Bought my first Mech Mod, scared to use it...

[javyn]

Well, thanks I guess for the no advice. I still have the RMA so back it goes for my nine bucks. Based on the answers in this thread, mech mods seem to really suck ....

What's the point anyway?

I'll buy a regulated 150 watt.

ETA: Ben85, first constructive reply, thank you. Still done with mechs though

I'm sorry people are being a bit prickish here. There is nothing wrong with your mod, but you just need a little help. You shouldn't have to return or not use it due to fear mongering.

The fact is, build and battery safety are what you should be focusing on, not so much the vent holes. Honestly, if you put a stupid dangerous build on a mech, vent holes aren't going to save you anyway.

Go to this website:

Voltage current resistance and electric power general basic electrical formulas mathematical calculations calculator formula for power calculating energy work equation power law watts understandimg general electrical pie chart electricity calculation electrical emf voltage power formula equation two different equations to calculate power general ohms law audio physics electricity electronics formula wheel formulas amps watts volts ohms cosine equation audio engineering pie chart charge physics power sound recording calc electrical engineering formula power math pi physics relation relationship - sengpielaudio Sengpiel Berlin

Plug in your voltage at 4.2 volts, and plug the resistance of your coil into it and hit calculate. If the Amperage it spits back out at you is anywhere near your battery's max amps, which is going to likely be 20, don't use that coil on a mech.

Since you are simply trying to stop smoking, there is no reason really to put a 0.5 build on there. You can use a Kayfun or some other single coil atomizer, build a 1.0 ohm coil on it. Not only will it be safe on a mech, but that type of experience is more like a cigarette.

edit: You need to purchase a Resistance Checker. After you build your coil, put it on the checker, and it will tell you the resistance. Also, more importantly, it will tell you if there is a short by not displaying anything as a resistance. If your checker says nothing, there's a short and you need to rebuild. Ditto if your resistance it measures is too low to safely use on your battery.

As far as batteries go, the rule of thumb is to avoid Efest and any battery with the word "Fire" in the name. Sony 30 amps are kinda hard to come by, so I'd look at LG HE2, LG HE4, and Samsung 25rs. Those are all good batteries for vaping with 20 amp limits.

You want to stop smoking, not be a cloud bro trying to smog out a room. People should stop assuming that's what you want to do. A 1.0 ohm coil on an atty will be perfectly safe on a mech so long as you are using a good battery, and give a pleasurable experience.

I wouldn't have blindly bought a mech clone off ebay, but hey, the one you got is actually pretty darn good so no harm there.

edit: Oh yes, you said you already had a regulated mod. So no need to even buy a resistance checker. Your reg can function as one just to check your coils.

To me it looks like your biggest problem is the Freakshow. Not a great dripper in my opinion, but I'm sure others would disagree. I find them to be leaky and a hassle. Even with a 0.4 build on it, that comes out to only 10 amps so any decent battery like your Sony should be able to handle it just fine. Still though, you should consider a single coil tank with a bit more restricted airflow to mimic a cigarette. Something like a Kayfun Lite, Taifun GTV2, something like that

 

[mhertz]

When you know what you stated above, then obviously it's not an issue, but it's not fear-mongering to state to learn these things FIRST before using it... You may think you have a 1.0ohm build, when in reality you have a hard-short or a dangerously low build on Hence, your instructions above to learn how to use it. I don't think anyone states don't use it ever, just to wait a moment to educate oneself about it Cloud-chasing or not, is unrelated to this imho...

 

[javyn]

Yeah, I just told him (in lousy wording I know) what to do. I noticed he has 30 amp Sonys, and a regulated mod he can check his builds on. Really there's no reason to worry so long as he gets into the habit of checking his builds for shorts and keeps in mind the lowest resistance he can build on while still being safe.

There's no reason for him not to use this mod now. It's not even hybrid. If he had bought a SMPL then I'd be right there with you guys telling him to STOP. But he got a Nemesis. Really he's fine.

I also don't like the focus on vent holes on this forum either. Bottom vent holes may as well be unvented since batteries swell, and vent from the top. IMO they are a false sense of security and people should worry about safe builds more than some tiny holes that aren't going to do much of anything if the battery vents.

 

[mhertz]

I fully agree with you on that. It's for sure not rocket-science, and as long as you know that's it's mandatory to check your build/coil and use ohms-law calculation or calculator and use good cells etc, then it's fine of course I personally don't care about vent-holes myself, as I see it as an insurance against user-error, and as you said, often it won't help much with the "wrong" placement of said holes... If you're a careless person, then yes, vent-holes properly oriented are of utmost importance Myself, i'm somewhat OCD with these things, and e.g. when changing cells I sit and stare on cell orientation for 10 secs before putting them in etc, lol...

 

[r055co]

OK here's my lecture on Mech's, simple but very important rules.

1. Ohm's law, Steam Engine main page makes it easy and there's even an app on it for Android
2. Batteries,take good care of your batteries and know them!!!!!!!!
a. Stick with authentic LG, Sony or Samsung, great places to get authentic are from
Liion Wholesale Batteries | Li-ion battery distributor
Earth's #1 source for IMR 18650 Batteries, Chargers, Cases & Wraps | IMRbatteries.com
b. Stick well within Continuous Discharge Rate (CDR) Not the "pulse"
c. Keep up to date with what Mooch tests and rates batteries, follow his posts on Facebook and his Blog
d. Get some battery wraps, they're cheap and easy to re-wrap batteries. Any nicks, tears or what ever don't be stupid and just re-wrap.
3. Don't build stupid low a good builder can chuck and get awesome dense vape from a good build. It's simple, with 20 CDR Amp batteries -
a. Single battery mod's you're fine with .2 ohms on up
b. Dual Parallel you're fine with .15 on up. Parallel you take the full CDR of one battery and you can add 1/2 the amp rating of the next battery
c. Series you double the voltage but you share the amp. So a series you build high, no lower that .4 ohms
4. Make sure you don't have any shorts. For an extra caution any new build I vape on a regulated mod for a few drips or with a tank about a 1/4 tank. This is to insure nothing wonky with my build or any shorts.
5. Careful if it's not in your hand, if it doesn't have a lock on the button insure nothing is in your pocket and it's loose. Don't want to put it in your front jeans pocket and blow your johnson off ya know

Basically it really just comes down to common sense.

 

[r055co]

Well, thanks I guess for the no advice. I still have the RMA so back it goes for my nine bucks. Based on the answers in this thread, mech mods seem to really suck ....

What's the point anyway?

I'll buy a regulated 150 watt.

ETA: Ben85, first constructive reply, thank you. Still done with mechs though

Mech's are great, I've got regulated Mod's but due to the pending FDA BS I dove into the Mech world. But first and foremost you must know what you're doing. It's like taking a first time driver and what do you put them in, a Toyota Camery or a F1 Race car. When you build right they provide the best vape experience IMO. There's an attraction to them for a reason but again you MUST know what you're doing. Look at my previous post for the rules.

 

[sawlight]

I find all the worrisome posts a bit humorous! Yes you have to be aware of your batteries abilities, as well as your own into account, but when I bought my first mech there were no such things as ohm checkers, yeah, we either calculated it, or used an ohm meter. In fact, when I first got my mech, there weren't even any rebuildables out there! We bought stock carto's, filled them up and vaped away on them with nary a concern! It wasn't until they started coming out with stacked battery mechs, it wasn't given a second thought! I recall for a while any mech with more than one battery was advised as unsafe on this entire site!
Then the Genies came out, you guys worrying about shorts and not knowing what you are doing with this or that should be damn glad you never had to deal with those shorting SOB's!!! Kanthal wrapped over a, hopefully, oxidized SS mesh wick, yeah, those were a hoot to sort out on a mech! I remember when I got my ZAP for my Provari, it was so hard to get it to burn long enough to get the hot spots out on the Provari with the regulation cutting it off all the time I bought a 510 to EGO adapter so I could put it on a mech and fiddle out the hot spots!
So yes, you need a little sense, and yes if you want to try and push the limits of everything you'd damn well better have your act together! But it's certainly not the Rocket surgery that many on this site are making it out to be anymore.

 

[tckenno]

Read thread with interest... I think OP did the right thing in returning his mech mod. He clearly was safety conscious and not comfortable vaping one. Kudos for that.

 

[Vaslovik]

Having never used a mechanical mod before, I wanted to try it. I found this deal on Ebay for $8.99 shipped: www.ebay.com/itm/131775934011

I'm scared of it... there are no battery vent holes, and the bottom switch seams like it's possible to just screw in too tight and lock the button pressed.

Am I missing something? There were no instructions provided.

I've already requested and received an RMA but could this possibly work? I do have good batteries for it.

If not, there is there a popular, reliable, safe mech mod available for $20 or less?

A mech for $8.99.... I've used nothing but mechs for the last 3 years, and to be honest I'd be scared to use that thing too! Same goes for a mech for $20 or less. You get what you pay for. At those prices I would not expect anything like reliability or decent functionality. Your mech should be an investment in your vaping pleasure and enjoyment that you can have confidence in and feel reasonably safe using over the long term. You will not get that for $8.99.

I paid $150 for my first mech and never regretted it. The mechs I use now, 3 years later, are the 5 Poldiacs I got from MMV, which back in the day went for $260 each.

Go for quality Brad, you will not be sorry.

 

[Bad Ninja]

$$$ doesnt equal quality.
Especially in the vape industry.
You can definitely get a quality mech for $10-20.

 

[MMW]

Anyone have the King V2 Infinite clone? Thinking of grabbing a couple.

 

[Bad Ninja]

Anyone have the King V2 Infinite clone? Thinking of grabbing a couple.

I bought one for a friend a while back.
Infinite makes a very good King v2 clone.

 

[MMW]

I bought one for a friend a while back.
Infinite makes a very good King v2 clone.

Thanks brother!

 

[mhertz]

I have a nemesis copper clone for 8.99 which was a freakin' steele, so it is possible(it even has very slightly lower VD than my copper SMPL). I only gotten it because the reviews also stated it was a crazy price for the product(on sale). The great thing with mechs is that you can easily see the quality/functionality/flaws by just simply using your eyes and hands period, when disasembling it for checking/cleaning before first use... On the other hand, I would be leeary about a very low price for a regulated clone, because I cannot verify it's "state" before use(i.e. bad chip/wirering/soldering etc)... That's the beauty of these simple devices

 

[BreSha6869]

I have a nemesis copper clone for 8.99 which was a freakin' steele, so it is possible(it even has very slightly lower VD than my copper SMPL). I only gotten it because the reviews also stated it was a crazy price for the product(on sale). The great thing with mechs is that you can easily see the quality/functionality/flaws by just simply using your eyes and hands period, when disasembling it for checking/cleaning before first use... On the other hand, I would be leeary about a very low price for a regulated clone, because I cannot verify it's "state" before use(i.e. bad chip/wirering/soldering etc)... That's the beauty of these simple devices

I am relatively new to mechs, but I totally agree.

I have a bunch of clones and the worst thing I have seen is an airflow ring being a fraction of a millimetre too big or the threading not being 100% perfect. None of my clones were over $20 and most were $8-12. None of them would be considered garbage or unuseable.

All of my authentics are better, but I have had great luck buying highly rated clones from places like Fasttech and HeathCabin. I would never buy a really poorly rated Chinese clone.

P.s. I would never buy a regulated clone. The authentics are generally so cheap, it isn't worth buying clone to save $5-10 IMO.

 

[mhertz]

Yeah, the regulated clones are not worth it then, I honestly never gotten any or even looked, so didn't know Yes, buying clones with good reviews in discussion/review area of e.g. fasttech and then it's hard to go wrong unless switching the manufacturer on you. There's some who go buy some clone from some place without bothering doing ANY research and then they're mod-snobs for life thereafter and continue talking crap about how bad clones in general are... The same can happen with authentics although not as often i'm guessing. I personally refuse to spend that much money on the originals as they often go for, because I simply cannot justify that for such a simple device e.g. a tube with a switch. Ofcourse they should not only be paid for materials but the price still is way to high imho... Regulateds atleast I would much better could understand the same prices for, with there advanced chips and other electronics offering TC and whatnot other crap...