Why did my battery get HOT!?

[rmacaronio]

So, I've been using this battery (18650 Samsung INR18650-25R 2500mAh High Discharge Flat Top) with no problems for several months now. I've been using the infinite cartel clone mod for about a month with my kayfun lite v2+ and No problems with either, until today.

Single coil, 1.6 ohms, 28 gauge Kanthal, cotton wick

Using that build for the last couple days. It was going great today. Then when I got home, I thought I'd check the volts on the battery to see if it was time to swap it out for another. I took the kayfun off. Screwed in one of those in-line volt meters. Tried checking, got nothing. Extended the telescopic part of the contact, then tried again. The button was really hot all of the sudden. I quickly unscrewed the button and took the battery out. It was extremely hot. It even looked like the wrapper on the negative side melted a little bit. This all happened so fast, so I'm really confused as to what happened. The battery didn't even cool down at all after five minutes, so I tossed it.

A little later I threw the kayfun on my ohm meter, and noticed it was jumping around all over from 1 ohm to 3 ohm. It seemed to jump more when tilting the kayfun while screwed in to the ohm meter.

Any ideas what's going on?

 

[dopamine1]

It sounds like that volt meter shorted your mod somehow. Was the kayfun on the volt meter when this happened?

You already got rid of the battery... good. I probably would avoid using that mod and meter again until you can check them for shorts. Do you have a multimeter?

In the meantime I'd check the insulators on the mod and the kayfun, and make sure the coil hasn't moved or anything.

 

[rmacaronio]

It sounds like that volt meter shorted your mod somehow. Was the kayfun on the volt meter when this happened?

You already got rid of the battery... good. I probably would avoid using that mod and meter again until you can check them for shorts. Do you have a multimeter?

In the meantime I'd check the insulators on the mod and the kayfun, and make sure the coil hasn't moved or anything.

The kayfun was not on the volt meter when it happened. I don't have a multi meter. I've seen people recommend one to check a mod for shorts, but even if I had one, I'd have no idea how to do that. Maybe I'll take it to a b&m and see if they can check it for shorts for me. Where could they be? I looked for burrs in the threading and stuff when I got the mod. It was actually really clean. Check the black insulator on the top cap? What am I checking for? Thanks. Forgive my noobish questions haha

Also...The coil was still in place, and didn't appear to be touching anything it shouldn't have

 

[dopamine1]

The kayfun was not on the volt meter when it happened. I don't have a multi meter. I've seen people recommend one to check a mod for shorts, but even if I had one, I'd have no idea how to do that. Maybe I'll take it to a b&m and see if they can check it for shorts for me. Where could they be? I looked for burrs in the threading and stuff when I got the mod. It was actually really clean. Check the black insulator on the top cap? What am I checking for? Thanks. Forgive my noobish questions haha

Also...The coil was still in place, and didn't appear to be touching anything it shouldn't have

You're checking to see that they aren't melted or damaged.

It's easy to check for shorts with a multimeter. All you do is put one probe on the positive pin of the mod or atty and make sure it's ONLY touching the pin, and then put the other probe on the threads of an atty or the body of the mod. It shouldn't find anything. Some meters have a continuity test setting and make a noise when they find a circuit, and with others you just use the same setting you use to check resistance.

Also, they can be used to check the voltage of your batteries. You can get them for pretty cheap at any hardware store. Highly recommended if you want to use mech mods...

 

[juicynoos]

I took the kayfun off. Screwed in one of those in-line volt meters. Tried checking, got nothing. Extended the telescopic part of the contact, then tried again. The button was really hot all of the sudden. I quickly unscrewed the button and took the battery out. It was extremely hot. It even looked like the wrapper on the negative side melted a little bit. This all happened so fast, so I'm really confused as to what happened. The battery didn't even cool down at all after five minutes, so I tossed it.

A little later I threw the kayfun on my ohm meter, and noticed it was jumping around all over from 1 ohm to 3 ohm. It seemed to jump more when tilting the kayfun while screwed in to the ohm meter.

Any ideas what's going on?

Hi rmacaronio,

You just gave me 'deja vue', I had the exact same thing happen to me with a similar setup,..mech mod and Kayfun 3.1 clone (rather than your Lite v2 +).

In my case it was a hard short caused by the Kayfun positive post touching the negative on the building deck,
I had (like you) fiddled with the screw on the 510 connection because it wouldn't fire. (This comes from clearomizer tank no-fire issues-right)

By loosening or tightening, without the build deck being visible, you risk having the positive post shift on the insulator and rotate, making a short with the, all too close, negative terminal.

The 'ohms reader' was telling you that there was a short in your atty when the numbers were erratic ("it was jumping around all over from 1 ohm to 3 ohm").
Bet it got reeal HOT reeal fast?!? Same thing happened to me!! LMAO

Search the web and you will see you're not the first person this happened to with a Kayfun
Likewise, if a non-adjustable center pin becomes loosened somehow. the positive post will just flop around up there and do strange things when moving it from one side to another!

If a battery is venting, you must chuck it far away as faast as possible where there is nobody and nothing flammable near by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vaping can be hazardous if you don't pay attention and follow safe procedures. I'm really careful now with my Kayfuns and never make adjustments without the chimney off to see the coil and deck.
What did you find when you took the tank off then, would like to know.

I hope this might help explain what I suspect happened, Clean tour mod and check it. It also has insulators at the both ends. I think your ohm reader is probs fine!

cheers

 

[Rickajho]

That's also why you need a DVM - to check the status of that battery out of context of an iffy mod shorting situation. One of the only ways to check what damage may have been to the battery is to test the voltage of it before you do anything else with it. Putting it back in the mod and using an in-line 510 volt meter is not what you do when a problem like this shows up - until you track down the source of the actual problem. If the battery dropped to nearly zero volts from exposure to a hard short - toss the battery.

 

[rmacaronio]

Hi rmacaronio,

You just gave me 'deja vue', I had the exact same thing happen to me with a similar setup,..mech mod and Kayfun 3.1 clone (rather than your Lite v2 +).

In my case it was a hard short caused by the Kayfun positive post touching the negative on the building deck,
I had (like you) fiddled with the screw on the 510 connection because it wouldn't fire. (This comes from clearomizer tank no-fire issues-right)

By loosening or tightening, without the build deck being visible, you risk having the positive post shift on the insulator and rotate, making a short with the, all too close, negative terminal.

The 'ohms reader' was telling you that there was a short in your atty when the numbers were erratic ("it was jumping around all over from 1 ohm to 3 ohm").
Bet it got reeal HOT reeal fast?!? Same thing happened to me!! LMAO

Search the web and you will see you're not the first person this happened to with a Kayfun
Likewise, if a non-adjustable center pin becomes loosened somehow. the positive post will just flop around up there and do strange things when moving it from one side to another!

If a battery is venting, you must chuck it far away as faast as possible where there is nobody and nothing flammable near by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vaping can be hazardous if you don't pay attention and follow safe procedures. I'm really careful now with my Kayfuns and never make adjustments without the chimney off to see the coil and deck.
What did you find when you took the tank off then, would like to know.

I hope this might help explain what I suspect happened, Clean tour mod and check it. It also has insulators at the both ends. I think your ohm reader is probs fine!

cheers

That's funny. I didn't mention fiddling with the 510 connection on this post. You must have seen my other post, where I mentioned having problems fitting the kayfun on a caravela clone mod a couple days earlier. That day I did mess with the 510 connection. I had heard there was a model that did have an adjustable pin, guess it's not this one. Thanks though ,I think this is a possible scenario and might be the cause. I did take a look at the coil last night and didn't notice positive and negative touching. That could explain though when I threw it on the ohms reader today, it seemed to jump more when I tilted the kayfun base slightly to one side. I took everything in to the local b&m today and they said it could possibly be burrs in the positive end of the mod. And it should be cleaned. I cleaned it out when I got it, but I did notice tiny little burrs in the 510 threading on the to top cap today. Maybe little slivers of copper coming off from screwing and un screwing attys regularly? Anyway, thanks for your help.

Oh and yes, I threw the battery away immediately. And not in my apartment.

 

[rmacaronio]

That's also why you need a DVM - to check the status of that battery out of context of an iffy mod shorting situation. One of the only ways to check what damage may have been to the battery is to test the voltage of it before you do anything else with it. Putting it back in the mod and using an in-line 510 volt meter is not what you do when a problem like this shows up - until you track down the source of the actual problem. If the battery dropped to nearly zero volts from exposure to a hard short - toss the battery.

Hi. Actually what happened was i got home from a day at the beach. The battery and mod were just fine, I just wanted to see how much juice was left on the battery (I take them out at 3.6 volts) to see if it was time to swap it out for a new one. So I took off the kayfun and screwed the in line volt meter in. That's when the battery got really hot. I wasn't going to check it after that. I immediately threw it away. For me, for safety reasons, once it gets that hot it's garbage. I can just buy another for ten bucks.

 

[rurwin]

I've had a Russian 91% short out only by screwing it on and off a mod. The R91 has an extra screw so you can adjust it, but in my case it was screwed down tight, making it more like the Kayfun. To my mind it is a design error that the positive end of the build deck can rotate into the negative end. There should be a pin to stop it or it should be rounded more.

But from what you say, the Kayfun was not on the mod when the battery was shorted. I can only think that when you "Extended the telescopic part of the contact," you caused the short.

If there was already a hole in the battery insulation, it could short to the mod and bypass the button. That would cause local heating and melt the insulation further, ending up as you found it. But that would only fire continually, not actually develop a short circuit. It may be enough to over-discharge the battery though.

 

[juicynoos]

That's funny. I didn't mention fiddling with the 510 connection on this post. You must have seen my other post, where I mentioned having problems fitting the kayfun on a caravela clone mod a couple days earlier. That day I did mess with the 510 connection. I had heard there was a model that did have an adjustable pin, guess it's not this one. Thanks though ,I think this is a possible scenario and might be the cause. I did take a look at the coil last night and didn't notice positive and negative touching. That could explain though when I threw it on the ohms reader today, it seemed to jump more when I tilted the kayfun base slightly to one side. I took everything in to the local b&m today and they said it could possibly be burrs in the positive end of the mod. And it should be cleaned. I cleaned it out when I got it, but I did notice tiny little burrs in the 510 threading on the to top cap today. Maybe little slivers of copper coming off from screwing and un screwing attys regularly? Anyway, thanks for your help.

Oh and yes, I threw the battery away immediately. And not in my apartment.

Hi Again, it was last night when I replied to your OP and I see now that the short occurred when you used an inline voltage meter which adds another device that could be suspect. Is it the ToBeCo model? I was thinking of getting one myself to test voltage drop on my mods and batteries just for the hell of it. Whatever the cause of the short, I hope that people take note of the issue that can occur with a Kayfun deck as was the case with my short!
In your case do continuity tests with a multimeter on each device for shorts as well as a total dis-assembly, cleaning and rebuild. That mod needs to have all the burrs removed as that is well dodgy!! Best of luck to you.

 

[juicynoos]

I've had a Russian 91% short out only by screwing it on and off a mod. The R91 has an extra screw so you can adjust it, but in my case it was screwed down tight, making it more like the Kayfun. To my mind it is a design error that the positive end of the build deck can rotate into the negative end. There should be a pin to stop it or it should be rounded more.

But from what you say, the Kayfun was not on the mod when the battery was shorted. I can only think that when you "Extended the telescopic part of the contact," you caused the short.

If there was already a hole in the battery insulation, it could short to the mod and bypass the button. That would cause local heating and melt the insulation further, ending up as you found it. But that would only fire continually, not actually develop a short circuit. It may be enough to over-discharge the battery though.

I totally agree that there is a flaw in the design which allows those 2 posts to touch. They should make the insulator in such a way that it fills the gap between the positive/negative posts preventing them from touching under any circumstances! I think I might modify my Kayfuns in that way..scary stuff!!! Cheers

 

[rmacaronio]

It sounds like that volt meter shorted your mod somehow. Was the kayfun on the volt meter when this happened?

You already got rid of the battery... good. I probably would avoid using that mod and meter again until you can check them for shorts. Do you have a multimeter?

In the meantime I'd check the insulators on the mod and the kayfun, and make sure the coil hasn't moved or anything.

Hi rmacaronio,

You just gave me 'deja vue', I had the exact same thing happen to me with a similar setup,..mech mod and Kayfun 3.1 clone (rather than your Lite v2 +).

In my case it was a hard short caused by the Kayfun positive post touching the negative on the building deck,
I had (like you) fiddled with the screw on the 510 connection because it wouldn't fire. (This comes from clearomizer tank no-fire issues-right)

By loosening or tightening, without the build deck being visible, you risk having the positive post shift on the insulator and rotate, making a short with the, all too close, negative terminal.

The 'ohms reader' was telling you that there was a short in your atty when the numbers were erratic ("it was jumping around all over from 1 ohm to 3 ohm").
Bet it got reeal HOT reeal fast?!? Same thing happened to me!! LMAO

Search the web and you will see you're not the first person this happened to with a Kayfun
Likewise, if a non-adjustable center pin becomes loosened somehow. the positive post will just flop around up there and do strange things when moving it from one side to another!

If a battery is venting, you must chuck it far away as faast as possible where there is nobody and nothing flammable near by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vaping can be hazardous if you don't pay attention and follow safe procedures. I'm really careful now with my Kayfuns and never make adjustments without the chimney off to see the coil and deck.
What did you find when you took the tank off then, would like to know.

I hope this might help explain what I suspect happened, Clean tour mod and check it. It also has insulators at the both ends. I think your ohm reader is probs fine!

cheers

I've had a Russian 91% short out only by screwing it on and off a mod. The R91 has an extra screw so you can adjust it, but in my case it was screwed down tight, making it more like the Kayfun. To my mind it is a design error that the positive end of the build deck can rotate into the negative end. There should be a pin to stop it or it should be rounded more.

But from what you say, the Kayfun was not on the mod when the battery was shorted. I can only think that when you "Extended the telescopic part of the contact," you caused the short.

If there was already a hole in the battery insulation, it could short to the mod and bypass the button. That would cause local heating and melt the insulation further, ending up as you found it. But that would only fire continually, not actually develop a short circuit. It may be enough to over-discharge the battery though.

Hi Again, it was last night when I replied to your OP and I see now that the short occurred when you used an inline voltage meter which adds another device that could be suspect. Is it the ToBeCo model? I was thinking of getting one myself to test voltage drop on my mods and batteries just for the hell of it. Whatever the cause of the short, I hope that people take note of the issue that can occur with a Kayfun deck as was the case with my short!
In your case do continuity tests with a multimeter on each device for shorts as well as a total dis-assembly, cleaning and rebuild. That mod needs to have all the burrs removed as that is well dodgy!! Best of luck to you.

Okay 100 percent sure the inline volt meter is the problem. Today I was using a different battery, different mod. Screwed that volt meter in, same exact problem. This time it ruined my efest 18500 battery. And yes, it was the tobeco inline volt meter. I don't know why it happened, but I do know it is that that's causing it.

 

[AzPlumber]

These problems are commonly caused by heavy handed tightening of your devices. The center pin isolator on this stuff is typically a soft material and over tightening causes the isolator to split allowing the center pin to make contact with the negative threaded part of the connector. A snug fit is all that's needed.

 

[rmacaronio]

These problems are commonly caused by heavy handed tightening of your devices. The center pin isolator on this stuff is typically a soft material and over tightening causes the isolator to split allowing the center pin to make contact with the negative threaded part of the connector. A snug fit is all that's needed.

I guess I need to dial back my hulk strength because my smoktech ohm reader is having problems too. Numbers are jumping all over the place when I screw on an atty, unless I tilt it to one side.

 

[juicynoos]

I guess I need to dial back my hulk strength because my smoktech ohm reader is having problems too. Numbers are jumping all over the place when I screw on an atty, unless I tilt it to one side.

I forgot to mention that over tightening might mess up the lil' grommet insulators in the 510 when you screw stuff on your mods. Best check all of those and replace as necessary. Pick up a multimeter if you don't already have one, they're not expensive and will serve you well...oh, and easy does it on the PSI 'hulk'

 

[rmacaronio]

I forgot to mention that over tightening might mess up the lil' grommet insulators in the 510 when you screw stuff on your mods. Best check all of those and replace as necessary. Pick up a multimeter if you don't already have one, they're not expensive and will serve you well...oh, and easy does it on the PSI 'hulk'

I just ordered a multimeter last night on Amazon actually. The reason I had an inline multi meter was to check battery voltage on the go (when I'm not home) and then I had one of those ohm/voltage meters at home. Turns out they are both garbage now. At least I can use the ohm/voltage reader one to hold my atty while building. I guess I might have to buy another digital multi meter to leave in my car.