Can't figure out what is wrong?

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Maxxxmasher

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Sep 21, 2015
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I'm for sure a newbie to all of this. Like many on here, I have been wasting money going in baby steps to get away from (analog?) cigarettes. Smoked for 20 yrs. Wife quit, but I was having a seemingly much harder time. I switched to snuff, and she was OK with that, and still pretty much is.

Only problem was at work. Can't chew, but need nicotine to get through a shift without killing anyone. I used to just make a pack of smokes last for a month, but I hated lying about it.
Finally, I tried an Enjoy throwaway, but that didn't get it. Went to a small rechargeable cig. Ok, but not satisfactory either. Finally got a fillable V2 Pro. Loved it, and still do....until... A friend who is really into vaping let me try his. WOW.

So I bought a bigger (intermediate?) type vape pen. It's a Tsunami Vpower and it was great! For about three weeks. Shame on me for not doing more research, but I sort of got it at the spur of the moment when getting new juice. It was working great; then out of the blue, it will not work. When I press the button, the light blinks white three times and it does nothing. It's fully charged. I replaced the coil? and cleaned it with a cue tip in areas where juice should not be present. Can't seem to find much info about them and their website tells me nothing more than the starter book does.
Hope I didn't throw away fifty+ dollars away on a piece of junk. Hope someone can get through my thesis of a post to help me out. I'm not really looking to get into the hobby aspect of all this, which I am prone to doing, I just need something simple with a bit of oomph that will work reliably. Also, I need it to fit in my pocket for "bathroom" breaks! LOL! Sorry for the long read! Can't sleep!
 

Maxxxmasher

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Sep 21, 2015
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Oh, yeah it is fully charged. I fully understand how to turn it off and on and change the voltages, as well. I think I am going to take it apart, fully clean it and give another go. If that doesn't work, I have a Vape shop a few blocks away. I'll see what they think. No good there, and I'll take it back to the shop I bought it from. The guy seemed friendly and knowledgeable and said to come see him if there were any problems. May try to pry the battery connection a bit, too. Seems to be a common problem.

I have been doing a lot of investigating and I might just upgrade anyways and keep this as a backup (assuming it can be fixed).

Also, the Tsunami website FAQ doesn't even work, which worries me. You click on the questions and nothing happens. Hmmmm.

Seems like an Istick 30w and an Aspire Nautilus might be a good combo. Wish I would have researched this before I bought this thing! Always a learning curve....



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Sir2fyablyNutz

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I'm for sure a newbie to all of this. Like many on here, I have been wasting money going in baby steps to get away from (analog?) cigarettes. Smoked for 20 yrs. Wife quit, but I was having a seemingly much harder time. I switched to snuff, and she was OK with that, and still pretty much is.

Only problem was at work. Can't chew, but need nicotine to get through a shift without killing anyone. I used to just make a pack of smokes last for a month, but I hated lying about it.
Finally, I tried an Enjoy throwaway, but that didn't get it. Went to a small rechargeable cig. Ok, but not satisfactory either. Finally got a fillable V2 Pro. Loved it, and still do....until... A friend who is really into vaping let me try his. WOW.

So I bought a bigger (intermediate?) type vape pen. It's a Tsunami Vpower and it was great! For about three weeks. Shame on me for not doing more research, but I sort of got it at the spur of the moment when getting new juice. It was working great; then out of the blue, it will not work. When I press the button, the light blinks white three times and it does nothing. It's fully charged. I replaced the coil? and cleaned it with a cue tip in areas where juice should not be present. Can't seem to find much info about them and their website tells me nothing more than the starter book does.
Hope I didn't throw away fifty+ dollars away on a piece of junk. Hope someone can get through my thesis of a post to help me out. I'm not really looking to get into the hobby aspect of all this, which I am prone to doing, I just need something simple with a bit of oomph that will work reliably. Also, I need it to fit in my pocket for "bathroom" breaks! LOL! Sorry for the long read! Can't sleep!

Occasionally on the eGo style vape devices the 510 pin can get stuck in a down position to where it doesn't make good contact. I have no experience with this but from reading the forum it is a common issue. It usually occurs when the tank has been screwed on too tight. The "fix" is to turn off the battery, and using a non metallic item gently pry the 510 pin to where it slides back into place.

I do not know if this is your issue.

As a side note, the iStick would be a good decision, using what you have now as a back up. However, you can usually get the 40 watt iStick with a larger battery (2600 mah vs 2200 mah for the 30) for a dollar more.
Eleaf iStick 40W TC Temperature Control Mod $30

iStick 30 w with Nautilus Mini (40 w appears the same size)
4f4a37f5-cac4-47a0-94b9-31b2900fd6b6_zpsqab8njbe.jpg

I've owned 4 of the Nautilus Mini and loved them.
 
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CBly14

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Occasionally on the eGo style vape devices the 510 pin can get stuck in a down position to where it doesn't make good contact. I have no experience with this but from reading the forum it is a common issue. It usually occurs when the tank has been screwed on too tight. The "fix" is to turn off the battery, and using a non metallic item gently pry the 510 pin to where it slides back into place.

I do not know if this is your issue.

As a side note, the iStick would be a good decision, using what you have now as a back up. However, you can usually get the 40 watt iStick with a larger battery (2600 mah vs 2200 mah for the 30) for a dollar more.
Eleaf iStick 40W TC Temperature Control Mod $30

iStick 30 w with Nautilus Mini (40 w appears the same size)
4f4a37f5-cac4-47a0-94b9-31b2900fd6b6_zpsqab8njbe.jpg

I've owned 4 of the Nautilus Mini and loved them.
I'm with Sir on this one. I had tons of problems with my vape pens not working or various other issues. I went with a Nautilus Mini and the 40W iStick and fell in love. No complaints on them.
 

Train2

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istick/nautilus seems like a great move in a good direction...
And Tsunami looks like a "brand it and double the price" vendor.
You could do better with a big online vendor, maybe MyFreedomSmokes...they've got some good "starter kits" in the $60 range , including $53 for an iStick30/Nauti, or a package with a Coolfire, or a Disruptor - these are all good devices with good reputations.
 

edyle

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Oh, yeah it is fully charged. I fully understand how to turn it off and on and change the voltages, as well. I think I am going to take it apart, fully clean it and give another go. If that doesn't work, I have a Vape shop a few blocks away. I'll see what they think. No good there, and I'll take it back to the shop I bought it from. The guy seemed friendly and knowledgeable and said to come see him if there were any problems. May try to pry the battery connection a bit, too. Seems to be a common problem.

I have been doing a lot of investigating and I might just upgrade anyways and keep this as a backup (assuming it can be fixed).

Also, the Tsunami website FAQ doesn't even work, which worries me. You click on the questions and nothing happens. Hmmmm.

Seems like an Istick 30w and an Aspire Nautilus might be a good combo. Wish I would have researched this before I bought this thing! Always a learning curve....



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yes my guess it's a pressed in centerpin from overtightening.

with those vape pen size things you have no choice but to keep scewing on/off on the connector and that wear and tear ends up being the first thing to go. you have to take your tank off in order to charge.

with something like the isticks and most other mods, you can just leave that connection in place and your connector will last longer.
 
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Baditude

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With "ego batteries", a blinking fire switch means either 1) low battery, or 2) a short in the coil of the tank. Replacing the coil in the tank should eliminate the blinking light if the battery is truly charged. It's possible to get a bad batch of coils, too.

It's always a good idea to have backups for your setups. You can't vape if your only battery dies, your only tank breaks, or if you run out of e-liquid. Have at least two of everything that you use.

Good Starter Setups for a Beginner


Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

Guide to Juice Delivery Attachments

Online vendors that I recommend include either AltSmoke, Discount Vapors, and My Vapor Store.
 
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Maxxxmasher

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Sep 21, 2015
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Yeah, like I said, I have a place just a stone's throw away from me, so I'm gonna check them out tomorrow. Unless their prices are insane, I would sooner buy local if I can.

I'm pretty sure it is the tab on the battery that is causing the trouble. I pried it a bit, and it worked for one cycle. Got one good hit. Then, when I pressed the button again, nothing but those same three flashes. I'll mess with it a bit more later. No work tomorrow, so I'll be up and I'll see if I can do more. I'll also throw a voltmeter on the battery to be sure.

Do people on here ever build their own battery packs for these? Couldn't be too hard to really make something powerful. My really addictive hobby has been rc cars and trucks for years. Ive built lots of packs for that application. Surprised Lipo or L-ion haven't taken hold yet. NiMh batteries are a thing of the past in RC cars. Full power through its whole life cycle, and a lot lighter and cheaper to produce. Maybe there are. But my delving into this world (and forum) is less than 24hrs old at this point!! LOL!!

Thanks to you all for your help! Too many forums that I have been on like to torture noobs until they don't ask noob questions anymore. We're just trying to get along in this world. Nice when we can get along.
 

Susan~S

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I'm pretty sure it is the tab on the battery that is causing the trouble. I pried it a bit, and it worked for one cycle. Got one good hit. Then, when I pressed the button again, nothing but those same three flashes. I'll mess with it a bit more later.
Here's a video on doing this.

Just make sure that if you use something conductive (metal) to pry up on the center pin that you do NOT hit the fire button while you are working on the battery. Or better yet, turn off the battery.

Center Pin Issue - Fixing a non firing eGo battery
 

Maxxxmasher

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Sep 21, 2015
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And thanks a lot, Susan S! That is the exact video I had already viewed and got the idea to try that. In fact, while doing a lot of forum surfing, I came across your recommendations and tutorials and thus helped sway me in which units I may purchase very soon. A lot of others besides yourself seem to like the istick 30w combined with the Aspire Nautilus. Seems to have adequate performance, decent battery life, pricing, and size for me. I will be hitting some vape shops tomorrow! Gonna be a sunny day, no work for me; so it seems like a good day to fire up my Harley in search of vaping satisfaction!


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Maxxxmasher

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Sep 21, 2015
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Oh, and Robert, the battery has a full charge for sure. I assume this pack is comprised of 3 sub-C cell NiMh batteries. It was reading just about 4 volts. Slightly high, but it is not unusual for these to charge slightly higher than their voltage rating right off the charger and drop down slightly pretty quickly. Just can't figure what the problem is!


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zapped

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I doubt that is the problem. I bought the extra coils when I got the vape pen, and they are the same maker. The guy at the shop picked them out. He's the owner and has been around a while. Let's hop he didn't mess that up.


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Im with Bad on this.

It doesnt matter if the owner knows what hes doing or not.

Some coils are bad right out of the package due to poor quality control in China.

In 4+ years of vaping, Ive gotten at least a half dozen bad coils and at least as many bad cartomizers that were a failures from the start despite being in unopened packaging .

A few of them have worked intermittently just like youve described as well.

Ive also had ego batteries do this after suffering falls. Solution is to dispose of them (properly) and get a new one or as other have suggested look into the Eleaf Istick its a great little mod for the money and its far more reliable than an ego to boot.
 
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