Flashlight Explosion

[400THz]

I've gotten some test results back, waiting on others, and have more planned soon. The general idea is, my lungs are in crappy condition and will get better, but not where they were before the incident. My alveolar ducts aren't going to get fixed.

Hello, JNieporte. First of all, I want to wish you to get well soon.

This is quite a shocking story; in theory I knew about the hydrofluoric acid dangers but I had never read about such a serious battery incident. Still, things could have been even worse. As SilverFox said, you should have faith in the remarkable abilities of the human body and retain a positive attitude. You will get much better, it's just that the recovery process itself might bring temporary discomfort.

Thank you for sharing this story with us. I think it will increase awareness about the dangers of certain battery chemistries and about the proper reactions in case of an accident, although it's hard to imagine that anyone would react any better than you did in the heat of the moment.

Please, keep us updated in regards to your health. Again, many wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

[fiberguy]

Hey JNieporte,

Hope all is well, we haven't had an update from you in a while.

[JNieporte]

It's been a while since I've logged in. In short, my health is getting better, albeit very slowly. I get short of breath once or twice a day, requiring a rescue inhaler. I've been on a steady dose of prednisone (a steroid) since this happened. Since my last post (almost two months ago) I've been to the hospital too many times to count; either for breathing emergencies or for tests. My skin is fine now; there are tiny scars that will go away. The damage done to my lungs and nasal passages can't be reversed. More than likely, I'll need the inhaler for the rest of my life, with maintenance doses of inhaled steroids every few months. The VA is taking care of most of my medical bills, but some stuff isn't covered. As a result, I've been selling a lot of my lights, knives, multitools, and guns to pay the remainder. As the bills continue to come (they will, since this will be an ongoing thing) and my list of sell-able items gets shorter and shorter, I'm in the process of acquiring financial assistance for this matter.

I do appreciate the well-wishes and concern of forum members; you guys rock
Updates will be posted when appropriate.

[SilverFox]

Hello JNieporte,

It is good to hear that you are making progress toward better health. I am still sending you my thoughts and prayers and hoping for substantial recovery.

Tom

[Vesper]

the thread op used the ones that comes preshrunk in sticks of 2-4, there is no way measure the cells individually on a meter. Thats where the problem was. At the factory the cells were probably 100%, but one or more had a higher rate of self discharge where coupled by storage conditions and loading went unbalanced. Its a big price to pay for convenience

Question: Just to be clear on this story, the batteries are shipped pre-packed, positive to negative stacked as you would load them in a flashlight? If so, geeze!

[tatasal]

This is a very unfortunate thing to happen to anyone. I fondly hope for the best.

Can this thing happen to a cell all by itself? I have been keeping 2 brand-new CR123 Surefire cells in my tacklebox.

Was the light's mechanical/electrical condition a contributing factor?

What do you guys think are the reasons it happened? How do we prevent this?

[JNieporte]

Question: Just to be clear on this story, the batteries are shipped pre-packed, positive to negative stacked as you would load them in a flashlight? If so, geeze!

No, the batteries are shipped shrink-wrapped, side-to-side. The positive and negative ends aren't touching anything.

[Empire]

No, the batteries are shipped shrink-wrapped, side-to-side. The positive and negative ends aren't touching anything.

That is correct

[Vesper]

No, the batteries are shipped shrink-wrapped, side-to-side. The positive and negative ends aren't touching anything.

Ahh, that's good. All sounds really unfortunate. Hope you continue to recover. Your tale is definitely sticky-worth and should be required reading.

[Illum]

No, the batteries are shipped shrink-wrapped, side-to-side. The positive and negative ends aren't touching anything.

ahh, ... I was thinking of this:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/titan...3a-double.html

[dantes]

This is a very unfortunate thing to happen to anyone. I fondly hope for the best.

Can this thing happen to a cell all by itself? I have been keeping 2 brand-new CR123 Surefire cells in my tacklebox.

Was the light's mechanical/electrical condition a contributing factor?

What do you guys think are the reasons it happened? How do we prevent this?

When used in series cells should be prefectly identical, matching voltage, capacity and internal resistance.
I am no battery expert but after some cpf search, it seems like such rare accidents happened mostly with made in China primary cells.
Panasonic, Surefire, Energizer and Duracell and most USA made primaries seems to be more consistent, safer to use in series and long term applications.
Anyway I was not aware fumes were really so dangerous for health, and I guess many lithium cell users outside cpf don't even know such dangers.
Thanks for sharing this, I wish you only the best and a full recovery soon.

[JNieporte]

Another trip to the hospital was required yesterday. Turns out, this HFA poisoning takes a lot of time to fully leave your body. I thought I was done with the going-to-the-hospital-because-I-can't-breathe when the hand-held inhaler was working, as it was doing there for awhile. Nope. In addition to the inhaled albuterol, I'll likely need a hand-held inhaler that contains steroids for the next, well, ever. The doctor reiterated that while we can try hard to make sure no further damage is done, there's no way to reverse the damage that's already there. There was talk about putting me on an at-home nebulizer that uses a type of opium as that will also help with the pain, but I told him no. NO narcotics.

In a note of good news, I finally found my Victorinox SwissTool RS. I purchased it for my job as a Firefighter / EMT and it got used quite a bit. I lost it a little over a year ago when we moved, and found it today while going through some boxes marked "Delica's Toys". I'll post updates as appropriate, and again, I sincerely appreciate the thoughts of CPF members.

[michelkenny]

I am sorry to hear about everything that has happened. Best of luck on the recovery.

[RCS1300]

Thank you for the story and I'm glad you are recovering.

I decided to recycle my very slightly used four Titanium Innovation batteries today. Don't want to take a chance on $1 CR123a's. While I always use a voltmeter and have CR123a Duracells on hand I may opt to move to AA lights.

I do have one question for you. Did you use a multimeter to check the voltage on each battery before inserting them into the flashlight?

[JNieporte]

...I do have one question for you. Did you use a multimeter to check the voltage on each battery before inserting them into the flashlight?

I didn't have a multimeter when this happened; I got one about a week ago.

[RCS1300]

I didn't have a multimeter when this happened; I got one about a week ago.

Thank you for the reply. After reading this weekend about your experience I immediately ordered a ZTS MBT-1 Battery Tester to compliment my multimeter. Moving forward I'm going to continue to use the lithium and lithium ion power sources but I will exercise even more caution in my battery management.

[redaudi]

Wondered where this thread went, I haven't seen it in a while. I hope your road to recovery has as few bumps as possible, and wish you the best.

[Evosil98]

Thank you for sharing your story. Get well!!!

[shipwreck]

Thank you for sharing your story. Get well!!!

+1000

[El Camino]

JNieporte,

I hope you are doing well. I read through the thread and I feel for you. I have asthma, and have to take medicine daily, as well as keep a rescue inhaler. That does suck, but I'm glad there is medicine available. A healthy diet can go a long way as well. I hope your recovery is speedy.

I've been reluctant to get Lithium Ion powered lights for this very reason. Considering my asthma (which isn't terrible, btw, but I don't want to make things worse) I may stick with traditional cells. Maybe some additional manufacturing standards are in order?

[Monocrom]

I've been reluctant to get Lithium Ion powered lights for this very reason. Considering my asthma (which isn't terrible, btw, but I don't want to make things worse) I may stick with traditional cells. Maybe some additional manufacturing standards are in order?

Quite a few CPFers use only single-cell CR123 based lights.

[Marc85495]

JNieporte,


Its been a few weeks since we had news from you, I hope you are getting better!


I will definitely be checking the voltage of my Li-Ion rechargeables in and out of my flashlights/charger.


Marc

[awyeah]

Quite a few CPFers use only single-cell CR123 based lights.

I'm one of those CPFers. Quite frankly, although stories like this are extremely rare, I am terrified of high-powered cells like CR123s and lithium ions. I'm just not comfortable with the risks, as small as they are. Plus, I don't want to have to worry about constantly testing and matching cells. And it would be too much to ask my family to do that.

I have a couple of single CR123 lights, because you can't get 200 lumens in a single AA or AAA light that I'm aware of. I have, however, considered using LiFePO4 cells, like the ones from K2/SureFire. From what I've read, that chemistry is much safer, although the runtime is much less. But I've got a whole box of primaries to go through before I take the plunge.

JNieporte - really sorry to hear about everything that happened. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

[Pvt. Pile]

I was in the market for a 2 x cr123 light till I read this! Not anymore! What a horrible thing to happen to anyone. Merely go downstairs with a flashlight to get something, and come out hospital bound....that's some bad luck right there. Hope you get better soon!

[Monocrom]

I'm one of those CPFers. Quite frankly, although stories like this are extremely rare, I am terrified of high-powered cells like CR123s and lithium ions. I'm just not comfortable with the risks, as small as they are. Plus, I don't want to have to worry about constantly testing and matching cells. And it would be too much to ask my family to do that.

Completely understandable.

I had Milky modify my SF L1 so that it puts out 200+ lumens out the front on one CR123 cell, on the higher setting. But still with decent runtime. If I'm honest though, the modification took much longer than expected. 8 months instead of 8 weeks. Not surprising since Scott is usually overloaded with customer requests. And, I doubt I'll ever get rid of my custom Leef-bodied SureFire lights. Both running on multiple cells.

[shichuhei]

Very enlightening story JNieporte! ...thank you for sharing and making us all consider to be more attentive when handling our lights and batteries!

I wish you all the best in your recovery!

Darrell

[DBCstm]

More best wishes to you JNieporte, and some prayers as well. Thank you very much for informing us of this very unfortunate incident. I will definately be re-evaluating my lights now, have 2 that use pairs of 32650's, those big bad boys would certainly be a problem so I definately need to keep a check on proper pairing. Only have one that uses 2 CR123's and I do believe I'll make the switch to a single rechargeable as I seldom use this light and the cells get some age on them very easily which could lead to just such as this happening.

Thank you again for sharing and God Bless!

[JNieporte]

Oh boy! So, I'll have to use an inhaled steroid (Flovent) twice a day, unless I want lung surgery. I'm also taking an albuterol inhaler as needed for breathing difficulties. For me, "as needed" is about twice a day. I'm on a steady dose of ipratropium for maintenance of my lungs. I've noticed a tightness in my chest lately, so an X-ray and some bloodwork was ordered. I'm waiting on the results.

My flashlight collection is down to five
Hopefully, I can buy some of the cheaper ones offered by Lowe's and Home Depot since it's holiday season. I see Home Depot selling the Defiant-branded three AAA, 100 ANSI lumen flashlights in a two-pack for $10.

[ashcons]

JNieporte, sorry to hear about your Li-ion accident and the related health problems! Thank you for sharing your experience as it could help others (like me) in making decisions about light use!

[Captain Spaulding]

Bump to check in on JNieporte!

You doing alright man?

Wow, quite a story and I am sorry to hear all you have had to go through with this. I hope you are on the road to recovery.

I hate to add insult to injury, but any chance you took pics of the aftermath? I am sure you had more on your mind than taking pics for me, but I was just curious what exactly a battery fused to a solarforce looks like.

Man, I have a few of the 4sevens cr123 cells that they included with lights I bought way back. Those things are shrink wrapped already positive to negative just like it should go in a light. Im def cutting those bad boys open and slapping them on a tester before I just shove them in a light like that!

Thanks for sharing your rather painful story. Well wishes to you and yours!