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Two bad batteries?


dasfaust

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Heyo, I got a Lavabox right when it was launched. All was fine and dandy for awhile until it just died (the only way to turn it on was plugging it into USB.) After a quick chat with Volcano support, they had me to take it apart and we found the culprit was a blown fuse (which had turned brown in color!) after a quick RMA I was up and running again. Props to Volcano, they were very nice and the whole thing took less than a week.

Some time after that, the battery became imbalanced in my replacement Lavabox. I don't remember what the values were exactly but one cell dropped below 2V. From what I read online the battery was shot. I said screw risking another RMA and replaced the battery myself. Bought this one and soldered on a new connector. After that, I was up and running again.

Fast forward to the past week, my replacement battery has become imbalanced. Not as bad as the last time, but it will not take a charge. I've tried doing a recovery charge, nothing seems to happen. Here's a pic of Device Monitor in EScribe and another of my battery settings (I've always used Evolv's default settings since this is the battery pack they tested against.)

My question is, how common is this sort of thing? Two dead lipos in such a short time period? To my knowledge I haven't done anything out of the ordinary, but I sure would like to rule out user error. I've always charged it via the USB ports on my computer (usualy .5 amps) and with the charger that came with my Samsung Galaxy S6 (usually charged at 1 amps.)

I've decided for now to avoid lipo batteries altogether and have a Reuleaux in the mail, since I really enjoy the DNA 200 chip. For which I will only use a dedicated battery charger...

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My thoughts on this is it reminds me of a situation I had with my VTbox200. I had juice leak into the box which I promptly cleaned up. What I didn't realize was juice got between the board and the balance connector that sits on the board causing one cell to slowly drain while just sitting there. I replaced the battery and had the same problem after a while till I discovered it.
I couldn't locate my post on it but here is how I balanced the pack after I got the juice off the board.
https://forum.evolvapor.com/topic/67772-topic/?do=findComment&comment=910038

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That makes sense... The 510 assembly on the Lavabox is pretty leaky. I use a Velocity most of the time and usually get juice everywhere 9_9 When I had taken it apart the first time there was juice covering the inside, including inside the balance connector. Cleaned it all with isopropyl alcohol. I'm willing to bet it's messy inside again. I'll give it a nice cleaning and report back. I also have noticed the charge dropping slowly when it's plugged into EScribe, wasn't sure if that's just the screen or what.

Whether it's the case or not, wonder if you can put hot snot around the 510 on the inside to prevent juice from leaking inside in the future? I might try that.

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dasfaust said:

That makes sense... The 510 assembly on the Lavabox is pretty leaky. I use a Velocity most of the time and usually get juice everywhere 9_9 When I had taken it apart the first time there was juice covering the inside, including inside the balance connector. Cleaned it all with isopropyl alcohol. I'm willing to bet it's messy inside again. I'll give it a nice cleaning and report back. I also have noticed the charge dropping slowly when it's plugged into EScribe, wasn't sure if that's just the screen or what.

Whether it's the case or not, wonder if you can put hot snot around the 510 on the inside to prevent juice from leaking inside in the future? I might try that.

Certain silicone lack acceptable solvents, there is info here in the forum about what can be used.
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@jurdanas You are correct, that's a typo. I reset the device and upgraded to the latest beta firmware. Accidentally typed 0.07 instead of 0.007, which seems to be the running number for the Lavabox. Never done a case analyzer test myself.

So I opened it up, and to not to my surprise there was juice everywhere. Inside the balance connector, under it, in the XT30 connector... Gave it a good cleaning with alcohol and some no-clean flux, put it back together after 12 hours of drying and now cell 3's voltage is 1.10V, so it's dead. I see this thread, is there an ongoing issue with soft/hard cut-off not working or would that not matter if there's juice on the board potentially causing the battery to drain slowly?

Probably not going to bother trying to recover the battery. I could check it with a multi-meter to be sure, if someone would like to know. I guess I just have a spare DNA200 board now. Going to be extremely careful with the Reuleaux and try not to get juice all over it!

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dasfaust said:

@jurdanas You are correct, that's a typo. I reset the device and upgraded to the latest beta firmware. Accidentally typed 0.07 instead of 0.007, which seems to be the running number for the Lavabox. Never done a case analyzer test myself.

So I opened it up, and to not to my surprise there was juice everywhere. Inside the balance connector, under it, in the XT30 connector... Gave it a good cleaning with alcohol and some no-clean flux, put it back together after 12 hours of drying and now cell 3's voltage is 1.10V, so it's dead. I see this thread, is there an ongoing issue with soft/hard cut-off not working or would that not matter if there's juice on the board potentially causing the battery to drain slowly?

Probably not going to bother trying to recover the battery. I could check it with a multi-meter to be sure, if someone would like to know. I guess I just have a spare DNA200 board now. Going to be extremely careful with the Reuleaux and try not to get juice all over it!

If it were me I would go ahead and do the USB recovery charge just to see where the device stands. There were quite a few early Hotcig DX200's arriving with voltages similar to yours. The battery probably has some scars and needs watched during charging but should come back.
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dasfaust said:

I did try a recovery charge, but the amperage hovered around 0.06. Should I leave it plugged in all day like that?

I have never done it so I can't say, maybe someone will chime in on the subject.
Edit: https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/threads/hotcig-dna200.698409/page-22#post-16708334
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