Help. Two malfunctioning Riva batteries in two days.

[BakaGaijin83]

So, last night I was vaping and one of my Riva batteries wouldn't stop firing. I quickly screwed the atty off, put another atty on, and it fired up again without a button push. Also, the LED no longer lights up and after putting it on the charger overnight the light on the charger didn't change from red to green. The battery's about 8 or 9 months old, so I thought perhaps it was just its time. Problem is, another battery did the same thing to me today, and it was only about a month old.

My theory so far: 1) Since the battery has power it's probably the switch/chip that's the problem. 2) Perhaps the atty is the cause. I was using different atties for each battery failure, but I had used them both for quite a while and they both came from the same source (eastmall). I dunno if an atty could go bad in a way that would mess up the battery's chip, but that's about the most sense I can make of it. 3) This seems really far fetched, but I started using a different brand of nic-juice in my mixes yesterday. I can't see how that could effect the battery though.

Any ideas as to what's going on/how to avoid ruining another battery/how to fix my batteries?

Thanks

 

[tybin]

are they automatic or manual? using lr attys? what mah are the batteries?

 

[SnakeFarm]

So, last night I was vaping and one of my Riva batteries wouldn't stop firing. I quickly screwed the atty off, put another atty on, and it fired up again without a button push. Also, the LED no longer lights up and after putting it on the charger overnight the light on the charger didn't change from red to green. The battery's about 8 or 9 months old, so I thought perhaps it was just its time. Problem is, another battery did the same thing to me today, and it was only about a month old.

My theory so far: 1) Since the battery has power it's probably the switch/chip that's the problem. 2) Perhaps the atty is the cause. I was using different atties for each battery failure, but I had used them both for quite a while and they both came from the same source (eastmall). I dunno if an atty could go bad in a way that would mess up the battery's chip, but that's about the most sense I can make of it. 3) This seems really far fetched, but I started using a different brand of nic-juice in my mixes yesterday. I can't see how that could effect the battery though.

Any ideas as to what's going on/how to avoid ruining another battery/how to fix my batteries?

Thanks

With my limited-but-growing knowledge of e-cig electronics, yes, I think a shorted atty could fry the chip in the batt. Once fried, microchips do all manner of tweaky things, and what you describe sounds like it could be the effect of a shorted atty. One way to check would be to check resistance across the poles of the atty with a household multimeter. 0 Ohms = shorted atty.

I have had two RiVa batts from Liberty Flights for over a month now and they are still just as strong as the day I got them. Some of the electroplating has rubbed off, but they still kick.

 

[Pamdane]

I also found this happened to a battery with a FS charger that was won with a different kit. Are you using the supplied power cord, or a spare?

 

[BakaGaijin83]

@tybin
manual, LR atties, and 650mAh

@pamdane
the charger is a usb charger that came with a riva kit from eastmall. the vast majority of the time it's plugged into my computer, but i've used it once or twice plugged into an adapter that plugs into a wall outlet (though last time i did that was a couple months or so ago).

 

[tybin]

well that might the problem. 650mah battery and lr atty can lead to frying the mofset

 

[mwa102464]

The LR Atty's 1.4-1.6 ohm can get the Mosfet connection very hot if you chain vape and blow it out, the secret to using these small Mah or even bigger mAh Ego/Riva with LR Combo is not to over heat this set up by giving it a break after a couple of vapes, like I said chain vaping will do this. I have had much more success for some reason or other with the Bigger mAh Ego/Riva type Batts then the smaller 650mAh but that doesn't change the fact that the heat will still destroy the mosfet connection if you chain them and overheat the unit.

You can try 2 things to fix this, that I know of and have done before and has worked. 1.= Sometime the switch gets stuck and tapping the Battery on the edge of a table pretty hard can for some reason or other make it work again. 2= very very carefully take the top part where the Atty connection is apart from the tube, you will see the wires going into the chip, you have to very carefully like I said wiggle this top part away from the tube, I put a rag around it and use channel locks or Vice Grips and start wiggling till it starts to come apart, go really slow. Then once it starts to come apart SLOWLY wiggle it the rest of the way out from the tube, you will see what wire has come away from the chip, pre tin it with some soldier and then touch the soldier gun to where it goes back into the chip, Done, these are the only 2 things I can suggest to do.

 

[BakaGaijin83]

Thanks for input all.

@mwa
Opened up one of the battery cases. All the wires/solders were intact, which i suppose supports the hypothesis that the switch/chip is is screwed up.

Oh well. Maybe it's time to either go back to standard atties or get a mod...

 

[wdave]

The extended life JOYE 510 batteries I buy have ZERO infant mortality and typically last six months or more. I do carry three fully assembled ecigs. I have had trouble every other ecig battery I have purchased.

HTH,
Dave

 

[markfm]

Could have a wonky charger, too -- things do fail at times.

 

[wdave]

Could have a wonky charger, too -- things do fail at times.

I've had no infant mortality on 510 USB charging chords used with a Kensington 4-port USB charger either. They last until the brass fitting becomes too deformed, typically over a year.

There is no need to tolerate low quality ecig hardware. If you are, then move on.

HTH,
Dave

 

[markfm]

I don't accept bad devices, I vape a pair of good VVs, but trying to provide honest information for the OP.

 

[mwa102464]

Thanks for input all.

@mwa
Opened up one of the battery cases. All the wires/solders were intact, which i suppose supports the hypothesis that the switch/chip is is screwed up.

Oh well. Maybe it's time to either go back to standard atties or get a mod...

Provari or Darwin Baka is the way to go, Ego/Riva are good for back ups !

 

[Hondo69]

I've had great luck with the Riva's I use, but you can always get a bad one. But two in a row is pretty suspicious.

As posted above could be a bad atty (or even carto). Sometimes even the way you hook things up before charging can be a problem. The proper way is to make all your connections first. Screw the battery to the USB, plug the USB into the wall charger. Only after these connections are made should you plug the charger into the wall.

Otherwise it can mess up the control chip housed with the battery.

 

[tinstar15]

I've seen something recently that might help. Quite a few of my friends are dedicated riva-holics and some had similar problems to yours. I noticed that the center posts of their batteries were slightly off center. Usually this happens when they crank down their attys or chargers so tight that you need an impact wrench to take them off. I just recentered the center post and they went back to normal. When the center post is misaligned it make the riva think its shorted and it stops working. I used a plastic pick to jiggle the post back into position. Doesn't take much misalignment to throw em off.

May help, may not. Just throwing it out there.