GG AVS for GGTS initial impressions

[clyde2801]

I have spent the last five weeks exploring two automatic feeding system prototypes made by GG specifically for the Golden Greek Telescopic Storm. I christened the prototype, which was not released to the general public, the 'Grande'.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...g-afs-ggts-prototype-initial-impressions.html

Fortunately, the maker of GG products, Imeo, saw fit to send me two collection tanks for his production version of the mod, the AVS (Automatic vaping System). My Grandes have thus been upgraded to proper AVSes. The top tank which holds the atty/carto, mouthpiece and ejuice are apparently the same for both models.

The collection tank for the AVS is much smaller than the Grande. The AVS also has a longer center pin in its collection tank for its size, and most importantly DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE THE EJUICE LEAKING AND OR SEEPAGE PROBLEMS I'VE ENCOUNTERED ON THE GRANDE. (Imeo has mentioned that the relatively shorter pin on the Grande may have caused those problems on that unit.) The longer pin does elongate the unit somewhat, and the AVS shows more of its telescopic center section than the Grande in the same configuration.

The AVS does seem to have a naturally tighter draw than the Grande, probably as a result of it NOT constantly leaking liquid like a senior citizen in a nursing home. The Control Ring on the AVS feels substantially lighter, looser and less solid than the Grande, but it does work. It just doesn't have the tight precision feel of the Grande's.

Other than the differences mentioned above, the AVS does appear to be identical to the Grande in form and function. (By the way, that's a compliment.)

I'm trying to keep the same attys in the AVSes that I was using with the Grandes. The LR 901, which was working sporadically in the Grande, is hardly working at all in the AVS; it appears to be flooded. I don't know if time will permit me to pull any maintenance or repair on it this morning. Who knows, it may simply need breaking in.

However, the i3 iatty is proving to be a delight with a high drain 18650. On the Grande, it seemed I had to hit it at 6v to get any performance out of it, but it's performing as designed on the AVS. And unlike the Grande, it appears to be actually be keeping juice in the juice container instead of quickly leaking into the collection tank. A slightly longer draw is producing nice clouds of tasty vapor with an adequate TH. Not bad for 3.7v.

Just for the heck of it, I may have to spend today just enjoying a vape instead of tinkering with it. Seems I haven't done that for a while.

Here's a link to the AVS on the vaporkings website:

GG AVS tank with plastic mouthpiece

 

[clyde2801]

Had a leak free day yesterday. It was nice. I enjoyed being able to throw my vape in my suit pocket without a napkin, or lay it down on the passenger seat in my car. The i3 iatty with IMR 18650 performed just like any other 3.7v would. All day juice and all day current. (Though out of habit, I still carry spares.) Still used to HV vaping: the increased plumes of vape and the reassuring audible sizzle when I hit the switch.

Besides leakage and seepage, the draw and general vaping characteristics on the AVS is different enough from the Grande that I'm having to relearn how to most effectively vape on it. Considering it looks almost the same as the Grande, it's a bit cognitively disconcerting.

When briefly playing with the LR901, I found that I had to drastically change my inhales to get maximum performance out of that atty. If I inhaled too hard, there was a soft 'woosh woosh woosh' sound, and I'd get nothing. But a softer inhale created a 'put put put put put' noise and glorious vape. Wierd. Too much going on to sit down for thirty minutes and play with my inhale and the CR. I'll have to make a thread on the GG forum and ask for hints, such as if drilling out the inlet hole is required with a dremel.

It also seems as I have to hit the switch a certain way to get a good vape on both models. Both ggts'es may require cleaning after the Grande, but good luck on getting the time to do that today.

I will have time to take out the LR501 and try a i6 iatty, though.

 

[clyde2801]

Tried a regular 3.7v non imeo 901 atty with the AVS. Wet sounds, little vape and some juice in the mouth resulted from trying it with a IMR 18650. Nothing on the outside of the mod or the collection tank, though. No difference when running it dry (with the control ring wide open).

Okay, I'm thinking, it's running wet. After reading that some AVS users required almost twice the voltage for an atty when using it on the AVS, I went to 6v. The vape improved, but still the same wet slurpy sounds and et cetera.

After messing with this for a couple of hours, I figured it, and threw on two IMR 3.7v cr 123's for 7.4v.

I figured I would get one or two puffs of burnt metallic taste and a loud pop. Didn't happen.

Still getting slurpy sounds, but some pretty intense-if not the most tasty-vape; even with the CR running wide open.

I can't explain why, except that this atty is running really, really wet in the AVS. I'm even taking some slow draws on it, fer cryin' out loud! Another odd little thing is that the button gets noticeably hot when I hit it a couple of times in a row.

What an odd, odd, odd combination. I'm expecting the atty to pop every time I hit the switch, but it's hanging in there. Even though my vaping experience tells me this shouldn't and mustn't work, I may end up trying it for a bit: it does have satisfactory vape, and uses some of my favorite batteries. I'll have to keep a close eye on juice consumption; obviously, once the atty's no longer flooded, it'll die in a millisecond. But hey, it's only a regular 901 atty, and I've got an almost morbid fascination at how long this can and will last.

Maybe the leakage from the Grandes have impeded the conductivity of my ggts'es. I'll have to disassemble one and run it through the wife's ultrasonic jewelry cleaner to see if that makes a difference. In the meanwhile, I may have to leave the 3.7v 901 running at 7.4v alone for now. I think I'll call it 'Frankenvape'.

 

[Switched]

Vaping an atty in a flooded condition is just as bad as vaping it dry, it will pop. The heat felt at the button is a strong indicator of what is going on here, plus as you stated it is wet. Yup! too wet. I have no experience with the GGTS, but one does not need experience in this department to make an educated guess of the culprit, the atty itself.

 

[clyde2801]

I'll have to try it with a couple of different ones. But I'm not the only one to have experienced this issue. It could be that attys manufactured from one source work great on the AVS, while those from another don't.

Had the same problem with my LR901s, too. Figures.

 

[Switched]

Absolutely true! Not all attys are created equal, which adds to our vaping nirvana or gives us massive headaches.

 

[clyde2801]

Okay, I think part of the whole avs process depends upon how tightly you screw the AVS to the collection tank.

If it's really good and hand snugged, there seems to be a very tight draw, flooded atty (even with a wide open control ring) and the need of 2x the rated current of the atty to get a good vape. The collection tank stays bone dry, and the switch gets hot after repeated use.

But if I loosen the avs just a bit before screwing the collection tank onto the battery, the dynamics change. Juice starts to drip a bit into the tank (and a tiny bit on the outside of the mod), less current can be used, and the button doesn't get as toasty warm. Tightening the CR then becomes a necessity to keep the vape from tasting burnt.

If you're having the tight draw, little vape, flooded atty problem, you may want to loosen the top part of the ggts off of the battery, loosen the avs from the tank a quarter or half turn, and then retighten the ggts to the battery.

 

[Ddubya]

Clyde, You have the patience of a saint. St. Clyde--patron saint of all things GG and 3rd generation.

 

[clyde2801]

It's a little more work and effort to get past the learning curve than I would like. Having some more complete tutorials would help rather than the ad hoc stuff that's thrown up by users.

I've read on another post about a new version of the precious that's supposed to be going 3rd gen, and I'm considering it.

 

[Ddubya]

I've read on another post about a new version of the precious that's supposed to be going 3rd gen, and I'm considering it.[/QUOTE]


It has caught my eye as well and if it is leak/seepage free I would be very likely to buy one. Has to work as well as the Reo/Kaji for it to be worth it.

 

[clyde2801]

Okay, suffering from a bit of nap induced insomnia.

Decided to disassemble an avs, put in one of my last two i6 iattys, and loosely assembled the AVS. Threw in a couple of cr123's for 6v.

It's now working as promised, without flooding or the hot button. Bit of a slurping sound when I inhale, but I'm completely okay with that.

By loosely, I mean a touch less tight than what I normally considered to be snug. When I was using the AFSv2, or all mods version of the AFS, the only way to prevent leaks was to take out one or two of the o-rings and tighten the mod as tightly as possible by hand.

This is what I call a 'stupid mod trick', or where I carry over learned behavior necessary for one mod to a new one where it is either useless or detrimental. Another example is where I still catch myself holding a mod up to my ear while hitting the button at first to make sure the atty or carto is firing; it was necessary to do that with the first one or two unreliable mods I started out with.

So I've got the AVS working as advertised, at least for now. BFT! Now that I've got my technique down a little better-guess that's why they say this is an advanced device-I'll have to go through my little baggie of attys and cartos with a question mark on the outside of it to see if I've really killed them or just assembled them incorrectly. I'll also put either an i3 or another LR in the other AVS to try some 3.7v vaping.

I'll say one thing about the AFS family: when they're working, they just satisfy like nothing else out there. Puff after glorious puff of rich, tasty vapor.

And now that I've got my nicotine fix, it's time to go back to bed for a few hours. Don't want to get my circadian rhythm screwed up. Good night, all.

 

[clyde2801]

Pulled out my second to the last LR901, disassembled AVS, reassembled using the technique I hit upon late last night/early this morning.

Instead of jamming everything as tightly together by hand as I did on the AFS v2 and Grande, I would loosely assemble the AFS to the collection tank, and snug the battery to the tank and top piece, and then finish snugging down the AVS to the collection tank.

Takes a bit of tinkering and readjusting to get it right. I have to alternate loosening and tightening the AVS and the top of the collection tank to the battery to get the magic of the right amounts of current and airflow to the atty. Otherwise, the atty won't fire, or it has a tight draw and flooding.

THAT being said, the LR901 when working as intended on the AVS with a IMR 18650 is not a bad little vape. Nice vape, good taste, decent TH. Is it a true HV vaping experience? Not quite, but with a bit of a slower inhale, it's fairly close. Definitely better than the average 3.7v atty with the same batty, to be sure. Certainly not as much of a juice hog as a i6 at 6v and so forth.

It's not the awesomeness of HV vaping nirvana, but it's promised long battery and juice life may make up for it as a daily driver or road mod. Think it'll have to go with me out and about tomorrow.

 

[clyde2801]

I guess my assembly or vaping technique is still frakked up, because I'm still having problems with the AVS. Intermittent vaping, occasional juice leaks and it may be frying attys on me, even when used at the recommended voltage.

I've temporarily gone back to the Grande. Yes, it may leak like a depends clad octogenarian in a nursing home, but it still gives a fairly dependable vape when you hit the button. When the Grande and the AVS work, they're unparalleled. When they don't, they're incredibly vexing.

Maybe I'm a whiny and/or a complete and utter dumb-. But these mods are proving very frustrating, time consuming and problematic. I know they're 'advanced user devices', but I'd like to think that someone with a doctorate* could read some concise instructions and figure out how to assemble and vape a device after a couple of hours. Really. It almost seems that the Grande and the AVS are a step backwards from the AFSv2 instead of a major advancement.

Again, the rift with Lisa and her taking the GG website down was a big loss to the GG community, IMHO. The website with Vapnaway's tutorials were head and shoulders above anything currently available, and for the life of me I can't understand why this wasn't immediately replaced. Clearly written, precise instructions with a few good illustrations or photos isn't too much to ask, is it? Not wanting to dig around a half dozen threads to find some sub par videos isn't being that demanding.

Who knows, maybe it's just me. If others were having the same problem, I'd imagine there'd be some kicking and screaming on the GG boards. I'm just hoping that today I can vape a mod while working instead of spending the day working to make a mod vape.


*And a J.D. IS a doctorate. Really. I had three chevrons on my graduation robe and everything.

 

[clyde2801]

I may have unloaded a bit too much on the last post, excuse my frustration. I'll try cleaning my GGTSes and these supect attys when I get some free time* to see if that'll help the situation.



*Though truthfully, God knows when THAT will happen!

 

[VPDownunder]

I'm so used to HV vaping now that I find the LR 510 or LR 901 at 3.7v to weak, got some LR 306's on the way though to see if that helps. For now I stick to 7.4 volts on my GGTS + AVS running a HV 910 atty and it works like a dream, plumes of vapor and tons of flavor with no leaking or warm switch even when chain vaping (I'm also using the fuse). No fiddling either , just tighten everything up finger tight and away I go. Refilling is a breeze and the atty never floods

 

[clyde2801]

I'll try the AVS again, but went back to the Grande today. It seemed like the AVS was too twitchy and had to be fiddled with constantly.

I'll try holding my mouth another way tomorrow morning and try it again.

 

[clyde2801]

Talked with Hopefulll a bit today on Aussie vapors irc chat. Was strongly advised to clean GGTS, AVS and collection tank before proceeding further.

I threw on a LR901 onto an AVS with an imr 18650 on ggts 161, my less used back up vape, right before my headlong dash into the remainder of the day. Tightly assembled, it does have a bit of a tight draw, but I can get some decent, tasty vape if I take light, slow inhales with the CR wide open. Not frakkin' bad at all. Whew.

This also in my opinion reinforces Hopefulll's pronouncement that the other GGTS just needs a good cleaning. Motivates me to make the time to do this tonight.

If that is the case, I'll own up to it, and the ECF and GG community can crown me as King of the Whiny Dumb . If that happens, I ask that the "Throne Room" song from the end of Star Wars IV is played during my coronation. It's a reasonable request.

 

[clyde2801]

Tore down the ggts'es and avs'es apart last night, put the former in the wife's ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, wiped off the latter. Broke out the noalox and polish while I was at it.

I've learned the hard way to not initially declare, "and now the [...] problem is over, hooray!" because that virtually insures it'll happen again within two to three hours.

But SO FAR, both models work without the uber tight draw and without juicing my mouth. I'm also not getting the hot or warm button; I've got the original spring setup instead of fuzes, magnets or whatnot. Maybe the ts'es had oxidized to the point that the current was impeded to the avs, causing all the juice not to be burned during vaping and the button malfunction?

One AVS is set up with the lr901, the other with the i6 at 6v. It seems that the LR is doing better than the 6v. I'm not sure if that's really a compliment to the LR or a strike against the 6v.

Both have reduced vape after a short time, which means the collector tank has enough juice to interfere with vaping. This is happening even if the AVS is securely screwed into the collector tank (CT). Some on the gg boards have reported this problem diminishes or disappears after extended use. I hope it does; having to partially disassemble the mod, uncap and uncork a juice bottle at irregular intervals diminishes the usefulness of this mod, IMO.

Think I'll load the LR AVS into the suit pocket this morning. If it continues to work, this setup should promise less battery and juice consumption. Wish me luck.

 

[Switched]

In all honesty Clyde, reading your frustrations and steeeeeeep learning curve has only reinforced my reluctance to purchase one, regardless of what some folks might say. No PV should be such a PITA, regardless of implied user "newbieness that has been voiced elsewhere.

 

[clyde2801]

If I have to use a mod that (hopefully, just for now) requires me to dump juice, I might as well have bottles that can handle it.

Like a lot of other folks who have been around the block a time or two, I've got a whole lot of half or quarter filled juice bottles.

I'm spending some time this morning consolidating them. I'm using vaporrenu halfsies or empties for this purpose because a) they have a wide mouth, b) they're not opaque or clear and c) I've got a lot of them.

I'm dumping all similar flavors together (all cigars, tobaccos, coffee, etc) and mixing complimentary flavors such as half chocolate and half coconut for what I've labeled as Mounds Bar.

Besides reducing clutter, it'll probably help me out a bit keep on top of my juice inventory and ordering. I haven't ordered anything for a month or more due to all these half or more empty bottles of juice laying around.

Another advantage is that I'm looking again at some flavors I haven't touched for a while. Loaded the 6v AVS up with some leftover coconut, and I'm really digging it. Yum.

Not going to go out and buy a ton of juice now, however. Think once I've used up by cigar and analog flavors, I'll try some more and alternate them with the flavored leftovers for a change of pace.

And I've been noticing just now, holy crap, this coconut's putting out some vape! It occurred to me that it's a blend with more VG. Silly ol' complicated me, making newbie vaping 101 mistakes. Think I'll have to take out the straight VG and boost the content of some of my PG's a bit. I wonder if the thicker viscosity will help with seepage into the CT as well.

Been jawin' long enough this morning. Time to put on my big boy clothes and go to work! Later.