More free street-lithium reclamation
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ค. 2022
- I can't believe how these things have taken off. The streets are covered in discarded packets and the sealed inner sleeves. (Glycol is extremely hygroscopic, so they have to be shipped in an airtight pack.)
Aside from the ones I harvested from the streets of Glasgow, I also bought some others to check out their cell capacity. There are some very nice rechargeable cells in some of them.
Once I get back to my usual workshop I'll be doing some capacity tests on them.
Update - the cells all took a full charge.
I did notice that the number of discarded units was much lower than the discarded wrappers, which makes me think that technically inclined people may already be harvesting the lithium bounty from the roadside. (I can't resist scanning the ground for them.)
If you're doing the future-dystopian thing and harvesting these to reuse then I recommend thoroughly sterilising the mouthpiece, it's pad of moisture trapping material and also the outer tube. Then refill with a commercial liquid of your choice or just plain glycerol/glycerin/glycerine (three names - same thing) for maximum theatrical fog with no unknown additives.
If reusing the lithium cells they will need to be recharged properly, which means limiting the current to around 500mA for most and capping the charge voltage to 4.2V max. The classic TP4056 type PCB is perfect for this, although many items that already use lithium cells will have that charge circuitry built in.
I've tested several cells and they took a full charge, suggesting they are fresh cells and quite good quality. Not a surprise in the high turnover and high current application.
The larger brands of these products appear to be bracing themselves for a potential environmental backlash by offering similar units that use a rechargeable cell with replacement pods.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of TH-cam's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
#ElectronicsCreators - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I can't stand that these are disposable. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Mostly used by school children too...
@@probablynot8154 False as fuck
@@probablynot8154 making shit up much?
@@rinner2801 walk into an American high school and you'll be wrong
They need to be banned from sale.
As a vape shop employee, I buy these back from customers for pennies on the dollar for their batteries and a few other components inside. Tons of projects to be had with these things!
Just a thought ......but as they are meant to be disposable...You could just mention to the customers that you will take any old ones they have ...You could just get most of them for free!!! Rather then ever paying for any....
@@DOCDOCFLAMINGOS It's just an incentive for them to do take the time to bring me their empties, either buy em for .25-.50 cents or give a slight discount on their next one (like 5% max)
Ends up working out. more revenue for the shop, more cash in my paycheck, and more lipo batteries for project than i know what to do with right now lol
@@jimbobbyrnes It's something definitely thought about. My shop is pretty tight with some others and ALL of the local recyclers for batteries will charge US to give them the things. If we could find a way to eliminate that aspect we'd basically reinvent the industry at least in my local area.
Good on you sir!
@@debgribz chain the batteries for an electric bike battery 🚲 ⚡
As a volunteer litter picker in our local town , the discarded wrappers are a bane of my life. BUT I collect and retrieve the batteries , wire them in parallel and use one of the USB charge sockets off one of the more sophisticated vape sticks to charge the packs ive made for use in my RC gliders and Drone
This is exactly the kind of plan I have. I pull the batteries out, and the circuit boards. I'm glad to hear that the chargers don't have problems with charging multiple cells
Absolutely outrageous that these are allowed to be sold as disposable items.
It's absolutely insane how much ewaste there is. It really is a matter of necessity of the government to say no to it. A company I work with basically abandoned their idea of a reusable product because it's just not as easy for the consumer. In their case it's more the silicon waste in terms of chips. But still, e waste needs to be taken so much more seriously.
@@rcbuggies57oooh daddy government pleaaaase regulate me harder
@@BarrackObamna stupid and uneducated take. I am as anti government as possible but when it comes to nature it is good for governments to step in. Especially when it comes to tobacco companys. I will never understand this mindset. You are not some millionaire so if it was regulated you would have nothing to lose and everything to gain from a market like this to be regulated. Safer products and better for the environment.
@@skator8423 lmao your argument for regulation is tobacco? Dude people have known since the dawn of time smoking is bad. It’s only idiots looking back at the ads in the 50s that don’t realize it’s been marked in medical literature back to the 1700s that constant smokers had a persistent and incurable cough. So you believe it’s right for the government to tax regulate something if it has negative consequences? Sounds like a daddy to me
REGULATE ME HARDER DADDY PLEASE COME SAME ME GOVERNMENT DADDY
Why you find one pick up your FREE BATTERY 🤗
Considering the lithium shortage we have, it's downright stupid that companies are making this disposable E-Waste with it. There should be a hard limit to how many components and what materials a disposable object should have.
Instead, what we got in Britain was badly considered legislation that made it illegal to sell bottles with nicotine content larger than 10ml in volume. So what happened instead? Companies that once sold bottles in larger sizes, started selling 5-10 smaller bottles instead for roughly the same price.
Or, you get a larger bottle, short-filled, plus one or more smaller (10ml) bottles containing the nicotine acid. So minimum two bottles instead. It's as if the legislation was written by people who didn't understand the subject matter at all. What a surprise.
Guess what led to to disposable lithium problem? Flavored pod bans. So you want to use government to solve a problem government created? Funny joke hahahah
the companies don't care about environment or people's health
It will end up with very strict laws and only the huge companies will be allowed to make/sell things
Yea....I think this is a bit of the usual "create a problem" blame the public..."sell the remedy" (with an inherent problem for future taxing purposes) anyway E waste isn't a problem in Africa.... where we send it 😉😂
The instant in the video you connected the negative lead to the battery charger, my air compressor in the garage kicked on! lol Startled me!!
I once switched on a water cooler and the large industrial building I was in was plunged into darkness.
... not me ... walks away humming.
Remote start :p
Coincidences like that leave us with a queasy feeling in the pit of our stomach! Happened to me, too!
The influence and Jedi powers of BigClive are not to be underestimated.
@@alpcns Is it possible to learn this power?
These disposable things have got to be horrendous for the environement... it's hard to believe they are not banned.
ban everything!
Well I'm also surprised even though I do get buy them once in a while but I just keep the ones I'm finished with stored in my drawer just because the have lithium batteries in them with you can recharge I got like 10 stored away at this point
Politicians and capitalism, doesn't care about environment...
They’re not even necessary either. Reusables are far better vapes, far more controllable, and you can use whatever fucken juice you want.
The disposables simply should not exist. Big tobacco has absolutely fucked this issue
@@oiinahgiiusadurrybrahchuck7209 This would be the equivalent of buying a car and then once it's tank is empty you just dump the car.
Now if these things had a charge port on the side and were made so their cartridges can be ejected and replaced that would be far more environment friendly.
It's so weird to see governments pushing for recycling but somehow letting things like this off the hook.
The reason disposables are smoother while being high nic is they use salt based nicotine rather than freebased nicotine. Salt nic is easier on the throat, but dehydrates you a little more, so you need to drink more water if you use it. Source: I am the nicotine handler at a vape juice manufacturing lab, literally posting from my lab. Hope this helps!
omg, is that is why it is harsher on my throat and softer in the mouth, than what i used before? (tried saltnic vape recently, used heated soaked tbcco sticks by BritAmTob for years)
exactly. nicotine benzoate as opposed to nicotine
Yes, however, at no point does this require creating devices that use reusable lipo cells and instructing users to toss them in the trash. I love salt-nic, but this is bullshit and it shouldn't work this way
if you work in this industry, how clean is the process in making these things
I doubt its very clean, most of the manufacturing is outsourced to china. I think specifically shenzen. @@DeltaOps3
It's so insane that to think that polymer-lithium batteries are now throw away items, ephemera like RFID components. Those things were space-age items back 30 years ago. And now they are single use throw-away items.
If we go back 200 years then just the foil wrapper would look like a gemstone a king would have.
old tech thats why. just like a budget $50 smartphone has 50X more computing power than the computers used to send people into space and to the moon.
@@youtubeisgarbage900 It did happen, there is a lot of evidence to provide for it.
@@youtubeisgarbage900 your mom wanting you never happened
@@youtubeisgarbage900 lay off the crystal
“It smells like a fruit factory exploded.”
Big Clive; expert on things that go “bzzt,” not so much on the origin of fruits. 😆
Hey man... if you want to believe that stuff just grows on trees! Pfft get real. Has to be made, how else. I mean *everything* was made by someone, apparently.
/s just in case
.........im more concerned that clivey has had first hand experience and knows what a exploded fruit factory smells like
fruit factory is in the back of the grocery store, where we keep all the stuff we're not putting out on the shelves to sell
That's called a farm
@@johnscott2126 that is what THEY want you to think! food isnt real anymore, they replaced it back in 1942 when it became cheaper to feed people soylent green than to actually grow and produce real food
Thanks to your video's I started collecting them for the batteries. A few friends are helping me, one of them is the owner of a bar ;)
By now I have over 100 batteries saved. Less than 10% of them are too low to trust. Most are well over 3v still when I take them out the device!
Thank you SO much for the tip. It saves me a LOT of money in hobby components, and is good for the environment too!
Low volt cells can be recharged, BC has a video on it.
@@voltare2amstereo Can be , yes. But a lithium cell that's below 1v just can't be trusted anymore. The risks are just not worth it.
In the U.S., these come installed with mini usb2 charge ports in case the battery runs out before the fluid does. We should set up a return system like we have with glass bottles and aluminum cans. It will effectively place a cash bounty on these things in the wild.
When we were kids in the UK we used to make pocket-money from the deposits on beer and lemonade bottles, which were actually washed and re-used at the factory in those days; I doubt if the infrastructure is there now. It would take legislation I think
@@elgorrion52 probably. Or maybe an entrepreneur can find a way to make a buck with some kind of recycling startup.
I've started collecting them off my daughter for the cells but as far a the metal tubes are concerned I'm managing to remove the markings without damaging the coloured coating too much and I'm going to see if I can make a nice annoying wind chime to present back to her. 😁
That's a pretty funny idea.
That would be really awesome never thought of it use flume tubes for sound reduction
Have you got a pic of your daughter?
@@moshesheckel7369 Weirdo
Bring to your daughter a proper reusable kit. Nowadays those aren't expensive at all and even the smallest pods are way better to produce flavourish vapour than the disposable ones.
Absolutely disgusting that these disposable units exist and are so carelessly thrown out along with their packaging.
Grateful for Clive and others demonstrating how easily the batteries in them can be reclaimed, and the rest (hopefully) responsibly recycled.
'Absolutely disgusting that these disposable units exist ' You could have stopped there Maya. Those who would buy them are of the mindset to dispose of them with no regard to anything other than their 'right' to be a twat. A right oft exercised.
Nothing wrong with vaping. Tanks last years, 'mods' can too. A battery can last a year or more. very little waste, next to no litter. I'd happily hazard that amortised over three months, normal vaping is substantially cheaper, and can only become more so over time.
Aside: when did junk like this become normalised, and how can the mindset be reversed?
The issue for me is that they are just thrown on the ground rather than in the garbage. This ( and cig butts ) confirm my observation that , while not all smokers are jerks, all jerks are smokers.
@@bobroberts2371 Must be a local thing--in my everyday 2 mi dog walk, I've picked up only one of these in the last 3 years. Lots of beer cans and vodka bottles, however.
Those batteries have an extreme amount of energy stored. I have a few laying around that could get stepped on and burst into inextinguishable flames. It’s good to reuse them but outside of that hard case watch out
Drives me insane. I vape, but use a rebuildable. Making coils and wicks. These things should be banned. Along with the people who throw them in the street.
I'm glad I tripped over this. Whilst I do Vape, I wouldn't claim one off the street to reuse! But those cells, are incredibly handy for various hobbies and projects, those will be perfect for model railway projects! Will keep my eye out, Plus, by picking them up, we are saving waste!
Been a long time vape user, disposables are a travesty. It's really disheartening seeing these show up everywhere, and you make a good point: dogs and other animals can get hurt
@Ayethere M8 disposables are the bare minimum of “cheaper than cigarettes”, make your own juice and use a rebuildable refillable mod. Vaping costs like $5 a week if you consume a lot.
but thc distillate disposables are handya
Honestly, i dont see animals getting hurt with this. Dogs need to have a reason to chew such a thing and it smells bad for them so they ignore such products. Sure i agree that it is wasteful but lets not just add reasons out of our ass to make it seem even worse.
@@oiinahgiiusadurrybrahchuck7209 I've been vaping for over 15 years and mix my own e-juice. It costs me about $30/year to vape and I mix about 60 ml a week. I haven't bought a mod or tank in several years and all I have to do is replace the batteries every couple of years or so for about $15.
Especially how people just throw them in the parking lot when they buy a new one.
I'm not the only loon! My wife always gives me odd looks for carrying around a roll of doggy poop bags, specifically to gather these up and harvest the cells. Mildly validating now.
They are not as common where I live, but my wife was really annoyed with me when I saw one lying in an underground parking lot and I had to pick it up and throw it in the car. Unfortunately it is one of the violently flavored ones, and my workshop stank of 'watermelon' for days...
@@erroltheterrible I don't envy you but I have to laugh a little, some of them do smell terrible as well. Canada is experiencing an epidemic of these things being thrown everywhere. Since they legalized marijuana, now there are twice as many.
@@sgtsmitty You mean they sell these with weed oil in Canada?
@@galaxya40s95 yessir, I use CBD oil for anxiety, but whenever I'm in the store, they're on display.
@@sgtsmitty Thanks, well then it makes sense I guess. It is a healthier alternative.
Shoocking that people just drop their crap in the streets.
I was brought up to leave where I had been as it was when I arrived or better.
But this is far worce if kids get hold of them and decide to crack one open.
Great video 2x👍
Thats what our culture has been watered down too
Luckily, it looks to me like they're hard enough to open that any kid who does so is probably a little older and just a goofy experimenter like us, lol. Can't think of how much stuff I took apart (and sometimes properly reassembled) starting when I was 8 y.o. or so.
@@TravisTerrell I'd be more concerned about them trying to use them "for their intended purpose" and getting an infection, or addicted later on.
This is the problem with human beings they lazy sloths, throwing what they do not want on to the ground. I live on a the Isle of Sheppey and hate the holiday season, as fast food take aways are discarded every where. At least cigarette buts eventually rot down used vaping phials do not.
@@tonysheerness2427 and you’re too lazy to check your grammar
I learned so much in this video:
- Disposable vapes exist
- Dosposable vapes contain very not disposable lithium ion batteries!
- Some of these batteries are actually quite big and useful
- You can refill disposable vapes, with some effort
- You can just buy glycerol in a pharmacy?? (why?)
- Glycerol makes the vape clouds
- Vapers are even weirder than I thought...
Glycerol is a very useful chemical.
@@canadajones9635 isn't it used to make explosives though? why can you just buy it at a pharmacy?
First of all Proplene Glycol doesn't produce the massive clouds of vapor that's vegetable glycerin so thats your first mistake and nobody buys Propalene glycol in a chemist because there's a ridiculous amount of vape shops around the country that sell actual eliquids for vaping, also the reason disposable vape's exists is becuase there isn't enough regulation surrounding them like there is with normal vapekits maybe do some actual research next time vapers aren't weird there trying to quit smoking which was the whole purpose of vaping
First of all Proplene Glycol doesn't produce the massive clouds of vapor that's vegetable glycerin so thats your first mistake and nobody buys Propalene glycol in a chemist because there's a ridiculous amount of vape shops around the country that sell actual eliquids for vaping, also the reason disposable vape's exists is becuase there isn't enough regulation surrounding them like there is with normal vapekits maybe do some actual research next time vapers aren't weird there trying to quit smoking which was the whole purpose of vaping
There's alot more that goes into vape juice than just glycerin
Another note: The lack of capacity restrictions in the US also leads to larger batteries to match. I'm pulling 1650+mAh cells out of these things.
It's so weird in the UK. They limit the size of the bottle that people can buy the juice in, and they limit the size of your tank.
I fail to comprehend what purpose even of these restrictions serve.
It's almost like restricting the size of a ready meal or the amount of paracetamol you can buy at any one time at a checkout.
@@TonyLing The UK is literally Govt over-reach central. It's sad.
@@ShivaShakur Government aka Big Business
@@TonyLing That’s what happens when uneducated people make the laws. Politics…
@@TonyLingthe reason they restrict it is because they think you'll stop vaping and are keeping track of how much you're vaping if its smaller. Reality though, you are just refilling your vape more lol. Everyone I know who vapes only ever states how they're bothered by keep refilling it, rather than claiming they like it because they vape less, I'm yet to speak to anyone who believes the 2ml restriction is a good idea.
i am a gardener and find these things discarded everywhere. just last week i found 5 under someones front hedge. disposable e-products should be banned
@Gazr Gazr I hate the mentality of using the government to ban everything you don't like on your behalf. Like do you know how insane that is?
It’s pretty much the same thing with liqour bottles and cigarettes. It’s all just litter and people need to quit doing it.
The blame is two fold. they are marketed as disposable and consumers aren't educated about recycling electronics. let alone repairing.
It's because they banned other reusable flavor pods so we get this nightmare
no, what should happen is we should invest money into making proper facilities for recycling or companies that make things like that should have to help subsidize something like that.
A/V is all good Clive!
I have found and removed the battery from one of the round ones so far, will keep my eye out for a fat one! 1500mAh is a very useable size cell!
I live in the U.S. so not sure if you guys have the bigger round ones that I normally use, but they also have a pretty beefy battery in them. so look for ones marked FLUM.
I've been keeping mine when they run out, I've always known they were containing lithium cells and I'm glad somebody made a video about it.
Nicotine vaping products are supposed to be illegal here in Australia, but for a few years they were in a grey area type of situation. They couldn't be sold domestically, but could be ordered from overseas. This is how a lot of people were vaping here initially. By buying no-nic vape products from stores and importing nicotine solution from NZ to mix into the no-nic juice. Last year this import loophole was finally closed, and shipments of nicotine from overseas began being seized. Almost simultaneously, these things started popping up, heaps of my mates were getting on them, I see teenagers and uniformed school kids puffing on them in the streets quite commonly too. They aren't meant to be sold here legally, but virtually all the smoke shops and little gift shops and servos and things have them under the counter out of the way and will sell them to those who know what to ask for. Seems everyone knows what to ask for too. Apparently some people are basically "vape dealers" and they are selling them like other controlled substances. People will have a contact, ask this contact to drop off so many vapes in whatever flavour for however much money, and the dealer will meet them and give them their products in exchange for money. Seems like quite a lucrative black market has come of this ban.
In this country where a packet of cigarettes costs 40 bucks, an illegal black market single use vape for 15 bucks is a very attractive option for smokers. The cigarette tax argument over here is another issue entirely, whether it does more harm or more good is an ongoing debate.
Personally I think we should have just come up with a way to regulate nicotine vaping so that adults could purchase it in stores, similarly to cigarettes. These disposable vapes are not just harmful to health, are produced to questionable safety standards, immune to regulation (as they're not even meant to be here in the first place), and appear to be more accessible for people who shouldn't be able to get them (kids) due to their under the counter nature, but I just cannot bear to think about the tech waste impact these things must have. Every time I see someone puffing on one, my mind sees an image of some hellish tech waste dump in central Africa with mountains of these things being dumped, all colourful, full of wasted materials and chemicals ready to leak into the Earth. As the video points out too, there is no reason they couldn't be rechargeable and reusable. I just hate the fact they exist at all. I playfully shame my friends for using them when I see them puffing on them and ask "Ah the ol non-rechargeable rechargeable battery vape. How many car batteries are we chuckin in the ocean this week?" lol.
A pack of smokes is $40?
Sounds like a PSA. It's time to talk to your kids about the dangers of street lithium. 😂
i want to like this but it would ruin it's 42 likes
and 8 hours later, i simply add another number
There are larger "disposable" units in the US with USB C charging ports and circuitry in them that I've found quite useful for small IOT projects!
Elf bars
R & M's
Bull is a widely known brand local to me with micro USB ports on them. They're a disposable but have the charging port on them in case the battery goes flat.
@@hec547 Elf Bar are a brand that make the smaller ones seen in this video. I think they make bigger ones too but never seen them in the UK. Elux bars are the big rechargable ones although they're technically illegal in the UK but are still very easy to find
@@gusmalone2005 It's not the e-lux in general that is illegal, it's the higher nicotine dosage versions that are illegal. There are larger elf bars in the UK but they are very rare, and the standard elux is not rechargable, it's only the elux pro that is rechargable (with a USB-C port on the bottom)
I remember being really really surprised that they put a *rechargeable* battery in these disposable vaps. As soon as a learned about that, I started to collect the batteries, I now have a nice collection :)
Hi Clive, I really appreciate you taking the time to explore how these can be upcycled. I live in Glasgow and was astounded. I have been picking them up and collecting friends' leftovers for nearly a year now :)
YUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DOM!
Gang gang gang
An interesting thing to note about devices like the ones from SMOK is that they’ve been designed to be refilled. They come with a refillable, removable pod, and some of them even let you change out the coils when the cotton wick begins to get burnt. This is why I don’t like the disposables. They make absolutely no sense.
Problem with those, even though that they ARE reusable is that many companies phase a model out very frequently, and with my experience at a few stores is that I can buy a pod and things one month, and then another month in the future I can't buy for the same device anymore, and I can't buy them online anymore.
@@shadowblade9385 Happens with mainstream ones too. My local shop said they can't get coils for the Valyrian 1 anymore, specifically the uwell UN2 mesh 0.18ohm 80-100W (I run it at 70-75W). Hopefully that changes by the next time I stop in there. I really like them because they last forever. With average daily use, literally 1 to 2 months.
@@corythomas4427 this is why I went rebuildable many years ago. Wire and cotton are cheap and they last so long. So much cheaper than pre-made coils and you don’t have to worry about this end-of-life no longer available to fit my model situation. I think I spend about $20-$30 year on wire and cotton - perhaps less. I’m shocked that some of these disposables cost so much. I’d never purchase them.
@@wizdude I use rebuildable as well for a decade now but TBF some brands like Aspire still provide replacement coils for the same form factor as their first models.
that smok was a disposable, smok does have whole suite of novo/nords but only the "pod" mods are refillable, anything with BAR in the name is just another "PUFF BAR" as the children call them. Smok is one of the oldest and notoriously lowest quality chineseium manufacturers in the game, most likely the only reason they're still in business lol
Adafruit's MicroLiPo USB is a great charger for such recovered cells. Defaults to 100mA current, but can be set to 500mA with a simple solder bridge if one finds a lot of beefy cells. Granted that it's a bit more expensive than a TP4056, but might be less fiddly for some. (Yes, I consider soldering surface mount components by hand to be "fiddly.")
a "bit" would be an understatement, adafruit products are overpriced af, instead just get a buck converter with adjustable current, there are ones that even have a display on them and they are at max $5 from china, and then you can even make a lbps from it. even cheaper you can use a lm317 in CC mode (for initial charge) and it will just cost you a few cents.
@@ShahZahid ...yes, and, so? the MicroLiPo is a convenient, compact and SAFE option manufactured in the USA. Not everyone wants to screw with a rats nest of wires and bits just to charge a battery. www.adafruit.com/product/1304
@@FurrBeard If someone is looking to play cheaply, which is kind of the basis for this video, Adafruit is indeed rather expensive. Even Sparkfun is usually cheaper. The TP4056 can usually be got for 5 for $1-2 if you don't mind a little wait. Another $1 for some 2.2k smd resistors and some soldering practice. Basically for $2-3 you can be re-using trash vs $13+ from Ada.
The above comment and the replies are bad advice. The LiPo chargers charge to a maximum of about 3.6 volts, when you need 4.2 volts for regular lithium ion cells. And fiddling around could cause a fire and safety hazard. You do *not* want a fire started when you've left the cell alone to charge on its own for hours. 😱😱
dude what rats nest are you talking about, its just soldering a single resistor, i think you are a beginner, when you fry a couple of your fancy adafruit boards trust me you will look for cheaper alternatives ;) , plus being manufactured in US dosent mean anything. also your claiming smd to be "fiddly" mate dont have that kind of mindset otherwise you wont learn much, electronics is about exploring new things and a vast majority of those are smd, if you spen your whole life hooking up modules wheres the fun in that, just advice do whatever you wish
I love how there's straight up a chemical hazard symbol for acute toxicity on the box, at least they're being honest.
I’m becoming the full manager of a vapor store and it always sickens me the amount of waste comes out of retail store, I’m taking steps for my own business to be more eco friendly it’s just a drop in the bucket but at least I can feel better about my own corner. Shit is heartbreaking to see them thrown away
You can have a recycling program and give a few cents of store credit
Do you have any recycling system in store? Do ELFBAR have a recycling program at all for vendors? It would be great if these things were sold with a £2 deposit or something and users could return them to be refurbed by elfbar. The material waste is staggering considering all a used up disposable needs is a recharge and a refill.
I guess the main struggle is that it's not like every corner shop wants to be dealing with taking/giving deposits for these things, and i can't imagine any shipping company is chomping at the bit to carry a container full of mostly-drained lithium cells halfway across the world.
Pfand
How much is one of these? How does it compare to a packet of cigs?
@@BenVost same shit, different taco. Equally as bad, just in different ways. They kinda work if you're trying to kick the habit entirely as you get to reduce your dependency on just the nicotine. The psychological habit is the hard part. I did the swap and made my own coils and fluid out of organic and USP food grade everything that is possible. Still amazing how much even 0 nic vape kills your lung capacity. Just quit the old fashioned way with gum and reduction of use/triggers.
it disgusts me greatly how careless people throw them away. producers of these should be made to pay for the cleaning.
Make purchasers pay 50 cents deposit, can be turned in for money like we do with aluminum cans. You'd see hardly any on the roadside or sidewalk.
I vape all day every day. And yet I still throw the packages in the trash and save the old devices for the batteries. There's no excuse for people to just throw them on the ground.
Honestly even if they threw them away in the trash and not in the street, it's still ridiculous that reusable batteries which normally cost a lot (rechargeable AA, AAA's for example) are literally being made to throw away. They would go in a landfill if they didn't go in the street, which to me is just as terrible. Disposable electronics should be banned, or vape manufacturer should at least offer a free way to recycle them
We have a2 schools and a colledge about 500 meters from us and we pick up 3-5 a day. So far I have converted all my xbox 360 controllers with 2 of these and a 3.3V regulator boards. Filled an old 4Ah gel battery with 48 of these and a 12V BMS for an 8.4Ah battery in the same size of the old 4Ah. Various head torches and other devices that require 5V with the little 5V charger/protection boards.
I always knew that following along at home with these videos could carry some risk, but now I am exposed to a new risk I had not even thought of. This risk is Tripping as I walk around the streets looking for these things with my eyes on the floor! Great little cells inside and only been used once. Hope you are keeping well Clive and thanks for the new hobby. Chris, UK.
The reason they are less harsh now is the use of nicotine salts. A note to those handling the devices; these typically have 50mg e-liquid inside (very concentrated) it can be dangerous to have a large quantity on the skin for extended periods of time. I would recommend using nitrile gloves to be on the safe side.
How so?
You have an amazing style for showing your distaste for the littering. Just mentioning it, w/out any personal remarks, is very effective. You have taught me more than just EE.
These small cells are very versatile. I'd recommend people to go exclusively for the TP4056 board with included protection (the slightly longer ones with two extra chips on them) which if you really need to can be shaved a bit in size anyway.
You can also fit a through hole resistor to reprogram the charging current (R3) with not much difficulty (look at the - trace for a hint where to solder one of the sides of the resistor).
The most fun thing to do once you gather these cells is to convert stuff that previously used AA or AAAs, if the devices needs 4.5V it can easily be converted without much fuss and if the devices needs only 3V you can add a voltage regulator.
This^^... The TP4056 can also protect the battery from being over discharged which is a BIG plus.
I've been using this a lot and can say they're excellent and so cheap! Didn't know about changing the charge current thanks for the tip!
@@MrMilarepa108 is changing the charge current necessary? im just getting into electronics
interesting. A kid at my school dropped one by accident in my class. I spotted it on the floor and oddly enough she didn't ask for it back. out of curiosity i did exactly what Clive did and pulled it to pieces to see what made it tick. I may see if I can make better use of the cell...
@@duncanbrown4184 let me know if you think of anything because I've got a pile of these batteries at home that I don't want to throw away but can't figure out what to do with them. I was hoping I could combine them all into a giant parallel battery pack for something but I guess that doesn't work with differently sized batteries lol
Found this video and guess my excitement when I realized I have a shoebox full of these. Thanks!
When I do railway tracks patrols, I walk passed at least 10 of these thrown in each of the platforms.
That's 5Ah per platform per pass.
Step 1 collect them all and build an e bike battery or somthing.
Step 2 Make a youtibe video with a catchy title.
Step 3 profit?
@@theothermikeg or go the other way and use it to make the ebike, use the bike to go further and get more, upgrade the bike, so on until you end up with an awesome bike and a 20km radius monopoly on discarded vapes.
@@davep5698 DONT STEAL MY IDEA!!! I STOLE IT FIRST!!! besides, my ebike is pretty cool with only 1000 watt hours of battery, i can only imagine the capacities i could reach on chicago's discarded vapes
@@davep5698 That could also make for a fun little mobile / indy game. Saving the planet and using the trash you find to upgrade your equipment.
Never thought I'd see the day lithium ions were used as single use disposable batteries. Seems so wasteful but given the amperage requirements of these devices it sort of makes sense.
Yeah. What other kind of cell would even work?
How does it make sense when they are already producing throw away pods where you throw just the pod away and recharge the main body
These should be banned outright
What kind of sense does throwing out a battery that can be reused hundreds of times and can catch fire if crushed in the back of a garbage truck make? I don't see it.
@@LexYeen it makes engineering sense because any other type of battery can't handle the power required to run a vape. People want to be able to basically breathe these things, nothing but a lithium battery could do that in the "elfbar" form factor. It doesn't make any actual sense in the real world because they already solved this problem with pod vapes.
@@tissuepaper9962 Yes because my kids and their kids future cares about engineering sense
When you engineer something, it should consider all parts of engineering, from economic, environmental and functionality
These are such a waste of resources
Mountains being ripped up destroying local water supplies and wildlife to get lithium, a material which is impossible degrade and reuse
There is absolutely no reason they need to do this when there are replacement pods available where you recharge the main mod
It's just a joke in my opinion
I have a hundred of these also I took it for Sidewalk I used it for my tiny wipe drone.. 😅 Also you can open Recycling you just need some new parts like a sponge. There are many ideas.. 👍🤞 Go ahead guys.
I was just about to take one of these apart but had no clue. So stoked I ran across your vid! You answered a million questions I had about these, the internals, and their batteries. Thank you!
Edit: also, here in the US, the device itself and the packaging says not to throw it in the trash and to recycle the device.
I've been collecting the elfbars, taking the cell out, keeping the outer casing aswell as it fits two battery's perfectly, plus the caps that you take off as they create a good end cap. Making some sort of battery pack, have about 20 cells so far 🤣 needed this info, thanks
what can u even use them for?
@@yeni5439 battery power
@@yeni5439 battery pack for camping or car, good size to replace internal battery's in other devices
People think I'm weird for using a rebuildable mod, but it's for this exact reason, who in the right mind would toss a perfectly good Lithium-Ion cell? Thanks for the excellent work as always Clive, I honestly didn't think I'd see you playing with these kinds of devices again.
It’s actually fucked how rebuildables are so under-used. The cost benefit is enormous and the controllability is so much better than the shitty vape disposables give.
Not to mention the quality of ingredients and product build and design.
Disposable vapes shouldn’t exist.
@@oiinahgiiusadurrybrahchuck7209 because coils can be annoying as fuck plus they're more expensive outright though cheaper over the long run 🤷 most people are habit smokers who just want something extremely easy Jo fiddling to prime a coil and refill just pick up and go that's how it is unfortunate even a mid level vaper as myself I still get fucked off by coils most company's can't do them right and I've never had issues with disposables plus they're practically free if you sell the battery etc to the right peeps
Very useful, thanks. I was in London last week and picked up two of the 500mAh ones. Nothing like as exotic as yours - one grape, one apple peach.
[I stocked up on elastic bands too.]
Great video, i made one like this for the Vype ePod a few years back which ranked number 1 for along time. The reason this is smoother on the throat is the amount of vegetable glycerin. Which is healthier to breath in, also the air flow. Although i gave up vaping, ive been looking for a project for my recharging modules and i was initially reclaiming these for the breath activation switches! Thank you for your content! Great stuff.
My favorite part of your videos is watching your draw schematics of these random chinese made objects. It's like asmr to me
I found one in the street in front of my house many years ago, before they were popular, and I did not recognize what it was. I, as any normal person would, disassembled it as you did and discovered its true purpose. I think I still have the salvaged battery.
The same thing happened to me once, it was right in front of my mailbox.
Big Clive’s one of my heroes.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
'Let's just take this small bit of plastic off'- Pulls out a Gigantic Pair of Linesman Electrical Pliers!
Interesting, I see many of these laying everywhere too and wondered if the lithium cells were reclaimable... Thanks
Finding the Insides of such a device in the streets made me pretty clueless - thank you for clearing things up!
I just found one of these vapes thrown in the street today on my way home from work! Called it "Street Lithium" in your honor.
It was a "double barrel" design, with the liquid in one side and a quite unusual and unique 18500 cell in the other. Mind-bendingly simple electronic control system.
I've never seen anything quite like this cell. It's a cylinder cell, but instead of the standard hard shell case, it's wrapped in a LiPo style wrapper pouch!
It's labelled "XSQ18500 5.55Wh, 3.7v 1500mAh, 2022B01". Interestingly it's still almost fully charged. I just got excited and really wanted to mention it!
And then I got depressed thinking about how many that are just thrown into the trash or the road without "hackers" like myself or others here to find them.
This thing was basically brand new, there was "tons" of fluid left inside of it and the battery still had a full charge.
The cartridge consisted of a ton of cotton wadding pieces, the largest being inside of a substantial plastic cylinder and saturated with the liquid.
What I presume to be the heater was pressed into the end. But the wires were so mind-warpingly thin that I can't imagine it'd have ever worked particularly well. MAYBE 26 ga.
And the "control" is nothing but what looks like a *microphone* with three wires coming from it, that presumably is supposed to switch on the heater when the user inhales through the unit.
I wouldn't be surprised if it never worked correctly, and that's what prompted the user to throw it out of their car window for me to find.
Good to know I'm not the only one to pick these up off the streets to use for parts! I see you charge them the same way, too! The power bank charge circuit with some gator clips attached! Thanks for showing me I'm not the only one!
I have been picking them up when I see them, just for the cells. I guessed they were an update to the original e-cigs that were very small from poundland and I did dismantle the first couple just to see. I was rewarded with the 500mAh cell so just have carried on picking them up.
I've been doing they same. After 10 weeks I ended up with 20 Lipo cells. (I have a growing Twitter thread documenting each one I recover) I also noticed the discarded packaging, and even just the empty outer casing - - so there are definitely others picking them up for the internal components and are even disassembling them on the spot!
Most are 450 to 550mAh but I've recently found one of those big ones with a 1500mAh cell that still had a 3.3V charge. It recharged using the TP4056 just fine.
Also found a couple of broken devices that were meant to be recharged via USB, and even a knock-off ear pods charger that must have fallen out of someone's pocket.
Same here, i found two of the larger ones so far, hoping to find more.
Go to a college town, they're every fuckin' where.
@@tissuepaper9962 Northampton... A uni town where even the high school kids buy elf bars
@@tissuepaper9962 also I'll be at at least 3 festivals this year so I will be able to collect enough cells to power a tesla
Bigclive has taught me a lot including this free battery trick. Find them everywhere especially behind the gas stations I maintain. Thanks for spreading lessons peace ✌
I have literally no idea what I just watched, but it was great and informative!
Thanks to Clive, I picked up 3 so far but haven't taking them apart yet.
I've began collecting dozens of these off of my friends that use disposable vapes pretty often lately (and now have a reputation for it, haha!). I've collected a large number of ~950-1050mAh 18350-sized cells and am building 8 of them into a USB-C PD/QC3.0 fast-charging power bank kit. I managed to also find some 16450-sized ones in a pair of disposables I found in a parking lot, with a 975mAh one replacing a 680mAh 14500 battery in my electric toothbrush.
when do you start making your own electric car? :D
Is it possible to please get a step by step in how you are going to do that?
@@comment3628 im no expert, but i would say that he will go onto ebay and buy the chip set that will allow him to charge and use the batteries to charge other things, buy some wires, maybe a nice case for it all to go in, little bit of soldering to connect it all up, good to go.
It seems other people have caught on to this. I found 4 of them and recovered the batteries and assumed I was the only one in the know. The last two I saw both disappeared before I went back for them. I use pipe grips to open them. Destroys the plastic, but is quick and I don't need to handle the 'mouth' part directly!
You mentioned the possible use of anesthetics. One explanation is that these devices typically use a salt based nicotine which does not have that hit to the throat. If it's 20mg(2%) or higher in nicotine it is salt nicotine. The lower 3-15mg(0.3-1.5%) range is usually a free base nicotine that has a harsh feel in the lungs. The latter is only available in refill bottles in my area. I make my own liquid as I question these products too. Great video by the way! I have several of these lithium batteries now but still looking for a use.
Bro what an awesome page,
So glad I found you
Where I live these things are rife,
You can see them all over them place!!
I can’t believe how lucrative they are!!
As a fairly long time vaper; it pains me watching people use disposables. Tossing them just adds to the misery. I had thought pod mods with their plastic throwaway cartridges was already wasteful (all that plastic, metal for the coil housing, short device life) but disposables....
ive started using disposables because theyre available at every convenience store and open all hours of the night but ive never once discarded one, have about 2 shoeboxes of e-waste in the basement waiting to burst into flames but it's better than in the street or a landfill
The sad thing is, the governments are to blame for this by almost making it impossible for some people to buy normal bottles of juice or buy the supplies to make their own. My local shop has to stop making their own juice in July so I'll have to find other ways to get it.
If that rye bread one was a street find, you're going all in to expand the horizons of your audience, and we salute you.
It'll add a nice earthy undertone to the fruit factory, at least.
I bought it to see what it tasted like. Not my favourite flavour experience.
@ Josh Myer, Would you put a street find to your lips?
@@steptoeandson3554 The device would be used by one person versus a coffee shop cup used by thousands. I wouldn't recommend puffing on it before it had been thoroughly cleaned though.
Hi Clive, regarding the "lung anaesthetic",
It's likely that you are used to trying normal nicotine, and they are probably using nicotine salts - and as they're much less acidic from the classic freebase nicotine they are much less coarse than the other ones.
Edit: Yes, I made an oopsie and mixed acidic with basic. VG:PG ratio is also a factor but a much smaller one than salt/freebase, and most prefilled pods and small pods use PG-rich mixtures due to the PG being a lot more "watery" than VG. I can detect the difference between 3mg freebase and 4mg salts and can say with confidence that the throat hit of eg. 20mg/ml from a pod with salts is comparable to a 10mg/ml from the same pod with freebase.
Yes there is no "Lung anesthetics" involved but Id like to improve this answer.
There is a difference in base nicotine. But as a dude that used to mix alot of these liquids Id say
a really big difference is also in VG,PG concentration , Propylene Glycol - Feels rougher on the throat after mixing
Vegetable Glycerine - Doesnt feel as bad and then there are many other factors like flavoring, nicotine base.
Bad flavoring can also give a throat hit of a elephant.
also in the US they where trying to ban flavored e cigarettes so now a lot of the vape shops are selling these disposable devices like in the video with synthetic nicotine
@@kc_toxic5185 it’s shocking how many people vape and aren’t even aware to the basic components.
Disposables are such a blight on the technology.
@@kc_toxic5185 I'd also like to add to this that as it's a mouth to lung device with a lot of flavour and not much cloud that they are probably using a higher PG concentration. I definitely agree that the less coarse effect is from using salt nicotine rather than freebase. No 20mg freebase liquid taste that smooth even if it was 100% vg.
Pretty sure their actually mote acid as its a salt but i could be wrong
Those cylindrical batteries you explored first appear to be the same as in the rechargeable devices I used to purchase. They were good for up to 2 years cycling daily- charge discharge. Their energy content is near what the nicad rechargeable drills use, in a smaller form factor, so I've stripped out a bunch of them and and making a battery pack now for my drill.
E bike
That "rye-bread" flavor in the white device is one that i've seen sold as "Oat Pudding" and under a different brand while in the same shell. I wouldn't doubt the one you featured is the exact same one that I bought.
I actually use a bunch of batteries from the "elf bar" vapes that I keep finding around Central London in order to power my bike light haha, Amazing content as always!
I picked up that inside last week off the streets knew it could come in handy now I know what it is thanks
Lol funny to find a video like this...I do the same thing ,it only came to my attention seeing a crushed one on ethe street and a revealed battery! Great vid
That sequence of unpacking a new device happens here in my little Australian country town... Thankfully they're quite rare here as shops can't legally display them in my state.
Its crazy to waste that many batteries. Wonderful uses video.
I do find a lot of these discarded. They are a great source of essentially brand new low capacity lithium cells useful for powering IoT stuff.
The cooling sensation is called ws-23 or koolada. But as for the nicotine it's probably nicotine salts with other additives to make them very smooth to not give a harsh throat hit while delivering high amounts of nicotine. Very interesting video. Liked and subscribed.
I've been doing this recently too.
The puff bar is exactly the right size to jam the PCB of a flash drive into, and the batteries are great for tiny projects
Hey big Clive,
I have several dozens of these batteries.
I bought a small metal can that has a flip-top lid & a plastic liner. I placed it in a vape shop uptown. I have the words "recycle" on it. I work as a bus driver at a recycling facility.
This works out fantastic for me!
I disassemble them for the batteries. Some of them even have a charging circuit built in. When I'm done, I just recycle the bits and pieces. One thing I noticed about these cheaper lithium ion batteries. The positive and negative tabs will break off really easy. You have to be real delicate with them!
Well, handling properly and reusing is indeed a way of recycling. Hats off!
Yeah, it's best to add a suitable wire and tape them firmly with a bit more Kapton tape.
@@bigclivedotcom thanks for the tip Clive!
@@jkobain thank you Janus! :-)
I'm a traffic flagger for the state and I find these all over the roads. I collect them exactly for this reason. I probably have 30 or 40 kg worth of these things in a box waiting to be torn apart and salvaged.
Just a few days ago I was at a boat museum by a lake and there I found one of these and remembering I had seen a never video from you about these I brought it with me home. Now I just got to decide what I want to use the free battery for.
Would it really be so hard to stick a hefty deposit charge on these and set up a return/recycle service?
They cost enough as is, just give a core refund...
The problem is just that the people who have the power to do that don't care in the slightest
recycle cost of the cells, stripped and terminated is around 30p per lb. not worth doing.
@@Feels_Lucky that's only scrapping. Recycling ♻️ is anything that returns trash into serviceable products.
So the cost of new cells is what you need to price.
@@Feels_Lucky not YET. Look at all the electric cars and other applications needing tons of lithium. Prices will go up and eventually you'll look to have recycling.
I've been picking these up and checking the cells. Most still have about half a charge left in them. I charge them and have put them in parallel in my solar motion sensing lights around my large yard. Now they last until the sun comes back up. I still have 5 batteries left so, I'll pair them with some super capacitors and make a battery jump pack for my car. Of course with a proper charging circuit.
I just took apart 3 of these. I love the video
I've been keeping all my devices and pods to recycle later. Can't think if anything to build cuz I lack imagination but I see the value in these cells and plastic!
I was passing by a concert back in February and I saw a bin full of these things. I quietly took the whole bin and shove it in the back seat and drove away. I got a lot of cells and now I'm having trouble charging them one by one. I reused the aluminum bodies as containers for spices that I use when camping.
The bin they came in is still on my backyard.
I would try and match cells of the same type and make balance leads. The style that drone and RC batteries use.
"spices"
blessed. How people can throw all of that goodness away is astounding
Not the good kind either.
That "less feeling" in the lungs/throat is because there are two types of nicotine, and regular nicotine is quite rough, but "salts" of nicotine (eg. nicotine salicylate) produce less of that rough feeling.
And that some juices have zero nicotine.
Nic salts are amazing. I've recently been converted
@@Geordiehc Thought the salt variety contained 'vitamin E acetate' which was linked to the cause of vape lung and was the reason vapes were banned in the US.
@@5p0ng3b0b Nope, vitamin e acetate is a thickener used in counterfeit thc "carts", and that has indeed been linked to illnesses like for eg. VALI/EVALI. None of that in regular vapes, tho who knows with these Chinese wholesalers.
@@4L3K
I wouldn't want to be putting anything from China into my lungs... You just never know when they've swapped an ingredient when supplies ran low. It's in their culture. Even big name brands have manufacturing quality issues when chinese workers just swap stuff.
I'm a trash-diver in Oklahoma and live right next to a student hang out hot spot.
I find these in the trash all the time. I always take them out, tear them down and keep the batteries aluminum or stainless steel bits for scrap. Usually the outside case is aluminum, sometimes stainless. Sometimes there is a stainless steel tube inside the wicking material.
For those who want to find out, use a neodymium magnet, I use one from an old computer hard drive. Stainless will be very weakly attracted to it and its own weight will cause it to let go of the magnet. Aluminum, no attraction.
Hey big Clive,
Love all the videos. I am also interested in the single use vapes pens. Currently I am running a build log on Hackaday with project that use parts from vape pens. Hopefully it turns into a viable project case like altoid back in the day.
Cheers,
Mitko
The pure waste generation of these things angers me in a way that I can't adequately express.
Thanks Clive for making aware of theses items ,
Have reused many for bottle lights as they fit in where the cork goes - run for more than 6 hrs
Now to upgrade my cap with lights on the brim with rechargeable battery instead of CR2032 cells👍🏻
(Don’t forget a dropper resistor or you blow the leds..doh)
Seeing a couple of these laying around here and there is still way better than piles of cigarette butts at every stoplight.
Revitalizing. I have a thing for deconstruction and reconstruction...I've noticed these trashed as well, sad..but I've collected some, so now makes it worth something. Blessings
I’ve been rescuing these things for a while and I now have quite a collection of rechargeable cells. The larger devices with a square cross-section contain 1500mAh cells! 😳
It has a built-in microphone so the Chinese government can gather intelligence on its enemies
But why?
(for the gullible, no they don't. The pressure sensor purpose made for these looks like an electret microphone.)
@@rpavlik1 Only because it's really a built-in microphone so the Chinese government can gather intelligence on its enemies...
makes alot of sense now! those damn commies!
@@rpavlik1 You are clearly an agent working for the chineese government.
Wow I never thought of this and you sparked a new hobby
Got my dad to be on the lookout for these, having recently retired and taking liberties with his free bus pass. Just came back with a watermelon flavour one it really does smell a lot, got the top off easily enough wasn't have much luck with the bottom with pliers, but surprisingly the glass ketchup bottle tap allowed the cell to work its way down to reveal a 550mah cell. Slightly different package and looks like it may have a protection circuit, though I haven't released it from it's 'shrink wrap' to reveal it as I might use it for mini pocket torch or something along those lines.
I found one of the first type taken apart here and the device had cut off from low battery rather than being empty. when i checked the battery voltage it was at 3.05v so they will take the batterys right down to the low charge limit but just about within tolerances.
i charged the cell on my big charger and it put 602mah into it so the claimed capacity is actually genuine for a change!
Clive, it's interesting to see disposable units. Here in the US, they tend to be reusable. There are a many that are disposable, but most I see sold here use replaceable pod systems. It's crazy to watch this and see how much of this stuff is just single use whenever the materials they are made of usually can be reused.
In certain states fruity and other flavors are prohibited for the reusable pod systems and thus the proliferation of the disposable ones which are not subject to this regulation for some odd reason.
I don't think the rechargeable "disposable" vapes are legal here in the UK. Disposable vapes can't have more than 2ml of 20mg strength e-liquid. The liquid runs out long before the battery. Pod systems and the regular refillable vapes are also popular, but the disposable ones are ridiculously easy to get. A lot of small shops don't even ID you for them so kids can easily get them which is absolutely shocking.
I see plenty of people using them, and yes I have asked them why, pointed out the massive waste of money compared to pod systems, etc. Their answer? "I'm too lazy and would forget to charge it." The fact those people just throw their trash on the ground does not surprise me one bit.
No there not I'm here in the us and the majority of people now days atleast in my age group use disposables
@@meatcanon685 - same it's to the point that gas stations and shops in ohio cities don't even sell reusable vapes anymore. just hyde, mr fog, elfbar, etc. even the thc vapes are disposable now.
Thank you!!! I’m a vaper and a diyer…. Just recharged a almost one year old disposable vape, still had 70% of liquid in cartridge. Will be sharing this wonder with my fellows. One less piece of rubbish
Just made a smaller, lighter, more powerful and longer lasting battery pack for my R/C buggy. These batteries can output 20 amps! The cheap 18650s I have (from a laptop battery pack) will only output 5 amps! I was very impressed, and they're 100% rechargeable.
You should do a video making a battery bank out of these. One that support qc or even PD3.