Is this atty dead?

[sebt]

Hi

8 days in, and I think I've come across my first "dead-atomiser event".

Stopped working. No vapour. No slight gurgle that I can always hear (in quiet ambient conditions) before I inhale. Just before this happened the Lea battery flashed its light and cut out. I believe this means "shutting off due to somethig potentially harmful happening in the circuit". It's not a problem with the battery, tested with a spare one.

I measured the resistance across the atty contacts. Now my ohmmeter is weird: a short-circuit between the probes reads 1.5 on the scale. Resistance of my spare atty reads about 2. Resistance of the possibly dead one is an order of magnitude higher at 20. (The ohmmeter claims this setting is "Ohms 10x", which would mean the respective resistances are in fact 20 and 200 ohms).

Is it dead, do you think?

Newbie mistake: only ordering 1 spare atomiser. Now I'm worry whether this one I have left will last until Wednesday when I can get another one delivered.

 

[VapourMonkey]

Yep sebt it sounds like the atty has died. They either read a very low resistance (shorted) or a high resistance if the heating coil has burnt out.

 

[VapourMonkey]

you may be able to bring it back from the dead by soaking it in hot water for a while, worth a try. Dry it out and check the resistance again before attempting to use it. Sometimes helps.

 

[bigtiime]

Like cartomizers, atomizers are disposable. While a bit more expensive to replace when compared to the replacement cost of cartos, it is in fact a very good idea, as you mentioned, to have a few in reserve.

 

[sebt]

you may be able to bring it back from the dead by soaking it in hot water for a while, worth a try. Dry it out and check the resistance again before attempting to use it. Sometimes helps.

Thanks. Will try that. It's what I've been doing to clean them. Might just be an odd dud one. Though they cost less than 2 days of analogs (for me, was a roll-ups smoker), I hope they'll generally last more than a week.

 

[DaveP]

Read your attys on the 200 ohm scale or the lowest one you have. K=1000, so if it says 10k, then you are on a higher scale than, say, 200. Shorting the leads gives you the resistance of the wire in the leads and the connections where they plug in. Rotate the plugs back and forth to shine up the contacts and get the lead resistance down as low as possible, note the shorted lead resistance and subtract that from what you read from the center contact on the atty to the threads.

I get .4 ohms with my leads shorted and 2.4 or so when i read my 2 ohm carto coil on the 200 scale. That means the coil is 2.0 ohms.

Another thing you have to consider is that screwing an atty on with too much force can push the center contact flush with the outer contact. When this happens, the outer contact can touch the center contact on the battery and cause a short. A battery that flashes when you vape with no sizzle indicates a short or very high current load. Look at the center contact on your atty from the side. It should be slightly above the outer ring that is threaded. If not, pull one leg on a jumbo paper clip out and then bend a short right angle on the end. Use this tool and stick it into the center hole on the atty. Once you get it where it's tight, use it to work the center contact out a bit from the outer one. The center contact is suspended inside the outer one in a silicone insulator ring.

 

[crazyhorse]

I hope they'll generally last more than a week.

They can. It's the luck of the draw. I'm using the same 801 since September 2 and a 302 since October 11. I've also had 10 go out in a couple of months before.

 

[sebt]

Another thing you have to consider is that screwing an atty on with too much force can push the center contact flush with the outer contact. When this happens, the outer contact can touch the center contact on the battery and cause a short. A battery that flashes when you vape with no sizzle indicates a short or very high current load. Look at the center contact on your atty from the side. It should be slightly above the outer ring that is threaded. If not, pull one leg on a jumbo paper clip out and then bend a short right angle on the end. Use this tool and stick it into the center hole on the atty. Once you get it where it's tight, use it to work the center contact out a bit from the outer one. The center contact is suspended inside the outer one in a silicone insulator ring.

Great tip. I'll give this a try when it's dried - thanks!