Clearo-misery.. ViviNova suddenly tastes like ashtray

[eclipse87]

I've had great luck with ViviNova 2ml clearo all week. vaping 70/30 pg/vg using ego twist at 4v or less. Using 2.4 long wick coilhead.

Today i noticed the juice was turning yellow, the draw got tighter, it tastes like ashtray (very burnt and dry). This happened with 2 short wicked Stardusts right out of the package.

I switched to Vivi Nova. It took a week for the VN to taste burnt. Is this just what happens? Time to replace coilhead? I don't have patience for DIY wick replacement.

I tried rinsing the coilhead in hot water and dry burning til coil glowed red. I blew through clearo. Something is wrong inside. Nothing has changed with connection. No obstructions.

Please share any ideas. Thanks

 

[Taniger1]

DiscountVapers - Your source for savings on electronic cigarettes and accessories, Go-go eGo, vGo new heads for 1.99. Take your heads off every day to every other day and clean them!!! Don't wait until they taste like crap!

 

[cdunn96]

I have been vaping my vivi for 3 weeks with no problem, I rinsed it out at the end of each week and that was it, no dry burn at all. It sounds to me it may be the juice you are using if it happened in stardust also.

 

[Unforeseen]

You can either replace it or clean it. It's your option. Coils and wicks usually get gunked up during a bit of use. Which is what's happening right now with what you are describing.

Honestly don't have much experience with clearomizers. Although, when you are dry burning. The wick and coil has to be dry. So, you can use a paper towel to dry out the wick. Afterwards, you press the button for one second and let go. Do this until it smokes. Stop after a few tries to let the coil cool down (since it can pop if you over stress it).

If one side of the coil is glowing faster than the other. Than the amount of time you let the coil rest becomes more important. Repeat the steps above until the whole coil glows evenly when you press the button. This is an indication that the dry burning process is finished.

Give it another rinse and let it dry for 24-48hrs.

 

[njay23]

Yep... gotta clean 'em for sure. Coils and you have to dump the old juice that accumulates on the bottom after awhile too. that's what looks yellow at the bottom of your tank, old thick juice.

 

[teamscon]

I clean mine every 3 tanks. I use one tank per day so every 3 days I put on a diff head and clean the questionable one. The vivi isnt perfect, but im fairly sure its the best tank we'll find 14.00 shipped for a little while.
I used the same 1.8ohm and 2.4ohm heads for atleast 3 weeks each and still have them. I ordered new ones and have been using them as a new one is always best tasting

Clearos are OK ... My mom uses one and likes it. The rebuildable stardust take the same head as the vivi nova doesnt it?

btw: i never let my vivi heads dry 24 hrs. I rinse with hot water, dab dry with tissue paper, dry burn until coil glows and its done.

 

[eclipse87]

Thank you all for the quick replies.

So I cleaned and dry burned this afternoon. The head wasn't working right after. I assume the wicks were still too wet with water.

I just tried the head again and it's working! It tastes good again!

I was way too quick to lose faith in the Vivi Nova which was a mistake. As you all said, maintenance is very important! I vaped for a week and a half with no cleaning. That says a lot.

So I'm going to order a few more extra heads. I'll rinse the tank and wick every 3 days and replace the juice. I like the idea of having a spare so I can let the rinsed one dry for a little while. Mine dried for several hours today and vaped fine tonight. I guess dry burning is a last resort. I did it today, but don't know if it was necessary.

Thanks all! This really helped.

Off topic, but I've also been using a Smoktech Dual Coil Tank for a week and a half. It hasn't given me any trouble. It uses cartomizers that are submerged in a tank filled with juice. The cartomizer fills itself through a hole in the base. There is no wick. The cartomizers need to be replaced every so often, but I mean, it's been a week and a half and it's still going strong. You're not dripping juice into them every day like with the 808's which I started with. If anyone is reading this thread cause they're totally frustrated with clearomizers, try the Smoktech DCT, cause it's low maintenance and vapes flawlessly (in my opinion).

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

I clean mine every 3 tanks. I use one tank per day so every 3 days I put on a diff head and clean the questionable one. The vivi isnt perfect, but im fairly sure its the best tank we'll find 14.00 shipped for a little while.
I used the same 1.8ohm and 2.4ohm heads for atleast 3 weeks each and still have them. I ordered new ones and have been using them as a new one is always best tasting

Clearos are OK ... My mom uses one and likes it. The rebuildable stardust take the same head as the vivi nova doesnt it?

btw: i never let my vivi heads dry 24 hrs. I rinse with hot water, dab dry with tissue paper, dry burn until coil glows and its done.

I agree with everything you said, so I quoted it instead of typing it all again. Lol

I find a 5 second or so burst, then a 10 second pause, when dry burning is a lot more effective to dry the wick. Shorter when it starts to glow, as required. I feel the 1 second burst would take forever unless the wicks were bone dry. Depnds a lot on the voltage you are using, I guess.

The glow part of the dry burn is what burns the gunk off the coil. When you can see each wrap of the coil clearly then it is cleaned and you just blow it out to remove anything (ash) left behind.

Relax, Enjoy!

 

[anavidfan]

Glad everything worked out, I belive what others told is all correct, only thing they didnt address is that the VIVi like all other clearomizers, stardusts, Kanger bottom coil tanks, etc if you dont swish and tip enough, and or let the wicks get a dry or take real long draws, is that the juice gets a bit cooked. It will turn dark and taste will change a bit.

This happened to my Kanger t-2 when I loaned it to my brother while he was visiting. I told him he had to keep the wicks wet and tip and swish it carefully( kangers will leak if tipped too much) I was watching him and he was hitting it hard, and fast. When he left after a week, I looked at it and boy o boy was it gunked up and the juice which had been a light gold tone, was dark as amber or dark ale. I took a puff and yuck. I dont know how he was vaping it. He did say he got a sore throat, maybe he was vaping some of the smoke caused by dry hits. He was uisng it in the guest room and I never saw how he was using it. I kept asking if it was still vaping good and he said yes. On the day he left he handed it to me , it was almost empty and it was dark and gunky. I didnt want him to feel bad so I didnt bug him too much while he was using it.

 

[ShogaNinja]

You need to clean it. Details here:

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/entry.php?b=2998&bt=5944

 

[anavidfan]

Thank you for the link, I was thinking I would have to clean the head/wick, but was not sure exactly how.

 

[tj99959]

I would point out the obvious.
4v with a 2.4ohm head is TO HOT. You will eliminate 99% of the problems by just lowering the power down to the 3.5-3.7v range.
These are not Boge cartos! Their power requirements are different.

 

[intervention]

Wow....lots of good information here; thanks!

 

[klynnn]

I like my vivi 2.4 head at 4.2v not any lower and no problems.

 

[Apocheir]

Saying 4v at 2.4 ohm is too hot... is rocking my world at the moment. From my experience, I felt like 4.0 was about .4 too low for a 2.4 ohm head. Hitting some 18mg VR4 at 4v at the moment, and it's pretty good... wondering why I felt like I needed to go higher on voltage before.

 

[klynnn]

A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube

 

[wyojoe]

A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube

Very good video. Thanks for the link.

 

[teamscon]

3.7v with 2.4ohm doesnt fully burn off 100% vg for me. Leaves alot of buildup.

3.7v-4.0v with 1.8ohm is perfect for meh And ill settle for nothing less. Thank god I found my groove and dont have to try all this new crap.

And your right, vivi does take less power. Its impossible for me to go over 4.2v with 1.8, 2.4, or 2.8ohm. Dont like the taste etc.

 

[Bruce Nye]

Went through the same learning curve. I use a Vision 2.0 CE5 (same heads as ViviNova), a 510 for dripping [both on a 1Ah eGo-C battery], and a 510-T on an auto battery for the cig-a-like. After the first week man did they taste like crap! Time to learn to clean.
Here's what I found:
1. For the replaceable heads I soak them in 100 proof alcohol with some agitation for about 5min. Then pull them and twist the wicks tight to dry them. Inspect the wick in the coil, return it to the alcohol and repeat until its at least a *very* light brown. Let them dry a few minutes and burn them off as detailed above.
2. For the 510's I purchased an adapter from MFS that fits a syringe on one end and the 510 threads on the other. Using a 10ml syringe and 100 proof work the fluid through the atty several times. Then blow out from the open end. Let dry about 5 min and dry burn gently.
3. The 510-T's are need a combination of both techniques. Using the syringe I pull fluid through it then let it sit. Reason is the spike plate won't get cleaned otherwise.
So far all the atty's and heads are original and I've been using them a month with no change in flavor or draw if they're cleaned about once every 5-7 days. I find I clean the 510 dripper more often as I use a home made Irish Coffee or Vanilla juice and the bridge will gunk up from the darker fluid faster than the tobacco blends.
All goes to show that the info presented from the many well produced videos and posts are right. Thanks to all the experienced vapers here and on YouTube.

 

[Doogmar]

I run my VN's anywhere from 4-4.5v, which is about 6.7w-8.4w, depending on my juice. 4v isn't to high for a VN using a 2.4omh head in my experiences. I don't think I've gone under 4v unless I'm using the 1.8 heads