Apollo Reliant 60W - TC with TCR adjustment, including Stainless Steel support

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gorman

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Considering I'm planning on using SS 304 (unless that 10% Nickel bites me in the ..., or more appropriately on my palate) and the resistances involved, I might have been better of with these HG2 rather than the HE4 I bought. More mAh at the expense of 20A instead of 25A... but I'm never going to be even remotely close to 20...
 
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cigatron

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Got my reliant in and I think it's borked. Keeps reading my ohms to high. It displays 0.32 and 3 other mods show 0.22 and 0.23. Tried 2 different tanks with the same Ti build with the same results. Guess I'll see how their customer service is.

Oooh, that's a bummer. They'll take care of you I'm sure. If they have really good cs they'll send you another right away with a postage paid return label.
 
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TheBloke

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Got my reliant in and I think it's borked. Keeps reading my ohms to high. It displays 0.32 and 3 other mods show 0.22 and 0.23. Tried 2 different tanks with the same Ti build with the same results. Guess I'll see how their customer service is.

Right, I've been meaning to post about this.

My Reliant also developed exactly this problem. A likely solution is to carefully tighten down the nuts holding on the top plate - there are three, requiring a 1.5mm hex head.

On mine I tried to remove the three nuts so as to lift the top plate and check underneath. I could not proceed however because one of the nuts was stripped - stripped before I even started trying to turn it, and then made worse when I did. I tried for literally hours to get it out, using various methods I looked up online. Eventually I gave up, and simply re-tightened the other two as much as possible. This did the trick, putting resistances down to the correct level.

If you're uneasy about removing the top plate - perhaps in case you do need to return it later and worry that they won't take it back (I doubt they can tell, but would understand any concern) - then simply loosen your three screws a little and then screw them down as hard as you can, without stripping them obviously.

I will say there's a much better than average chance this will fix it. And I am assuming the problem is similar to that we experienced in Vapor Flask clones such as the Waidea - grounding goes via that top plate to the chassis and then to the chip/board, and inadequate tightening makes this grounding poor.
 

cdrice15

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Right, I've been meaning to post about this.

My Reliant also developed exactly this problem. The solution is to carefully tighten down the nuts holding on the top plate - there are three, requiring a 1.5mm hex head.

On mine I tried to remove the three nuts so as to lift the top plate and check underneath. I could not proceed however because one of the nuts was stripped - stripped before I even started trying to turn it, and then made worse when I did. I tried for literally hours to get it out, using various methods I looked up online. Eventually I gave up, and simply re-tightened the other two as much as possible. This did the trick, putting resistances down to the correct level.

If you're uneasy about removing the top plate - perhaps in case you do need to return it later and worry that they won't take it back (I doubt they can tell, but would understand any concern) - then simply loosen your three screws a little and then screw them down as hard as you can, without stripping them obviously.

I will say there's a much better than average chance this will fix it. And I am assuming the problem is similar to that we experienced in Vapor Flask clones such as the Waidea - grounding goes via that top plate to the chassis and then to the chip/board, and inadequate tightening makes this grounding poor.
I'll give it a shot.
 

cigatron

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Found the problem. One of those screws is stripped. It was already loose and when it went to tighten it it loosened back up when it got the slightest tension.

Sounds like you owe them a phone call and they owe you an apology..... and a new mod.

Sounds like they have trouble with their drilling or tapping process......or a gorilla at the assembly bench.
 
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TheBloke

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How much of the Reliant is actually manufactured/ assembled in the USA I wonder? Bad QC for sure. Loose screws and sticky switches......hmmmm. I really want a tc mod w/ adj tcr but just can't take the plunge yet. Guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

i don't think any of it is manufactured/assembled in the US. But it sounds like Apollo CS are on the ball, so what you're getting is a Chinese made and primarily designed chip, with a bit of US vaping know-how for extra improvements to the design/concept of the chip/chassis, a properly written-in-English manual, and then US/EU-based CS.

For a price that's nearer to the all-Chinese low-end range than it is to the all-US/EU higher end. (At least with the generous coupon codes anyway.)

I think it's working out to be a pretty good compromise.

But yeah these sort of silly little design mistakes are a shame and need to be addressed in future batches.
 

f1vefour

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How much of the Reliant is actually manufactured/ assembled in the USA I wonder? Bad QC for sure. Loose screws and sticky switches......hmmmm. I really want a tc mod w/ adj tcr but just can't take the plunge yet. Guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

It's always good to hold out for awhile if you can, you already know how anything newly designed can (and usually does) have some initial problems.

I still think the button issue TheBloke suffered from is not really a quality control issue as much as a fluke. The tolerances are tight and a piece of dust or anything small could have gotten in there some how, from the box perhaps.

I believe there will be no issue returning the device as it's not only new but under warranty.
 

cigatron

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@TheBloke, is the mod body made frim extruded aluminium or machined from a solid piece? If the former, many times the screws are self tapping and simply make their own threads into channels that are created by the extrusion dies. The diameter of those channels can and do vary dependent on many factors so it's not the best way to secure screws. Better would be to spec the channels undersized, drill to spec and then tap. Unfortunately that requires more processes($$$) and is normally not something we see in mods under $200.

If you can get your top plate off by prying (stripping the screws out) you can normally drill and tap to the next larger size screw because those extruded channels usually have thick walls to help control tolerances as the aluminium cools after exiting the extrusion dies.
 

TheBloke

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The mod body is a single piece, with a top and bottom plate. But yeah I have no idea how I would tell if it was extruded or not; I had to Google that word :)

Had my resistance problems not gone away I was going to drill out the screw head and try and replace it with another. But then just re-tightening the other screws seemed to resolve it so I stopped fiddling.

Unlike cdrice, my stripped screw was tightly in - in fact, so tight that that was part of the problem. I did once get some leverage on it with a small allen key. The allen key bent severely just trying to turn it :) Repeated attempts eventually stripped the screw further so I couldn't continue, but I was definitely getting some purchase on it to start with and still could not turn it.
 

gorman

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  • Stainless Steel 304: TCR @ 230°C: 0.00105
    • TCR scale number: 105
    • Calculation: 105 / 8.75 = 12
    • Reliant/SXK setting: 12
      • I'm vaping SS 304 right now, and my subjective feeling was 13 was a better vape than 12. But I'm going to temp test it properly tonight.
      • I've switched to 12 now and it's fine, just maybe reducing the power slightly earlier than I might have expected - but there could be several reasons for that. I will verify it properly.
I've just received SS 304 from Zivipf. 8 turns on 2.5mm support, contact coil, 0.51 resistance detected. First of all you were right. This material is a marvel to work with. No comparison with anything else I've tried so far. Waiting to find out if the 10% nickel triggers allergy I'm kinda finding what you reported. At 12 vaping seems slightly anemic. Not "wrong" per se, just power being reduced early on. With the previous titanium build I set temperature at 220C and higher than that the vapor seemed a little too warm. With this SS 304 buil and TCR at 12 I can vape at 240-245 with no discomfort. The previous one was not a contact coil, though, if that can make a difference.

At 13 it's a more aggressive vape. Have you managed to temperature test SS 304 yet? I'm really curious now that I have it with me. :D
 
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