Hello, hola, hiya, wassup, wasshappenin, what it is, what...........Oh, you get the point.......HI!

Introduce Yourself
1

Hiya. Yes, I'm a total noob here.....and in the arena of lighting, I really haven't ventured much beyond my little keychain LED light or my Coleman camping light. It's something I have some interest in so I'm thinking I'll probably absorb some through osmosis while I'm hanging around here. What I'm really here for is to learn as much as I possibly can about batteries and battery safety.

Ya see, I'm a vaper (as you can tell my my name here). Most people call me "Watch" because I'm also a fanatical watch collector. Unfortunately, being a watch collector didn't prepare me for this most recent of hobbies that is vaping.

I'm sure many people will know what vaping is, but for those that don't, I'll sum it up for you. Vapers use devices (called "Personal Vaporizers") with a heating coil (called "atomizer") in which you drip a nicotine, vegetable glycerin/propylene glycol, flavoring solution ("e-juice", "nic-juice", or just "juice"). That solution is vaporized into a water-based vapor by the atomizer and the user inhales this vapor in the same manner as a cigarette. Most "vapers" are current or former smokers who have used or are using vaping as a method of smoke cessation and it is among the most effective, if not the most effective method of quitting smoking.

I'm not gonna go into vaping specifics (if you want to know more, I'll be thrilled to talk to you about it in PM or maybe the "Off Topic" section of the forum) but I will go into what brings me here. Basically, a Personal Vaporizor (or "PV") is a flashlight where the bulb filament is exposed. These PVs operate using 3.7v batteries, either in a single configuration or in a variable voltage configuration with 2 3.7v batteries in series and a variable mosfet to control the voltage. We are putting these PVs VERY close to our faces and, unfortunately, there is very little safety information provided to us by the sellers of these PVs.

This is why I am here. I need to learn everything I possibly can about batteries so I can better inform my viewers how to handle their batteries safely and I've found this is possibly the best place to do it. There is a lot of misinformation, speculation, and simply wrong information going around and I'm hoping this forum will be kind enough to help educate me so I can then educate another community and prevent bad things from happening with stacked 18650 batteries held 2" from someone's nose.

SO! Sorry for the long self-introduction. I've re-written this thing several times and, believe it or not, this is the short version!

I'm sure I'm gonna ask some monumentally stupid questions a I learn and I fully expect to be razzed about it, but I hope you will also be patient with my learning curve and help me limp along. It's for a good cause....or at least I think it is.

Thanks for reading!

Watch

PS. Maybe I can also figure out what light will help me find my black dogs in my 1.5 acre back yard in the middle of the night. I can't see them buggers with anything I've got!

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I think this would be a good starters light, very bright, throwie (I doubt thats a word) and simple.

Sorry I cant help with the safest batteries but I would guess something with a PCB and using a Panasonic cell.

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welcome watch. to each his own. i like collecting stickers from envelopes (shipments, consignments, parcels, packages).

;)

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Thanks for the link. Of course, all the specs on that thing are Greek to me right now but I don't think I'll have too much trouble deciphering it after a few decades of surfing around this site. :p I'll keep reading and start asking a few questions and, hopefully, I'll be up to speed by retirement! :D

The amount of information on this forum is daunting!

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I looked into Vaping and see they offer one with a 18650 batt! Lots of vapor. I have a little e-cig. It is not enough. Many are using the 18650 without incident. There is a pretty steep learning curve for vaping. But it does work. I went to city hall puffing on my little e-cig the other day. I may need to pick your brain on vaping watch (not watch vaping LOL).

Keith

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Welcome to BLF vaper watch.

At the moment I have an 18650 close enough to my face to rearrange it severly, so I am using an IMR. Specifiaclly this Bestinone IMR

http://www.bestinone.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=57_67&product_id=52

Powering an EGO Tank with this battery holder.

http://www.heaven-gifts.com/product-403.html

http://www.heaven-gifts.com/product-460.html

and these atomizers

I personally think IMRs are the safest batteries for E-Cigs.

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Hi Watch, welcome to BLF. I'm now just into my 4th smoke-free week after 30 years of puffing (in every sense ) No patches or substitutes this time, just straight cold turkey. I thought about vaping but was told 'no' by docs; it's better than smoking but far from ideal for my clogged arteries. Well, that's what they told me..

Enjoy your stay here, good to have you with us.

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congratulations

i'm next

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Nice to hear you are still off them, I quit cold turkey too 11 months ago after smoking 50-60 cigarettes a day for 16 years.

In a month from now it will be roughly $7,000 to $10,000 not spent on smoking in a year since I quit.

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I am a lifelong smoker and I am now on year 3 of being smoke free. I bought the E-Cig to vape in my new Stang so I didn't stink it up and I instantly got addicted to vapeing and gave up on regular Cigs. I had to use my asthma inhaler 2 or 3 times a day when I smoked, I haven't picked it up in 3 years. I have also saved a fortune, since I use about 50 cents worth of E liquid a day compared to $6 bucks a day for a pack of smokes.

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Hi and welcome to BLF, Vapor Watch. I have a brother in Raleigh.

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@ E1320, ezarc: Serious congrats to both of you, and indeed anyone else who's managed to do this.

dthrckt: Good luck mate. I'm trying to just take 1 day at a time; hope it works for you, too.


Watch: it's wonderfully relaxed at BLF. You can feel absolutely free around here to start a thread on almost anything you like, whether asking Q's or sharing knowledge/experience. I suspect, for instance, that a post in the 'Off Topic' forum about e-cigs would get some interest. Just an idea..

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Welcome to BLF.

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Welcome to BLF, Vapor Watch.

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Wow! I really didn't expect to run into any vapers here but I guess that's just further proof that vaping is permeating our society. Congrats to all those who said they have quit smoking, whether it's with vaping or cold turkey. The method of quitting isn't important.....only that you quit.

Lensman, I'm thrilled you have been able to quit and stay quit. Being able to walk away from smokes is definitely an accomplishment. Doctors are, unfortunately, ill informed about vaping due to the relatively small amount of research done on them but that is changing every day. Vaping is becoming more and more accepted as one of the most effective smoke cessation methods available (if not THE most effective). Good luck on staying away forever. If there's ever anything I can do to help you stay away, please let me know.

budynabuick, I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have about vaping......if you'll let me pick your brain in return! If you check out my avatar you can see a few examples of devices we put these big batteries into. Considering we hold these batteries 2" from our mouths, this is why I need to learn everything I can about batteries and how/why they react under this/that circumstance and with those/these conditions. Not really trying to find a specific answer......I'm more trying to become an expert in batteries so I don't give the wrong information to one of my viewers that results in them losing their face.

E1320, AWESOME!! I'm thrilled to see another vaper and I'm equally thrilled to see you using a "Big Battery" PV! I have that exact one you linked to (have 4 of them actually.....gotta have different colors!) and it works fantastically! I would have to agree with you in that IMR batteries (or the new CGR18650CH Panasonics) are the best choice for a device like that one.....but what about a stacked battery configuration? Does a series circuit leave too much room for one battery draining too much for one reason or another and, at best, damaging the battery? Why? These are the facts I'm looking for here and why I've spent the past 6 hours reading reviews and tests in this forum.....even though most of it makes absolutely no sense to me. I gotta say....I'm thrilled to see other vapers in here. It makes me feel my answers might be a little easier to find.

ezark, FANTASTIC!!! I respect the heck out of what you've done. Cold Turkey isn't easy and I know I wasn't successful the dozen or so times I tried. Keep it up! Here's to the next 40 years!

dthrckt, Good luck! I fervently hope you are able to find something that works....whether that be willpower, the patch, or vaping. If you ever want information about vaping, just let me know.

Thanks to everyone who has given me a warm welcome. I was nervous about coming to a "flashlight" forum not really looking to learn about flashlights but you folks have made me feel comfortable and welcome, and I appreciate that. If anyone has questions about vaping or links where I can learn more about how to read those charts I keep seeing in the reviews, feel free to PM me.

Thanks again, all

dang....another long-as-heck post....I gotta watch that or I'll have to change my name to Novel Watch!

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Welcome, to BLF, Vapor Watch!!

I've been very curious (but not enough to delve further) about a lot of talk of CR123 cells being used in e-cigs. How the hell does that happen? I can see maybe an e-cigar but for an e-cig I'd have guessed nothing larger than a 10440 (AAA size) would be used. Now E admits to using an 18650?? It has to be an e-cigar! LOL

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welcome to BLF vapor watch! my interest in vaping has been recent,so I may call on you for some recco's,I want to quit regular cigarettes.I am also a big Tag Heuer fan and will probably get another in a couple months,depending on my flashlight budget.enjoy!!

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Multiple lion battery configurations are dangerous. Most Lion explosions occur in a multiple battery configurations when one battery goes bad and the other battery picks up the load and keeps charging/heating the bad battery until it vents. I don't like multi-lion battery flashlights for this reason no way in an e-cig not in a million years would I do that.

I have a set of the Panasonics as well and they are safer than regular lions, but do you really need to deliver 10amps to an e-cig I don't think so.

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Hey VW and welcome. The XINTD C8 ezarcs linked is quality favorite here as well as the lessor expensive similar KD C8 which was my first 2 torches.

Whats a good and pleasant budget vaping forum that you know of. And no BLFers budgetvaporforum.com is not valid domain neither is vaporpoweredforums.com YET lols

Again Welcome

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Thanks for the welcome! If you look in my avatar, you'll see several devices that use 18650s.....and I have several more that use 26550s and even stacked 26500s. This is why I'm so intent on learning about these batteries....it's not like we're putting little 10440s under our noses! We (the vaping community in general) are mostly trying to separate our hobby from smoking as much as possible. We use e-cigs to quit smoking......then we use BBPVs (Big Battery Personal Vaporizers) to continue vaping as a hobby. Additionally, vaping with an 18650 BBPV can give me a full day of vaping without worrying about extra batteries where the small "cigarette style" e-cigs are only 100-500mAh, which means you gotta have several batteries on hand at all times. Even further, vaping is all about the wattage. Regular PVs operate at around 3-3.4v off load. BBPVs start at 4.2v off load, go up to 6v with boosted variable voltage BBPVs, and up to 8v using stacked batteries. There is a ton of different ways to vape and a ton of different places you can find your devices.

Hit me up anytime! I'd be happy to talk vaping AND watches with you! I currently have just over 50 BBPVs and just under 200 watches (mostly Invicta but a few high ends sprinkled in there) so I'm always thrilled to discuss my passions!

They are dangerous, no doubt about that. There must be ways to reduce the risk factor to make it safer.

As for the amps? 5v on a dual coil carto with each coil at 1.5ohm = 6.67amps......and there are people who make double barrel mods so, 5v on TWO dual coil cartos is 13.3amps. The second example is a prime example of Darwinism but the first example is a very common practice. I think this is why people are so lackadaisical about battery safety in vaping. People think, "It's only a tiny little coil and it's only vaporizing this liquid...it can't be all that dangerous". The truth is it's not very difficult at all, and actually fairly commonplace, for someone to be vaping at 4amps even on the basic PV you have! Then you have devices like the ProVari that boosts the voltage off of a regular 3.7v battery up to as much as 6v, regularly reaching 6amps and spiking up to 9amps. Throw in the fact the batteries we use are protected and people think, "hey....it's protected! That means no danger!" I've got a lot to learn and then I've got a long battle to get people to understand it's just not that simple.

Thanks. I'll be looking into my first non-wally world flashlight soon so I can see the fergin dogs in the back yard at night (Black dogs and dark night with crappy flashlight= not knowing where your dogs are

Give E-Cigarette Forum (otherwise known as ECF) a shot. They're a little militant over there but they've got a ton of excellent information.