by A father has turned disposable vapes, which he collects from the gutter, into rechargeable lanterns that last up to two weeks and portable power banks for his electronic gadgets and musical instruments. Mark Hopgood, 55, a software engineer and musician from Sevenoaks, Kent, managed to charge his iPhone 8 as well as power his toy keyboard and home music machine with the lithium batteries he recovered from old disposable vapes. he found litter around the streets near him. his home
The father of two is now doing gigs using his portable home chargers to power his equipment via a USB cable and is building an e-bike that will run on about 80 vape batteries. Mark came up with the idea of making small lanterns after seeing a “bright light” in the gutter which turned out to be a partially run vape and continued to glow for five days after he brought it home .
He hopes his discovery will inspire people to find creative ways to reuse and recycle disposable vapes instead of simply throwing them away, but he warned that it’s important to take certain safety precautions so the batteries don’t overheat and catch fire. capture Mark uses a battery management system, a small chip that costs about 10p and stops the circuit if the battery gets too hot.
It is estimated that around five million single-use vapes are being consumed every week in the UK, according to the Government – which is planning to ban them by the end of next year at the latest. “The best thing about it is that you’re using a resource that’s free and making use of it before you go to the recycling,” he said.
“There’s no obvious way to recycle them unless you go into a vape shop. They seem to have just appeared, because people have chucked them in the street.
“I didn’t even know they had nicotine in them – I guess that’s why they’re so addictive.”
Mark was out for a walk in June 2023 when he saw a “stash” of vapes bundled together. “It was like the fairy godmother of vapes had thrown a magic wand,” he said.
“I immediately saw one in the gutter and picked it up. Then I walked a little further and there was a stash of five vapes left on a wall at the bus stop.”
Back at home, Mark went to work, taking each of the colorful smoking devices apart, piece by piece. Mark discovered that they were powered by a type of rechargeable lithium-ion battery and had a brainwave.
“If you think about Tesla, that uses the same type of battery that you find in big, thin vapes,” he said. “So in theory, you could power a Tesla with it, but that level of power could be dangerous because it would heat up.”
He started by ordering a battery case, or power bank shell, on Amazon, which he said costs between four and five pounds. He then used a soldering iron to attach the batteries to the case, effectively creating a rechargeable home power bank.
“I took one of these DIY battery packs and wired the vape batteries into it,” he said. “Not only could I use it to cut things, but I could also cut it up.
“Apparently you can recharge them 400 times, although I doubt it’s more than that.”
Mark wanted to see “how far he could go” with his new invention and started collecting more discarded vapes in the area around his house, the most common being the Strawberry Ice Elf Bar. “Even if they’ve been run a little bit, they still seem to work, so they’re pretty strong,” he said.
“I must have gotten at least 20 of them.”
A power bank containing five 3.7 volt vape batteries was enough to power Mark’s Casio toy keyboard via USB cable, as well as his music machine which he uses to produce a backing track. He first tested the device at an open mic night at The Chambers pub in Folkstone in August 2023, where he regularly plays on the first Wednesday of every month.
“I took it to the events and powered everything,” he said. “I played a few songs and people were coming up to me afterwards, saying ‘Oh what you’ve done’ – they were really interested.”
This got Mark thinking about what other devices he could power with an old vape battery. One evening, he was cycling home from the station in Sevenoaks when he saw a “bright, bright light”.
“It was a dark evening, just before the clocks went back and there was this bright light shining in the gutter,” he said. “So I pulled over and it was a vape that had been run over and damaged.
“It was like he thought someone was stalking him all the time. I brought it home thinking, ‘Oh is this going to explode because it’s expired’.
“I took the battery out and the light kept going off for five days. I thought this is great, I could use this as a lantern.”
Mark bought some extra components which he combined with LED lights to make “little lanterns” that will last several weeks. “It’s very magical in a way, because you have this dinky little light and you think, this is something that came free,” he said.
“I’ve had one for two weeks now that’s still going. I don’t have a switch on it, it’s being powered up all the time.”
To make the power banks more environmentally friendly, Mark developed a “solar arrangement” and said they are powerful enough to fully charge his iPhone 8. His “end goal” is to use an old vape battery to power his e-bike, but this is a work in progress.
“My ultimate aim is to power an e-bike with vape batteries but it’s a bit more complicated”, he said. “I measured how much power you would need and it’s a lot of cells.
“It’s definitely possible, but you’d need something like 80 vapes to make it work.”
Mark always carefully works out how much power is needed to make sure the batteries don’t overheat and catch fire. “If you try to get more power out of them too quickly they will heat up,” he said.
He now plans to fit the batteries with a power management system, a small chip that monitors the temperature and the amount of current passing through them. “They only cost something like 10p,” he said. “It measures how much power is coming through the battery.
“It’s a bit like a fuse, it will turn off the circuit and therefore make it safe. Technology is ubiquitous, almost every piece of technology with a rechargeable battery will have a management circuit that will cut out [if it gets too hot].”
A brand new battery like those found in disposable vapes would normally cost around £2.50 wholesale while retailing up to £6.00. In total, Mark has collected about 40 vapes, but his son Ned, 19, an art student, has collected hundreds for one of his artworks, which he hopes to get his hands on soon.
“You talk to people and they don’t know that vapes are reusable or could be reused,” he said. “It also makes me proud, because if you’re into making things, it’s pretty easy to put one together after you’ve practiced a bit of soldering.”
