- Status
I think pulsing would be normal in TC when you make a mistake in wattage or TCR, nothing can stop user error unless a device takes away your ability to adjust things.
Something I noticed with my VT60, it will only refine if the res has dropped more than .01 ohms with my .20 ohm builds. It will also not refine up in res, only down. How does the reliant behave with auto refining?
The evic doesn't pulse TC even with wattage set at max
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping
I've only seen mine refine down just a couple of times, it reads pretty spot on from the start. When it did drop it was by .01 to .02 ohms
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping
The evic doesn't pulse TC even with wattage set at max
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping
Yeah, the evic is a smooth operator. I'm looking hard at the reliant but don't want to sacrifice vaping performance for temp accuracy. That's why I'm asking so many questions.
My 3 evic 1.18's will not refine down in .01 ohm steps, only .02 or more if needed. As you said, it's accurate from the start but my 3 Ti coils have all increased in res over last couple of months from .20 to .22 ohms. It would be nice if it refined up in res as well.
I enjoy recoiling too much, so mine never get old enough to see that [emoji14]
Sent with one hand, the other is busy vaping
My package has been shipped two days ago. UK to Italy. I hope it won't take too long.
Regarding the "designed and developed", it's not dissimilar to what Apple did with the iPhone. At the beginning it was even using "off the shelves" SOC (system on chip), it's only later that they started designing their own. The relevant question is "how well did Apollo designed and developed the chip?". We'll see...
Doh... the package already arrived. Quite a nice surprise. I've just taken it out of the box and build quality seems excellent. No rattling, a single piece of machined aluminum. Weight with battery installed, 180g (for reference, on the rudimental scale I use an iStick 50 comes at 155g).
I have installed a VTC4 I already used on other mods. For it I bought an LG HE4, is it good enough?
Regarding the "designed and developed", it's not dissimilar to what Apple did with the iPhone. At the beginning it was even using "off the shelves" SOC (system on chip), it's only later that they started designing their own. The relevant question is "how well did Apollo designed and developed the chip?". We'll see...
Doh... the package already arrived. Quite a nice surprise. I've just taken it out of the box and build quality seems excellent. No rattling, a single piece of machined aluminum. Weight with battery installed, 180g (for reference, on the rudimental scale I use an iStick 50 comes at 155g).
I have installed a VTC4 I already used on other mods. For it I bought an LG HE4, is it good enough?
Last edited:
Here a link to @Mooch 's post on testing of the he4. Almost as good as a Sammy 25r. Should be fine in your new toy.
LG HE4 20A 2500mAh 18650 Bench Test Results...good, but not as good as the 25R | E-Cigarette Forum
Many thanks, cigatron. Looks like I am set.
I've done my first build ever with Nickel (waiting on Titanium Gr1 from Zivipf). I was kinda terrified by the horror stories of how difficult a material to work with it is but... simple coil tool (not the Kuro, as I didn't need a microcoil) on 2.5mm, nine wraps, coil mounted on my BF-99 Black, cotton inserted... all good, I've set the device at 190C and it seems to be working perfectly. Maybe the gods of vape have smiled on me remembering my horror experiences with mesh
Crossing fingers...
I've done my first build ever with Nickel (waiting on Titanium Gr1 from Zivipf). I was kinda terrified by the horror stories of how difficult a material to work with it is but... simple coil tool (not the Kuro, as I didn't need a microcoil) on 2.5mm, nine wraps, coil mounted on my BF-99 Black, cotton inserted... all good, I've set the device at 190C and it seems to be working perfectly. Maybe the gods of vape have smiled on me remembering my horror experiences with mesh
Crossing fingers...
190 sounds pretty low FYI, but if it vapes good that's fine. You might need a higher temp on other builds/devices.
I've just started getting into mesh, or am trying to - what are your horror stories?
I've just started getting into mesh, or am trying to - what are your horror stories?
Well, TheBloke, suffice to say that the first genesis atomizer I bought (it was from DID I seem to remember, I later sold it)... well, I started rebuilding it at 22:00 and finished at 04:30 in the middle of the night. Clearly it was the first time (but so it was this time with nickel) but it was a nightmare with hotspots, wires that got cut while pulsing... and so on and so forth. Bear in mind that before starting I had spent at least a couple of hours watching experts' videos on YouTube, to proper learn how to do it.
With time and patience I had better luck with it but, all in all, I think the inconvienience factor with mesh outweighs its pros (no entering the whole health consideration chapter, hornet's nest if there ever was one).
190 is low, ok, what temperature does cotton endure (Koh Gen Do if it matters, don't think so but I mention it anyway)? Is it 420F (215C)?
With time and patience I had better luck with it but, all in all, I think the inconvienience factor with mesh outweighs its pros (no entering the whole health consideration chapter, hornet's nest if there ever was one).
190 is low, ok, what temperature does cotton endure (Koh Gen Do if it matters, don't think so but I mention it anyway)? Is it 420F (215C)?
Last edited:
I list here all the shortcuts I found in the manual, for people interested:
Changing fire mode (temp, wattage, mech): firing button and - button for 3 secs
Changing wattage while in temp mode: firing button and + button for 3 secs
Locking W or temp: + and - buttons for 3 secs
Device lock: 5 clicks on firing button
Display orientation: Lock device, then firing button and + button for 3 secs
Stealth mode: Lock device, then firing button and - button for 3 secs
TCR set up: firing button and + and - buttons (all three) for 3 secs
The manual mentions also a "Real Power Safety Feature", explained like this:
"The Reliant will display the true max capable wattage output of your battery on the screem in Wattage, Temperature Control Mode or Mech Mode based on the amp draw of your atomizer and how many amps the battery is able to supply. Once the Real Power is displayed it will automatically adjust the wattage output to the max capable power output of your battery. As batteries age you will see a noticeable drop in this power output due to degradation of performance of the battery cells."
Damned if I understand what they are referring to, even with the device working in my hands...
Edit: do I understand correctly that the wattage set when in temperature control mode defines the "attack point" of the device?
Changing fire mode (temp, wattage, mech): firing button and - button for 3 secs
Changing wattage while in temp mode: firing button and + button for 3 secs
Locking W or temp: + and - buttons for 3 secs
Device lock: 5 clicks on firing button
Display orientation: Lock device, then firing button and + button for 3 secs
Stealth mode: Lock device, then firing button and - button for 3 secs
TCR set up: firing button and + and - buttons (all three) for 3 secs
The manual mentions also a "Real Power Safety Feature", explained like this:
"The Reliant will display the true max capable wattage output of your battery on the screem in Wattage, Temperature Control Mode or Mech Mode based on the amp draw of your atomizer and how many amps the battery is able to supply. Once the Real Power is displayed it will automatically adjust the wattage output to the max capable power output of your battery. As batteries age you will see a noticeable drop in this power output due to degradation of performance of the battery cells."
Damned if I understand what they are referring to, even with the device working in my hands...
Edit: do I understand correctly that the wattage set when in temperature control mode defines the "attack point" of the device?
Last edited:
Regarding temp: Yes, 215°C / 420°F is a common starting temp. I use Rayon which is more like 460°F. But even with cotton it may be OK to go a bit higher, on the basis that the cotton will, hopefully, never be completely dry.
Regarding this "true max capable wattage", yeah, that sounds exactly like what the SXK mods do - no surprise given the heritage. And I hate it. Worst 'feature' ever. At least for TC.
In VW mode it may be OK - on low battery you don't have to stop vaping, you can keep vaping at a lower wattage that it gives you.
For TC, it's incredibly annoying. The trouble is, you're vaping away and then suddenly power reduces/vapour output reduces. So you think, "OK, I'm out of juice" - then you look, and realise you're not. So then you think "Damn, is there a problem with the build", and you access your build (hopefully not having to drain the tank to do that!) and you poke and you prod and maybe you check it on another mod, and it's fine. Then you think "Oh for god's sake, it's just because it's low on battery isn't it?" By which time 15 minutes has passed and now you're .......
Of course you get used to it, and start checking for it. But then the trouble is it's not clear at what level it kicks in. On one of my SXKs, it kicks in when the battery bar appears to be showing about 40%. Even checking the battery level carefully you wouldn't think it was low. And that's not because I'm using a poor battery, last time it happened it was with a one-month-old Sony VTC5.
Once you're used to it, you can tell when it's happening - at least you can on the SXKs. On the SXK mods, wattage cut because of TC issues will happen after flashing the Temperature Protection message. Wattage cut because of low battery will occur before/without the TP message flashing.
So if I start vaping and I see the wattage going down from the configured level without having yet seen a TP message, I know to change battery.
But I still hate the feature. Stupid idea, very poorly thought through, and it sucks that the Apollo has it - at least, assuming they've implemented it as badly. Maybe it's a bit better now, I hope so. Either way, at the very least it should be optional, with a shortcut to disable it.
Regarding this "true max capable wattage", yeah, that sounds exactly like what the SXK mods do - no surprise given the heritage. And I hate it. Worst 'feature' ever. At least for TC.
In VW mode it may be OK - on low battery you don't have to stop vaping, you can keep vaping at a lower wattage that it gives you.
For TC, it's incredibly annoying. The trouble is, you're vaping away and then suddenly power reduces/vapour output reduces. So you think, "OK, I'm out of juice" - then you look, and realise you're not. So then you think "Damn, is there a problem with the build", and you access your build (hopefully not having to drain the tank to do that!) and you poke and you prod and maybe you check it on another mod, and it's fine. Then you think "Oh for god's sake, it's just because it's low on battery isn't it?" By which time 15 minutes has passed and now you're .......
Of course you get used to it, and start checking for it. But then the trouble is it's not clear at what level it kicks in. On one of my SXKs, it kicks in when the battery bar appears to be showing about 40%. Even checking the battery level carefully you wouldn't think it was low. And that's not because I'm using a poor battery, last time it happened it was with a one-month-old Sony VTC5.
Once you're used to it, you can tell when it's happening - at least you can on the SXKs. On the SXK mods, wattage cut because of TC issues will happen after flashing the Temperature Protection message. Wattage cut because of low battery will occur before/without the TP message flashing.
So if I start vaping and I see the wattage going down from the configured level without having yet seen a TP message, I know to change battery.
But I still hate the feature. Stupid idea, very poorly thought through, and it sucks that the Apollo has it - at least, assuming they've implemented it as badly. Maybe it's a bit better now, I hope so. Either way, at the very least it should be optional, with a shortcut to disable it.
Actually a device has only 3 options, be unsafe and pull too many amps trying to output the set power, limit the amps based on charge level and battery sag, or the most commonly used....lie to you and say it's putting out X wattage when internally it isn't.
I think you forgot the most obvious one? Flash Low Battery so you change your battery.
That's all I'm talking about here - when the device can no longer provide the specified wattage because the battery is providing too few volts, tell me so I can change it out. That's what most mods do and that's absolutely what I want in a TC mod.
What the SXK does, and it sounds like the Apollo does too, is silently adjust down the wattage to what it can safely draw from the too-low battery voltage. It shows you the reduced wattage on screen but varying wattage is normal for TC mode, so it's not obvious if the power is being reduced because of TC issues/low juice, or because of battery issues. The natural first assumption, especially when the battery bar isn't showing near empty, is TC issues, sending you on a wild goose chase.
That's what I hate, because while it sounds cool it actually hugely confuses things in TC mode.
if it was optional it would be fine, but sadly it's always on.
Last edited:
Even if it just flashed "Weak Battery" or "Lowering Power" or something while it did it, that would be a big improvement. And of course showed the battery charge icon as being empty.
It's the fact it does it without telling you, while showing a battery bar that seems to indicate 30-40% charge remaining, that makes it so annoying.
That's what I see on two-month-old SXK mods anyway. Maybe it's improved on the Apollo. I hope so!
At the least the battery bar showing not empty seems like it must be a bug that might have been fixed; the definition of empty is when it can't provide the volts necessary for the normal operation of the mod.
It's the fact it does it without telling you, while showing a battery bar that seems to indicate 30-40% charge remaining, that makes it so annoying.
That's what I see on two-month-old SXK mods anyway. Maybe it's improved on the Apollo. I hope so!
At the least the battery bar showing not empty seems like it must be a bug that might have been fixed; the definition of empty is when it can't provide the volts necessary for the normal operation of the mod.
Last edited:
I see what your saying about it not being obvious on TC, the thing is the battery isn't dead when it does this. The battery is going bad, it can be fully charged and do it if the load causes the voltage to drop severely, something a good battery doesn't do.
When you review devices you shouldn't make your personal preference seem like a flaw in the device, I like this feature and you make it sound flawed when it isn't.
I'm not talking about a dead battery which is why I didn't mention that as an option.
When you review devices you shouldn't make your personal preference seem like a flaw in the device, I like this feature and you make it sound flawed when it isn't.
I'm not talking about a dead battery which is why I didn't mention that as an option.
Last edited:
As I've said, I am currently describing the behaviour of the SXK mods I have which may or may not be the same as the Apollo and therefore may or may not be the same as you are seeing. It may not even be the same as later SXK mods.
As I said earlier, this happens with one-month-old Sony VTC 5 batteries. These are not old, dying batteries. It doesn't happen with one battery, it happens with all batteries, and it happens when they reach the level at which other mods report them as needing to be recharged.
As it is implemented in the SXK mods that I have, this is a feature that badly affects the usability of TC. Its implementation, without any clear visual indication of it happening and without the ability to disable it, is a detriment to TC operation. And if it is meant to work as you say - only for excessively sagging batteries - then it is most certainly broken.
I will see soon how it is implemented in the Apollo. If you are saying that, unlike the SXK, it never kicks in when the battery merely needs recharging, then there will be no problem and what I described will not apply.
As I said earlier, this happens with one-month-old Sony VTC 5 batteries. These are not old, dying batteries. It doesn't happen with one battery, it happens with all batteries, and it happens when they reach the level at which other mods report them as needing to be recharged.
As it is implemented in the SXK mods that I have, this is a feature that badly affects the usability of TC. Its implementation, without any clear visual indication of it happening and without the ability to disable it, is a detriment to TC operation. And if it is meant to work as you say - only for excessively sagging batteries - then it is most certainly broken.
I will see soon how it is implemented in the Apollo. If you are saying that, unlike the SXK, it never kicks in when the battery merely needs recharging, then there will be no problem and what I described will not apply.
Last edited:
- Status
