That makes me want to give up batteries completely, get a solar panel for my flashlights. :nerd_face:
Completely agree with your comments, but what is really annoying is that if enough idiots cause enough fires, some slimy politician will pick the issue up to “do something about dangerous batteries” or “dangerous ecigs and components!”…to take focus off how he’s not doing anything but collecting money in office. 
Even if you treated the battery badly and didnt check voltages and didnt use a protected cell and put it in a headlamp and it outgassed while you were wearing it, and you didnt take it off when it suddenly went out and made a sound, I’m going to guess it would vent out the lens or switch (facing forward or up), and hopefully you would take it off your forehead instead of let it burn your head and kill you. Just saying.
And, that does not look like an explosion, but a venting and fire in the picture.
Currently there’s no regulation on these ‘e-cigarettes’, and manufacturers are free to make and sell the lowest quality products, eliminating safety features and quality control to ensure the cheapest possible price.
Ideally the market would simply refuse to purchase these dangerous low quality products, but unfortunately that’s easier said than done. Low prices are compelling. Not to mention relying on the education and understanding of li-ion battery fundamentals is NOT a good method of ensuring user safety of an UNREGULATED product.
I realize e-cigarette fans cringe every time they see a story like this reach wide publicity, but not doing anything about it isn’t going to make the problem go away, either.
Yep. And cell phones may cause brain cancer.
This stuff never stops.
I’ve smoked for 15 years or so, and recently changed over to an ecig.
trust me, we baby cells compared to what the average ecig does to them….
do you know what I saw recommended the other night? use unprotected cells as protection circuits cannot take over 3a and an ecig needs 5a or so……strange that my Samsung, sanyo and Panasonic protected cells seem fine in my set up(yes, I use an 18650 in my ecig, saved buying crappy unknown cells and chargers….).
I do agree that in my limited experience, the lack of knowledge regarding ecigs power source is terrifying, but there are also very knowledgeable users of them too, so please don’t lump everyone in with the few unprepared to learn.
I also agree that the whole lithium industry is destined for a huge shake up, mainly thanks to people’s unwillingness to accept that with greater power comes greater responsibility and thus cost.
Wow. Wasn’t trying to start a controversy on here or anything. I am very careful with my batteries in general, but I just don’t like the idea of having a mini-pipebomb attached to my forehead. I think B42 is probably correct, though, regarding the battery venting out through the lens, rather than just exploding. Either way, I’m sticking with my Eneloop powered Zebralight H502 
Another thing I find heartening using Li-ions is not only are the instances EXTREMELY rare in flashlights compared to the amount of cells that must undergo daily usage, but every time I heard of a cell venting/exploding and there was further info to be found, you could identify things the USER did wrong to cause the explosion/vent and there were also usually warning signs beforehand, that they only noticed later (such as large capacity loss, user noted very decreased runtime, cell came off charger as “charged” too quickly, cell was warmer with usage, etc etc) and if you followed a reasonable treatment of your cells with occasional testing alone it all would have been prevented, let alone if you used a protected cell and not a crappy Ultrafire.
With ecig users and an exploding Li-ion it seems a different story…so far you find later they dont have a clue what they were doing, even retrospectively, and you find they must have exaggerated a pop followed by venting into a “massive explosion” for the media to snap up.
I wonder how the amount of accidental fires by incompetent cig smokers compares to accidental fires from incompetent e-cig Li-ion users? I bet the latter is many factors of 10 lower, and wont be brought into consideration when “we have to do something about the danger”. Even the “ECIG BLOWUP” stories are nothing in human and property damage compared to house fires that still happen regularly with lit cigs.
I just had a quick glance at the first few comments on Reddit.
BTW I've never smoked, so I've never paid much attention to ecigs either. But what I saw in some of the comments worries me a bit.
Am I to understand that some of these ecigs charge via micro-USB but with a charger that isn't 5V? If so, that's just asking for trouble. Pumping 5V into a 4.2V unprotected cell with the "wrong" charger appears to have been the likely cause of this accident.
Surely it would be reasonable (based on all other USB devices) to assume that "if it fits it should be OK." I rarely bother to track which AC-USB adaptor came with which gadget because I know they are a standard. The only possible problem should be a tablet or phone that charges too slowly if I grab an underpowered adaptor.
(The exception to this is my sole Apple device. My shiny iPad won't charge without the pretty white Apple adaptor.)
@ OrAirwolf - Perhaps making the immediate leap that Li-Ion headlamps are inherently dangerous is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. I fully respect your decision not to put Li-Ion cells on your head but I don't think this example is indicative of the risks one takes when using a quality headlamp running a quality, protected cell.
Without laws and courts to dole out consequences (fines and judgements) almost every manufacturer on earth would sell for high price and cut the same corners to supply at minimum cost even if hte product becomes unsafe by the cost cutting. The “consumers won’t pay a fair price so we must make unsafe products” is a cheap way of deflecting the blame for cost cutting to pad profits.
Very few people have a conscience, most who can will convince themselves that their life threatening cost cutting measures will do no harm but will increase profit at no problem to the user.
Food safety, worker safety, environmental protection, safe for customer use, these laws are needed because it is more profitable to sell unsafe food, poison people and the environment and force workers to work in unsafe conditions then to spend money to prevent these problems.
Made in china does not carry any protections about poisons, shoddy construction and consequences because chinese law will not help out a distributor, and they poison their own citizens and environment all in the name of increased profit. One could easily argue this is capitalism at its finest.
“This combined with the fact that smokers tend to be less smart than non-smokers supports the notion that there are more smart people on BLF using li-ion in far more strenuous conditions than less smart people using li-ion in ecigs.”
You simply making that statement is ironic. Clearly you are not the brightest flashlight in the drawer or you would realize what a dumb statement that was before you made it.
No need to argue . . capitalism is a willing buyer and a willing seller . . these buyers are willing to take the risk on cheap crap from China . . stuff they know is cheap crap from China with little and obviously wrong specifications!
The related term is caveat emptor. We have more information available to us than ever before, and still many can’t be bothered to protect themselves. Who looks for UL approved any more? If the cheap crap from china had UL approved on them, would they believe it like they do lumen claims, or would they actually verify it? You don’t always get more by paying more, but you always get cheap crap when that’s what you buy.
Unfortunately, we can’t legislate common sense. Ask yourself how to get more rational people who make smart choices … the bonus is they just might insist on better everything (hopefully politicians).
Are you a smoker?
How many folks here drive a car? Do you change the air filter? Do you mod the air filter mechanism to allow the engine to breathe better in an effort to make it more efficient…more power better gas mileage? That’s an intelligent modification to improve the vehicle, something as simple as a K&N Air filter boosts performance by allowing more air through.
So why do people smoke? Inhibiting their lungs by pumping carcinogens and tar into their delicate lung tissues, bogging down the bodies ability to perform? Beats me! I did it myself for years, and of course I knew better all along. I did my term paper as a Senior in High School on the effects of cigarettes on the lungs. If you do any research, it’s pretty disgusting what it does to us! I still can’t figure out, in this day and age of regulatory laws, why cigarette’s are still sold. But the simple fact is, yes it’s a FACT, I feel better and breathe easier since I quit smoking almost 13 years ago. No, I don’t have a piggy bank full of saved money, perhaps that’s where I got all these flashlights…
Edit: I had a Ford F250 Diesel truck. I modified the airbox on the Banks Turbo intake such that it had a 4” diameter aluminum tube in 6061. And yes, a K&N Air Filter. The 4” tube coming up to the front of the vehicle had a surprising amount of suction at idle! Put your hand over the tube, block that air intake, and kill the engine in about 3 seconds. A smokers lungs have a look almost exactly like beef jerkey, cooked dried meat. How can air get processed through something like that? Well, the simple answer is, it can’t. They call it Emphysema. My Aunt smoked heavily for years. And now, in her 80’s, she wheezes and complains about how tired she is, coughs and starts gagging. Hmmmmm. Yes, she’s got Emphysema, and get’s Pneumonia very easily. Some people joke about driving nails in their coffin, but that’s pretty spot on.
Edit II: My real lobby here is to get more access to flashlight batteries. Don’t really care if people choose to kill themselves slowly, that’s not any of my business.
The car engine analogy is only one aspect of smoking. Nicotine is a very addictive mood-altering drug.
“Nicotine self-administration acutely activates brain reward systems and induces a long-lasting increase in reward sensitivity.”
Smokers aren't are smart as non-smokers
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100401151746.htm
I wonder, would smokers fare better in tests if they quit, or use an alternative nicotine delivery system?
For the same reason people drink alcohol and eat food full of fat & sugar, coffee,chocolate etc… . Legal drugs used for pleasure.
“People on the lower end of the average IQ tend to display poorer overall decision-making skills when it comes to their health,” “People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking,” Prof. Weiser adds. “These same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues.””
Stating the obvious.
just a subtle but pedantic point.
People who use ecigs are not smoking……nothing is burning till the charger craps out, the ecig applies a current to an inductive coil, this creates heat which evaporates the fluid in the wick and the uses inhales these vapours, hence the term “vaping”.
Now I agree, smoking is not a rational decision, precious few of lifes pleasures are, but I’m not buying into the idea that smoking = low iq, not across the board.
Some of the most irational people I’ve come across are non smokers, some of the most intelligent are chain smokers, same as everything it really boils down to the individual.
I’d also be happy to go toe to toe with anyone on some form of physical endurance test. I’ll agree smoking ruins your lungs, but again, its down to the individual, very active people can still turn out to be smokers, non smokers can turn out to have the physical endurance of a chocolate fire gaurd.
Still, thanks for the opinion that I’m a fat dumb lazy , it must be true, some study on the Internet says so……
An exception is still an exception. Science says on average, smokers aren't as smart. You might not understand how averages work because you're a smoker. :P
science says bumble bee’s cant fly, whilst I’m a science advocate, science isn’t always right, hell science actually WANTS you to prove it wrong, that’s the only way to increase understanding.
To put in another context, averages point to the fact that gun ownership in the population leads to increased chances of gun massacres, funny how many Americans dont see things that way, I bet not all of those who don’t like that rational are smokers, none smokers can do dumb things too.