How Do They Die?

[SnakeFarm]

My mall sticks batts and cartomizers seem to be reaching the end of their lives. I say that because there has been diminishing performance over the last week.

Since I have no idea what I'm doing, I thought I'd ask here. What does the mortality curve look like? Do they burn out or fade away?

I did have one cartomizer (out of 9) burn out. The post-mortem showed a burned spot in the little plastic center tube, and the atty looked kind of toasty as well, but that was very early on. I don't think they are getting hot enough to burn any more.

After my Riva comes in, I'm going to try running the old ones through the dish-washer.

SF

 

[swedishfish]

batteries only have so many charge cycles. Small batteries have to be charged more often so they don't last as long. It helps a bit to charge the battery before it's completely dead.

Burn spots in a carto is a sign the carto is dry.

I think you'll have better luck with the Riva batteries definitely. Some of the Riva batteries I use are 6 months old. I have quite a few batteries, but they do last.

 

[976vapoman]

Batteries slowly loose their ability to hold a charge. Atties can simply die or they can stop giving a decent hit. A lot of people clean them but I no longer bother. I have been vaping for a couple years now and I have tried all the tricks and tips and nothing has ever really seemed to extend their life enough for it to be worth the hassle. I guess the only thing that has worked is to not let them go dry. Topping off more often without overfilling seems to be the key.

 

[dormouse]

Cartomizers - you have to keep them damp with suitable liquid. I find what's suitable in my cartos is 20% or less VG (i.e. thin juices) and I avoid any juices that drop alot of flavoring sediment (usually dark juices, so I use light clear juices that leave the stuffing clean). I can get a week or more use out of one GOOD cartomizer. And by good cartomizer I mean not ones like those crappy one-use SLB kinds with the inner seal and the fat soft wad of stuffing. I use Boge cartos on 510 threads, and Vapor4Life WOW cartos on KR808D-1 threads - soft cap, defined center air channel, no inner seals. As I keep using them the performance does degrade (but slowly since I choose my juices carefully). I can often get 10+ days use out of each (which is 3 weeks for me because I use 2 cartos. each 1/2 the time). Cartomizers are disposable items. Some attempt to clean them, with some success and some failure.

Batteries - autos last until you leak juice on the end and it gets inside, at minimum causing the drag switch to get sticky and get stuck on or waste power and at max shorts the battery and kills it (similar can happen with manuals that have an open hole in the end). I only use manual batteries. Two of my old KR808D-1 manuals had a hole in the threaded end and I just killed one with juice during a power outage (it was about 6 months old RIP). My newer KR808D-1 models have a pretty well sealed to fully sealed threaded end. My 510 manuals have a fully sealed threaded end as do my big battery 510-threaded devices (all manuals). Sealed manuals have a better chance of living out their 150-200 charge cycles life (as long as they are not accidentally put on an inappropriate charger). After some number of charge cycles a battery will stop holding charge as well and seem weak.

 

[SnakeFarm]

@ Doormouse, I think I have two 510s and two KR808s right now. I can't really tell because there were no markings on them or the packages they came in. I'm thinking the slightly smaller ones are KR808s. They were the cheapos ($12) I got at the head-shop. These were branded "Healthy Cigs" and they had little rubber doughnuts in them, but I pulled those out for topping off, and they all somehow wandered off. Actually, the Healthys seem to out-perform the not-so-cheap Smoke To Live (510?) branded ones that I bent over for at the mall.

 

[dormouse]

I mainly like my 510's with Boge cartos - nice easy vapory moist vape. The KR808D-1 (and its incompatible near twin KR808D-2) are higher voltage devices than 510. 510 is around 3.2v and KR808D-1 is a full 3.7v. In addition some KR808D-1 cartos like Vapor4Life WOW cartos are around 2.5 ohm (around the lowest you should go on a slim ecig) so they make good heat. I also vape both. I carry both and use the KR8 to enhance the hit of my vanillas and I put the cocoa tobacco in the 510 for its soft easy hit. And I move the standard res 510 cartos to my 3.7v mods and Riva to get warmer bigger more vapory hits out of them. SInce they are standard res I can use them on both devices.

Warning - label your Riva charger's screw-in end on both sides to prevent charging your possible-510 in Riva's fast charger cable. The fast charger cable can damage slim batteries, ruining their ability to hold charge and their ability to detect overdischarge/overcharge. Also - don't screw your Riva battery or any battery in as far as it can go - you can depress the center post and make some things not connect electrically.

And I recommend these highly (there is also a 6181 model with more country plugs). These are 4 port 2amp (2000mA) USB to AC so you can charge 4 assorted batteries on one outlet. Alternately you could use a PT on it but I would not use a PT and chargers on the same one since the 2amps of power is shared between the ports and the PT would drag it down causing an unstable supply for the charging.
Amazon.com: Rosewill USB Travel Charger Adapter RUC-6180: Electronics

 

[VapahMan]

dormouse, that rosewill charger is awesome! Love the recommendation! $8.99 I'm in!

SnakeFarm, your batteries (i'm assuming 808's or 510's) will have roughly 300 cycles (full charges). So depending on the age of your batteries and the amount you've charged them they could be loosing their charge. One of the most common reasons your cartomizer is loosing vapor production or burning, as said here is that they are not consistently being filled. You want to make sure your cartomizers are always moist. As soon as you loose some taste or vapor production, refill your cartomizer.

 

[mjradik]

How long have you had them? I thought cartos were only good for like a week, and cheeper to just replace than trying to clean them or what ever. I Use Attys. They say they only last a couple weeks, but I've been using the same one for 5 weeks now. I guess I'm lucky.

 

[dormouse]

I got 6 weeks out of a Boge once but I that was using it 1/2 the time.

With my sweet vanillas carto (the V4L WOW carto on KR808D-1) eventually the drag suffers bit and I have near-singed it a couple of times and even a bit of bitter singe flavor will negate the pure sharp sweetness of the vanillas I use and then I want a new one to get that pure sweetness back. My goal is contrast between the sweet sharp vanilla and the barely sweet cocoa tobacco. The cocoa tobacco in the Boge 510 is not hurt much by a couple of near-singes - it actually gives it a more tobacco-y taste which is fine because at the nic level I am using it is mostly cocoa tasting. In a perfect world, I would never singe the vanilla and singe the cocoa a tiny bit over time. My carto pair is on their 3rd week. I started the pair on the East coast hurricane weekend.

 

[B4DJ1N64N]

I have uses a pair of joye 306 LR atties for more than two months now, and still good. For cartos, I haven't got any fibre filled cartos (Boge or Smoktech) which last for more than 2 weeks, i think residual gunk kill them. As for CE2 cartos, they usually lasted for about 6-8 weeks (with some crazy cleaning method). But still, I love Boge LR & Smoktech dualcoils!