Why im returning my Crown tank to Uwell

[stylemessiah]

I was under the impression it was a great tank, given youtube reviews, but it has been nothign but full of drama and evil burnt taste....the drama unfolded thusly:

Day 1 - Switched out the installed coil for the 0.5 ohm SS coil. Primed the coil, primer puffed it, let it sit for 30-40 minutes. Vaped it at a reasonable 20w...no vapor...30w...no vapor. No worries, id heard they needed a bit of wattage to get them going....35w...little vapor....40w...fair vapor. It wasnt till i got it to 44/45w (still way short of its rated 80w) that i got what i considered a usable amount of vapor. My Lemo 2 could still surpass this using kanthal at 22w, but thats beside the point....

The rest of the day went by uneventfully

Day 2) 44w all day long, no drama

Day 3) 44w all day long, no drama

Day 4) After sitting all night with plenty of juice in the tank, and then primer puffed as i do every morning with my other tanks, my second toot of the day resulted in an evil burnt taste. I switched the mod off and pulled the tank apart and looked at the coil...burnt wire and wick at the top of the coil. This cant be put down to not being primed.

I looked around online to find people with the same issue, i.e. several days of no drama and then bam...

Next i switched in the 0.25 ohm SS coil, poked it with a pin as suggested by those similarly afflicted with issues and primed it well, primer puffed it and left it sit for an hour, vaped it at 40w (80w below its max rating)...okay....44/45w...yup thats just acceptable in the vapor stakes. Left it for hours. Picked it up, primer puffed it and ok, tried 50w (still 70w below its max rating) and damn, burnt evilness again. This time the burnt taste didnt permeate the tank completely and the coil and wick looked ok.

Sent Crown an email about the issue to try and figure out of it was a known issue

Posted in the uwell crown coil heads dry hit thread

Day 5) Woke up, puffer primed the tank, 44w...evil dry hit, burnt wire, burnt wick...coil dead. Didnt even last a full day this time.

Got a reply from Crown for my email the previous day, giving me the form letter approach, check you didn this, check you did that, despite me stating the steps i'd taken. Replied and debunked each item in turn. Especially the one where i was encouraged to just go out and buy a pack of replacement coils - AUD$17 a pop <- no garauntees i wouldnt egt some of the same dodgy coils doing this, so this wasnt an option

Day 6) Got a further reply from Crown, which i cant repost here due to forum rules, but which finally acknowledges there was an issue with the Crown coils, and that they had been resolved. But since they had no way of tracking their batches, there was no way to identify and recall those bad batches. I was offered a free set of replacement coils, if i paid the postage....

Meanwhile i get the RBA kit for AUD$13 - so far im into this tank for AUD$62 - $40 for the tank, AUD$13 for the RBA, and AUD$9 for the postage

I pay the postage for the replacement coil offer and retire for the night using my Lemo 2 because im pretty much needing a break from drama....

Day 7) I get up and decide to build the RBA. Ill shortcut this for you and tell you that after 6 different coils and 6 different wicks and 3 different wicking methods (the s shaped wicking was the least aggreious) all i got to show for it was a tongue, and mouth, full of either anaemic vapor or evil burnt taste. The SS coils especially just wouldnt do anything but burn. This was at 30w or lower.

Cancelled the paypal payment for the replacement coils and sent Crown another email detailing the issues id continued to have and to inform them id be shipping it all back to them tomorrow.

I had high hopes for this one. Now back to looking for another rebuildable tank, drama free....

Meanwhile the trusty Lemo 2 with a 0.14 nickel build in it on my Evic VTC Mini just chuggs away keeping me from going completely bonkers over this issue

 

[Katmar]

Sometimes it's best to just move on......hope you find a GOOD one!!!

 

[stylemessiah]

Sometimes it's best to just move on......hope you find a GOOD one!!!

Thanks mate

 

[UncleJohn]

Well this doesn't inspire much confidence in my recent order... Hopefully I have better luck.

 

[Marc411]

I picked one up but bought the RBA section. Prebuilt coils are to unpredictable and you depend on someone else building correctly. I have a Crown and RBA on the way and will post how that works out for me. Most of the reviews have been pretty positive and the tank is rated pretty high overall.

 

[93gc40]

So you retrn the TANK because you are using the wrong wire for the build you choose..
Stainless wire REQUIRES more power than Kanthal almost 2x more power.

 

[stylemessiah]

Well this doesn't inspire much confidence in my recent order... Hopefully I have better luck.

I certanly hope you do. There are some who have no problems, i hope youre one of them. Fingers truly crossed for you

I picked one up but bought the RBA section. Prebuilt coils are to unpredictable and you depend on someone else building correctly. I have a Crown and RBA on the way and will post how that works out for me. Most of the reviews have been pretty positive and the tank is rated pretty high overall.

As mentioned theres no known way to tell if the pack of coils you buy currently is good or dodgy, my only tip is to contact Uwell if you find yourself like myself and many others, with coils burning out in limited time. The coils that burned out on me when pulled apart had joins in the wire (top and bottom) which were obviously part of the issue, because it was clear there was a temp differential at the wire join (i.e it was burnt - as was the wick around it)...looked to be two different wire types, joined...which is madness. The wicking material too was way too compressed and on further inspection looked like layers of cotton, similar to the outside of kogendoh pads, compressed. Didnt look like it was very absorbent. There was noticeable burning around the wire joint at the top of the coil and the wick in that location, juice obviously wasnt being drawn up that high.

No one is more disappointed or shocked than me, i waited nearly a month for stock at my vape store here in Oz to get one and was chomping at the bit, pestering the staff for a delivery date, never been so dissapointed in my life once i got it and tried to use it

 

[smacksy]

Sounds like the OP wasnt using enough power... These stainless coils don't even wake up till at least 55 or 60 watts with the .5 ... I have two crowns and by far are the best tanks I've ever had the pleasure to vape yet.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

 

[stylemessiah]

Sounds like the OP wasnt using enough power... These stainless coils don't even wake up till at least 55 or 60 watts with the .5 ... I have two crowns and by far are the best tanks I've ever had the pleasure to vape yet.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

As my OP says, they were producing burnt tastes and dry hits at anything above 45w, increasing the power would make, and did make, no difference...only made things worse.

Im glad your tank worked, it does for some, but theres a lot who have issues with it, unfortunately.

Its an expensive tank, andwith the added RBA (which tank makers should be including because its a gouge) its an investment. And i like my investiments to work, as described.

 

[stylemessiah]

So you retrn the TANK because you are using the wrong wire for the build you choose..
Stainless wire REQUIRES more power than Kanthal almost 2x more power.

If youre going to troll me, at least read the OP first, please

How did i choose the build? Theyre stock coils, i didnt make them....

I refer you to my OP, which you should read again. It clearly states the coils were burning out and dying at north of 45w. How would inreasing the power any further help?

This is not my first rodeo. I have used every kind of wire you can make a coil with. My main setup (now) is back to a Lemo 2 with 10 wraps of 26g nickel on 3mm ID on TC...480f/35w ceiling (@26w actual on TC) on an Evic VTC Mini. Ive used kanthal/Ni/Ti/SS and nearly every kind of wick kown to man. Ive never had a bad build on my Lemo 2 or other tanks ive owned (apart from a very leaky subtank). Not exactly a newb...

 

[smacksy]

I guess coil quality could reflect on how the tank performs... I'm fortunate that my local B&M is an official Uwell dealer...both my Crowns are authentic as well as the authentic replacement coils... everybody I know that has a authentic crown absolutely loves it like I do, that includes all the people in my family, friends, and the boys and fellow patrons at my local vape shop. I also read a lot of positive reviews about this tank on other forums besides this one....I can fog up my room in no time vaping the .25 coil at 65-70w with 100% VG ..wide open airflow provides a cooler vape for me even at the higher wattages that makes this tank come alive..The Japanese cotton wicks fast and I never come close to a dry hit even chain vaping it...in fact the performance of the Crown was so impressive I threw my Starre, Herkales and Atlantis tanks in the garbage...they suddenly became obsolete...[emoji12]

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[stylemessiah]

I guess coil quality could reflect on how the tank performs... I'm fortunate that my local B&M is an official Uwell dealer...both my Crowns are authentic as well as the authentic replacement coils... everybody I know that has a authentic crown absolutely loves it like I do, that includes all the people in my family, friends, and the boys and fellow patrons at my local vape shop. I also read a lot of positive reviews about this tank on other forums besides this one....I can fog up my room in no time vaping the .25 coil at 65-70w with 100% VG ..wide open airflow provides a cooler vape for me even at the higher wattages that makes this tank come alive..The Japanese cotton wicks fast and I never come close to a dry hit even chain vaping it...in fact the performance of the Crown was so impressive I threw my Starre, Herkales and Atlantis tanks in the garbage...they suddenly became obsolete...[emoji12]

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Im truly glad yours works, mine doesnt, and many have the same issue, unfortunately. I bought one because of good reviews. Sadly the reality for myself, and others, doesnt match the hype. 2/2 coils dying and burning (not to mention the weird 2 different wire types in the coils and overcompacted wicking doesnt help) at barely 45w and measly vapor is a common occurence. The RBA failing dismally was an added shock.

I understand that those who have working tanks may want to try and post (overly) positive messages in defence of the tank, im sorry to say it doesnt help those of us who have defective ones or have the common issues with them

What really alarmed me on top of that was that Crown ackowledged the issue with the coils and then admitted they had no way to track or recall the batches, leaving any of their customers out there playing 50/50 buying coils for who knows how long...its not a good look.

I personally dont have a shelf set aside for "tanks that are defective", i dont have the money to run one of those I now some people have the lives where they drop $300 on a bit of shiny tube like its nothing. I am not one of those people

 

[smacksy]

Im truly glad yours works, mine doesnt, and many have the same issue, unfortunately. I bought one because of good reviews. Sadly the reality for myself, and others, doesnt match the hype. 2/2 coils dying and burning (not to mention the weird 2 different wire types in the coils and overcompacted wicking doesnt help) at barely 45w and measly vapor is a common occurence. The RBA failing dismally was an added shock.

Did you prime the coil properly? All that cotton you mentioned takes a lot of juice to prime before ever firing it for the first time..that said after I instalI a new coil I drip juice on that compacted cotton (staying out of the center hole) until it can't absorb no more..screw the base with the primed coil back into the tank, remove the top cap and full to just below the top brace..To break in the .25 I start at about 40w and gradually bump up to my desired sweet spot of about 65-70w (rated up to 120w).. after about a half a tank the flavor and Vapor really starts to come through thanks to the clean taste of the stainless steel wire and Japanese cotton used in these coils.. this is not hype my friend, and I'm sad you you can't get your tank to work.. I do hope you find something you like

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[Gfdeputy2]

Although I use prebuilt coils I absolutely love my crown best tank I have used & have 2 more on order
No complaints what so ever here

 

[stylemessiah]

Did you prime the coil properly? All that cotton you mentioned takes a lot of juice to prime before ever firing it for the first time..that said after I instalI a new coil I drip juice on that compacted cotton (staying out of the center hole) until it can't absorb no more..screw the base with the primed coil back into the tank, remove the top cap and full to just below the top brace..To break in the .25 I start at about 40w and gradually bump up to my desired sweet spot of about 65-70w (rated up to 120w).. after about a half a tank the flavor and Vapor really starts to come through thanks to the clean taste of the stainless steel wire and Japanese cotton used in these coils.. this is not hype my friend, and I'm sad you you can't get your tank to work.. I do hope you find something you like

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Tapatalk

Yup, as in my OP, primed it properly, let it soak up the jucie till it would take no more, put it in the tank, filled it till almost full (i always leave an air gap at the top on any tank i have), primer puffed it, let it sit for 40 minutes. I was actually recounting each step to another experienced vapor friend who was as excited as i was to try it. He kept emailing me to ask if id vaped it yet, and i was like "ive done the priming, filled it, primer puffed it, and im going to let it sit for 40 minutes, as i heard others had issues with it being primed enough"...i also gave him a blow by blow as i went about breaking it in, starting at 20w,all the way to 45...

Especially on day 4 when it had been sitting overnight with a full tank, and the coil died second toot of the day, that wasnt a priming issue...

So yup, i primed it more than ive ever primed any tank ive owned

I put more time into this thing than any other tank ive had trying to get it to work

p.s. One thing i forgot to mention in the OP was that i always use 50/50 juice....

 

[stylemessiah]

Although I use prebuilt coils I absolutely love my crown best tank I have used & have 2 more on order
No complaints what so ever here

Just so we're clear, im happy for those of you who have one working, really, genuinely

As ive said, there are many more who havent had a positive experience. My personal experience has put off 4 people i know, 3 of them much longer term vapers than i, off buying one. A dissapoiuntment to all of us. No one was more dissapointed than i was, after the hype, and the wait to get one. i truly wish it worked as advertised.

Theres probably little point continually posting "mine works" posts in here like i and the others who have issues with the Crown are somehow mental deficients who dont know what theyre doing. Ive explained it like 4 times that i personally do know what im doing and followed the correct (and above the standard of preparation of any other tank ive met or owned) procedures when priming the coils etc. Uwell themselves have acknowledged the issue on top of my experiences, so im not inventing an issue that doesnt exist.

I thank you in advance for not making me repeat myself again

Have a good day people. Im off to bed, its early here in Oz

 

[smacksy]

Yup, as in my OP, primed it properly, let it soak up the jucie till it would take no more, put it in the tank, filled it till almost full (i always leave an air gap at the top on any tank i have), primer puffed it, let it sit for 40 minutes. I was actually recounting each step to another experienced vapor friend who was as excited as i was to try it. He kept emailing me to ask if id vaped it yet, and i was like "ive done the priming, filled it, primer puffed it, and im going to let it sit for 40 minutes, as i heard others had issues with it being primed enough"...i also gave him a blow by blow as i went about breaking it in, starting at 20w,all the way to 45...

Especially on day 4 when it had been sitting overnight with a full tank, and the coil died second toot of the day, that wasnt a priming issue...

So yup, i primed it more than ive ever primed any tank ive owned

I put more time into this thing than any other tank ive had trying to get it to work

Maybe 45w isn't enough, especially for the .25 coil.. I mean that's where I start to break it in ...these are stainless coils and require about twice the wattage of a kanthel build of the same resistance to really shine.. I think the .5 recommended wattage setting is from 30-80w...the .25 I like is recommended from 80-120w, although they vape great for me around 65-70w using VG max...BTW, because these coils do like alot of power I vape them only on my dual batt mods..it depleted the single 18650 in the 75w D2 under two hrs at 65w, lol

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[stylemessiah]

Maybe 45w isn't enough, especially for the .25 coil.. I mean that's where I start to break it in ...these are stainless coils and require about twice the wattage of a kanthel build of the same resistance to really shine.. I think the .5 recommended wattage setting is from 30-80w...the .25 I like is recommended from 80-120w, although they vape great for me around 65-70w using VG max...BTW, because these coils do like alot of power I vape them only on my dual batt mods..it depleted the single 18650 in the 75w D2 under two hrs at 65w, lol

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If its burning out at just 50w on either coil, goosing it to above that is only going to make things worse Kind of like burning toast, then turning the thermostat even higher, pushing the toast tray back down and going "maybe it needs more"

I dont know what to say, Uwell, as ive said, ackowledged the issue, its not like im bringing this to you from out of thin air. Its confirmed, theres really nothing more to say about it. The RBA not working properly on top of this put things over the edge for me, it was a bridge too far.

You lucky people with a working one, enjoy them, for the rest of us, life is a gamble

 

[Jim_ MDP]

I can't speak to the RBA problems, but with the pre-built coils...

The coils that burned out on me when pulled apart had joins in the wire (top and bottom) which were obviously part of the issue, because it was clear there was a temp differential at the wire join (i.e it was burnt - as was the wick around it)...looked to be two different wire types, joined...which is madness.

First... you're not recognizing the NR-R-NR construction of 90% of the factory coils.

However, what if... for a short period, the line equipment had one of the leg feeds fed with resistance wire instead of the appropriate non-resistance wire? The result would be an R-R-NR coil.

Not happy making, and would explain the burn-outs.

 

[Stinkytofus]

I was under the impression it was a great tank, given youtube reviews, but it has been nothign but full of drama and evil burnt taste....the drama unfolded thusly:

Day 1 - Switched out the installed coil for the 0.5 ohm SS coil. Primed the coil, primer puffed it, let it sit for 30-40 minutes. Vaped it at a reasonable 20w...no vapor...30w...no vapor. No worries, id heard they needed a bit of wattage to get them going....35w...little vapor....40w...fair vapor. It wasnt till i got it to 44/45w (still way short of its rated 80w) that i got what i considered a usable amount of vapor. My Lemo 2 could still surpass this using kanthal at 22w, but thats beside the point....

The rest of the day went by uneventfully

Day 2) 44w all day long, no drama

Day 3) 44w all day long, no drama

Day 4) After sitting all night with plenty of juice in the tank, and then primer puffed as i do every morning with my other tanks, my second toot of the day resulted in an evil burnt taste. I switched the mod off and pulled the tank apart and looked at the coil...burnt wire and wick at the top of the coil. This cant be put down to not being primed.

I looked around online to find people with the same issue, i.e. several days of no drama and then bam...

Next i switched in the 0.25 ohm SS coil, poked it with a pin as suggested by those similarly afflicted with issues and primed it well, primer puffed it and left it sit for an hour, vaped it at 40w (80w below its max rating)...okay....44/45w...yup thats just acceptable in the vapor stakes. Left it for hours. Picked it up, primer puffed it and ok, tried 50w (still 70w below its max rating) and damn, burnt evilness again. This time the burnt taste didnt permeate the tank completely and the coil and wick looked ok.

Sent Crown an email about the issue to try and figure out of it was a known issue

Posted in the uwell crown coil heads dry hit thread

Day 5) Woke up, puffer primed the tank, 44w...evil dry hit, burnt wire, burnt wick...coil dead. Didnt even last a full day this time.

Got a reply from Crown for my email the previous day, giving me the form letter approach, check you didn this, check you did that, despite me stating the steps i'd taken. Replied and debunked each item in turn. Especially the one where i was encouraged to just go out and buy a pack of replacement coils - AUD$17 a pop <- no garauntees i wouldnt egt some of the same dodgy coils doing this, so this wasnt an option

Day 6) Got a further reply from Crown, which i cant repost here due to forum rules, but which finally acknowledges there was an issue with the Crown coils, and that they had been resolved. But since they had no way of tracking their batches, there was no way to identify and recall those bad batches. I was offered a free set of replacement coils, if i paid the postage....

Meanwhile i get the RBA kit for AUD$13 - so far im into this tank for AUD$62 - $40 for the tank, AUD$13 for the RBA, and AUD$9 for the postage

I pay the postage for the replacement coil offer and retire for the night using my Lemo 2 because im pretty much needing a break from drama....

Day 7) I get up and decide to build the RBA. Ill shortcut this for you and tell you that after 6 different coils and 6 different wicks and 3 different wicking methods (the s shaped wicking was the least aggreious) all i got to show for it was a tongue, and mouth, full of either anaemic vapor or evil burnt taste. The SS coils especially just wouldnt do anything but burn. This was at 30w or lower.

Cancelled the paypal payment for the replacement coils and sent Crown another email detailing the issues id continued to have and to inform them id be shipping it all back to them tomorrow.

I had high hopes for this one. Now back to looking for another rebuildable tank, drama free....

Meanwhile the trusty Lemo 2 with a 0.14 nickel build in it on my Evic VTC Mini just chuggs away keeping me from going completely bonkers over this issue

Try the vapeston maganus ni or freemax v2 or v3, the vape is as good if not better than crown, tfv4 or mini is good too