Failure Rates are bumming me out.

[BrianCig]

I'm still very much addicted to smoking despite having quit on Sept 22nd. I think I'm just having a bad night for that and am very frustrated - after all, how often do you buy a pack of Players and have 1/2 the cigs just fall apart in your hands? That's how it was feeling for me.

It has been over three months for me but I have found at times I really want a cig. Tongiht was one of those nights. While vaping 24 nic level juice it wasn't really working. I still wanted a cig. I think because I hadn't vaped in over eight hours.

Then I remembered I had made my own version of Nicorete Mist before I ever found out about vaping and still had some. So I took four sprays under my tongue and my urge for a cig was gone.

I did end up with those dame hiccups for ten minutes but it worked. Vaping isn't the only option and if it isn't working try something else.

I find vaping doesn't cure my urge for a cig as fast as a spray under my tongue while vaping at the same time does.

 

[SoUnique]

I've had really good luck with the stardusts, maybe you did get some from a bad batch.

As for the firebirds, I love the vape but they're a pain to fill, and will leak if not done properly. You can have no air bubbles in the syringe when filling, and the firebird has to be filled right up, also with no air. To do so you have to hold the firebird upside down and fill slowly. When done right these thing rock.

 

[WolfeReign]

First off...WOOF! that 50% + DOA is so not cool!

When you say the stardust 3 are you talking about the ones with the replaceable heads? If so i have mine running strong and i have had them for about two months, and i have dropped them, throw them, one wound up in my poutine, and then later in my coffee pot (please do not ask, long yet funny story). I have had spiced things in them like cola and there is no cracking. Oh and when i ask about the replaceable heads i mean you can buy them pre-made for something like $2

The same goes for my two vivi nova regular tanks, vivi nova mini tank, and raptor tank. Bare in mind i had at one time ordered metal bodies for my regular sized tanks only to find out one of the vivi nova tanks was not legit which is fine as i can do my frankenwienie thing to it

when i was using the phoenix (1.2ml) i never had a issue with them on a battery -- well if you do not count you could not go over 4.1V with them, the muted flavor, miss fire's, dry hits, but they were easy to fill, and it was cool to vape then watch the bubbles after

I know Qcal you said at one time what you were using for a battery but i plum forgot (hey i am old ). One thing i have noticed about stardust's (so not going to get into how many in a year i had, lets just say this part comes from experience), if your device has power width modulation (PWM) and not a eGo battery, that can and will knock the little buggers off kilter, it is like their internal timing is all messed up.

I know i am going to go old school here but have you tried the ego c-2? they have replaceable heads, and are a tank system, and since the upgrade(s) they are a joy to use not to mention easier on the bank account

I will arm the attack kitty well so as she can go on the hunt for the germlin's messing with your gear

 

[shades]

Qcaj,

Firstly I want to say in my experience is that Canvape's low prices are only surpassed by their customer service! Whether it be just answering your newbie questions or doing what they can to make it right, just speak with them and they will do what they can to make things right. I am sure you will find if they can make it right in some way they will. I am so sure of this I had said to someone else if canvape shockingly didn't replace it I would out of my own pocket Just contact them they don't bite unless you ask them too

My person experience with the firebird wasn't all that good, I got too many dry hits. This was supposed to go away once it was broken in but I just gave up on it. When it would gurgle, I found you had to empty it and refill it once you cleaned it up. The filling procedure needs to be done upside down if memory serves me correctly.

Starduts: I had alot of the cracking in SD v1, v2 v2.13,v2.124, v pretend 3, v oh no wait 2.5, oh no not a real 2.5 but 3 that is really a 1.5 ( aka a lot of different ones with weird versions that apparently was not what it might not kinds sorta be ). This was happening due to the heat for me and not the juice.

I have 4 of the real V3's ( the ones Canvape have ) and have been using them for about a month or so now. I bought replacement heads and swap them out around a week or so, depending on their performance.

Every so often during the day I will unscrew the mouth piece and blow it out, because if I don't I will get some build up of juice in it, partially from juice unvapouring ( thats right its a new word I just made up but you understand ) from my power puffing, and small amount of juice eventually getting in there.

I have a vivi nova too, and because I am lazy I just use the replacement heads from the stardusts on it and the spike just pokes through the top. Replacement heads are easy to change on all of them and is cheaper than a new stardust

Sometimes you might just need to tighten down the replacement head, other times look at the bottom post to make sure it would make contact with your battery.

Good luck!

 

[shades]

if your device has power width modulation (PWM) and not a eGo battery, that can and will knock the little buggers off kilter, it is like their internal timing is all messed up.

It is actually Pulse-width Modulation, and would have nothing to do with it. A Stardust doesn't have timing, it is a coil that is heated due to those little ole electrons having a a tough time avoiding the molecules of the resistor, which turns into an energy transfer to heat.

PWM simply goes from a high voltage to a low voltage successively at a very high rate, but would still cause the same energy transfer

 

[fourtytwo]

I feel exceedingly lucky in that, I have been vaping for a half year now and my failure rate is tiny in comparison.
I have had every version of the Stardust that Canvape carries.
Out of, perhaps, 20 units of the various versions, only one of the old v1 has ever failed.
All my other non replaceable head Stardusts were either discarded because I don't feel like rewicking it or still going strong. A couple of the original v1's that I got 6 months ago are still going...
Every Stardust I have ever had has worked for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Same goes for the replacement heads.
The one failure I had was due to over tightening causing a crack in the tube.
All Stardusts will leak down the centre tube if over filled or if the silicone seal is modded incorrectly. I also avoid using them on anything that requires use of an eGo adaptor as it is too easy to over tighten.
My experience with the Firebirds was nt so good. Too fiddly to fill.
I love my Stubby but am playing with the hole size in the carto's. I get a lot of dry hits with that tiny hole.
All my Vivi Nova tanks have been very much like the Stardusts above. No failures or DOA's at all and only leaking down the centre tube if I am careless.

 

[WolfeReign]

It is actually Pulse-width Modulation, and would have nothing to do with it. A Stardust doesn't have timing, it is a coil that is heated due to those little ole electrons having a a tough time avoiding the molecules of the resistor, which turns into an energy transfer to heat.

PWM simply goes from a high voltage to a low voltage successively at a very high rate, but would still cause the same energy transfer

tell that to the devices that went belly up on second vape use with devices and PWM and went it comes down to it, from what i have been reading into pulse and power for PWM pretty much have the same meaning (one is just a loose fitting of the term)

a joytech ego battery, or the ego booster (through the joytech ego) have a more refined PWR bandwidth. With a 'knock off' (term used loosely) such as kgo's and loong totem and with quality assurance being different the bandwidth is all over the place.

thusly a stardust can handing my ego-c on either regulated and unregulated mod's, or with the booster on it and cranked to 4.7V and it's coil being turned on and off at a set duty cycle. If (and i have) move a stardust to a gripper VV, or a evo etc, even though it is set at 3.4V is a bit erratic in it's duty cycle, and thus the stardust is not made to handle and burns out rather quickly

i hate typing and was trying to do the uber duper short form of it all

 

[therealcmac]

You are going to need to be more specific as to what is going wrong with them. I have owned almost everything on your list and not had many problems. The stardusts are generally very reliable, are they leaking?

 

[Smile n' shine]

I will say, I use 'mostly' vg and it can affect the length of time an item can be used without cleaning. I have encountered crappy firebird replacements... 1 in 4? maybe? It is known to get a dud on occasion.

I've never had a bad stardust. TWO and some weeks is crazy.....



EDIT: Thanks Constantine....I skipped a whole page of responses DUH on my part.

 

[WolfeReign]

I agree with being more specific to your issues??? That way people can chime in with exact advice and troubleshooting.
I will say, I use 'mostly' vg and it can affect the length of time an item can be used without cleaning. I have encountered crappy firebird replacements... 1 in 4? maybe? It is known to get a dud on occasion.

I've never had a bad stardust. TWO and some weeks is crazy..... let us know step by step what you encountered??

If i am not mistaken Qcal the op of this thread was very specific if you look at post #12 at what was happening with the star dusts there.

 

[therealcmac]

My bad, missed the description of the issues. May you should just grab some cartomizers.

 

[cdnreturner]

hmmmm, I had my stardusts on paper towels and the same thing happened. I decided I shouldn't be leaving them in the stand-up position and now make sure I leave them lying down. My first 2 stardusts from 2 different vendors didn't last long. I tried cleaning them in hot distilled water but they never worked again. However, the last 2 I bought seem to be doing much better. When I get that gurgling sound I just clean out the connections between the battery and the SD with a paper towel and all seems to be well again. I actually did not initially like my SD's but I love them now.

 

[MisterMike]

Firebird question and a bunch of other stuff deleted for ease of reading.

I got one puff out of it. Filled it carefully (even bought a syringe just to fill it). Only filled it about half-way, took one nice puff, then got the gurgles. I took it off to see if I could blow it out, and ended up (with GENTLE blowing, less than I'd blow a cartomizer even) basically blowing out all the juice. I could see bubbles going up from the bottom while the juice was coming out, so I think its vacuum was not very vacuumey.

My experiences with the Firebird have been varied. I find they tend not to play well with thinner juices. Even Juggy's VG Extreme line has issues.

I've had a good success rate using 70 PG/30 undiluted VG, however even that's been inconsistent. Leaks usually happen for me when the tank's 1/4 full or less. I'm not sure if the seal wasn't all the way established, or what, but there ya go. Other times, I've vaped the thing dry and not had a problem. I'm still not sure what changes between fills that'll do that. It could be that the residual heat from the coil is thinning the juice enough to cause problems.

Far as blowing them out goes, I very quickly learned not to do it. When you blow out a bottom-coil in the regular way, you're essentially blowing everything in the tank through the wick holes, either directly or due to some pressure differential that sucks the juice in, kind of like how one of those squeezy-bulb perfume atomizers works. I am not a physicist, so don't quote me.

I haven't been adventurous enough to try blowing one out from the bottom, but I think it would work a lot better, since you're keeping the wick hole out of the way.

Generally when I get the gurgles with one of these, I'll twist up a tissue, stick it in the connector end and wick the excess juice out that way, and then do the same down the other end of the tube. Works for me.

Hope this helps, and I can only comisserate with you on your Stardust woes. I've not tried the replaceable-head versions, so I can't talk about them, but the 2.5 (I think... it had that metal pip at the top of the silicone gasket thing.) was very problematic.

 

[Smile n' shine]

Sorry Qcaj for missing your very descriptive post. I suspect stepping away and not reloading a page may be an issue I'll have to keep in mind.

Like you, I am 'bummed', annoyed, irritated and rather impatient now with that doesn't work!

To quote you : "This could be because of overtightening, but I don't think I do that, since I'm a big wimp and I've never had any problems getting them on or off at any point (I change juice frequently). Besides that, lots of the SDs failed before even touching the battery."

Before even touching the battery?? I have read heat can expand the metal and cause hairline cracks but if they haven't touched the 'heat', I think they are just duds. Everyone who recommended contacting the company is right.....they may want to know, in case they are dealing with a new supplier.

I hope you find a solution and have better luck in the future.

 

[Qcaj]

Thanks guys. I guess contacting canvape can't hurt, as I know they're a very reputable vendor. I guess I just got a bit of a dud box, plus a sprinkling of user-error. It's not the vendor's fault, but I don't think it's entirely mine. I also realized, thinking about it, that the possibility of damage happening in-transit is likely too. I don't have the gentlest postal workers in my neighborhood, so it could be the package was smushed under something else causing a bunch of cracks or whatever.

The stardusts I have are still going strong, I just think I'll stay away from them for a while. I like the arm vape I get from the shorty DCTs, and the Vivi's been good to me so far, so I think if I stick with what I know I'll be happier for the short-term.

It's so nice to know my experiences aren't the norm, though. I don't know what I'd do if the responses were all "yeah 50% failure rate is normal LOL China etc etc."

 

[WolfeReign]

nice to know my experiences aren't the norm, though. I don't know what I'd do if the responses were all "yeah 50% failure rate is normal LOL China etc etc."

oh i totally missed the question......did i mention already that seeing as they come from china there is a 50% to 80% failure rate and that actual sunlight can chip and crack them? (seriously could not resist that moment) (for those on the outside looking into the forum, yes that was a false statement)

My bad, missed the description of the issues. May you should just grab some cartomizers.

personally i love my vivi nova tanks and v core but on rare occasion i use the 510 kangers on my 808 (via adapter) which has a heck of a great kick to it

 

[LesVegas]

After trying most of the new fangled gizmos out there, and wasting a whole lot of money, I decided to go back to good old cartomizers. They're cheap, completely disposable and they work great. Even the duds usually last a day or so, and many work great for a week or more. Ive only had one completely doa out of hundreds. I fill four or five at night before bed with different flavours, throw em in my pocket in the morning with a 3ml bottle of my adv, and I'm good for the day.

Like the op, I was very frustrated for awhile, as I really liked the concept of the clearomizers, but I just find they still have a long way to go. The vivis are by far the best of the bunch, but they too have issues, and they go through juice way faster than a carto.

Canvape is selling boges for $4.95 a pack too, which really makes it a no brainer imo.