Invader Mini not holding charge very long

[Zabolee]

Hi
So I just picked up an Invader Mini since I plan to need it on a road trip and outdoor work. The very first thing I noticed is that the fire button is pretty difficult to click. But that is something I can work around and get used to.
But my real concern is that it drains batteries VERY VERY fast. I mean I'd go through 3 18650's a day with only moderate use. I use both normal and nickel wire. But my nickel coils are in my RTA's, and I only set it for 14.5-15watts. My other tanks use normal coils.
Has anyone else used this device and notices how fast it drains batteries?

 

[Ardy]

I use nickel at 25watts 450degrees and also go through 3 batteries a day, but it's no more than my Evolv dna40 with nickel.

 

[Azarias]

What batteries are you using? How old?

 

[Zabolee]

I'm using LGHE2 batteries and purple Efest batteries that I just picked up the night before. The oldest LG's I've tried using are no more than 2 months.

The nickel builds are normal coils in either a Squape R, or Kayfun v4. Both are around 0.12-0.14 ohms.

While I though it was a problem only with those tanks, but my Nautilus and Silo tanks both drain the batteries really quickly, even at 11-12watts. I have a Vaporshark DNA40 and it can easily go all day without needing to be recharged. And my mech mods don't even drain this fast unless I'm dripping.

 

[Jethro66]

I'm having the same problem, using 3 batterys a day but tc is working great.. Using 10 month old Sony vtc 5's and Samsung 25r's..The device is the version 2

 

[sofarsogood]

nickel builds are sub ohm. With kanthal the lower the ohms the less efficient they are. The same would be true of nickel, right? Until temp control I was using an iStick 50 watt for out and about and getting though a long day with ease. I'm expecting to need something similar for temp control. May be I'll need a replaceable two battery mod but there is no going back. Temp control is a good experience.

 

[Ardy]

nickel builds are sub ohm. With kanthal the lower the ohms the less efficient they are. The same would be true of nickel, right?

Only for the first few milliseconds. Then the resistance ramps with the heat.

 

[EvlSmrk]

Under use, you can see the battery representation fluctuate. Give it a second and it'll increase a bit. You do go through batteries often, but no more so than with a different single battery TC mod. Also, check your batteries actual resting voltage when you remove it from the mod for a few swaps and get an idea about what the pic represents versus actual remaining capacity. Seems the Invader Mini's cutoff is different from other mods that I've seen in use.

 

[Zabolee]

EvlSmrk,
That's how I noticed that it drains so fast. I took a battery that I charged to 4.2V the night before I got this mod, and after 30 minutes of vaping and seeing how the charge drained on the mod, I check it on my charger and the resting voltage was 3.9. This was with all of my nickel builds. With my 1.6ohm Kanthal coils, it drains to 4.02 within 1 hour.
My Vaporshark DNA 40 does drain faster when I drip. But with those same Kanthal coils, I can easily go 15 hours without absolutely needing to charge it. And the battery in that mod is about 9 months old (Also an LG. Will be changing it out soon).

I will probably not go back to a non TC mod, except for my mechs. And I know that when I go hiking and camping, I'll always bring the Invader with me. But the place I got it from only has a 30 day warranty, and I was hoping someone knew if this was a normal issue that I just needed to get used to

 

[VapNMirrors]

Subohming a single 18650's is a short-term experience in general. It just uses a lot of power. I moved from iStick30W (single 18650) to 50W (dual 18650) when I moved from a 1.8Ohm to 0.5Ohm attys- not for wattage but because the battery would only go for a few sessions.

I happened to stop by the local vape shop today and saw the Invader and it's awesome! Very tempting but I didn't buy it because I don't want to go through the day with a pocket full of batteries. My iStick 50W will stay there but if they had a Invader non-Mini with twin 18650's I'm sold.

 

[Zabolee]

I'm not arguing that subohming will do that. What concerns me more is that not subohming drains the batteries almost as fast. That's not the case with my other mods. I can go through 2 batteries in a 12 hour work day when I use my Nautilus on a mech mod, and 1 battery on my Vaporshark. But that exact same tank will still go through 3 batteries on the Invader Mini.

 

[sofarsogood]

It appears to me that lower ohm coils use power less efficiently regardless of whether they are made of kanthal, nickel or titanium. Temp contol might ease that some by using less power during the moments when the coil is up to temperature but I'm noticing TC uses batteries faster than my 1.5 ohm coils with watts control. So far I find the TC experience so superior that I'm willing to put up with it. I'd like to have a temp control version of my iStick 50.

 

[Zabolee]

I am willing to put up with the drain in my mods that have a passthough charging port. It's just that I'll be carrying 10 batteries with my when I go camping if I only bring this mod.
But I agree about how much more power subohming uses. I'll just have to get used to it, and always keep my other mod around too.

 

[VapNMirrors]

What kind of power levels are you running? If you set the Invader in power mode at 3.7V (or equivalent power in watts), in theory, it should be about 10% worse than a mech due to power use/loss of the circuity. It could be that it's low-voltage shutoff is set a bit on the high-side too and it's just not draining the battery as completely as you do on the mech. You could try this: Run a fresh charge batter at 3.7V until it shuts off on the Invader and then try it in the mech. Now you've got me curious.

 

[Ardy]

One of the probable reasons that it drains faster is it's constanly monitoring in TP mode.

 

[Zabolee]

Ardy,
that's something I've considered already. I decided to use it all day yesterday, instead of switching between it and my vaporshark. With a Silo tank at a 1.6ohm coil, it only went through 2 batteries, which is fine with me. It's about what I'd expect from any of my mechs.

VapNMirrors,
I'm when I run it in TC mode, I am generally using my Squape or Kayfun, and have it set at 14.5 watts. I've taken then battery out after 30 minutes and it went from fully charged to under 4v. So I know that it is draining the battery

 

[TheotherSteveS]

i think h

EvlSmrk,
That's how I noticed that it drains so fast. I took a battery that I charged to 4.2V the night before I got this mod, and after 30 minutes of vaping and seeing how the charge drained on the mod, I check it on my charger and the resting voltage was 3.9. This was with all of my nickel builds. With my 1.6ohm Kanthal coils, it drains to 4.02 within 1 hour.
My Vaporshark DNA 40 does drain faster when I drip. But with those same Kanthal coils, I can easily go 15 hours without absolutely needing to charge it. And the battery in that mod is about 9 months old (Also an LG. Will be changing it out soon).

I will probably not go back to a non TC mod, except for my mechs. And I know that when I go hiking and camping, I'll always bring the Invader with me. But the place I got it from only has a 30 day warranty, and I was hoping someone knew if this was a normal issue that I just needed to get used to

Heatvape warranty is 90 days - at least it was for V1. However, good luck if you need to deal with HV directly...!

 

[Zabolee]

They might have used to have a 90 day warranty, but since I bought it from another dealer, they say that they won't cover it for me directly, and that I need to go through the place I bought it. SweetVapes only offers a 30 day return on it. I have noticed, once or twice, that it seems to have some of the issues discussed with the V1 (ie. resetting itself to 10watts after it goes to sleep). But that only happened once or twice, so I'm not too concerned, and it doesn't annoy me. Does anyone know if I may have the V1 in a V2 packaging? Or has this problem not been fully fixed?