# Mod safety - Batteries, regulated mods, mech mods, and box mods.



## Alex (17/9/15)

Here's a really informative post regarding battery and mod safety
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https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic...afety_batteries_regulated_mods_mech_mods_and/
Mod safety - Batteries, regulated mods, mech mods, and box mods. 

submitted 4 months ago by Niichie

Today continues the trend of autofiring iStick issues and more recently shorting Kboxes. Both of these are very popular middle of the road mods so to say this is alarming is an understatement.

Now I'm not here to shit on regulated mods, but these posts did make me realize that there are potentially a lot of people using various types of mods that could be putting themselves in harms way.

Before we can even get to the mods themselves we need to address batteries.


*Batteries*
Treat all of your batteries as if they have a 20amp limit. You should be aware that most VTC5's you can find online are probably counterfit or old, neither of these being particularly safe. You might be able to find some VTC4's but there have even been tests run on those that show that their higher amp limit may not be entirely factual, not to mention the shorter battery life.

My personal batteries of choice are Samsung 25r's and LG HE4's. Both of these have a limit of 20 amps continuous. Efest batteries are supposedly rewrapped HE2's which according to this[1] blog post are actually only rated for 15amps continuous. The HE4's and 25r's are readily available online and quite cheap.

Do not overdrain your batteries. This can shorten the lifespan of your batteries significantly, and is not entirely safe. Seasoned mech users will know when their battery hits 3.6v (which is when you should look at swapping them out) because your flavor and vapor production will drop off significantly. If you need some help trying to estimate your battery life you can enter your setup specs into this[2] app and you can find your estimated runtime, as well as how many "puffs" to expect. This is of course a rough estimate and can vary based on the length of your inhales and the interval between puffs.

Keep your wrappers clean. If there is a cut, knick, or any other sort of damage to your wrapper you have two options. First you can patch it with electrical tape *temporarily*. This is not a permanent fix and should only be done if you don't have any other batteries. Next you should either place an order for some spare battery wrappers which can be found here[3] . If your battery is beyond saving or you are not confident in your ability to re-wrap you should just purchase a new battery.

Failing to keep your batteries in proper working order could have you ending up like this guy

[4] . Yes it was an unfortunate accident and I'm glad he's okay, but he is honestly an idiot. He spotted a safety issue and neglected it. the explosion could have left his hand permanently disfigured but he got lucky.

If you noticed your battery getting increasingly hot for no reason or any sort of smoke coming out of your mod, remove the battery if safely possible and put it somewhere where it can vent safely and get the **** out of the way. Do not leave it unattended and dispose of it properly once it is safe to do so.

Don't forget to use a safe charger. At minimum invest in a Nitecore Intellicharger i2. Don't use some trustfire single battery charger that can potentially overcharge your battery. If you are using built in charging, use a safe USB and don't charge using your computer USB port. I recommend removing the batteries and charging them on a dedicated charger if possible.


*Regulated Mods*
This may seem redundant since regulated mods are supposed to be much safer than mechs, but if you have kept an eye on this sub recently you'll see that there have been a lot of issues with some of the most popular regulated mods[5] .

If you are on the fence about the iStick 30w or iStick50w I would suggest you hold off. The design of these mods makes it so that your internals will get fucked up if juice manages to seep inside. We all know how hard it is to keep our attys leakproof and spillage is almost guaranteed. I have not seen anything about one of these exploding yet but the fact that it will ignore the 10 second cutoff and keep on burning your cotton is a major fire hazard. Imagine being asleep when this happens, or having the mod in your backpack or pocket, ouch.

Less popular is the kbox which appears to be having shorting issues due to the insulator used in the 510. This is very dangerous and if you find this happening to you just stop using the mod immediately.

We still have tried and tested mods like the Sigelei 100w, 100w+, and 150 which do not appear to have these issues, and if they do they are much less frequent. The problem here is that these mods are big, bulky, and unlike the istick require you to provide your own batteries and a dedicated battery charger. This means that _most_ vapers moving into mid-tier vaping equipment will gravitate towards the iStick 30w/50w. I'm sure you've realized the problem here.

Special shout out to those that constantly tell me that regulated mods can't fail like mechs can, lets not forget the hottest mod of 2015

[6] .

Thanks to /u/mfdj2 [7] for providing these links of iSticks catching fire while the owner slept.

Link 1[8]

Link 2[9]

There are a few alternative mods that have been relatively problem free.

These include the Sigelei 30w, MVP 30w, and if you want to push past 30w but don't want a huge mod you could wait to see how the ipv4 performs, if it's ever released.


*Mechanical Mods*
The source of many safety concerns, mechanical mods have become a controversial topic lately.

Mechanical mods are usually the first thing that people imagine when they want to #subohmyourdickoff and blow sick cloudz. Because of this many vapers jump right into them with no concern for safety and bad shit happens. We have all heard horror stories of people running 2-wrap .03ohm builds on trustfire batteries, it makes me cringe just thinking about it.

The reason mechanical mods are considered more dangerous is because they are unregulated. What this means is that all you have is your metal tube, your atty, and your battery. Pressing the switch completes the circuit with no interference from electronics in between. Your mechanical mod will attempt to fire absolutely any build you put on it.

Why is this dangerous? Well for one you could be running a totally unsafe build. Running a .03ohm build on your "35amp" efest is not safe. Will it blow your face off the instant you press that switch? Well no, but it is not good for the battery and can _eventually_ lead to your mod attempting to kill you.

Because there is nothing to prevent user error in mechanical mods, you could also be firing a potentially shorted build on your atty. *Always test your build on an ohm reader before firing.* I run the exact same build all day every day, yet every time I rebuild I always test it on an ohm reader and there have been a couple of times I've gotten readings that were off, or that fluctuated. This could be from screws not making proper connections or wires touching or crossing that you may have not noticed. This should be corrected and retested before attempting to fire your mechanical mod.

Please for the love of god know what you are doing if you decide to buy a hybrid mod. Hybrid mods have direct atty to battery connection. This means is there are no pins to adjust, your atty's 510 will touch the top of the battery directly. Some mods may have a delrin insulator under the hybrid top cap, but a lot of them don't. Do not fire the mod without an atty connected or you will short it. Always attach your atomizer to the hybrid topcap first and then twist it onto your tube (or with the smpl, screw it in, and then pop your battery in). Please always make sure that your 510 protrudes safely past the hybrid topcap to ensure that you won't accidentally short it while firing, and if it is adjustable it wouldn't hurt to extend it just a hair more to be safe. *Do not use subohm tanks on a hybrid mod, ever.* The majority of them have non adjustable 510 pins that will not extend past the topcap enough to be used safely. If you want to run a subohm tank on a mech mod, find one with a standard top cap, we will all be better off that way.

Do not let your mod get too dirty! I am a copper mod kind of guy so I am used to having to clean up my threads and button quite often. Too much buildup can cause excess resistance which can lead to hot buttons, hot seams, or even result in you being shocked by your mod. If you notice your button get unnaturally hot, or are shocked at any point, stop using the mod. Take the mod apart and give it a thorough cleaning. I suggest using a small amount of noalox on all your threads to slow down oxidation and increase conductivity. If your button gets hot even after verifying that everything is nice and clean you can unscrew your bottom firing pin and drop a small kanthal microcoil in there and then tighten your button back down. I have not tried this but have heard that it works due to the current following the path of least resistance. The kanthal should in theory add resistance the button itself and help keep it cool. Again I have not tried this but please correct me if i'm wrong.

Small update, according to /u/doitforthelolz [10] the hot button fix works.

Holy shit. This fixed my mod. Normally the ramp up time was sluggish but now it fires almost instantly!


*Unregulated Box Mods*
You thought that mech mods could be unsafe? Hows about a metal box housing two batteries, being fired by a switch rated for 2amps while running a .15ohm build.

If you see any of these boxes for sale or your "buddy" builds you a box that is literally some 20 gauge copper wire connected to an antivandal switch, just turn the other way. I don't care how nice it looks, just don't ******* do it.

The problem with this type of box is that the switch is the weakest link in the entire unit. The wires connecting the rest of the circuit to the button can fail and they can become fused causing a permanently firing mod. What does this mean? Boom, it means boom. Or at the least some possible nasty burns on your leg or a fire hazard.

Now not all box mods are unsafe. It should be common knowledge by now that no mosfet = no sale. This shouldn't be the only deciding factor when buying an unregulated box mod, simply a very important one. Make sure that all of the solder points or any exposed metal has heatshrink tubing, *you do not want to run the risk of a short.* Use your brain when making a purchase, don't buy some janky ass looking box. If it looks professional, is properly insulated, and is rocking a mosfet it (should) be good to go.

Mechanical box mods will also fall into this category. The difference between these and the usual Hammond boxes is that they are essentially a mechanical mod in box form. What this means is that you do not need a mosfet, since the button is solid metal and is not wired to anything, it physically makes contact and completes the circuit when pressed. This does not mean they are any safer, you should exercise the same amount of caution when using these, always know your battery limits.

Boxes can come in both series and parallel, with parallel being far more common.

When you run batteries in parallel they increase your amp limit. I won't say it doubles your amp limit but it does increase it by a bit. This doesn't mean you can throw on a .01ohm build on here and be completely fine, it just means you should have more headroom on super-subohm builds. This will also reduce the stress placed on each battery and should increase your battery life significantly. *Always buy a fresh pair of batteries if you plan to get a new box mod.* Do not simply throw in two random batteries you have laying around. Just ******* nut up, buy a fresh set and marry them. Keep them labeled and don't do anything with one you don't do to the other. They should be charged together and discharged together. It is advisable to change the order of the batteries in the box between cycles to prevent one battery from wearing faster than the other. This also applies when using dual battery regulated mods like the Sigelei 100/100+/150.

Series mods double your voltage, but do not increase your amp limit or mah. To put this simply, you will have to build higher to accomadate, but it will hit harder if you run it at the same resistance as your parallel box. If you have a parallel mod and a series mod firing at the exact same wattage output, they should have the same battery life. I personally would just stick to parallel.

Further explanation on series boxes curtesy of /u/yusoderpy [11] .

3.7V, 0.3ohms = 45.63 watts 7.4V, 0.3ohms = 182.53 watts

If one has a series unregulated mod, they are going to have to tailor their builds for it. You can't use the same resistances as you would on a parallel unregulated mod, without significantly increasing the heat and power. However, if one does build their coil at a higher resistance, to account for the doubled voltage, such that one is getting the same power at the coil ( wattage ) then battery runtime will be doubled, because 2 batts = twice the total power.


*Fin*
I am not an expert on any of this. These are just the rules I stick to when using any sort of mod, be it regulated or mechanical. You can say regulated mods are safer, and they can be, _if_ they're working properly. Mechanical mods have more room for user error but if you know your limits and are safe, they are dead simple to use and will always work. No matter what you choose to vape on you should know the limits of your batteries and above all just be safe guys. You don't want to become another statistic.

If I missed anything important or am wrong about anything I have written please feel free to correct me!

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source: https://www.reddit.com/r/electronic...afety_batteries_regulated_mods_mech_mods_and/

Reactions: Like 3 | Winner 1 | Informative 3


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## Zahz (18/10/15)

Which 18650 battery would you suggest for a SMPL mod? And what ohms should I build to be safe 


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Reactions: Funny 1


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## DoubleD (18/10/15)

Zahz said:


> Which 18650 battery would you suggest for a SMPL mod? And what ohms should I build to be safe
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Asking what ohms you should build is like asking what flavors you should vape 

A 'safe build' is a build where the resistance of the coils is within the specs of the battery being used. The question is what type of vape do you like/want, if you like to build low, I would suggest a Samsung 25r (blue or green), if you vape at higher resistances, the LG HG2 seems to be the battery of choice.

If I was you bud, I'd read this thread again, especially the "Mech use' section and watch a couple more videos on youtube about battery safety, there are hundreds of them. After doing that, find out what you want out of the vape and build your coils according to that.

Another thing to note about the SMPL mech mod you plan on using, that is a hybrid mod, meaning that the atomizer you use, *must *have a protruding 510 pin. Otherwise you'll have some unfriendly results, if you know what I mean.

You can never learn too much, read, read and read some more 

Be safe 




Edit: here's a great table of the various batteries being used

Reactions: Winner 4 | Informative 1


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## Silver (19/10/15)

Superb post @DoubleD 

@Zahz, dont skimp on a battery for a mechanical. Get the best you can afford. 
When you start building lower than about 0.4 ohms, be very careful. My 2c

Reactions: Thanks 1


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## Zahz (19/10/15)

Hey guys thanks for the enlightening information. I will be using my Velocity RDA so the pin should be fine. I'm thinking of just building 0.3ohms and will get either the Samsung 'smurfs' or a Sony VTC4. Been reading all about it so learning slowly, need to avoid unfriendly encounters at all costs. Thanks for your help @DoubleD @Silver


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Reactions: Like 3


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