Cobra help please.

[fraghole]

Provari 400ss mesh 32g kanthal
1.6 ohm 3.6 volts (lowest I can go and still get decent vapor)

1. My juice turns dark very quickly. Doesn't taste burnt. Why is this happening? Doesn't do this or doesn't seem to be near as bad if I make a uwick.

2. I have to hold my button down for a couple of seconds and then start a pretty long and slow easy draw to get good vapor. Is this normal? Is this what's turning my juice?

3. Can over oxidizing cause bad wicking? Could this be my issue?

Please help.

 

[DizGrizz]

I don't think over oxidizing can be a problem but over carbonizing can. To explain; when you are just torching/quenching the wick, you are oxidizing it by creating an oxide layer on top of the SS mesh. But, when you put juice on it and burn it off, you are creating a carbon layer of burned juice. Too much of the carbon can cause the wick to become a bit clogged and will also leach out into your juice, turning it dark. It will usually correct itself after several tanks as the excess carbon is "rinsed" out.

The longer "warm up" time is normal for a SS wick because you are heating the metal wick. Many genny vapers do a double-draw to help with that. You mentioned a U wick...what type and in what device?

 

[fraghole]

I don't think over oxidizing can be a problem but over carbonizing can. To explain; when you are just torching/quenching the wick, you are oxidizing it by creating an oxide layer on top of the SS mesh. But, when you put juice on it and burn it off, you are creating a carbon layer of burned juice. Too much of the carbon can cause the wick to become a bit clogged and will also leach out into your juice, turning it dark. It will usually correct itself after several tanks as the excess carbon is "rinsed" out.

The longer "warm up" time is normal for a SS wick because you are heating the metal wick. Many genny vapers do a double-draw to help with that. You mentioned a U wick...what type and in what device?

Its a cobra atty and a provari mini mod. With the cobra you can make your ss wick straight and use one hole, or make it u shaped and use two holes.

 

[EDO]

Is your wick straw like? If so... use more mesh and roll a more solid wick.

 

[Thrasher]

take the wick, torch it and then rinse it off to remove leftover juice residue, sounds like buildup leeching back into the tank. i get this when the wick is older and becoming clogged up.

i use a 400 wick with a small hole up the middle and dont see this till like 3rd or 4th refill about that time the vape production seems to start dying off, so i do the above.
or i will syringe the juice out and do a dry burn, syringe the old juice back in to help rinse the wick a bit then suck it out again and refill new.

 

[vapdivrr]

Provari 400ss mesh 32g kanthal
1.6 ohm 3.6 volts (lowest I can go and still get decent vapor)

1. My juice turns dark very quickly. Doesn't taste burnt. Why is this happening? Doesn't do this or doesn't seem to be near as bad if I make a uwick.

2. I have to hold my button down for a couple of seconds and then start a pretty long and slow easy draw to get good vapor. Is this normal? Is this what's turning my juice?

3. Can over oxidizing cause bad wicking? Could this be my issue?

Please help.

well the long wait time is maybe your not using enough volts to push that particular ohmed coil. i know that you said its the lowest you can go for a decent vapor. so there are 2 issues maybe. so if you up your volts it tastes burnt?

 

[fraghole]

well the long wait time is maybe your not using enough volts to push that particular ohmed coil. i know that you said its the lowest you can go for a decent vapor. so there are 2 issues maybe. so if you up your volts it tastes burnt?

my coil is at 1.6 ohms and set to 3.8 volts. no it doesn't taste burnt. I have just been trying to stay where all the charts I've seen say I should be at.

 

[fraghole]

Is your wick straw like? If so... use more mesh and roll a more solid wick.

Kind of like a straw but it's not real thin. it feels solid/rigid, but there is a paperclip size hole up the middle. I haven't tried a completely solid wick before.

 

[PhreakySTS9]

Sometimes genesis atomizers need a bit more voltage than other setups. Try it out between where you're at through maybe 4.2v or even higher if that's your pleasure by just upping the voltage .1 and vaping on it for a few minutes. If you're unsatisfied at 3.9 crank it up to 4 and so on. Not everybody feels this way but it seems like a lot of people vape their genesis' at higher voltages than they would vape, say a carto of the same resistance. Worth a shot at least.

 

[vapdivrr]

my coil is at 1.6 ohms and set to 3.8 volts. no it doesn't taste burnt. I have just been trying to stay where all the charts I've seen say I should be at.

crank it up, if you are at 1.6ohms and 3.8 volts then your at 9 watts. i think you would saftly see some better vapor at around 11 to 12 watts. 4.3 volts would not be really pushing any unsafe limits. its worth a try. but you need to be wicking good as well. which is something that is all over the place. some use big holes in there wicks, some small, some none. i personally like a solid wick. 500 mesh ,very tightly rolled, wicks really well. good luck

 

[fraghole]

crank it up, if you are at 1.6ohms and 3.8 volts then your at 9 watts. i think you would saftly see some better vapor at around 11 to 12 watts. 4.3 volts would not be really pushing any unsafe limits. its worth a try. but you need to be wicking good as well. which is something that is all over the place. some use big holes in there wicks, some small, some none. i personally like a solid wick. 500 mesh ,very tightly rolled, wicks really well. good luck

I have some 500 but haven't tried it yet. What pg/vg is your liquid.

 

[j4mmin42]

I think it's very interesting that your juice does not "turn darker" with the u-wick in place...

When your juice turns dark, it's because some of the heavier, non-vaporized byproducts of your juice (possibly long carbon-based chains?) are displaced by both gravity and the capillary action of the lighter, fresh liquid in the tank. The darker molecules sink down, back into the tank, and if you let it sit long enough, they will separate and make a layer underneath the fresh juice in the tank.

Now, with the u-wick, I think what *could* be happening is that there is a change in how those heavier molecules behave when both ends of the wick are in the tank. It could be vacuum-related, kind of like when you take a 3-gallon "brick" water jug and open it *without poking holes in the top*, and no water comes out of the spout because there's no way for air to displace the water. Forces always work towards equilibrium- and even if it has nothing to do with the vacuum effect, I'll bet it is something quite similar.

As far as we know, though, those dark liquids are not any more harmful than the lighter molecules that they're made of, though there's no way to know for certain without research. During combustion (like inside cigs), those byproducts are essentially smoke- but eliquid is not heated enough to burn, and the byproducts are too heavy to be vaporized without actually being burned-so they sink.... artificial flavorings and sweeteners are quite complex, so there's no knowing what the dark stuff is really made of.

 

[fraghole]

I think it's very interesting that your juice does not "turn darker" with the u-wick in place...

When your juice turns dark, it's because some of the heavier, non-vaporized byproducts of your juice (possibly long carbon-based chains?) are displaced by both gravity and the capillary action of the lighter, fresh liquid in the tank. The darker molecules sink down, back into the tank, and if you let it sit long enough, they will separate and make a layer underneath the fresh juice in the tank.

Now, with the u-wick, I think what *could* be happening is that there is a change in how those heavier molecules behave when both ends of the wick are in the tank. It could be vacuum-related, kind of like when you take a 3-gallon "brick" water jug and open it *without poking holes in the top*, and no water comes out of the spout because there's no way for air to displace the water. Forces always work towards equilibrium- and even if it has nothing to do with the vacuum effect, I'll bet it is something quite similar.

As far as we know, though, those dark liquids are not any more harmful than the lighter molecules that they're made of, though there's no way to know for certain without research. During combustion (like inside cigs), those byproducts are essentially smoke- but eliquid is not heated enough to burn, and the byproducts are too heavy to be vaporized without actually being burned-so they sink.... artificial flavorings and sweeteners are quite complex, so there's no knowing what the dark stuff is really made of.

So is the dark stuff normal, or is something that I am doing wrong?

 

[Papa Lazarou]

It's normal. It happens for me on any atty with a large tank (various Geni's, Vivi Nova's etc.). The only one I have that it definitely does not do it on is the Cyclon V2. This is because it's "top fed" meaning the coil is underneath the tank, with the feeding assisted by gravity. The part burned juice, or whatever it is, can't easily get back into the tank in this arrangement as it would have to travel up the wick against the flow of liquid coming out of the tank and against gravity.

It's also not an issue on things like that use an Ego-T style tank cartridge (like Bulli A2-T) for similar reasons.

 

[Rule62]

I used to get juice darkening, even with old CE2 Clearos. Depends on the juice. Some will darken more than others. The only ones that didn't, were the Phoenix bottom coils, because the heavy stuff was getting regularly vaped off.

 

[vapdivrr]

I have some 500 but haven't tried it yet. What pg/vg is your liquid.

most of my juice is high vg. a couple of 50/50's a couple of 100% vg.

 

[fraghole]

I give up on the straight wick. Juices turning dark was driving me crazy. Went back to the uwick, and so far, no turning.

 

[octa]

the darkening of juice seems to happen more for me with higher VG sweet coffee vapes etc. not so much with higher PG fruit & tobacco vapes. I've not had great success wicking the higher VG flavors with SS yet.

 

[vapdivrr]

the darkening of juice seems to happen more for me with higher VG sweet coffee vapes etc. not so much with higher PG fruit & tobacco vapes. I've not had great success wicking the higher VG flavors with SS yet.

i vape almost all 100% vg, have really good results with 500 mesh, rolled super tight, no center hole

 

[fraghole]

I have some 500. I'm going to try rolling a solid and give it a try.