My battery vented!

[Nightstalker1993]

Turned on my Eagletac P100A2 flashlights with 2 pieces of Eneloops loaded into it which i charged yesterday. After 10 minutes of using it, the output went down and i continued using it for another 10 minutes when the tailcap popped. The batteries had vented.

I checked the battery capacity and sure enough, one of them was pretty good while the other was totally empty.

About the batteries, I just got it back from my friend, together with a 3-cell china light after about 2 months. Charged the 3 batteries + the single empty battery with me in my charger which was a no-brand 2 hour(2 batts)/4 hour(4 batts) 4 port quick charger with 2 charging bays(charges in pairs).

I guess there was some inbalance in the batteries before i charged it.

Now i'm just wondering what should i do with the vented Eneloop?

I have another slow smart charger(10 hour charge) with independant charging bays. Could i recharge the vented eneloop in that and use it like normal?

 

[Black Rose]

Did the Eneloop really vent? Is there residue present on the positive end of the battery around the vent holes?

If it did actually vent, it is no longer usable and should be recycled.

 

[Nightstalker1993]

well, i'm pretty sure it vented since the air pressure inside the light got so high it popped the tailcap boot out of the light...

the light is sealed with o-rings and have a rubber tailcap, so no air can escape.

the battery looked normal upon inspection though.

charging it in the slow charger now, expecting for it to hold a charge(?) tomorrow.

 

[Nightstalker1993]

Removed the battery from the charger and checked the batteries again. I don't see any white powder, but there are black spots near 2 of the vent holes.

heres a pic, left is the one that vented, right is the normal one.

 

[Mr Happy]

Lesson #1 for the future is that if you are using a light and the output goes down, stop and check/recharge the batteries immediately. Do not continue using the light.

What most likely happened in your case is that the empty eneloop vented gas as a result of being reverse charged during the continued use after it was drained. This is a well known occurrence with rechargeable batteries and it will have cause some small internal damage and loss of performance. How much loss of performance you will only find out by testing it.

Lesson #2 will be to obtain a charger with four individual charging channels, so that each battery is separately and completely charged even if unbalanced at the start. The chargers that charge in pairs are not good unless you are careful to match batteries before charging.

 

[Nightstalker1993]

just charged the battery in a slow charger...

seems to be able to hold a charge. will continue using it until i spot another failure...

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

What most likely happened in your case is that the empty eneloop vented gas as a result of being reverse charged during the continued use after it was drained

This is my guess-it will probably happen again the next time you use this battery/light combination .

 

[Igor Porto]

Throw it away. It's cheap and the next time it could be worse damaging your Eagletac or even you. Don't take the risk, it's not worth it.

 

[Burgess]

Either that, or else send it to SilverFox,

who can perhaps perform an " autopsy " on this suspect cell.




But i certainly wouldn't be inclined to USE that cell, ever again.





_

 

[jgraham15]

Throw it away. It's cheap and the next time it could be worse damaging your Eagletac or even you. Don't take the risk, it's not worth it.

+1

It's not worth taking a chance with a battery to save a few bucks! :shakehead