
Lol, loved the chirp about careless fishermen - hehe


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## Silver (20/5/17)

playa4life said:


> Update:
> I got hecticly busy at work yesterday and my mod and battery - which was still in the bag of rice - was on my desk. One of the riggers walking past me, noticed my mod and stopped to chat some vape talk. I explained to him what happened and we left it at that. The dude came back 15 minutes later with a battery wrap and heat gun in hand. Fished out the two grains of rice which got lodged in between the positive gaps and proceeded to rewrap my battery. He then took out his Nitecore 4 bay charger and multimeter. Tested battery - It passed. Then proceeded to charge my battery for a bit in his Nitecore.
> Within 30 minutes I was vaping away again.
> Never met this guy in my life but he saved the day for me.
> ...



My gosh - what a wonderful end to the battery bath saga @playa4life 
Love how the guy at your work casually cruised back with a battery wrap and a heat gun. Lol
Super. 
Thanks for sharing


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## playa4life (20/5/17)

Silver said:


> My gosh - what a wonderful end to the battery bath saga @playa4life
> Love how the guy at your work casually cruised back with a battery wrap and a heat gun. Lol
> Super.
> Thanks for sharing


Yip... like I mentioned, he is one of our stage riggers. When I went around to check for him later in the day, he showed me how he has setup an entire vape station in one of the storerooms. Builds his own coils; mixes his own juice. Really epic!

Reactions: Like 2


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