Carto Frustration

[rockerlynne]

I am using a couple of different Vision Spinners and I cannot get my cartos to work properly! I have tried LR and SR smok cartos, single coil/dual coil and LOTS of them...like $50 worth from different vendors! I always buy the flanged as I cannot stand the non-flanged with a tank. I even bought a brand new Vision Spinner thinking maybe it was a battery issue. Carto after carto, I fill them, put them in my tank(s) and I get a cold airy draw with very little vapor, or my battery heats up like crazy and my liquid tastes horrible, or my freshly charged battery will only allow a few seconds of draw time and the light will start blinking. Grrrrr! I want a nice warm vape with lots of vapor production. I have studied the Ohms Law Chart and cannot figure out what is wrong. Suggestions?

 

[itskohler]

What ohm cartos did you buy? What voltage are you getting from the battery?

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

I am using a couple of different Vision Spinners and I cannot get my cartos to work properly! I have tried LR and SR SMOK cartos, single coil/dual coil and LOTS of them...like $50 worth from different vendors! I always buy the flanged as I cannot stand the non-flanged with a tank. I even bought a brand new Vision Spinner thinking maybe it was a battery issue. Carto after carto, I fill them, put them in my tank(s) and I get a cold airy draw with very little vapor, or my battery heats up like crazy and my liquid tastes horrible, or my freshly charged battery will only allow a few seconds of draw time and the light will start blinking. Grrrrr! I want a nice warm vape with lots of vapor production. I have studied the Ohms Law Chart and cannot figure out what is wrong. Suggestions?

How are you filling the cartos and what size are they? If properly filled they should be good fro quite a few healthy vapes. I'm thing, because of the "my liquid tastes horrible" that they're not fully saturated and the dry filler is burning.

 

[rockerlynne]

I have bought everything from 1.5-3 ohm cartos. It doesn't matter what voltage I set my Spinners to...3.3V with the higher ohms I get nothing at all. NOTHING! If I turn it all the way up to the 4.8, I get a little bit of flavor and vapor but then the light starts blinking at about 6 seconds of hitting on it, and the battery gets hot. In the 2ohm range, similar story. I was such a happy and satisfied carto user for months, and then suddenly the last few months I have had nothing but frustration. I have tried so many things to figure this out and I can't! What do most people find is the best flanged carto to use on a Spinner vaping between 3.8 and 4.3V?

 

[rockerlynne]

How are you filling the cartos and what size are they? If properly filled they should be good fro quite a few healthy vapes. I'm thing, because of the "my liquid tastes horrible" that they're not fully saturated and the dry filler is burning.

I have an IBTanked tank that I use with their "Thingy" to fill my cartos for that particular tank. I love that thingy, it is fast and easy to saturate. For my other sidewinder tanks, I fill the cartos with a syringe tipped bottle until I see juice bubbling out of the punched holes and then I put the carto in the tank and fill it. I usually let it sit for a few minutes before vaping it. I know that dry hit burnt flavor, been there done that, that doesn't seem to be the problem in this case though. When I say my liquid tastes bad, it seems the battery is heating up and burning the liquid itself as the liquids turns black and nasty.

 

[itskohler]

Have you tested the battery on a volt meter? It could be fully cahrged but not putting out what it should. I run 2.0 ohm dual carto on my mechanical and it vapes like a champ at 3.8-4.2. I'd imagine less than that I wouldn't get much, as on my iTaste VV v3 if I wanted to save batter life I'd drop the voltage to 3.6 and would notice it isnt as flavorful or near as much vapor.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

I've always been happy with SmokTech cartos. 2.4 ohms would be best for the Spinner. Carto quality has been very hit and miss in the last 1 1/2 yrs.. The ikenvape cartos are garnering great reviews. Trouble is they're so very popular always out of stock. The burning may be from your dry cartos but the flashing batt light indicates maybe a short. Have you tried carefully pulling the battery post out/ up a tiny bit/ 1 mm?
I use the condom method BUT with flanged cartos I fill from the mouth end. Have you tried "thermometer shaking" the carto towards the batt end?

 

[Muggs]

I think 3.3v on a high ohm carto is an issue. That's way too low and won't produce much.

If you like flanged cartos get the Boge F16 LR cartos. They register at 2.1ohms on my Zmax. Set your spinner to between 4v and 4.2v.
I drip about 20 drops through the top before inserting it into the tank. Then I dry pull on it about 10 to 15 times before refilling the tank to the top again. Then I take small hits while pulling in the beginning until I'm sure I'm wicked and past that burn point.

Maybe you are filling them up too much at first and with such low voltage on such high ohms it isn't working out. It could also be your juice. Anything over 30%VG doesn't work optimally in cartos from my experience.

 

[ilovecarz]

With the blinking light Im thinking your charger may be bad (under charging or over charging). It may also have damaged your batteries.


Also could liquid have gotten in the batteries.

 

[rockerlynne]

Thanks guys! I have tried most of the things you've suggested. I don't have a volt measuring device but I have 3 Spinners and the problem occurs on all of them. I just ordered some Boge XL Flanged 2ohm cartos. I am crossing my fingers that perhaps I have just had a series of bad SMOK cartos. You guys rock!

 

[rockerlynne]

With the blinking light Im thinking your charger may be bad (under charging or over charging). It may also have damaged your batteries.


Also could liquid have gotten in the batteries.

Hmmm, interesting. I will look into this one. Thanks.

 

[Muggs]

Thanks guys! I have tried most of the things you've suggested. I don't have a volt measuring device but I have 3 Spinners and the problem occurs on all of them. I just ordered some Boge XL Flanged 2ohm cartos. I am crossing my fingers that perhaps I have just had a series of bad SMOK cartos. You guys rock!

You made the right move. I have been married to the Boge F16's for a long time now. I like the Ikenvape platinums but they aren't flanged. Good luck and hopefully that works out. I have never had a single Smok carto work well for me btw. I pretty much despise them, haha.

 

[cyberwolf]

I also suspect that you may have a charger issue. The poor performance and then a blinking battery light after about 6 seconds sounds to me like they are not charging. It is possible that all three batteries could be bad. I've ruined multiple with a bad carto before realizing what was going on, but I would expect them not to work at all in that case. Testing the voltage output of the batteries would be my first step. Do you know another vaper that can lend you a charger?

That bad of luck with cartos seems unlikely. I've had bad batches of DOA, shorted or low ohm cartos, but not multiple poor performing ones from different batches and vendors.

 

[rockerlynne]

I also suspect that you may have a charger issue. The poor performance and then a blinking battery light after about 6 seconds sounds to me like they are not charging. It is possible that all three batteries could be bad. I've ruined multiple with a bad carto before realizing what was going on, but I would expect them not to work at all in that case. Testing the voltage output of the batteries would be my first step. Do you know another vaper that can lend you a charger?

That bad of luck with cartos seems unlikely. I've had bad batches of DOA, shorted or low ohm cartos, but not multiple poor performing ones from different batches and vendors.

I'm going to my local B&M later and I plan to bring all my batteries to have them tested. I have several chargers, so gonna switch those up as well. Hoping the brand new battery I got the other day hasn't been ruined by bad cartos or bad charger. I doubt all the cartos have been bad, but it is actually kinda nice to hear that I am not the only one having a difficult time with the SMOK carts. Hoping all this tweaking will get me back to my vaping sweet spot.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

I'm going to my local B&M later and I plan to bring all my batteries to have them tested. I have several chargers, so gonna switch those up as well. Hoping the brand new battery I got the other day hasn't been ruined by bad cartos or bad charger. I doubt all the cartos have been bad, but it is actually kinda nice to hear that I am not the only one having a difficult time with the SMOK carts. Hoping all this tweaking will get me back to my vaping sweet spot.

Unfortunately there's really no upgradeable charger for the Spinner/ eGo. I've had many fail. As far as cartos about 1 1/2 yrs ago Boge and SmokTech changed the manufacturing process and ever since they've never been right. Google "Boge Gate".
Best tool a vaper could ever have is a digital multitester. Takes the guess work out of issues such as these- tests attys, batts, chargers. Can also be used around the home.

 

[Caridwen]

I also suspect that you may have a charger issue. The poor performance and then a blinking battery light after about 6 seconds sounds to me like they are not charging. It is possible that all three batteries could be bad. I've ruined multiple with a bad carto before realizing what was going on, but I would expect them not to work at all in that case. Testing the voltage output of the batteries would be my first step. Do you know another vaper that can lend you a charger?

That bad of luck with cartos seems unlikely. I've had bad batches of DOA, shorted or low ohm cartos, but not multiple poor performing ones from different batches and vendors.

That's what it sounds like.

You can purchase a cheap multi-meter for under $10 and you're able to check your cartomizer, your battery, even your battery charger with it.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-multimeter-98025.html