
A man dies after his e-cigarette explodes in his face - MagicPropmaker
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/05/health/exploding-vape-pen-death-trnd/index.html
======
cr0sh
The bad part about articles like this one is that you aren't given enough
information to know if the user of the device was using a branded proprietary
vape pen, a standard vape pen, or if they were using a modified or custom
vaping device (aka box mod).

The latter devices are in general where the danger lies. These devices are
typically poorly designed electronically, allowing for great amounts of
current to flow thru the heating coil, mainly in order to produce larger
amounts of vapor - creating monster clouds, etc.

Many have little to no current regulation at all; you are lucky to find one
that uses any kind of real current regulator (perhaps an LM117 with a bypass
power transistor or MOSFET). Most are little more than a switch shorting the
coil directly to the battery; maybe with a potentiometer thrown in as a
voltage divider.

They put enormous stress on the LiPO cell(s) used in the device, and these
cells are sometimes the cheapest ones that can be bought - overruns or ones
that didn't pass inspection, get re-bought in the business, then repackaged
and sold on with "white label" style branding. Far cheaper than the name brand
cells, often marked up with erroneous current handling capabilities far
exceeding what they can really do.

All of that leads to a perfect storm, where they are stressed beyond their
capability, and they enter into an "avalanche mode" of self-destruction,
heating up and chemically reacting in a matter of seconds or less to swell,
catch fire, and explode.

Instead of acknowledging this - which any box modder knows about and likely
assumes such risk - these articles seem to conflate the hobbyist level devices
with that of the standard and branded vape pen devices by known manufacturers.
To what end, I am not certain, though I could speculate.

Follow the money as usual and you'd probably find out the truth.

~~~
_Schizotypy
It's mentioned that a cup holder melted. Sounds like an unsecured bottom
button on a tube mechanical mod

