Beginner mistakes, spent $$$, help set me

[Riquez]

Hi there!
well first off, I started vaping an eGo two weeks ago & after 20 years of smoking I haven't touched an analogue cig since! I am amazed!

my wife decided to join me & she took over my eGo & I decided to buy a step up. I felt the eGo was a bit underpowered (900 battery) in terms of vapor & how long the charge lasted (about 8am-5pm) as well as having a small tank.

I got a Kamry K103, bigger tank, small form. Looks cool. But the battery was no better being a 18350. At the time I didn't realise my mistake & relied on the shop assistant to pick for me based on my needs. Unfortunately too I discovered that the Kamry tank is plastic & my pineapple juice cracked it within 24hrs!!

next I got a nautilus tank. This is really good. Nice big tank, good performance from the coil & the adjustable holes are great.
however I still found my Kamry K103 mod was running out quickly. I was getting a good draw for an hour or so, but it quickly became weak & worse than the eGo I started with!

so I got a new mod with sony18650 battery. Wow, it really improved things. BUT!! My charger takes too long to charge the battery, yesterday I left the 18650 charging for 13 hours overnight & even then it ran out before 5pm, worse than my eGo - Gahh! Perhaps the Kamry charger is too slow, seems like it might take 30 hours to charge that 18650 properly!!

so... I guess now I need to get a better charger & perhaps a spare 18650. I messaged my local shop & that's about $35 they said & the charger should only take 4-6 hours. (Nitecore 2 bay)

NOW - any advice you can give me to proceed to make sure I don't mess up any further would be good. I've spent about $400 so far on kit & juice etc.

all the best & thanks for any advice you can give to set me straight

 

[sir_puffs_alot]

get the efest luc charger it is the fastest charger and has a display that tells you the exact voltage fo ur batts. you can charge at 500 mah and hour, or 1000 mah and hour, or at 2000 mah an hour. Best charger out IMO and best to just buy it now so you dont have to upgrade like I did as the amount of batteries you need to charge grows. The nautilus is great but on mech mods I find it lacking do to the high ohm coils. the k103 you have would de better with a lower ohm coil like a kanger 1.2 or something. For the nautilus a regulated variable voltage or wattage device is best. I find 15 watts to be the sweetspot. You need like 4.8 to 5 volts for this and you mech mod is around 4 on a full charge due to volt drop...might work for ya but I guarantee the nautilus will suprise you if ya try on a vv or vw even egos cant really power it how i like. Maybe the aspire cf series will tho. Thry getting a dna device like a dna 30 or dna 20. The nautilus will work ten times better on it and if ya ever move from clearos to rebuildables it will have the power to work for them also. It will be a device you shouldnt have to upgrade and it should always have a place in you vapeing. The big range of adjustability means you can use rda's rta's, clearos,cartos and whatever you desire, everything will work well on it.

 

[FallenRawToast]

You will find that you are going to be using 2 batteries a day, at least.. no matter what you do

A regulated 2 battery box mod, might get you through the whole day.

+1 for the Efest Luc charger being the one to have.

 

[Sgt.Rock]

Welcome to the rest of your life

Check out batteryjunction... snag a couple 2600 mah 18650's there... these ones are actually Sony VTC5 cells XTAR 18650 2600mAh 30A VTC5 Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery - Flat Top

Then Either this charger Nitecore Intellicharge i2 2-Channel Smart Battery Charger for Li-Ion, Ni-Cd,& Ni-MH by Sysmax

Or the 4 cell version for $5 more Intellicharge i4 Li-Ion 4-Channel Smart Battery Charger - BatteryJunction.com

 

[Cullin Kin]

Welcome to the rest of your life

Check out batteryjunction... snag a couple 2600 mah 18650's there... these ones are actually Sony VTC5 cells XTAR 18650 2600mAh 30A VTC5 Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery - Flat Top

Then Either this charger Nitecore Intellicharge i2 2-Channel Smart Battery Charger for Li-Ion, Ni-Cd,& Ni-MH by Sysmax

Or the 4 cell version for $5 more Intellicharge i4 Li-Ion 4-Channel Smart Battery Charger - BatteryJunction.com

It says on their site that the Xtar VCT5's have been discontinued. Dafuq? When did that happen?!? I was waiting until Friday to buy some...

 

[msingletary]

Since everyone else covered the battery/charger topic exceedingly well...Congrats on giving up the analogs and welcome to ECF!

 

[Baditude]

The Sony VTC batteries are some of the best batteries available. Good choice there, if you can find them in stock.

You can never have too many batteries. If you run multiple batteries in a rotation they will last longer in lifetime expectancy. I have a group of 4 - 5 AW 18650 IMR 2000mah batteries that I use in a rotation cycle. A couple of those I purchased about 2 1/2 years ago, and they are just now starting to show their age. I attribute that longivity to using multiple batteries in rotation.

The Nitecore Intellicharger i2 is a good charger; my daughter uses that one. I use the i4 charger myself (four charging bays), as I share my mods and batteries with my son.

 

[Nightshard]

18650 doesn't take 13 hours to charge.
There are several possibilities:
1. Your charger is defective.
2. Your battery is defective.
3. You over used your battery dropping it below 2.5V and by doing that ruined it.
First of all take a volt meter and test your battery voltage.
Which charger are you using?
You need at least 2 batteries so you could charge one while using the other.
Get to know your batteries and don't over use them.

 

[roosterado]

For just a little more money I would suggest the Nitecore Digi Charger battery chargers. D2 or D4 Real Time Charge Status LCD display read out is really nice to have. Amazon has them as cheap as anyone.If you have a nitecore intellicharger there Nothing wrong with that its a good charger.

 

[VannyPak]

18650 doesn't take 13 hours to charge.
There are several possibilities:
1. Your charger is defective.
2. Your battery is defective.
3. You over used your battery dropping it below 2.5V and by doing that ruined it.
First of all take a volt meter and test your battery voltage.
Which charger are you using?
You need at least 2 batteries so you could charge one while using the other.
Get to know your batteries and don't over use them.

This. Also I would suggest batteries upon batteries upon batteries. You really can never have too much. Backups are always nice to have. Backup batteries, backup mods, backup juice.

 

[GinnyTx]

they're covering the batteries...

but I'll say congrats on quitting and welcome

and ONLY $400 for you both? consider yourself both "frugal"

I don't even want to mention what Ed and I have spent over the last 4+ months since quitting!!

(I will say I ordered tobacco/tubes at about $200/order and I'd have placed at least 4 of those by now..so we're still ahead, maybe)

 

[Sgt.Rock]

Hmm...yes the VTC5's are unavailable but they also carry the Xtar branded Sony VTC4 core cells in both button top and flat top

XTAR VTC4 30Amp High Discharge 18650 2100mAh 3.8V Rechargeable Li-ion Battery - Flat Top
XTAR VTC4 30Amp High Discharge 18650 2100mAh 3.8V Rechargeable Li-ion Battery - Button Top

I run some of the button top in rotation with some VTC5's and they perform admirably

Another plus for these batteries is that the Xtar wrappers are slicker and sturdier than the Sony ones which are designed more in line with industrial applications where they stay in the battery pack as opposed to being removed and reinserted constantly.

 

[Poisontail]

Get the xtar vp2 charged battery in under two hours!

 

[Nightshard]

and your charges should be lasting you much longer. remember no over charging your batteries. 1-4 hours or you'll blow them out.

Any reasonable charger knows when the battery is full and stops charging it on it's own.

 

[CptJYossarian]

The Sony VTC batteries are some of the best batteries available. Good choice there, if you can find them in stock.

You can never have too many batteries. If you run multiple batteries in a rotation they will last longer in lifetime expectancy. I have a group of 4 - 5 AW 18650 IMR 2000mah batteries that I use in a rotation cycle. A couple of those I purchased about 2 1/2 years ago, and they are just now starting to show their age. I attribute that longivity to using multiple batteries in rotation.

The Nitecore Intellicharger i2 is a good charger; my daughter uses that one. I use the i4 charger myself (four charging bays), as I share my mods and batteries with my son.

Gonna agree with the Nitecore chargers. They're so insanely good. A little more expensive but absolutely worth it. I had a 2 bay one I used, and recently switched to the 4 bay i4. It will charge fast, automatically stop when the battery is full (4.2 v), can charge just about any battery (I charge my AA rechargeable on it too), and has tonnes of safety built in (I leave it on when I'm away/overnight all the time with no issues - it's been months). It does all these awesome things on 4 independent battery slots too, so you can put in different size batteries with different needs.

 

[Kaezziel]

Keep in mind that rapid chargers are hard on the batteries, too. 750mA (0.75A) to 1000mA (1A) output from the charger is a good range... 2000mA (2A) is getting a little higher than I like to charge at. Rapid charging incrementally damages the battery and will shorten it's overall lifespan.

 

[Ed Kindred]

I've got a Stingray 26650 mod & it last pretty good but I also have a Kamry Bacchus 3800 that lasts 4 days if I only use it with a Kanger Mega. I also have a itaste MVP 2.0 that lasts 2 days with the Mega. I bought the Stingray for a Kanger Turbo & it works great but for on the move the MVP/Mega combo is far superior. JMHO SEVERE SHINYITUS

 

[mikefash]

This. Also I would suggest batteries upon batteries upon batteries. You really can never have too much. Backups are always nice to have. Backup batteries, backup mods, backup juice.

My thinking is he's using the Kamry charger that came with the kit. It's really bad and yes charging at a lower rate because the Kamry kit battery is not a IMR.

Yes you'll need a good charger. Think the Nitecore chargers are cheaper on Amaz...

 

[Cullin Kin]

Hmm...yes the VTC5's are unavailable but they also carry the Xtar branded Sony VTC4 core cells in both button top and flat top

XTAR VTC4 30Amp High Discharge 18650 2100mAh 3.8V Rechargeable Li-ion Battery - Flat Top
XTAR VTC4 30Amp High Discharge 18650 2100mAh 3.8V Rechargeable Li-ion Battery - Button Top

I run some of the button top in rotation with some VTC5's and they perform admirably

Another plus for these batteries is that the Xtar wrappers are slicker and sturdier than the Sony ones which are designed more in line with industrial applications where they stay in the battery pack as opposed to being removed and reinserted constantly.

The flat tops have been 'discontinued' as well on their site. I guess the only ones available are the button tops.

 

[LDS714]

Congrats on the switch!

I can only echo what has been said so far about the batteries. You can't have too many.

I have both the Nitecore and Luc chargers. Both are good. The Luc seems to be of a higher quality, and is much smoother when batteries are inserted and removed.