Battery Safety Part 5 ~ Battery Transportation
You are probably going to hurt yourselves. Scary, isn't it? All this talk about safety when they're using their mods and they may still very well get burned. I mean that literally. Like first-degree, going to the hospital burned.
But we've been talking about safety all this time!
We have been talking about safety when your customer is using his batteries. But what about when he's not using it? How about when he's just riding around in his car? Or standing at the bus stop? That's actually when most vaping-related injuries happen.
Huh?
Yep. Your customer is more likely to be hurt by his vaping equipment when he isn't even holding his mod than when he's taking that massive super sub ohm pull for the cloud competition.
Why?
Because he's not paying attention. He's complacent, and not even thinking about battery safety because his vape isn't in front of him... it's in a pocket, or a purse, or a backpack.
Locking Rings
"Oh, my mod has a recessed button!"
"I have a magic magnetic button that prevents auto-firing!"
"Oh, I only need to lock mine halfway for it not to fire!"
Have you heard the excuses that vapers make for not carrying their mods in a locked state? These are the same customers that are going to hurt themselves, given time.
If a mechanical mod has a locking ring, and the mod isn't being used, that locking ring should be engaged. Fully engaged. It doesn't matter if the button is recessed. It doesn't matter if it only needs to be halfway locked to avoid firing.
But not my mod!
"Oh, my mod has a recessed button!" Throw a recessed button mod into your pocket. Your pocket is not a flat surface, and it doesn't always stay the same shape. Given time, an unlocked mod with a recessed button WILL fire in your pocket.
"My mod has a magic magnetic button that prevents auto-fires!" This is nonsense If you can fire it with your finger, you can fire it with your leg.
"Oh, I only need to lock mine halfway for it not to fire!" Only need to lock it halfway? The manufacturer didn't give it the ability to lock further for kicks and giggles to frustrate you. Locking rings that aren't fully engaged can become unlocked again fairly easily, and again, will be happy to fire in your pocket.
So my battery will drain a little. No big deal.
If you aren't thinking about your battery firing, you likely won't hear it, depending on the atomizer. If the battery is firing for an extended length of time without your being aware of it, expect to get burned when you reach for it or it comes in contact with your leg.
The alternative is that you stress the battery out and it starts to vent. If a battery starts venting in your pocket and you aren't aware of it, you're now carrying tiny little grenade in your pocket, and I mean that literally. The pressure will increase inside the mod, until the weakest point is found, and now you've got a potentially explosive situation, complete with shrapnel (your former mod) for effect.
"Oh, my mod has vent holes. Won't happen to me."
Don't be fooled into a false sense of security. Vent holes almost never account for swelling of the battery during venting. If the battery swells in the tight tube, and the gasses can't escape, then you're in the same situation I just described above.
At an event there was an attendee at Vape Blast 2014 who had exactly this happen in a room with hundreds of people who were put at risk of serious injury or worse.
Here's what was left of the mod after it exploded in the middle of the event floor. He didn't think it would happen to him, either. Thankfully no one was hurt, but this story could have ended much differently.
Spare Batteries
Do you carry spare batteries with you? How do you carry them?
If the answer is "in my pocket," that answer needs to change. So many injuries have been caused by doing exactly this. Your batteries do not belong unprotected in your pocket. The most common response is likely to be "I keep them in their own pocket with nothing else." That doesn't make it better.
It only takes two seconds to mess up your day by tossing your keys, or the spare change from your last purchase, or the aluminum foil from your chewing gum into your special battery pocket. All these things are made of metal, and under the right circumstances (like shifting in your seat of leaning against something) can cause the battery to short if there's a continuous path of metal touching the positive and negative ends of the battery.
This can cause burns. You may experience anything from minor burns with a blister to severe, you're-leaving-to-go-to-the-hospital burns. Pictures don't lie.
WARNING: Link contains graphic personal injury and property damage photos from a shorted 18650 battery in a man's pocket.
Batteries that can get hot enough to cause these burns, damage your furniture, and melt carpeting on contact do not belong in your pocket unprotected.
No Locking Ring? Carry Spare Batteries?
Then you need a battery case. These are small plastic (or separate zippered) carrying cases used for - you guessed it - carrying batteries safely.
If your mod doesn't lock, you need to keep the batteries out of it when transporting it. These cases are so cheap, there's no excuse for not having at least one. If your customer is buying her first mech, or buying a device that takes rechargeable batteries, she needs one.
It might be a neat idea to include these with the purchase of a vapers' first mechanical setup. It's a minuscule investment to keep your customers and the well-being of the industry safe from harm.
