Vivi Nova (and / or Vamo???) problem. What's going on here?

[Mozzie]

OK, so a mate lent me his Vamo the other day while he went off golfing in Spain. I've only used eGo Twists up to now. All was going well, until a couple of days ago. Put a newly cleaned Vivi head in, filled up with juice and stuck it on the Vamo. Nothing. Hmm. Checked the resistance, and found it was reading 9.9Ω - i.e. not reading it at all. Think "OK, coil's .......**d. Maybe I broke it with too much tap pressure". Emptied juice, took out head. Put in another head (again, freshly cleaned and left to dry). Bingo! For about 2 minutes. Then, stopped working. Again, read 9.9Ω. FFS. So now I'm thinking I'm blowing the coil. But I'm only running it at 5 / 5.5W. So I change the head - again. Stick a brand new, 1.8Ω head in it. Rejuice, blah blah. Works fine. I vape on for the rest of yesterday. Go to bed, wake up this morning, go to have a vape. Nothing. Turn the Vamo off and back on. Now working. Test the resistance - 3.1Ω. Huh. Take a few tokes, check again. 3.0Ω. Few more tokes - 2.2Ω. I'm thinking maybe the Vamo's having a bad hair day. But then it works OK all day, until an hour ago. Suddenly stops working - again. I take it off and put it on the eGo. Still nothing. Back on the Vamo - nothing. 9.9Ω. Turn the Vamo off, turn it on. Nothing. Turn it off, turn it on. Ah!! Working! Check the resistance. 3.2Ω. Check it again. 3.8Ω. Check it again. 5.1Ω!!!! Have a toke. Check it again. 2.2Ω. ... is going on!! Toke again - nothing. Gone 9.9Ω again.

At this point, I give up. Strip the thing, clean everything and leave it to dry. Now I'm just on a different Vivi on my eGo, and a Boge on the Vamo. And feeling thoroughly baffled.

Sorry for the saga, but had to recount the whole thing. Anyone any idea? I've not had this at all in 2 months with the eGos. Is is a Vamo problem, a Vivi Nova problem specific to that particular unit, what???

Cheers

 

[noi_max]

Just for kicks try holding down one of the settings buttons until it reads N02. That's the RMS setting. You could be running too much power to the atomizer heads. Avg power, or N01 can be hotter than you suspect it will be.

 

[jaydustrose]

I get this as well. I just attributed it to the fact that I've been building my own heads lately. I'll get the ohm weirdness after I put it on then it seems to level out after a few hours.

It's kinda tricky cause the Nova heads are notorious for their ohm rating being way off target, and the VAMO seems to always guess ohms a little high. Then again, I haven't had any problems with actually vaping, so I haven't really considered it an issue... (In VV mode anyway. That would probably be an ugly mess in VW mode)

 

[hoss1738]

Your heads might be grounding out

 

[Mozzie]

Just for kicks try holding down one of the settings buttons until it reads N02. That's the RMS setting. You could be running too much power to the atomizer heads. Avg power, or N01 can be hotter than you suspect it will be.

I suspected that as well, but it's deffo set on No 2. Out of interest, why the hell do they even let you opt for the mean setting? I'm sure someone knows a reason why you might want it, but it's beyond me. And beyond Phil Busardo, who knows more than I do..

Your heads might be grounding out

No issues on an eGo though...

Just put another brand new head on and it seems fine -so far. Touch wood (or as you guys say, knock on wood )

BTW, the new head is 2.4Ω, but the Vamo says 2.8Ω - is the Vamo known to be inaccurate on the Ω reading? Mine seems all over the place. Changes from one reading to the next.

 

[Underwhelmed]

I believe it's an issue with the center post on the Nova. There is a thread in the Vamo sub-forum about this issue.

I'm not a Nova user, so I can't verify it myself.

If you have a 510 adapter, try that on the Nova and see if that fixes the issue.

 

[Mozzie]

I believe it's an issue with the center post on the Nova. There is a thread in the Vamo sub-forum about this issue.

I'm not a Nova user, so I can't verify it myself.

If you have a 510 adapter, try that on the Nova and see if that fixes the issue.

Do you have a link for that thread, UW? Found the sub-forum, but don't see the thread

 

[kiwivap]

OK, so a mate lent me his Vamo the other day while he went off golfing in Spain. I've only used eGo Twists up to now. All was going well, until a couple of days ago. Put a newly cleaned Vivi head in, filled up with juice and stuck it on the Vamo. Nothing. Hmm. Checked the resistance, and found it was reading 9.9Ω - i.e. not reading it at all. Think "OK, coil's .......**d. Maybe I broke it with too much tap pressure". Emptied juice, took out head. Put in another head (again, freshly cleaned and left to dry). Bingo! For about 2 minutes. Then, stopped working. Again, read 9.9Ω. FFS. So now I'm thinking I'm blowing the coil. But I'm only running it at 5 / 5.5W. So I change the head - again. Stick a brand new, 1.8Ω head in it. Rejuice, blah blah. Works fine. I vape on for the rest of yesterday. Go to bed, wake up this morning, go to have a vape. Nothing. Turn the Vamo off and back on. Now working. Test the resistance - 3.1Ω. Huh. Take a few tokes, check again. 3.0Ω. Few more tokes - 2.2Ω. I'm thinking maybe the Vamo's having a bad hair day. But then it works OK all day, until an hour ago. Suddenly stops working - again. I take it off and put it on the eGo. Still nothing. Back on the Vamo - nothing. 9.9Ω. Turn the Vamo off, turn it on. Nothing. Turn it off, turn it on. Ah!! Working! Check the resistance. 3.2Ω. Check it again. 3.8Ω. Check it again. 5.1Ω!!!! Have a toke. Check it again. 2.2Ω. ... is going on!! Toke again - nothing. Gone 9.9Ω again.

You won't see this on an ego because they don't have an ohms check. The problem is the coils in the heads. I use a Vamo and Vision vivi novas with it. It has always been fine with the stock heads. The heads sometimes read exactly as labelled, e.g.2.4 ohms, 2.8 ohms, but sometimes are coiled with a different resistance to that stated - so will read 2.7 ohms or 2.9 ohms for example.
With a Phoenix rebuildable where the coil is having shorts the resistance will jump around. I suspect you have coils on some of your vivi heads doing the same thing - which is why you will get wildly different readings, and high ohm readings. If you test the coils with a digital multi-meter you should see the same thing - the reading goes haywire because the coil resistance is not stable.
One temporary fix is to move the coils slightly and lift them up a tiny bit off the wick. That's only a short term fix though.

9.9 ohms means no connection or the coil is dead. With stock vivi heads I unscrew the head and then screw it back on nice and tight - this has often worked. If you are using shorting coils then the Vamo is picking that up and closing down, or as I said the coil is dead.

 

[Mozzie]

One temporary fix is to move the coils slightly and lift them up a tiny bit off the wick. That's only a short term fix though.

I'll certainly try that. Once I get my diploma in nano-surgery Thanks, Kiwi - have a Steiny for me

 

[kiwivap]

I'll certainly try that. Once I get my diploma in nano-surgery Thanks, Kiwi - have a Steiny for me

Certainly will - been nice and hot here - cold beer weather.

 

[Unforeseen]

Moved to Assorted PV Topics - Tanks

 

[Justin66]

I'm having the same problem as OP. I have two regular Nova's and a mini, all with factory heads (I've had 2 5pks I've been plowing through, trying to figure out a solution). They work fantastic on my ProVari, but don't work on my Vamo. The only thing I can get to work on that is cartos. If I screw the Nova's on so they're just barely threaded (not to mention wobbly as heII), I can get them to work, but because of the loose fit, that's not that often. I've tried circuit board spacers... I don't own a 510 to 510. If it were a problem with the coils, wouldn't they make the ProVari shut down if they miss-fired?

 

[Michael McDonald]

its the center pin on the vamo. it happen on my vamo 2 and 3. you have to raise it above the rubber gasket.

 

[Zeeque]

I just had this happen to me. I had on a 2.8Ω on my vivi. My Vamo read 3.1Ω. I went to add juice, and I couldn't get it to work. I added a 2.4Ω On, and it read 9.9Ω. I have had these vivi's for a couple months. I was having problems with them not working on my Ego Twist when I first received them. I contacted seller, he asked me to send them back and he would see if they had issues. Said they didn't, (sent them back) but I cannot get them to work. Thought maybe my center pin wasn't hitting the head on the Twist.
I don't know if its the head or what. I have new wicks and coils to put on, but I don't know if that's going to fix it. Is there anything else that could give these offbeat ohm readings?
Thanks!