My friend married with kids, loaded with money, fitness fanatic, healthy eating lifestyle, dead at 39….heart attack. He followed all of the rules, but you never know what may happen in life.
Sorry about your friend.
I hear what you are saying, but it’s no reason to increase the chance of an accident. 
+1
There have recently been some vapers injured by exploding batteries, as well as many phones going up such as this one:
I see vapers all the while, even when looking in the rear view mirror yesterday I saw the driver behind using one. The number of LiIon torch users is tiny, there must be hundreds of thousands of vapers in the UK alone, maybe much more. These are ‘normal’ people, not geeks. They don’t care about a DMM, they just buy the unit, and use it. The problem is that an 18650 is potentially explosive, and can cause very serious injuries. They do not know what happens when you short an unprotected cell, or a poor quality ‘protected’ cell. I can see that there will be many many injuries, and eventually single LiIon cells will be regulated, in the UK or EU anyway. If this leads to proper LiIon cells i.e. 18650 size but in a proper case with proper protection, then this will in my view be good, but I bet most here disagree. 
Here is what I am having trouble understanding regarding the refusal to use a DMM.
Why exactly is that? and please, not just “because I choose personally not to use a DMM”
If you were to take up carpentry, would you also refuse to use a tape measure?
(I don’t need a tape measure, I’ll just use my arms and hands as measuring units and build every thing to that scale)
Or as a Doctor, would you refuse to use a Blood Pressure Cuff?
No you would not, because these are called Tools of the Trade and they are what is required to successfully do the job.
It’s what the Pro’s do, and they don’t do it just for fun.
Now getting back to the DMM.
This tool is so helpful that once you have it you will wonder how and why you put off getting it in the first place.
Being able to measure voltage is the easy part, the fun part is measuring amperage so you can actually Know when a modification is successful, Know when a battery is better than another brand, Know when a battery is taking a crap.
Ahead of time, before the problem lets you know in a Real Quick, Real World way.
That my friend is called peace of mind. Knowing you are being pro-active, not reactive.
If you did not live overseas I would send you one free. Maybe there is a member in Europe that can do this if need be.
Thanks and please at least consider getting a DMM. You will not regret it.
Keith
THANK YOU! I don’t know when I last laughed so hard. This guy is great.
Secondary issue… the people who are not taking care of the Li-ions are the ones getting hurt, massive damages to properties and expenses to city crews for the cleanup and evacuation. This is not just speculation on the part of a few flashlight maniacs, the UN is stopping import of the cells on passenger planes over the safety issues. Soon, with enough moron’s not taking care, we will no longer be able to purchase Li-ion cells at all.
“the people who are not taking care of the Li-ions are [not] the [only] ones getting hurt”
Most are probably not morons. How many of us read the manual when we buy a product? How many of use follow the rules? We do when it comes to petrol (gasoline) because we know it is dangerous. How many of these ‘morons’ as you call them realise the danger?
Yes good point everybody is raised with AA AAA safe cells
Well, in this legal environment, there’s no blame attached to the sellers of dangerous products.
While ethically “only a madman would give a loaded revolver to an idiot” it’s (at least metaphorically) legal to do so.
Heck, it’s just another form of the lottery — money’s being made with every transaction, all along the supply chain.
Eventually the insurance and healthcare companies will increase their premiums to take the added risk into account.
Everybody pays for this stuff. Some make money off of it.
“Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal.”
― Aldo Leopold
It is not our role to judge other people’s actions (or inactions).
Nor is it to cajole people into doing what they don’t want to do.
Our role is to educate, to see that people make informed decisions.
O:-)
I’m not entirely sure what more you want me to say ?
I’ve outlined my reasons above. I don’t see a DMM as a “tool of the trade”. As its not required to get the job of walking my dog at night done.
I can assure you I’m not the only one in BLF land that doesn’t use one. If a cell is going to go bad, its going to go bad. A DMM isn’t going to be much help if a cell goes bad during use.
And ironically that’s when they go bad a lot of the time… I find it mildly amusing that I’m getting beans (respectfully) to use a DMM, but members still have protocols in place for if/when one of their cells pops.
If a DMM were so foolproof, why are users of them still on edge ?
Heres why - because as mentioned before cells can pop at anytime, whether you know the voltage state, or not.
I used my first cheap analog multimeter 59 years ago when I was 9 years old as I wanted to learn more about electricity and how it all worked and so I started by building a crystal set like all my friends of the time and went on from there.
I can’t imagine being without the tools to fix a bike, car or household appliance and a multimeter is one of the basic test instruments for that too.
Is that fuse blown? Is that light bulb really dead? Is that wire live? Is it the battery or something else? A multimeter instantly answers these simple questions and lets you get on with digging into the real cause of a problem.
A multimeter is one of the basic essential tools of modern life, and I cannot understand why someone, especially in a hobby based on electronics, would not have one.
It is a bit like saying that a carpenter doesn’t need a ruler or tape measure?
Or a runner doesn’t need a stop watch?
Or a handloader doesn’t need a Chronograph?
I don’t mod anything …. Yes they are handy, if you want one.
Just found my new Xtar MC1 Plus overcharges cells to 4.24v.
Checked with a DMM after charging, then double checked in the Opus BT. Would never have known otherwise.
Something to consider.
According to resident battery expert HKJ, that is not unusual. Reference: How to fix high charge voltage in Liitokala Lii-100 and how to make lower charge currents - #42 by HKJ
And I agree that it is worth considering with regard to how it may affect battery longevity.
Just a point of information.
Sorry for digressing from the subject. O:-)
==
EDIT: Correction. Terminal charging voltage of 4.25 is normal. The battery’s resting voltage after charging is usually no more than 4.20 volts.
I believe chargers have an accepted variance of plus or minus 0.05V so they can charge to 4.15-4.25V and be safe to use (iirc, please confirm)
I’ve posted a first draft of “Lithium-ion battery safety 101” in the “Rechargeable Batteries” forum.
Looking forward to your comments. (I’ll be back in 5 minutes. I’m going to look for my asbestos boxer shorts. )
You should be wearing lead boxing shorts, build your core muscles >-)
Link to said thread