Reverse Polarity Samsung 30Q INR 18650 (DSD Charger)

I gifted a light and charger to my brother. He purchased two (2) brand new Samsung 30Q batteries. Placed them in the DSD cradle charger. He reports," just plugged it in and charger smoked and batteries got super hot!" I replied to him that I think he placed batteries in backwards (reverse polarity). I told him to throw away the charger. I further told him I would check on the batteries. Use voltmeter/multimeter to check voltage. I planned on putting them in my XTAR VP2 to check for damage. I am debating whether to just can the batteries and buy fresh. I am buying him a quality charger. I gave him the DSD to get "up and running". Maybe I should not have, but thought it safe given the 350 ma charging to the cells. Any thoughts are most welcomed.:thinking:

What's a DSD charger and what light?

Sorry, I must be missing something today.

Chris

DSD was a brand of li-ion charger many moons ago. It was a cheap charger. I should have given my brother a good charger right off the bat. I am most likely going to trash the batteries buy a new set and give him a good charger to alleviate any future issues. The light is a BLF A6 un-anodized.

sgt253 said:

DSD was a brand of li-ion charger many moons ago. It was a cheap charger. I should have given my brother a good charger right off the bat. I am most likely going to trash the batteries buy a new set and give him a good charger to alleviate any future issues. The light is a BLF A6 un-anodized.

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Yeah...cheap and lithium-ion X, Y or Z' shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

Would you buy your kid one of those cheaper, knockoff hoverboards?

Start over. Xtar, Liitokala, NiteCore and Opus are four quality brands. Read HKJ's reviews before deciding. Buy cells from the Big 5 and go from there.

It's science, but it's not rocket science.

Chris

I had a DSD charger, I gutted it and now use it as a battery holder for my hobby charger.

John.

ChrisGarrett said:

Yeah...cheap and lithium-ion X, Y or Z' shouldn't be used in the same sentence.

Would you buy your kid one of those cheaper, knockoff hoverboards?

Start over. Xtar, Liitokala, NiteCore and Opus are four quality brands. Read HKJ's reviews before deciding. Buy cells from the Big 5 and go from there.

It's science, but it's not rocket science.

Chris

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Save the sermon for somebody else. Been around the earth a long time and this forum almost triple the amount of time you have. Anything constructive to say regarding the batteries in question, I'm all ears. I know inexpensive from expensive, quality from not. The charger in question was fully capable of the task at hand. Human error entered into it. I have plenty of the aforementioned chargers thanks. I'll wait to hear from those that have some science to speak about, Rocket or otherwise.

How long were they on the charger, and what is the V on them?

Thinking out loud here, but the heat came from a short most likely, causing the batteries to dump as much current as they could. I would toss the charger as the electronics had to take a beating.
The batteries, in a very high drain light would also be asked to give a lot. Not as much as a short, but a lot. If they were only on there for a super short time and the V is still high, I'd test internal resistance and and a test. But I'd never reuse in a high drain light, and would be very careful charging.

Actually, forget that. Scrap them, spend the $14, and no stress.

sgt253 said:

Save the sermon for somebody else. Been around the earth a long time and this forum almost triple the amount of time you have. Anything constructive to say regarding the batteries in question, I'm all ears. I know inexpensive from expensive, quality from not. The charger in question was fully capable of the task at hand. Human error entered into it. I have plenty of the aforementioned chargers thanks. I'll wait to hear from those that have some science to speak about, Rocket or otherwise.

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Then shame on you, you should have known better. Gifting Li-ion is like gifting a cat. IOW, don't do it. You're experienced, your receiver is not.

chillinn said:

Then shame on you, you should have known better. Gifting Li-ion is like gifting a cat. IOW, don't do it. You're experienced, your receiver is not.

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I had a reply typed out, but I'll nix it for this one.

I was a little cheeky in my comments, but I thought it was sage advice.

Either/or happened. Either the charger is a cheap/low quality charger (by OP's own words) or he failed to instruct his brother on how to operate the charger in a responsible way.

Now...most of us take for granted that even an idiot can follow the embossed '+' and '-' markings and figure things out, but we play with this stuff all of the time.

The rest of his post isn't doing himself any favors, but I digress.

I'd test the cells on an analyzing charger, but since they're the brother's, I wouldn't release them back to him.

Chris

Hello Sgt253,

My suggestion is to recycle the charger and the batteries. Then do some research and find quality replacements and pass those on to your brother.

At the same time open up a discussion with your brother on Lithium Ion Battery safety. Many times they fail without excitement, but sometimes they cause a great deal of excitement. Batteries store energy. If this energy is released in an uncontrollable fashion it can do harm. A little education can go a long way in avoiding harm.

Tom