Livnin la vivi nova

[deezdrama]

This peice of crap with potential has been stashed away in my junk drawer for weeks now...

Surely someone, somewhere has done some experimenting with these and solved the bad taste issue?

They vape like a freight train but the vapor tastes like crap. Now im pretty sure the consensus is that the coils legs heat up and burn the rubber isolation grommet in turn causing the nasty unhealthy taste. I have noticed myself a little black burnt residue on the rubber grommet.

I dont think the kanthal wire or silica wick could be causing the foul taste because i tried extensively cleaning them with the same results...

So has anyone tried replacing the coil and wicks??? I was about to replace them in a head and see if it solves the problem but dont want to waste anymore juice or time on this thing unless I know for sure what the culprit is to the foul tasting vapor.

If its the rubber grommet burning then i dont think changing the coil and wick will help if still using the same grommet, but stardusts are nearly identical in design but dont give off the nasty taste, only difference is stardusts use a silicone isolation sleeve instead of the white rubber one in the vivi.

Any findings,solutions, or opinions from anyone who has messed around with these would be awesome. They do have potential and just want to get it vaping without tasting like crap. Ive been following the official gotvape vivi nova thread but i think a hammer would be more helpful.
They unloaded these tanks on people , they dont work right and in my opinion are unsafe, then the owner goes on rants and acts like we are the problem when people complain and he has done nothing in offering a solution except to wait and buy the next version or the next version replacement heads, im good no thanks, wont get my business again.

It seems about half of the people with these have the bad tasting vapor problem. I dont know if the other half just cant notice the taste or there is just varying amounts of the taste that isnt as destinguishable to people, or if some of these really work as intended.....
I am just looking for a definative cause and solution

thanks in advance.

 

[martinc]

Nah,half had the bad taste,the other half had the blowing coils.

I only use real tanks now.

 

[deezdrama]

Nah,half had the bad taste,the other half had the blowing coils.

I only use real tanks now.

I dont blame you! --- I had the same idea when my juice order came in the other day and loaded up a 6ml tank with a new prepunched 3 ohm lr carto- leaked and gurgled the whole tank of juice out So frustrating! I almost feel like going back to just cartos. At least my rebuilt stardusts are working good (they didnt work when new worth a damn) and I can throw one on an ego adapter and on my provari when not at work with my ego twist. Im thinking a genesis style tank could be the solution, but untill I get one, would really love to get this nova figured out.

 

[notsmoking]

Here is something for you to try which should hep the taste alot, tie the ends of your resistance wire with some no resistance wire and use 100% cotton. For the cotton I have been using gauze which also must be 100% cotton. The taste should improve alot. I know many others have found the same. Read this thread and then make your own opinion.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

 

[deezdrama]

Here is something for you to try which should hep the taste alot, tie the ends of your resistance wire with some no resistance wire and use 100% cotton. For the cotton I have been using gauze which also must be 100% cotton. The taste should improve alot. I know many others have found the same. Read this thread and then make your own opinion.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

I just recoiled and rewicked mine, I didnt have any no resistance wire except for the insulated wire pulled out of old cartos and wasnt sure if it would be ok to use this without the insulation on the wire, and had problems with it so what I did was doubled the kanthal on the coils legs , hopefully this will add enough resistance to the legs of the coil to not heat up, havnt tried it out yet, tired from work but ill post my results.


Ive been wanting to try cotton wicks, does it have to be special cotton or do you think I could get away with cutting up a 100% white cotton shirt (clean of course)

 

[deezdrama]

well..... doubling the coil legs worked great!

I did a 2ohm 5-wrap coil 32awg over 3 lengths of wick, I left about an inch of kanthal for the coil legs and folded the legs in half and tightly twisted them, this effectively should cut the resistance of the legs in half, did a dry burn test and the inner coil lights up nicely and slowly works to the outer coils, the legs are not glowing and not getting hot, no burnt or funny taste, the flavor is great now

 

[notsmoking]

That sounds like it is working for you now, the aweful taste was probably coming from the silicone.... yes a 100% cotton t-shirt should work, you could use anything that is 100% cotton, even cotton balls, cotton gauze, cotton string. The only reason I use the cotton gauze is because it says steril and you can use it for open wounds. Great work and keep on vaping.

 

[Jeepster08]

I rebuilt one of the attys for my Vivi Nova last weekend. I made a 6 wrap coil around 3 wicks which ended up being 4.8 ohms. I don't remember what awg my kanthal is and 4.8 ohms was more than I expected, but it has been vaping awesome at 5.3 volts. I have been thru about 5 or 6 tank refills with no dry hits. I am in love with my Vivi Nova again with this set-up.

 

[Dougiestyle]

I just received mine about 4hrs ago. I filled it and vaped on the 2.4 head. Flavor seemed good at 4.2v. While I puffed on that I began disassembly of the 2.8 head and re-wicked/wrapped w/ Nextel ceramic wick (4 strands of 312 mesh about 1' on each side of head) and 5wraps of 36 AWG nichrome. It's almost too easy to rebuild! I'm experiencing some off-taste, now, so I'll replace the rubber grommet with a silicone one later. Still, all in all, I gotta say I like this thing! I'm going to build a coupla boxes for this to sit, recessed, inside of w/ VV and VW.

 

[deezdrama]

I just received mine about 4hrs ago. I filled it and vaped on the 2.4 head. Flavor seemed good at 4.2v. While I puffed on that I began disassembly of the 2.8 head and re-wicked/wrapped w/ Nextel ceramic wick (4 strands of 312 mesh about 1' on each side of head) and 5wraps of 36 AWG nichrome. It's almost too easy to rebuild! I'm experiencing some off-taste, now, so I'll replace the rubber grommet with a silicone one later. Still, all in all, I gotta say I like this thing! I'm going to build a coupla boxes for this to sit, recessed, inside of w/ VV and VW.

sweet- try doubling up the nichrome on the legs of the coil, this stopped my off taste completely

 

[ratpack7]

well..... doubling the coil legs worked great!

I did a 2ohm 5-wrap coil 32awg over 3 lengths of wick, I left about an inch of kanthal for the coil legs and folded the legs in half and tightly twisted them, this effectively should cut the resistance of the legs in half, did a dry burn test and the inner coil lights up nicely and slowly works to the outer coils, the legs are not glowing and not getting hot, no burnt or funny taste, the flavor is great now

good tip! it works great. as for cotton I have been using 100% cotton worsted weight yarn I got a walmart for like $2 a skein it wicks great.

 

[Chris Braddock]

im confused shuld i use kanthal or nichrome to r wrap the coils on the vivi and twist nr for the legs or just double them up

 

[notsmoking]

Chris watch this vid and it will show you what everyone means on how to: Battle of the Rebuildable Atomizers, Part II - YouTube

 

[bzlytbeer]

A trick I used was using some 16-18ga copper wire to use a leads to the kanthal. You will want to either crimp them together or solder them to the leads. This lets me use less kanthal, and keeps the grommet/plug from burning, since the 16-18ga lead does not get hot. I went so far as to flatten the end of the leads using a hammer. It lets me slip it between the center and plug pretty easily. This also allows me to get more wraps around the wick with the kanthal too! Resulting taste is MUCH better!

 

[Tonybee]

I did a complete atty conversion of the ViVi. I removed the wick and coil assy. and replaced them with a stainless steel wick and new kanthol coil. It's vaping great at 2.3 ohms and 4.8 volts. Plumes of vapor and the taste is up there with the Genisis style tanks. I used 325x325 SS mesh cut 2"x3/4". Folded flat on one side about 1/16" and rolled up tight on the other end to avoid straggling wires.

Built the coil with 5 wraps of the Kanthol wire after complete oxidation of the mesh. I did a couple dry burns to see that all the coils lit and then did a couple juice burns to coat the coil and wick at the center post. First few burns had a metalic taste and then loads of flavor. The SS wick is doing a great job without having to tilt the PV.

 

[l3oertjie]

This build is roughly based on the Vivi Nova and I am really enjoying it. It just works and has no bad taste at all. You can use whatever you like as the wick - s/steel, cotton, silica rope - anything. Cotton wick lasts about a week, silica about two weeks, s/steel - don't know yet... have mine in for three weeks now and still going strong - like new. The resistance wire will probably fail first. You can also just change the cotton bit that fits over the coil on a weekly basis depending on the type of juice you use. I have noticed that darker juices tends to cause a lot more buildup of crud on the coil and the cotton. The coil is easy to clean or dry burn but it is hardly worth to keep the cotton part - just chuck and replace.

Here's a pic:

And here's the guts:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/344181-little-beast-vivi-nova-raidy-style-cotton-over-wick-marriage-made-heaven.html#post7575746

 

[s§sZAN]

I did not care for the vivi nova with it's lousy, burnt, flavorless taste, until now.
I rebuilt the coil head with ss mesh and 30ga kanthal wire with a 6 wrap giving me 1.5 ohms. I also cut the mesh on an angle to the weave, to make bending it easier. I also notch the silicon cup around the mesh.
OMG what a difference, the flavor is awesome and no burnt taste. It is just as good as my rebuildable gen style atty.

I have been asked if I would rebuild them for some friends, so I did.
If you want, I can rebuild yours for you. Just pm me... You can either send me the material or pay $5 for each coil head, you will also need to provide a self addressed, stamped, return envolope.

 

[scrappy]

I've got a different theory about the burned grommet problemn(assuming you guys are talking about the lower grommet not the upper sleeve). I don't think the coil legs are the only culprit. I think the nipple on the top of the battery post is too close to the atty and heating up. I popped off the nipple as per this thread so I can get better airflow, but I think it'll decrease chances of burning the grommet too. I'm seeing a big difference in taste now.

Anyone willing to try this mod too and confirm my suspicions?

 

[martydmb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKKg05VicI8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Strangebrew]

Livnin la vivi nova "This peice of crap with potential"

Burnt taste only when needing refilled. Using Kanthal 33 ga. @ 5 turn gets around 2.7. I use cotton 1/0 wick material been boiled.
I quit the hassle of double legs.
Tie the little buggers in one's slumber after a few.

The Vivi Nova is an aweful ugly little smoker!
Note: (AGA-T) 500 mesh with run the mix quick, not as nice flavor as Vivi Nova.