3 ms·

A man dies after his e-cigarette explodes in his face

cr0sh 8y ago
The bad part about articles like this one is that you aren't given enough information to know if the user of the device was using a branded proprietary vape pen, a standard vape pen, or if they were using a modified or custom vaping device (aka box mod). The latter devices are in general where the danger lies. These devices are typically poorly designed electronically, allowing for great amounts of current to flow thru the heating coil, mainly in order to produce larger amounts of vapor - creating monster clouds, etc. Many have little to no current regulation at all; you are lucky to find one that uses any kind of real current regulator (perhaps an LM117 with a bypass power transistor or MOSFET). Most are little more than a switch shorting the coil directly to the battery; maybe with a potentiometer thrown in as a voltage divider. They put enormous stress on the LiPO cell(s) used in the device, and these cells are sometimes the cheapest ones that can be bought - overruns or ones that didn't pass inspection, get re-bought in the business, then repackaged and sold on with "white label" style branding. Far cheaper than the name brand cells, often marked up with erroneous current handling capabilities far exceeding what they can really do. All of that leads to a perfect storm, where they are stressed beyond their capability, and they enter into an "avalanche mode" of self-destruction, heating up and chemically reacting in a matter of seconds or less to swell, catch fire, and explode. Instead of acknowledging this - which any box modder knows about and likely assumes such risk - these articles seem to conflate the hobbyist level devices with that of the standard and branded vape pen devices by known manufacturers. To what end, I am not certain, though I could speculate. Follow the money as usual and you'd probably find out the truth.
- _Schizotypy 8y ago
  It's mentioned that a cup holder melted. Sounds like an unsecured bottom button on a tube mechanical mod

The bad part about articles like this one is that you aren't given enough information to know if the user of the device was using a branded proprietary vape pen, a standard vape pen, or if they were using a modified or custom vaping device (aka box mod). The latter devices are in general where the danger lies. These devices are typically poorly designed electronically, allowing for great amounts of current to flow thru the heating coil, mainly in order to produce larger amounts of vapor - creating monster clouds, etc. Many have little to no current regulation at all; you are lucky to find one that uses any kind of real current regulator (perhaps an LM117 with a bypass power transistor or MOSFET). Most are little more than a switch shorting the coil directly to the battery; maybe with a potentiometer thrown in as a voltage divider. They put enormous stress on the LiPO cell(s) used in the device, and these cells are sometimes the cheapest ones that can be bought - overruns or ones that didn't pass inspection, get re-bought in the business, then repackaged and sold on with "white label" style branding. Far cheaper than the name brand cells, often marked up with erroneous current handling capabilities far exceeding what they can really do. All of that leads to a perfect storm, where they are stressed beyond their capability, and they enter into an "avalanche mode" of self-destruction, heating up and chemically reacting in a matter of seconds or less to swell, catch fire, and explode. Instead of acknowledging this - which any box modder knows about and likely assumes such risk - these articles seem to conflate the hobbyist level devices with that of the standard and branded vape pen devices by known manufacturers. To what end, I am not certain, though I could speculate. Follow the money as usual and you'd probably find out the truth.

_Schizotypy 8y ago
It's mentioned that a cup holder melted. Sounds like an unsecured bottom button on a tube mechanical mod