Finally!!! I have a clean atomizer...

[Tin Cup]

OK, guys & gals, I finally have a clean atomizer! To be specific, I'm talking about the black carbon buildup right on the coil.

Soaking in pepsi didn't help... and neither did soaking in:

lemon juice
salt water
salt/lemon combo
peroxide
boiling water
denatured alcohol
Manitowac nickel safe ice machine cleaner
Manitowac regular ice machine cleaner
Nu-Calgon ice machine cleaner (although this seemed to make a dent)

some other things I've forgotten and even some really stupid things like:

carburetor/choke cleaner
contact cleaner
WD-40 (just because it was on the same shelf in the garage...)

***Note that I did not vape on this atty after using any of these chemicals, just looking for the needle in the haystack. I figured that once I got rid of the carbon, I could use something else to get rid of the cleaner.

Anyway...

Wanna know what got rid of the carbon? (drumroll, please)

9volts, for 30 seconds. That's all… no chemicals, no nothing. 9 volts, for 30 seconds.

Now, granted... this is an atomizer that's been soaking in a wide variety of things for over a month, which may have something to do with this, but by golly the 9 volts got it clean when nothing else would.

Just for kicks, after it was clean I put it back on the 9volts. I let it sit for another minute and a half, and it was still glowing cherry red. I'm not sure how much power these attys can take, but this one swallowed all 9 volts and didn't even burp.

I don't have any other attys to try this on, but maybe some of you can give this a shot. ***See edit below***

This is an atty that was used with PG (mostly Johnson Creek 18 mg Tennessee Cured). It's from a pen style (the RIO). I got the 9volts from an old power supply that was marked 7.2 volts DC @ 400ma, but I measured the voltage at 9.67volts. (6 batteries in series would be about the same).

Edited here - DO NOT TRY THIS! After thinking about it, 9 volts from batteries would almost certainly fry your atomizer. See the other posts for more info.


Good luck, I sure hope someone else can get the same results. If so, we might all be able to get back to our lives and stop this insanity!

TC

 

[KoS]

Wow and others are having problems with 6v fring the 801 atts. Mabey the diffrence in current draw from a powersupply than batts. Thats a pretty long time on the power supply. Its like some supper atty

 

[Brickhz]

TIN Cup,

Im a newbie,,,how did you do that...specifics?
thannx

 

[breakfastchef]

Sounds like you have taken the so called 'evil cleaning cycle' to a new level. Perhaps the original designers of these devices already figured out that prolonged voltage is the most effective method of cleaning the atomizer coil.

 

[GrimmGreen]

yeah i destroyed an 801 atomizer today doing this method... 2 weeks old , i was hoping to get rid of some build up , should have just left well enough alone

 

[Tin Cup]

TIN Cup,

Im a newbie,,,how did you do that...specifics?
thannx

Sure wish I could add pictures, but I'm in living in the dark ages here. I'll try to explain...

First, I cut the outer covering off the atomizer. Then, I cut off the wire mesh "wick" so I could get a good look at the coil. Then, I started soaking, stirring, shaking, heating and cussing at the coil. Nothing worked, not even the cussing (although this made me feel a little better).

Eventually, the two main parts of the atomizer broke apart, one part being the coil end which also has a ceramic "base" and the outer stainless steel shell. It also has two small wires, which are connected to the coil.

I live in Ohio's snow belt, and use a wood stove to save on heating bills. A hard, shiny, black carbon residue (which looks exactly like the stuff on our coils) builds up inside the stove when I have a small fire (on warmer days). To get rid of it, all I do is make the fire hotter. I figured this might work on the atomizer.

I planned on using 4 batteries in series, to give me about 6 volts or so. I found an old battery charger in the drawer, which said 7.2 volts, so I hooked it up.

The coil turned a nice cherry red, and I let it go for about 15 or 20 seconds. I took a look at the coil, and could see a BIG difference. That's when I gave it a good 30 seconds, and it was CLEAN! Just to see if this was a fluke, that's when I gave it the full minute and a half, and the coil was still going bright red when I stopped.

As I said before, I soaked this atty in just about everything over the last month, so I don't know if this is a factor or not. All I know is that it's now clean as new.

As for the reports of attys breaking from 6 volts or so, I can't make any comment. All we can do is keep experimenting, and eventually we'll get things figured out.

It could very well be that the power supply is limiting the current, so it doesn't burn out the coil. The one I used is an old battery charger for a radio controlled car, brand name "Archer" (Radio Shack) Catalog #23-231A and rated at 7.2V DC 400mA (measured voltage 9.67 v).

Hope this helps, and welcome to the forum.

 

[puff-puff-pass]

Wow and others are having problems with 6v fring the 801 atts. Mabey the diffrence in current draw from a powersupply than batts. Thats a pretty long time on the power supply. Its like some supper atty

Keep in mind that volts and amps are 2 different monsters. Static electricity can be over 10,000 volts but at only 1 mA (milli Amp). So would 10,000 volts in a static shock kill you? Highly unlikely (pacemaker users are the exception)...
Whereas a 9v battery...through the right circumstances could kill you it as little as 50 mA (across the heart).

So when TinCup mentions that he used over 7v as to the users that burned out attys using only 6v, the key number is the 400 mA. To use 6v at 1000ma would be very damaging compared to 7v @ 400mA.

He might be onto something very key here.

Does anyone have a "bench power-supply?"

***EDIT***
7.2v @ 400mA =2.88 Watts
6.0v @ 1000mA (1Amp)= 6 Watts

 

[Tin Cup]

Yer right, puff. I've spent over 30 years as an electrician, with lots of schooling. I didn't wanna go into that, because most people don't know the difference.

Think of volts and amps like water in a hose. Voltage is like the pressure in the hose, amperage is like the amount of water flowing.

With high water pressure, you can shoot a long way. But without much volume, you're just squirting a very small stream. On the other hand, you can have a lot of volume without much pressure (like pouring water out of a bucket).

Voltage doesn't kill the coil, it's the amperage. I'm suspecting that the battery charger is just giving the right amount of current flow to keep the coil a nice cherry red, without going over the limit.

Whatever the details are, I'm convinced that our dreaded, evil cleaning cycle will end up being the holy grail that we've been looking for. Those folks in China probably tried all the stuff we're trying, and just gave up and put in the cleaning cycle to burn it off. It ain't real fancy, but it works. Now all we hafta do is figure out the right way to burn it off, without frying the atomizer.

 

[DigitalSmker]

Hey Tin Cup!
It's good to hear that someone might finally be onto something! I have one question...is there a way to do this without opening the atomizer? I have a power supply that meets your specs but was unsure if I could just place the wires someway on or around the grooves of the atomizer (RN4081 atomizer ...not the penstyle ...so it may be a slightly different test)

Thanks!!

 

[DigitalSmker]

Ok...it somewhat worked for me! I held one end of the wire on the grooves and placed the other end in the hole to connect to the lower center contact of the atomizer.

Super mini atomizer is up and running now but not vaping that great...but still...its vaping at least!

I left it connected for about 45 seconds (original power supply didn't work) but I did the calculation on a motorla cell phone/bluetoothcharger [the kind with the prongs for the old V400/600 models (Model: 5012A)] and came up with 2.21 watts....it worked pretty good...did not ever get super hot.

Then I wanted to juice it up a bit to get a better heating...hooked up one with about 4.5watts (wanted to go in between the two since I knew that 6w may kill it)...it got red hot and I smoked it on the wires for a total of 40 seconds (10 second intervals), the sizzling sound lessened the 3rd time and so did the vapor, the 4th and last 10 second interval had a very faint sizzling sound and little vapor...I let it cool for about 5 minutes...and tatda! vaping like it was brand new with a wee bit of a burnt taste. (the burnt taste slowly goes away after vaping a few times)

Thanks TC!

Ps. Calculation for Watts: Amps X Volts = Watts.
Note: You must first convert milliamps into amps:Ma/1000

Not an electrician...but I worked for an electrical distribution company for a few years...so I think that is the right formual ...TC may want to verify

Digital Smoke Shop

 

[qdilla]

Is it ok to get one of those kits from radio shack and play around with this idea?And a volt meter.

 

[surbitonPete]

That's an idea I gave up on ages ago.... I gave an atomizer a cooking at 9volts 300ma........it fried and steamed and spat ...but it didn't burn any of the gunk off ....I kept on giving it longer and longer periods until in the end after about half an hour of cooking it finally broke.......but for me the coil still had just as much black crud as ever, so I don't know what to say if it worked o'k for you tin cup.

 

[Rubberjohnny]

Can you let us know what happened to the wicking material over which the coil is wound. Did this survive the heat treatment or was it to vapourised together with the (carbon?) deposits?

 

[ruuku]

sirbitonPete: Where the atomizers you blew up pre-soaked in anything? In Terraphon's vid he cola'd the atomizer then cooked it. I'm thinking that of the various "soakings" that TC did might have had an effect on the crust, rather than just cooking it off the bat.

 

[surbitonPete]

sirbitonPete: Where the atomizers you blew up pre-soaked in anything? In Terraphon's vid he cola'd the atomizer then cooked it. I'm thinking that of the various "soakings" that TC did might have had an effect on the crust, rather than just cooking it off the bat.

I had tried various cleaning methods beforehand including cola....nothing was really working....the trouble is 'every' cleaning method... even plain water.... gets the odd little bit of the black gunk to break off but doesn't really 'clean' the attomizer. I have no idea what the difference might have been for tin cup. My attempt to burn it off just seemed to bake the stuff on harder!

 

[Tin Cup]

I have no idea what the difference might have been for tin cup. My attempt to burn it off just seemed to bake the stuff on harder!

I know how you feel, Pete, cuz I have no idea what the difference was, either. I've got a few guesses, but that's all...

Before I heated the atomizer, it had most recently soaked for 4 days in Nu-Calgon (regular) Ice Machine Cleaner. I'm thinking that maybe the carbon had absorbed some of the liquid, softening it up just enough for the heat to clean it.

I cut apart another atomizer that was still working good, but has a couple weeks use on it. I stuck it in the Nu-Calgon & will let it soak a couple days, then put it on the charger. We'll see...

As for the voltage thing, since these coils heat up at around 4 volts with the battery, that's probably about the right voltage. A battery won't limit the current, which is probably why 6 volts from batteries is frying the coils.

The question then is this - how long & how often to use a 'forced' cleaning cycle.

I don't have a manual switch, but if I did I would start there. Cut the tube & wire mesh off the atomizer so you can see the coil, then start heating it up.

If someone can try this, or already has, please post your results.

 

[Tin Cup]

Can you let us know what happened to the wicking material over which the coil is wound. Did this survive the heat treatment or was it to vapourised together with the (carbon?) deposits?

The wick looks clean, and not damaged by the heat.

Of course, I don't think the heat was that much higher than normal vaping causes. (My charger is current limited, so the 7 - 9 volts didn't mean so much). The difference is in the length of time, and there would be no cooling effect from vaping (air and moisture moving across the coil would cool it a bit).

It seems that the key is getting the right amount of heat for the right amount of time.

At least I think so. Maybe. I guess it could be?

Geez, this stuff's making me crazy!8-o

 

[Vape]

Hmmmm, I have a bench top power supply at my work. the trick is being able to use it for my own "tests"!
It would be nice because you can set it to whatever voltage and set the current shutoff to whatever you want.
I would set the voltage for say...6V and the current limit to 500ma, then slowly ramp it up from zero to 6V and watch the current draw "real time" on the display. Maybe I could find that critical point where it cleans before destroying things. Also the fact that you are using a charger could make a big difference, they have built in safeties to keep from blowing stuff up!

 

[surbitonPete]

Geez, this stuff's making me crazy!8-o

Me, you and a few others as well I think tin cup !.....lol

 

[Tin Cup]

Ok...it somewhat worked for me! I held one end of the wire on the grooves and placed the other end in the hole to connect to the lower center contact of the atomizer.

Super mini atomizer is up and running now but not vaping that great...but still...its vaping at least!

I left it connected for about 45 seconds (original power supply didn't work) but I did the calculation on a motorla cell phone/bluetoothcharger [the kind with the prongs for the old V400/600 models (Model: 5012A)] and came up with 2.21 watts....it worked pretty good...did not ever get super hot.

Then I wanted to juice it up a bit to get a better heating...hooked up one with about 4.5watts (wanted to go in between the two since I knew that 6w may kill it)...it got red hot and I smoked it on the wires for a total of 40 seconds (10 second intervals), the sizzling sound lessened the 3rd time and so did the vapor, the 4th and last 10 second interval had a very faint sizzling sound and little vapor...I let it cool for about 5 minutes...and tatda! vaping like it was brand new with a wee bit of a burnt taste. (the burnt taste slowly goes away after vaping a few times)

Thanks TC!

Ps. Calculation for Watts: Amps X Volts = Watts.
Note: You must first convert milliamps into amps:Ma/1000

Not an electrician...but I worked for an electrical distribution company for a few years...so I think that is the right formual ...TC may want to verify

Digital Smoke Shop

Great to hear this! I'm convinced that the right amount of heat for the right amount of time is the key. Of course, this will vary depending on the type of atomizer you have.

And 40 or 50 other variables...lol