Fixing a leaky Kanger T3

[dam718]

Aloha,

I put up a new video discussing way to "overhaul" a moody Kanger T3. Includes leak points, rewicking / recoil, a bit of some ranting, a few raves, and general good info... It's a bit long cause it covers a lot, and I'm just detailed with the step by step stuff...

Thanks for watching! Let me know if there is anything totally wrong in it... I know there is a bad statement in there about resistance increasing causing voltage to drop down on VW mods, that's wrong... But it's too late to mess with it now... Takes forever to upload these stupid things!

Enjoy guys, hope it helps someone!

 

[kny3twalker]

I'm surprised there are no other comments as I really like what you did - rebuilding the coil and resolving most leaking issues.
As a relatively new vaper, only a few months, I have struggled to find something I like, and the T3, despite its issues - which seem to differ from yours, its probably the best atomizer/clearomizer I have used.
By the way, can you post a link to the video where you were wrapping a coil? as well as links to the supplies required for the rebuild?
Thanks
- You should consider selling these.

I also would like to comment on my issues with the T3s. I, as well, bought several along based on Pete's recommendation, and I have only had one, which was new/unused, thus far that had serious leaking issues and swapping the atomizer seemed to resolve this mostly.

But I did want to address some other reoccurring issues I have had with the T3s. I am using 100% VG smoke juice, and I have noticed that once I have vaped about 1 ml of the 2.8 ml fill, the amount of flavor will decrease, the amount of vapor will decrease, the T3 will begin to gurgle, the color of the liquid will darken, and a thin layer of water-like/clear liquid seems to rest on top of the now darker liquid.
At this point, if I refill the clearomizer and vape the remaining liquid on/in the atomizer, the T3 will begin to operate properly again.
I have particularly had issues with one liquid, which does not seem to be any thicker than the other 100% VG liquids I most often use.
The specific smoke juices I have used in my T3s are Johnson Creek Red Oak Tennessee Cured and Domestic; the Domestic has given me the most issues.

Have you attempted to use 100% VG in the T3 since the rebuild?

Thanks
Robert

 

[oscill8]

Wow. Just watched both your videos, even though I haven't had a Kanger leak problem or thought about making my own wicks. Rebuilding has never been appealing (I'm still new, and still loving the T3 except for the fact I can't use some juices in it), but you make it seem effortless. Thank you for the inspiration!

 

[dam718]

Wow. Just watched both your videos, even though I haven't had a Kanger leak problem or thought about making my own wicks. Rebuilding has never been appealing (I'm still new, and still loving the T3 except for the fact I can't use some juices in it), but you make it seem effortless. Thank you for the inspiration!

Thanks! Effortless is the magic of video editing... At one point during the filming of this video, the o-ring / cap that goes over the tube that sits on top of the wick and coil had fallen off the table, and shot across the room and under the couch.

I wanna say there was like 200 minutes of raw footage I had to weed through and edit out to get the 40 minutes that was left over.

I do appreciate it though. It really is as easy as it looks

 

[edking66]

Excellent video, even coming from a Squid (sorry, had to throw that in, I am a Jarhead ). I love the T3's but have some replacement heads that leak really bad, and this is just the info I need to fix them. Thank you for the time and effort you put in, look forward to seeing your future videos.

 

[dam718]

Excellent video, even coming from a Squid (sorry, had to throw that in, I am a Jarhead ). I love the T3's but have some replacement heads that leak really bad, and this is just the info I need to fix them. Thank you for the time and effort you put in, look forward to seeing your future videos.

Man I respect the heck out of Marines... I sure couldn't do what you guys do... So you can call me names all day, and I'll just nod my head and accept it... LoL

But, since we are taking jabs, I must say... The only REAL Marine is a SUBMarine!!! SUCK IT DEVIL DOG!

Thanks for your service, and glad I could help!

 

[dam718]

I'm surprised there are no other comments as I really like what you did - rebuilding the coil and resolving most leaking issues.
As a relatively new vaper, only a few months, I have struggled to find something I like, and the T3, despite its issues - which seem to differ from yours, its probably the best atomizer/clearomizer I have used.
By the way, can you post a link to the video where you were wrapping a coil? as well as links to the supplies required for the rebuild?
Thanks
- You should consider selling these.

I also would like to comment on my issues with the T3s. I, as well, bought several along based on Pete's recommendation, and I have only had one, which was new/unused, thus far that had serious leaking issues and swapping the atomizer seemed to resolve this mostly.

But I did want to address some other reoccurring issues I have had with the T3s. I am using 100% VG smoke juice, and I have noticed that once I have vaped about 1 ml of the 2.8 ml fill, the amount of flavor will decrease, the amount of vapor will decrease, the T3 will begin to gurgle, the color of the liquid will darken, and a thin layer of water-like/clear liquid seems to rest on top of the now darker liquid.
At this point, if I refill the clearomizer and vape the remaining liquid on/in the atomizer, the T3 will begin to operate properly again.
I have particularly had issues with one liquid, which does not seem to be any thicker than the other 100% VG liquids I most often use.
The specific smoke juices I have used in my T3s are Johnson Creek Red Oak Tennessee Cured and Domestic; the Domestic has given me the most issues.

Have you attempted to use 100% VG in the T3 since the rebuild?

Thanks
Robert

I have not tried 100% VG, so I can't make any kind of educated opinion about the T3's performance with 100% VG juice. I have heard that you can thin them without effecting the flavor TOO bad by using everclear or distilled water.

The thickest juice I have used in a T3 is a 40/60 from Heathers Heavenly. It wicks with no issues.

I do, however, have a bottle of 100% VG Base Liquid for DIY, and it is EXTREMELY thick, like cold maple syrup... There is no way it would wick anything...

If you like the flavor of the juice, I would ask over in the DIY forums how to cut it down a bit so it will wick better, while preserving the flavor as much as possible. Almost anything you use in there is going to have some effect on the flavor, but I'm sure you'll get some good suggestions to minimize that effect...

Good luck! Thanks for watching!

Oh, BTW... I have been putting posts where I make videos available under my ECF Blog site (Click the number by "Blog Entries" under my avatar to the left here <----)

Also, you can click the link to my YouTube channel in my signature, and see them all there as well...

As far as where to get the stuff I used for the rebuild.

I got my Kanthal wire from RTD Vapor (You can probably get it cheaper on eBay), and got the wick from The House of Vapor.

Bulk Silica Wick

Wick and Wire : 100 ft Kanthal A-1 32

Ley me know if there's any other help you need!

 

[kny3twalker]

The 100% VG I have from Johnson Creek is definitely thinner than any Pancake/Maple syrup, but I will definitely take a look at that forum.

Also will buying thicker wire to rebuild the coil work better for thicker liquids?
I believe you mentioned 32 gauge wire in the video, but would 30 gauge fire hotter, therefore reducing build-up, lengthening the life of the coil, and help prevent liquid flooding the coil?
Also what are the reasons you choose to use 1mm wick?

Thanks. I really appreciate this information as a new vaper.

 

[dam718]

I like the 1mm, cause it seems to be a bit more universal. I have several different types of clearomizers, and the 1mm will work with all of them. I have a hard time using anything thicker in stardust style clearos. The space between the side of the tank and the atomizer is pretty tight. And for applications where I could use a thicker wick, I can just group up several strands of 1mm to suit almost anything.

The questions about coil wire is a bit more complicated than using 30AWG over 32AWG. All things being exactly the same, 30AWG will burn hotter, cause it will have less resistance at a given voltage. So the same number of wraps you use to achieve a 2.5 ohm coil with 32AWG wire would only yield around 1.8 Ohms with 30 AWG. Numbers aren't exact here, but the idea is...

The reason I use 2.5 Ohms in almost every coil I build is because I use VV devices. If I were using mechanical mods, I would prefer lower resistance.

So, because I like using 2.5 Ohms for almost every application, I use 32AWG cause I can achieve that with 6 wraps of the wire... With 30AWG it would take 8 wraps, maybe more, and that starts taking up valuable real estate inside Vivi Nova and T3 atomizer heads.

I just started using RBA's today, and the 32 is working well on those too...

So it just makes it easier I suppose... Both choices, the 32AWG Kanthal and the 1mm wick are what work for me and are useful in every application I use them in. I like the idea of only having to keep personal stock of a single kind of wick, and a single kind of resistance wire.

 

[edking66]

Man I respect the heck out of Marines... I sure couldn't do what you guys do... So you can call me names all day, and I'll just nod my head and accept it... LoL

But, since we are taking jabs, I must say... The only REAL Marine is a SUBMarine!!! SUCK IT DEVIL DOG!

Thanks for your service, and glad I could help!

Thank you for your service as well Chief, if it wasn't for the Navy, we would have a long swim to get to where we were needed

 

[kny3twalker]

I like the 1mm, cause it seems to be a bit more universal. I have several different types of clearomizers, and the 1mm will work with all of them. I have a hard time using anything thicker in stardust style clearos. The space between the side of the tank and the atomizer is pretty tight. And for applications where I could use a thicker wick, I can just group up several strands of 1mm to suit almost anything.

The questions about coil wire is a bit more complicated than using 30AWG over 32AWG. All things being exactly the same, 30AWG will burn hotter, cause it will have less resistance at a given voltage. So the same number of wraps you use to achieve a 2.5 ohm coil with 32AWG wire would only yield around 1.8 Ohms with 30 AWG. Numbers aren't exact here, but the idea is...

The reason I use 2.5 Ohms in almost every coil I build is because I use VV devices. If I were using mechanical mods, I would prefer lower resistance.

So, because I like using 2.5 Ohms for almost every application, I use 32AWG cause I can achieve that with 6 wraps of the wire... With 30AWG it would take 8 wraps, maybe more, and that starts taking up valuable real estate inside Vivi Nova and T3 atomizer heads.

I just started using RBA's today, and the 32 is working well on those too...

So it just makes it easier I suppose... Both choices, the 32AWG Kanthal and the 1mm wick are what work for me and are useful in every application I use them in. I like the idea of only having to keep personal stock of a single kind of wick, and a single kind of resistance wire.

Thanks, that helps me make sense of all this. For example if six wraps of 32 AWG yielded 2.4 Ohms, then six wraps of 30 AWG might yield 1.8 Ohms, and in order to achieve 2.4 Ohms from the 30 AWG, I might have to increase the number of wraps to 8 in this example.

But I guess I still have one question which I hope you can answer: Will a thicker wire work better with thicker liquids like 100% VG?

I really have not seen much discussion how to address burning the thicker liquids, other than suggestions such as yours to cut the liquid.

Thanks again

 

[dam718]

I think you'll find the answer to what wire works best with thicker liquids is going to be pretty subjective, and 20 different people will tell you 20 different things.

I personally don't notice a lot of difference from one wire size to the next... As long as they get hot, they will vaporize whatever liquid they go on.

A thicker wire has to be longer, and therefore have more wraps, to achieve the same resistance... So technically there is more surface area of heating element to vaporize the liquid, so it kind of stands to reason that it would be better for thicker liquids... But that's just an educated guess...

A good question to ask as a separate topic of discussion though in a new thread. I'm sure a lot of folks would chime in on that topic.

 

[kny3twalker]

I think you'll find the answer to what wire works best with thicker liquids is going to be pretty subjective, and 20 different people will tell you 20 different things.

I personally don't notice a lot of difference from one wire size to the next... As long as they get hot, they will vaporize whatever liquid they go on.

A thicker wire has to be longer, and therefore have more wraps, to achieve the same resistance... So technically there is more surface area of heating element to vaporize the liquid, so it kind of stands to reason that it would be better for thicker liquids... But that's just an educated guess...

A good question to ask as a separate topic of discussion though in a new thread. I'm sure a lot of folks would chime in on that topic.

Will do. Thanks again. I am really trying hard to stick with this.

 

[edking66]

I found a trick to make replacing the inside the coil wick a little easier, I tool a wire twist (metal wire coated in plastic/paper that they use to tie cables for shipping, used to use on loaves of bread way back when) and stripped the plastic off. Bent the end in a little hook, slid it through the coil and used it to pull the wick through. This allowed me to pull a doubled up cotton wick through by gently twisting it back and forth while I pulled it back through the coil.

 

[tiforever]

Thanks for the advice! I wasn't able to watch all of your video, but I think I was able to trumpet the tube. I ordered a cute little eGo red battery and the red T3 that came in today. This is the cutest little device ever. Imagine how upset I was when the T3 turned out to be absolute garbage! Gurgle, spit, air...my mouth was so full of juice I wanted to scream.

I currently use a mini Vivi Nova, and next to that, this thing doesn't compare. Too bad I didn't get a good one. BTW - I'm no PB pro, but I watched a whole lot of his videos last night for the first time and I did NOT walk away feeling like he liked the T3. I thought he liked the Vivi Nova and that's about it for clearos.

Hopefully this cute MT3 will pick up flavor a little better. I've already noticed a HUGE difference in performance and leaking. Thanks again!!!

 

[floatingtrem]

I loved your video!

I've fixed to of my T3s so far and rebuilt with cotton. I am VERY happy with the results.

 

[Canuk]

Great video.

Going to watch the others.

 

[NinjaNP]

Thanks a lot, the videos were super detailed and extremely helpful. Hopefully I'm on my way to rewicking!

 

[elKabongXXI]

Thanks, Dave! This is GREAT! My T3 was leaking horribly until I realized (by watching your video) that I had forgotten to replace the silicon cap on the top of the head assembly -- you know... the one that seals the air tube. (TIP: It's probably best not to clean one's head assembly in the wee-hours when half-awake. One might also keep a good flashlight handy for when tiny parts insidiously bounce off the desk onto light colored carpet to hide for a couple of days.) Oh well... live and learn, right?

I still got some gurgling after hunting-down and replacing the silicon cap, so I cleared and flared the airtube at the mouthpiece. Now, once again, IT'S ALIVE! Woohoo!

I've got two other head assemblies; but, I think I'll invest in some Kanthal wire (as per your other video) for when this coil craps out. And, floatingtrem - I think I'll try your cotton-ball wick mod soon.

You said it, Dave... vapin' on-the-cheap is the way to go! BTW: Got a link for that peach ejuice flavor in your video? Sounds delish!

Thanks!

 

[dam718]

The juicy peach is wonderful indeed! It's available at Wizard Labs...

Juicy Peach Flavor (TFA)

I also use a bit of Sweet Cream along with it for a Peaches and Cream flavor that's real good...

Sweet Cream Flavor (TFA)


This isn't really the place for this, but since you asked:

The quick and dirty recipe...

using 100% VG 100 mg/ml Nicotine Base

40% VG
39% PG
10% Nicotine Base
8% TFA Juicy Peach
3% TFA Sweet Cream

You can use those same percentages for any amount you want to make... It is ready to vape immediately, no steeping necessary. It is a bit better after steeping, but it's not a HUGE improvement.

I do enjoy vaping on the cheap Although I have spent a lot in my quest to help the masses... Haha

AGA-T+ and Terminator C RBA's weren't cheap, but good lord these things could survive nuclear fallout...

But I think they still fall under the "Cheap" category compared to their original design coutnerparts... $25 - $40 for a quality chinese SS RBA isn't nearly as bad as $150-$200 for the greek made originals...