I Need Help/Advice - Kits, Cartos, Batteries, and Everything Else

[Tennovan]

WARNING: LONG-WINDED POST INCOMING!

Hi all, I've posted here a few times but never formally introduced myself... so uh... hello! I got my kit on July 2nd and haven't touched an analog since. I've even convinced a few friends to try V4L and they've loved it so far. I've got a few questions and I'm hoping someone can help me.

First, my brother and sister have a birthday coming up (a week apart) and they both used/loved my PV. I had planned to spend about $70 on each -- a starter kit, bottle of juice, and blank cartos. My problem is that the V4L Value Kits are either shorties and/or autos. Is it possible to get those kits with regular manuals? If not I'll either have to shop around or buy the Ultimate kit and then give them some of my juice/cartos... which I reaaaally don't want to do.

Also, I've noticed when ordering kits that not all flavors are available to choose from when selecting your free cartos. Is it possible to specify a flavor not on the list? More specifically, can we choose to receive blanks instead of prefilleds?

Next, a few weeks back I couldn't wait for the Wowboy 18mg cartos to restock, so I ordered the 11mg instead (the 18's restocked the next day, DOH!). When I got them some were dry, some tasted dirty, and none of them really produced much vapor at all. Did I get a bad/old batch or do the prefilleds really taste that different from the juice itself? Wowboy juice in a blank CoolCart produces loads of vapor... the WOW cartos not so much. In fact I have about 10 different flavors in WOW cartos and while they are indeed warmer/stronger, the vapor is nearly non-existant. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Finally, the two batteries I received with my kit started having button issues very early on. Pressing the button doesn't seem to work most the time and when it does, you have to press really hard in order to get a consistent connection. I got lazy about creating a ticket and instead purchased two additional batteries which have worked flawlessly for the past 3+ weeks. Since I'm outside of the 45 day exchange window, does anyone know how to fix this problem? Technically though this would only apply to one of the bad batteries because...

Funny story, I was cleaning one of the problematic batteries while watching TV and popped off the end cap to see if I could find the problem. I wasn't paying much attention and after testing the button, smacked it against my knee a few times to see if that would fix it. I forgot to pop the end cap back on though and the innards started to slide out. After fiddling with it I somehow managed to accidentally pull a wire from one of the contacts... no problemo, I whipped out the soldering iron and fixed it. It seems things snowballed from there and before you know it, I literally had the battery in pieces without even knowing how I got there. I'm pretty sure I can get it put back together (where does that wire go again? haha) but I'm hoping someone here has a diagram or has put one back together before. Can I somehow fix that switch before the guts have to go back in the battery? At least I know what the insides look like now.

Wow you've read this far? I know it sounds like I'm having tons of problems but overall things have worked out quite well. I did a lot of research before buying and I'm glad I chose V4L over all the others. Next time I have a problem I'll be sure to post right away instead of letting them build up like this.

 

[lithiumdaze]

go to litecigusa.com they have a good collection of options. If ur gonna spend $70 each you might wanna check out puresmoker.com and their ICON. it does all you want and is a great pv for $80ish. for a full kit. The wow carts are either more vg or lower ohm. Dunno wich. You might look into a drip tip to refill eaiser. If you go with a icon you might wanna consider the 510 connector..works with 306/510 and those both come in cartos. Good luck! OOPS... sori V4L for mentioning other vendors..i have purchased from you too and you have great products.

 

[Morandir835]

Tennovan sir where to begin....

You could pm Chad sir or Wader sir and see if you can request manual shorties instead of the autos in the comments section.

If a flavor isn't in stock, it won't be available on the free carto list.

I would contact Chad sir about the cartos, could be you got a bad batch. There's a lot of factors that can can come into play on a "dry" carto. Your issue with the wow cartos not producing as much vapor, have you tried adjusting the post on your batt? Could be a contact issue.

There are a few fixes you can try sir, none are 100% effective, but worth a shot. Give the button a massage... You can also blow into the button a few times... These two methods in conjuction with each other work pretty well. Smacking the battery on the opposite side of the button against a hard surface also occaisonally works... The last method works, but not for long, so not even going to get into it.

As for getting humpty dumpty back together again sir, it all depends on how much you disconnected. Will try to find a batt diagram for you, but it you disconnected it from the post and threads it's going to be a bit harder for you to do...

Hope this helps.

 

[waylonjessi4ever]

When i bought my starter kit i got the 2 xl batteries ..i guess thats not an option now ?

 

[krashnash]

I have no advice to offer regarding your battery, but hope you can revive him!

As far as buying the starter kits for your sibs, your best bet is to sign up for the email lists and then hit the next 20% (or more) sale and get the ultimate kits - at $69.50 (kit) + 12.50 (juice) + 8.95 (blanks) = $90.95 - 18.19 (20%) = $72.76 ~ pretty close to $70... Another thought would be to get your free prefilleds with the kit the same flavor as the juice - that way you can eliminate the cost of the blanks.

I did the same thing for my sister shortly after I started, and while she hasn't quit smoking yet, she is down from 2 packs a day to a half a pack a day.

~krashnash

 

[Joyce]

I have no advice to offer regarding your battery, but hope you can revive him!

As far as buying the starter kits for your sibs, your best bet is to sign up for the email lists and then hit the next 20% (or more) sale and get the ultimate kits - at $69.50 (kit) + 12.50 (juice) + 8.95 (blanks) = $90.95 - 18.19 (20%) = $72.76 ~ pretty close to $70... Another thought would be to get your free prefilleds with the kit the same flavor as the juice - that way you can eliminate the cost of the blanks.

I did the same thing for my sister shortly after I started, and while she hasn't quit smoking yet, she is down from 2 packs a day to a half a pack a day.

~krashnash

Why not do both? Hit the sale, get the ultimate, the juice to match the cartos that come with the kit, and eliminate the blanks? I did this for a friend of mine.

 

[Tennovan]

You could pm Chad sir or Wader sir and see if you can request manual shorties instead of the autos in the comments section.

The shorty value kit actually gives the option to choose manuals, but the regular value kit only offers generic autos. I've heard the short batteries aren't very great on battery life? Its a bit weird for one kit to offer manuals while the other only offers generic autos. I'll be sure to PM Chad or Wader though, maybe they can help me out.

As for getting humpty dumpty back together again sir, it all depends on how much you disconnected. Will try to find a batt diagram for you, but it you disconnected it from the post and threads it's going to be a bit harder for you to do...

This is unfortunately what started the whole problem in the first place -- a wire disconnected from the post and I struggled to get it back in place. The more I struggled, the more things fell apart. I'm fairly confident I can get it put back together but its all a very tight fit. I'll try to document the surgery so that if it's successful, I can at least post the details for someone else.

When i bought my starter kit i got the 2 xl batteries ..i guess thats not an option now ?

There are a few XL starter kits but none in lower price range, I think. If I was sure they'd stick to them I'd go ahead and get them the most expensive kit... but I'd hate to spend that much only for them to not use them.

I have no advice to offer regarding your battery, but hope you can revive him!

As far as buying the starter kits for your sibs, your best bet is to sign up for the email lists and then hit the next 20% (or more) sale and get the ultimate kits - at $69.50 (kit) + 12.50 (juice) + 8.95 (blanks) = $90.95 - 18.19 (20%) = $72.76 ~ pretty close to $70... Another thought would be to get your free prefilleds with the kit the same flavor as the juice - that way you can eliminate the cost of the blanks.

I did the same thing for my sister shortly after I started, and while she hasn't quit smoking yet, she is down from 2 packs a day to a half a pack a day.

~krashnash

I'm on the email AND mobile list and have definitely used my fair share of codes so far. My biggest problem is that like me, they love Wowboy but only in a CoolCart. They'll probably learn to love WOW cartos eventually but I'd prefer to start them out on something I know they like. From what I remember tho... when I bought my kit, Wowboy prefilleds were in stock but weren't offered in the list of freebies. So that's why I was looking at getting them blanks as well. Oh and I'm hoping my sister has the kind of success yours has! She's much too young to smoke as much as she does... and I'm pretty sure this kit is gonna be used by her AND her husband. Two birds one stone!

Anyone have suggestions for a premium prefilled flavor that would mix well if refilled with Wowboy? Some say the premium Cowboy prefilleds are pretty good (I haven't tried it yet) but the only other tobacco flavors I've tried was the tobacco shop sampler #2... which was alright. I guess I ruined my tastes by buying a bottle of Wowboy with my first kit -- everything gets compared to it!

 

[Morandir835]

Tennovan sir the shorty batts don't last as long as the regular and xl's, but there is a trade off. The autos have a great draw on the shorties, and they do a better job at holding their voltage compared to the larger ones (same goes with the king diamond and stealth series, but the difference is more pronounced with vapor king line) manual shorties have the same draw as every other sized manual, but again they have a gain in voltage holding capabilities.

 

[Pamdane]

I waited for a sale day, I got on the text list. Its great.
I wanted XL batts too. I chain vape. For $85 including shipping I got 3 xl diamond batteries, a charger and 2 passthroughs.
I have tons of USB wall ports, XL dont fit in PCC or PC, so those are not needed. It came today, and batteries are charging. Passthroughs only work on the Mac or usb hub, but they are working, so I'm a happy camper. I havent metered them, but the vape is not as warm as my 5V mod. But it is good.

 

[SnowDragon]

I havent metered them, but the vape is not as warm as my 5V mod. But it is good.

All V4L KR batts are 3.7v...at full charge they 4.2v and need recharging around 3.5v. There is a list of voltages and times provided by our resident testor Morandir which is on page 5 of the Quick Easy Fix for Cartomizer & Batteries Tutorial Post Adjustment sticky on the top of the main page.

 

[Tennovan]

Tennovan sir the shorty batts don't last as long as the regular and xl's, but there is a trade off. The autos have a great draw on the shorties, and they do a better job at holding their voltage compared to the larger ones (same goes with the king diamond and stealth series, but the difference is more pronounced with vapor king line) manual shorties have the same draw as every other sized manual, but again they have a gain in voltage holding capabilities.

They'll be refilling cartos and I'm afraid they'll fry those autos -- they're unsealed right?

 

[Morandir835]

The autos are indeed unsealed Tennovan sir. Figured that was why you were looking at the manuals. The manuals being sealed is why the draw is the same on each size of manual is pretty much the same. The shorty manuals put up the same voltage numbers as the shorty manuals. So there is at least one advantage to getting the shorty kit.

Won't suggest the value kit with the generic batts because they lack all the tweaks of V4L branded batts. Think of it in car terms. 4 wheels, seats, and motor make it a car, but not all cars are created equal. Not all 808's are created equal....