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S31Syntax
37
Jan 9, 2018
This just seems like a terrible idea. Lets strap a heating coil to a highly explosive lithium cell and call it a hand warmer.
radiocaf
13
Jan 9, 2018
S31SyntaxI agree but a well known company like Zippo must know what they're doing, surely?
RandomPerson
187
Jan 9, 2018
S31SyntaxWhat? Why? It’s the same type of battery that people use in their phones. And surely they’re not stupid enough to design it where the heating coil will damage the battery...
S31SyntaxI'm kinda with S31Syntax on this one. I've had a few batteries go bad, from well known companies. My Apple MacBook Air had a cell go bad, and puff up damaging the keyboard and mouse area. It made for an interesting picture. I also had some 18650 batteries nearly explode before. I also had a battery in an old MacBook Pro that got too hot, and puffed up a lot.
It's nothing against Zippo. I'm sure these are well designed, but the risk isn't worth it in my view. I have a hand warmer that works off of zippo lighter fluid (different company than zippo made it though). The risk of batteries lighting on fire, which many do, is something I'm conscious about. It's why I avoid charging electronics right where I sleep. 18650s charge in the next room while I'm sleeping. I heavily avoid the risk of this kinda stuff.
RandomPerson
187
Jan 10, 2018
TheDarkTrumpetHow do you treat your batteries? I’ve never in my life had a battery explode on me. Which I’m not saying it never happens, but it seems to be somewhat unlikely that a battery will just explode from nothing.
But I still don’t see how this is more dangerous than say, a cell phone battery or laptop battery...
TheDarkTrumpet
128
Jan 10, 2018
RandomPersonIn the cases I mentioned, here's what happened in each case
MacBook Pro - I played video games on it, World of Warcraft to be exact. The battery started swelling roughly 1 week before my applecare was up for that year. I was lucky, it didn't cause any damage.
18650s - A faulty vape unit, one I used for awhile, just started shorting out. Heard a louder pop, ejected the batteries as quick as I can onto the floor, evacuated the cats, and waited a bit before checking on them. Batteries in the end were okay, but the unit was fried.
Macbook Air - Nothing that I'm aware of. I keep the unit asleep at all times when carrying it, always in a protective case. Not running games on it, but did run some heavier data mining and graphics processing through the machine. Had it for a good 5 years, and the battery started puffing one day when I went to charge it.
It could be argued that 3/3 times were due to faulty manufacturing. The battery on the macbook pro was far away from the graphics and cpu processing, and even then it happened. Thunderfoot has an interesting video talking about batteries, the amount of charge they can hold, and the safety associated with them. I don't recall the details of the video, but the tl;dr is that batteries are considerably more dangerous than other methods of getting energy, and when they overheat they tend to blow up vs just catching on fire. His general opinion on the matter was that batteries can pack more energy in them, but the safety becomes even more of an issue than they are now. I tend to believe his take on it, especially given my situations I've had.
I don't abuse my electronics, and given the number of computational devices I have, I count myself fairly lucky all in all. Doesn't mean it can't happen to anyone though. When it comes to a controlled burn that, at worst, can catch on fire, or a potential bomb in my pocket - I'll go with the potential fire over the potential bomb.
RandomPerson
187
Jan 10, 2018
TheDarkTrumpetHmm, very interesting. Thanks. Maybe I shouldn’t be so trust worthy of my battery powered devices then.
TheDarkTrumpet
128
Jan 10, 2018
RandomPersonIt's definitely something to be mindful of, because these kinda things do happen, and you want to mitigate any chances of that happening.
For anyone else who is on the fence about buying one. I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't buy one, but you should take precautions before relying on the device. If I was to buy it, I would do the following, in roughly this order:
1) Charge it to max, using a trickle charge. Never use a fast charger, or anything that's pumping anything more than 1A into the device. Some fast charge devices now days will turn off the display of the phone because using the phone while fast charging is a bad idea. Trickle charges would prevent the battery from getting hot. 2) Turn it on, the highest setting, and set it in an area that I don't mind having acid all over the place if things go bad. A garage or something. Let it discharge fully. Recharge again afterwards. 3) Test the connections by lightly tapping on the sides, turning upside down, etc. Being careful that if anything is to start happening, you have a place to dispose of it quickly.
Similar rules for vaping really, and worth mentioning here. Use a low voltage/amp charge to the batteries. Don't use it while it's charging (seriously, stupidly bad idea to do this). Charge when you're awake, somewhat away from you, but close enough that if things start to happen, you notice it.
Personally, if I was to consider buying this, I'd google first to see if anyone's done any temperature tests on how hot the battery gets while at max temperature in insulated clothing. Then, to verify it's not any warmer than when charging at a medium voltage (say around 1.5-2.0A). If the battery doesn't get much warmer than that, you should be okay. If it gets considerably warmer, I wouldn't use this device under any circumstances. Luckily this device probably works similar to a vape device, which has built in temperature protection. For example, if I turn my watts up to 250 and hold the button, it will very very quickly heat up, and the device will shut itself down to prevent the batteries from going poof. Batteries are not a laughing matter. A vape shop nearby got their place partially burned down because some idiot put the 18650s in improperly and ended up creating a rocket. Apparently shot one of the batteries into the roof, started a fire and caused a lot of damage to that shop and 2 other nearby ones. Enough so they had to close down for about 2 months while repairs happened to all 3. Seriously bad issue.
SeadonkeyLove
150
Jan 13, 2018
TheDarkTrumpetlogical advice, I just use the old trusted ones with fossil fuels that seem equally as shady to light them like a lighter and then store then enclosed in your fabric pockets. LOL.
I'm assuming ppl like these because of the convenience of them, however the shape doesn't seem to compliment the hand, maybe that's just me though.
glennac
1363
Nov 16, 2018
SeadonkeyLoveYeah, I’d rather deal with a rechargeable USB device than messy, odory lighter fluid ones when all I want to do is walk around the city and ride the subway in warmth. ♨️
kangster
85
Nov 29, 2018
TheDarkTrumpetso because you think the battery wilk catch fire you've chosen the version that is literally running on fire. interesting lol. if you're worried about that stuff I'd recommend using "hothands" instead