I just saw some sparks as the carrier got shortend and instantly pulled it away, not even a second… I guess the VTCs should be pretty tough with high currents anyway.
Yeah, I’d use them. As long as they look okay, didn’t get very hot, and still hold a full charge for a few days, they’re probably fine. Especially if they’re genuine name-brand cells, they’re built tougher than most people give them credit for.
I have shorted a Panasonic 18650PF once for a couple of seconds, it really heated up but that was it, I kept using it for years. And since I was using it on an ecig (one using, one charging), the same battery was fully charged and fully discharged daily with no issues whatsoever.
I, too, believe that if it hasn’t vent, doesn’t smell funny and nothing on the battery shows that it has been sorted, it’s good to go …as long as it’s a good quality battery. And VTC6s are very good quality batteries according to people, here on BLF, much more involved than me with batteries. My opinion - right or wrong - is to be careful with it for a few cycles and then forget it ever happened.
I wonder how recycle depositories protect themselves in this regard?
Recently while rebuilding a laptop pack with 35E I smelled something funny. I didn’t see any short, but ripped the last solder point and the problem disappeared. Then I measured everything, each battery pair still shows good voltage, I guess I didn’t irreversibly break anything.
After calming down I re-soldered the battery and there’s no short.