More free street-lithium reclamation

Описание: 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.

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