Atomizer Death Reports - add yours here ...

[kinabaloo]

The culprit's fairly obvious on this one:

2 DSE901 (the original) attys and one RN4075 serially fried each in about a week or less on an automatic USB 901 pass-through connected to a powered 5V hub, with no in-line battery. Mostly ecig flue-cured liquid and some JC tobacco liquid.

1 RN4075 still going strong after 4 weeks with the same liquids on an SD.

Heavy use on SD; medium use on USB. No cleaning except for occasional blow-out and overnight drain. Did try soaking dead ones in coke or hot lemon juice mixture -- still dead.

I am suspecting usb passthrough without inline battery is bad news. Just too powerful.

Adding 3 1N4001 diodes in series would help a lot by bringing the voltage down to 4v. But of course, few people would feel confident to do that mod.

With batteries, the voltage dips under load and more when the atty gets hot. A straight usb will not.

 

[~kerri]

First atomizer death since I started vaping late feb. 09:
rcvd. 4/28/09 died 5/19/09
901 on a KR808D1 battery. (heard it sizzle and fry before it went cold) I was being lazy and didn't want to hold my Adaptever mod. so I screwed it on the Nebula took a hit and BANG. Dead. Damn. worked fine on the Nebula before...
VG DIY w/ Mr Bean Flavor- topped off cart/dripped
blown, rinsed in hot water & dried out semi regularly.

all other atomizers including the evo ones I got in feb. still going strong.

 

[Palmetto]

I am suspecting usb passthrough without inline battery is bad news. Just too powerful.

Adding 3 1N4001 diodes in series would help a lot by bringing the voltage down to 4v. But of course, few people would feel confident to do that mod.

With batteries, the voltage dips under load and more when the atty gets hot. A straight usb will not.

I know little about voltage, and I wouldn't know a diode from a gumdrop, but the attys get incredibly hot on that type of passthrough connected to a 5V source. When I started looking through the forum for a solution, I found quite a few comments about atomizers dying prematurely on the battery-less pass-throughs.

The 901 model with the in-line battery is hard to find, but I finally located one, and until it arrives, I'm not frying any more attys on the old one.

 

[kinabaloo]

I know little about voltage, and I wouldn't know a diode from a gumdrop, but the attys get incredibly hot on that type of passthrough connected to a 5V source. When I started looking through the forum for a solution, I found quite a few comments about atomizers dying prematurely on the battery-less pass-throughs.

The 901 model with the in-line battery is hard to find, but I finally located one, and until it arrives, I'm not frying any more attys on the old one.

Wise. A direct USB connecton has a very low effective internal resistance and thereby suuplies more power than would a battery showing 5v off-load.

 

[Myshkin]

I have had 5 atomizers die in the 5 weeks i have been vaping. All DSE901.
Mostly mocha and 555 from myvaporstore
All regular battery at time of death. Have used the last 3 on passthrough
1st - 2 days
2nd - 4 days
3rd - 4 days
4th - 1 week
5th - 2 weeks

three of them died right after topping off. All during a smoke session of good production. I have thought that hitting it good, and then getting the funny taste so refill, and then hit soon after could get the coil real hot, then wet, and reheated. These extremes in such a short period could have an effect. I'm going to try and wait for 10-15 mins to top off after heavy vaping, and then waiting before beginning vaping again. I hope this helps me have some luck.

When i top off i put some in the cart( but not pool), and then put 2 drops on the bridge.
i have washed and dryed them all and have had 0 luck getting them restarted. They are completely cold

 

[Rubberjohnny]

I use generic 901 atomisers in my 3.7v 2400mAh Li-ion mods. My favourite juice is a home brew of 36mg TW tobacco taken down with glycerine, vodca and coffee extract made from expresso granules dissolved in the vodca. The whole 150ml mix has 4 split vanilla pods soaking in it at all times. There is no doupt the coffee extract is the cause of build up on the atomisers and is the main culprit in their subsequent failure. If I take out the coffee extract there is far less build up and the atomisers generally last longer, maybe a couple of weeks as opposed to 3/4 days. I have tried all the cleaning methods and the regular "burn off" is the only one that gives any real reduction in the carbon(?) build up on the coil. Excluding initial atomiser manufacturing defects (which are fairly regular) I am positive the cause of failure (by build up on the coil) is seriously affected by the content of the juice. The "cleaner" or least deposit inducing juice the longer the atomisers life.

 

[kinabaloo]

I use generic 901 atomisers in my 3.7v 2400mAh Li-ion mods. My favourite juice is a home brew of 36mg TW tobacco taken down with glycerine, vodca and coffee extract made from expresso granules dissolved in the vodca. The whole 150ml mix has 4 split vanilla pods soaking in it at all times. There is no doupt the coffee extract is the cause of build up on the atomisers and is the main culprit in their subsequent failure. If I take out the coffee extract there is far less build up and the atomisers generally last longer, maybe a couple of weeks as opposed to 3/4 days. I have tried all the cleaning methods and the regular "burn off" is the only one that gives any real reduction in the carbon(?) build up on the coil. Excluding initial atomiser manufacturing defects (which are fairly regular) I am positive the cause of failure (by build up on the coil) is seriously affected by the content of the juice. The "cleaner" or least deposit inducing juice the longer the atomisers life.

I aim to try the coffee extraction same you have, then try to distill it, simply on a stove. See if the taste will carry over after leaving behind all the dry residue stuff.

 

[crazyhorse]

Bumping to the top

* Model number (901, 801, etc)

DSE 801

* Lifetime and use profile (e.g. '2 months, used daily, light use')

3 days/3 ml total

* Power supplys used (e.g. 'standard battery and occasional passthrough')

Custom pack. 3 x 14500 PCB @ 3.7v 2700 mAh. Voltage at death, 4.01v

* While what you were doing at the time (this may be coincidental, it is still worth noting)

Vaping. One puff working fine. Next puff, dead without putting it down. Turned off like flipping a switch. Open circuit. Still analyzing potential causes of rapid catastrophic failures.

* Had you performed any cleaning? (if so, what and how often)

At day three? No.

* What juices did you mainly use (specify brand, flavor and if whether PG, VG or both, if known)

36 mg PG/VG cut with 24 mg PG cut with USP PG. Final strength 20 mg

* drip, cartridge or both

Cartridge only.

* If you can see the heater coil, how does it look?

Coil good. Solder joint bad. Disconnection at joint.

* If you are able to include a photo (using macro mode) looking into the atomizer, that will be very useful too

No photo. Maybe later. Still need to sort out the picture hosting site where I signed up a while back.

 

[emus]

I have four RN4081 attys about 10 months old.
Very durable.
One died at about 8 months when I dropped it on the concrete.

All my batteries died so I made DIY passthrus with led.
Power source 1=motorola razor charger, 4.4v @ 1.5 amps
Power source 2 = sony CD player power adaptor, 4.5v @ 0.5 amps
Switch=3 amp soft touch industrial micro switch

Juice: I use any kind of juice I can get my hands on. First I was using ebay juice from different vendors, Ive used VS and nuvape as well.

The RN4081 atties are my work horse attys now.
One atty suffered 3 events. Event is accidental activation of switch till I heard the boiling and saw the smoke; yet it still works.

How I care for my atty = Avoid getting atty to warm to the touch, direct drip thru opened cart, avoid running dry, avoid flooding, clean with distilled water when performance wains.

use profile: 1st 8 months = medium usage with batteries rotating between 4 attys
Month 8-10 =heavy usage with 4.4v/1.5A power supply rotating three attys.

 

[crazyhorse]

I have four RN4081 attys about 10 months old.
Very durable.
One died at about 8 months when I dropped it on the concrete.

Holy crap! Who built those monsters and do they make a 801 compatible?

 

[emus]

RN4081 is one of the original designs from ebay and is still available off ebay.

It runs cooler than my new 510 atty. 510 produces more hit than standard RN4081. But my modified RN4081 can keep up with 510 pretty close.

I hope the 510 will be durable; time will tell. I don't use the 510 much because I don't want to wear out the batteries too fast.

I think the secret is to stop vaping when you feel heat building up and to direct drip to insure element is always wet.

I have been doing a lot of steady vaping with the old RN4081 since I built my 4.4v/1.5A pass thru a couple months ago.

 

[emus]

Holy crap! Who built those monsters and do they make a 801 compatible?

I just read thru all the posts. Now I am scared. I had no idea atomizers could fail so often. My RN4081 just keep going like energizer bunny. Maybe because it runs colder and produces less vapor?

Sometimes my juice is to strong for steady vaping so I will direct drip a drop of H2O to weaken the hit and nicotine overload. I have no idea if that improves life of atty?

Maybe the only posters here are the ones experiencing atty failures?

I am really worried about my new 510 because it runs very hot. I think thermal stress is not good for any heating element. Now I am afraid to use the cartridge on my 510 now because I had so much luck with direct drip. Problem is the RN4081 is better for direct drip because you just cut 1/2" off end of cartridge.

I need to figure out how to direct drip 510 and not have to touch metal with teeth. I like to direct drip from end without removing cartridge.

 

[caesar]

generic RN4081
1st - 3 weeks, heavy use, dripping only
2nd - 20 seconds, died with the battery
3rd - 1,5 months, heavy use, dripping only

1st - standard batts
2nd - standard batt
3rd - nicobox mod with 14500 and direct USB when on computer

1st - puffed, then after puffing again was dead (coil was shot 3mm near the joint)
2nd - puffed and it remained on without noticing
3rd - still going great

1st - occasionally blew air and overnight drain
3rd - just (2-3 times/week) burning it red hot then blowing air through batt end

bought locally bottles that looked like the ones from ruyandirect, different aromas.

Heater coil looked black, charred and full of gunk on the first one, clean on the second (d'oh) and pretty clean on the third after 6 weeks usage. Pretty clean means coil is clean, mesh is full of gunk and charred.

 

[emus]

Do you let your RN4081 atomizer get very warm to the touch?

 

[tribalmasters]

RN4072 atomisers x5 pcs still working tho turned into wimps Janty RY3 2 months old
White DSE901 atomiser from TECC x 1 pcs wimp in normal 901 battery using TW state express , strong and satisfying in GG 1 month old

Janty Dura atomiser 1 pcs gone cold after 2 months, went to Egypt worked fine came back, nothing perhaps it got bashed? Janty RY3 and other Janty liquid

Very few gone cold on me after a year of vaping 2 max!

Drip the RN4072s, 901 carts at 3.7 volts and drip on GG, Dura used carts

 

[VapingSA]

I have a Janty Dura-C, had it for about a week now. 1 atomizer was producing poor vapor, 1 good puff and after that it diminishes almost entirely, so I exchanged it for a new one which did almost the same thing, just a bit more vapor.

So I decided to do a test before sending it back again. Like the manual explains, I gave it a good wash with some water and dried with a hairdryer, then left it for about an hour. After I topped up my cartridge and gave the atomizer about 3 drops of juice it worked perfectly.

I also washed the one I was using during the week and the taste and performance is much better. Maybe some of the liquid in the atomizer doesn't burn, which would make a sticky, bad tasting mess in there?

 

[emus]

An atomizer can foul out just like a spark plug. Crud builds up between the positive and negative components of the atty. To correct the problem, use a tooth pick to scrap the crud out then rinse with distilled H2O and dry.

Clear as mud I know.

The area to clean is on the threaded end of the atty. It is the 5 mm crevice between the threads and the 2 mm hole that talks to the battery.

 

[sobe]

Gamucci classic atty, went strong for about 2 weeks. Then I tried to dry it out by running it continously on my 6100mAh monster pack, withouth a cartridge installed. It went for 40 seconds, than it died .

Never try this at home...it will kill your atty.

Replacement atty's are 801s...none of them matches up the performance of the gamucci

 

[kalc]

a) 2 RN4075 atm - each lasted around 3/4 days. Now resistance shown is open circuit.
b) 1 901 atm - lasted around 5 days. Towards the end, i was vaping heavily and maybe the atm was running hot on this one. Resistance shown now is around 50 ohms.
In both cases the deivice is SD.
c) 801 atm using usb manual PT with battery - more than a week of use (only in the evenings) - no problems yet.
BTW, how do i dismantle an atm to see whats wrong?

 

[2sheds]

Just bought a Prodigy V1. Seemed like the cartridge was too far from the heating element to get the kind of vapor production shown in the videos. So I started dripping. In quick succession--about an hour or two-- four atomizers (my only 4) stopped working. The heating elements no longer heat. I tried cleaning, changing batteries, blowing out the excess liquid, and even sucking out the excess liquid with a vacuum cleaner duct tape. The atomizers remained cold--both with the Prodigy and with my old classic SD. One of the atomizers (the one that came with my V1) was only a day old. The others had been used only a few weeks (with frequent switching).

Please help. I'm without the means to vape right now and will soon have to purchase cigarettes.