With the increasing use of vapour producing devices as an alternative to traditional smoke sticks, a growing number of "disposable" devices are becoming available. These are aimed at traditional users who are looking for the more "satisfying" vapour who are more used to buying pre-packaged products and are not into refilling or recharging devices themselves.
These units tend to use rechargeable lithium cells despite being disposable because the cells are mass produced and available in a wide range of sizes.
It seems odd to use a lithium battery just once when it could be recharged hundreds of times, but it's becoming increasingly common to do so when it would have taken so little to make the products rechargeable. It's all part of our throw away society.
On a plus note, this means that when you see one of these devices discarded in the street it's viable to pick it up and salvage the cell out of it. In these devices the capacity of the cells measured:-
Brown unit = 314mAh
Green unit = 280mAh
They have both taken multiple charges so far.
Note that these cells are suited to short bursts of high current, but are NOT suitable for continuous high current applications like drones. My tests for discharging them used a simple circuit of a string of LEDs and a 47 ohm series resistor. The little cells run the LED strings for several hours.
The cells have no built in charge protection, so they have to be used with a suitable charger PCB like a TP4056 based module (99 cents/pence shipped on eBay). The current control resistor is best changed from the usual 1K as supplied to a 3.9K resistor to limit the charge current to 300mA.
Keep in mind that it's possible that some devices may use non rechargeable cells or LiFePO4 type lower voltage cells. But I would expect most to use standard lithium cells due to their wider availability and higher voltage. Especially when the control circuitry they are being used with is optimised for traditional rechargeable lithium cells.
The liquid and vapourisation cartridge in this unit was very interesting. It uses the standard coil and wick as a vaporizer, but has a clever design of liquid feed that relies on capillary action to ration liquid flow without excessive leakage.
I did refill the purple unit. By applying a heat gun to the glued end I was able to remove it non destructively and slide out the cell and vial. By drilling a 1.5mm hole in the plastic vial just next to the silicone end cap I was able to use a syringe to suck out the existing liquid and replace it with new liquid. I then wiped the area around the hole dry and capped it with a bit of insulation tape.
The amount of liquid it holds is 1ml. (The rechargeable unit I showed holds 1.5ml in its cartridges.) When reassembling the sensor in it's silicone cover, it goes into the side with the biggest breather hole with the wires to the outside on the battery side. The LED on the back points to the end of the device.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
These units tend to use rechargeable lithium cells despite being disposable because the cells are mass produced and available in a wide range of sizes.
It seems odd to use a lithium battery just once when it could be recharged hundreds of times, but it's becoming increasingly common to do so when it would have taken so little to make the products rechargeable. It's all part of our throw away society.
On a plus note, this means that when you see one of these devices discarded in the street it's viable to pick it up and salvage the cell out of it. In these devices the capacity of the cells measured:-
Brown unit = 314mAh
Green unit = 280mAh
They have both taken multiple charges so far.
Note that these cells are suited to short bursts of high current, but are NOT suitable for continuous high current applications like drones. My tests for discharging them used a simple circuit of a string of LEDs and a 47 ohm series resistor. The little cells run the LED strings for several hours.
The cells have no built in charge protection, so they have to be used with a suitable charger PCB like a TP4056 based module (99 cents/pence shipped on eBay). The current control resistor is best changed from the usual 1K as supplied to a 3.9K resistor to limit the charge current to 300mA.
Keep in mind that it's possible that some devices may use non rechargeable cells or LiFePO4 type lower voltage cells. But I would expect most to use standard lithium cells due to their wider availability and higher voltage. Especially when the control circuitry they are being used with is optimised for traditional rechargeable lithium cells.
The liquid and vapourisation cartridge in this unit was very interesting. It uses the standard coil and wick as a vaporizer, but has a clever design of liquid feed that relies on capillary action to ration liquid flow without excessive leakage.
I did refill the purple unit. By applying a heat gun to the glued end I was able to remove it non destructively and slide out the cell and vial. By drilling a 1.5mm hole in the plastic vial just next to the silicone end cap I was able to use a syringe to suck out the existing liquid and replace it with new liquid. I then wiped the area around the hole dry and capped it with a bit of insulation tape.
The amount of liquid it holds is 1ml. (The rechargeable unit I showed holds 1.5ml in its cartridges.) When reassembling the sensor in it's silicone cover, it goes into the side with the biggest breather hole with the wires to the outside on the battery side. The LED on the back points to the end of the device.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I've NEVER found a primary lithuim cell in a disposeable e-cig yet….
They've ALL been rechargeable cells.
How is battery that long even possible to use in vape?!
I found one of these in the car park the other day, I didn't realise it was worth 12 English shekels. Took it apart and found a working 3.7v 1500mAh battery inside. The owner probably didn't mean to lose it, but I'm appalled at the huge e-waste impact these things must be having? There was no actual way to refill it, just use 3500 times and then dispose of
i knew i'll find one of those on my favourite channel XD good i got quite a bit of them from friends and i wonder if theres anything worth reclaimiing except lithium battery, lets watch
The sale of these disposable vapes is an absolute disgrace. People who use them just discard them on the streets. There are literally thousands of them littering my home town.
I used to collect the batteries from those which hadn't been squished by cars. I have so many now it's crazy.
The government should ban disposable vapes just as they have with plastic straws and plastic cutlery.
Thanks for this video! I've also started to salvage these lithium cells from used vapes just recently. Is it dangerous to charge these cells with regular TP4056 chargers? You must have had a reason to swap out the current resistor. Also, are these lithium ion cells, or lithium polymer? Thanks again!
Yeaahh.. i got baterai for bluetooth device 😂. More cheap than buy battery..😂
So my new partner vapes, and her one time use units have an 18350 lipo in every one. Is there any way to re-purpose that control chip? Could I tap on some leads and get a constant current for the LED to light or something as an indicator on a project or do 3 of those pins make a regular mosfet?
Does anyone know how to utilize these cells as a small charger? I know you can turn larger lithium cells into one
The amount of energy potential that I’ve seen in drawers of people I know full of these disposable batteries is wild that’s what we are wasting resources on
This dumb shit should be banned asap
Ah the good old sticky finger, used many a time for picking thing up! TFS, GB 🙂
Is it possible to use these batteries for something significant? I can get my hands on thousands of old vapes of the same type with the 13400 battery 3.7v 550mah. Say I wire 3×1000 in parallel and then connect each to a BMS to make a 12v+ power pack. Would I set something on fire?
Those batteries work very well with dollar store flashlights. Preferably from one of those disposable vapes with a charger port. Makes a Super cheap rechargeable flashlight 🤷
I saw you using ecig batteries in another video and you demonstrated how simple the chargers are to attach. I got 15 little chargers on Amazon for $11 with a USBC port for charging and they charge in an hour. It's a sweet little setup and I can make it better by adding another battery. The price is the best part. Everything battery operated that I have is gonna get a charge port if it doesn't already have a way to be recharged. I appreciate you sir. Thank you for sharing your skills knowledge and experience, and thank you for inspiring me