Faulty Vamo (V3) Buttons

[Glenn_K]

Greetings; I'm on day four with my new Vamo V3, and I absolutely love the vaping experience I get from this thing; vaping with eGo batteries doesn't come close.

But my Vamo has started to develop a problem with the little minus button, which is now working irregularly. I have to click it several times before it will lower the voltage or wattage setting. If this button fails entirely, I guess the mod will basically be unusable. The main fire button is starting to act a little sketchy, too. I guess the build quality on these things are not great.

Ironically, I just learned that I am the winning Ebay bidder for an Innokin SVD -- I put up a small bid last week, and then totally forgot about it, figuring one of the other 8 bidders would bid higher. But no one did, so I've just purchased a brand new SVD for a stupidly cheap price.

Wondering whether I should ask the Vamo vendor if he will let me return the V3 in exchange for credits I can use for other gear, or whether I should just get a replacement Vamo. I see on ECF that a lot of people do use them trouble-free, and i'm totally happy with the vaping experience I get using the Vamo. It might make sense to have a mod just for use at the office, so I don't have to carry it back and forth every day.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Trayce]

That's def not a commonplace experience with the V3. However from what I understand the Vamo is made by a few different manufacturers (not entirely sure if this is true... just something I read in some posts here) and that at least one of those manuf turns out Vamos that are less reliable. So don't know if your vendor buys them from such a manuf [if true] where a replacement might have similar problems, or if you just got a lemon. I'd return it for sure though either way, and if the second one has problems, I'd get credit for other gear. However I'm a Vamo 3 fan so I am biased. But I'd think if the second one is also bad, it should show up fairly soon when the return policy is still in place. FTR I got my V3 from FastTech and would get another from them in a second. Good luck.

 

[donesmokin]

Reading this and your other post it sounds like the circuit board is in crooked. Get with the vendor to make it right one way or the other. Proud owner of one Vamo and trying real hard not to order a SS V5!

 

[Glenn_K]

Greetings; CV replaced my Vamo with another V3 today, props to CV for the hassle-free support.

I noticed with the first one that the 'plus' and 'minus' buttons were uneven, one stuck out further than the other, but this is not the case with the replacement. Fingers crossed that this one will be ok, so far so good.

Regards
Glenn

 

[dreamreaper]

Congrats, I hope this one brings you nothing but good vapes. I have only had mine a week but so far I am really liking it!!

 

[MarkyD]

Mine did the same thing after about a month of heavy use. First the minus button, then the fire button both got flaky. The problem is with cheap surface-mount switches. I managed to replace the fire switch with one I scavenged from some old vcr/dvd circuit board. It wasnt an easy project and not something Id suggest to anyone without proper soldering equipment and electronics knowledge. If this hasnt happened to your mod yet, its just a matter of time (and button presses) until it does.

Also while I was inside, I noticed the fiber insulator ring that keeps the top of the battery from shorting out against the tube was held in with just the smallest drop of hot glue or epoxy. It would be so easy for this to fall out and not notice it when switching batteries, so I did a better job of securing this inside the control head.

 

[TheSchwa]

Glad to hear it was corrected. So far mine has been fine. I see how this could easily happen though.

 

[Glenn_K]

snip==>Also while I was inside, I noticed the fiber insulator ring that keeps the top of the battery from shorting out against the tube was held in with just the smallest drop of hot glue or epoxy. It would be so easy for this to fall out and not notice it when switching batteries, so I did a better job of securing this inside the control head.

Greetings MarkyD; Did you happen to take a picture of this insulator fiber ring, i.e. where that hot glue/epoxy is located? Is the ring that papery gasket thing at the bottom of the control head?

If so, I didn't realize how important that piece is, and it sounds like it's worth doing some preventative maintenance.

Also, it would be good to know more about the replacement fire button you installed. Did that fix the problem of having to repeat the 5 clicks occasionally to turn your Vamo on/off? Don't really want to turn my Vamo into a DIY project, but I want to have it last awhile, and it seems like a finicky fire button is not uncommon with Vamos.

Regards
Glenn

 

[MarkyD]

Is the ring that papery gasket thing at the bottom of the control head?

Yeah, thats it. It basically fell out when I was pushing the circuit board out of the top of the head from the bottom. They should pay whoever glues the things in a little more cause they certainly werent feeling generous on the day they made mine.

Also, it would be good to know more about the replacement fire button you installed. Did that fix the problem of having to repeat the 5 clicks occasionally to turn your Vamo on/off? Don't really want to turn my Vamo into a DIY project, but I want to have it last awhile, and it seems like a finicky fire button is not uncommon with Vamos.

Yes, it did fix the not-firing issue completely, but I can see having to do the same fix again eventually. Any of these small mechanical switches have a factory-specified lifespan (in # of presses), but its only an average and some will give out way before reaching that point. Other 5-click problems Ive seen have to do with timeouts, if you try to turn the device off/on in quick succession, wait until the systemn/off message finishes scrolling or it ignores the first couple clicks.

 

[Trayce]

Re: red paper gasket inside Vamo tube at top

Yeah, thats it. It basically fell out when I was pushing the circuit board out of the top of the head from the bottom. They should pay whoever glues the things in a little more cause they certainly werent feeling generous on the day they made mine.

FWIW I read some other posts a few weeks back where a guy took his out because it was in crooked and he just decided to eliminate it. Another member wrote back saying he too removed his red paper gasket, though I can't recall why... but it didn't affect functioning. Not that I'm advocating it. AFAIC they put it there for a reason, but these folks didn't suffer any repercussions from eliminating it. Odd...