Mechanicals frustration

[ckim111]

Hello all,

in order to move on to the next step in vaping, I bought the kayfun, and the hcigar nemesis clone as well as the ehpro marraxus mechanical. I read through all information before making these purchases. I bought the imr 18650 protected button top batteries as well.

Before I connected my kayfun to the mechanicals, I put in the batteries to both mods and tried them with the Iclear 30b as well as the pro tank 3.

When end I clicked on the fire button and took a drag, my units were not firing. I tried several times and then both units got extremely hot that I had to drop both of them. When I removed the battery, the plastic cover on the bottom of the battery had melted!

im pretty sure I bought the right battery, so can someone please let me know why it's not working for me? I also realized that my pro tank shorted because afterwards it would not fire on my ego battery either.

do I need to get the kick? Should I have gotten the flat top instead of the button top? On the nemesis clone, when I put in the 18650 battery, the tubes were too big for the battery so it would shift back and forth inside the tube.

im so frustrated that I'm about to throw these mods out . Please help! Thank you

 

[bussdriver]

To start with, you say your batteries got hot. You've got a short somewhere and as you describe it's in your Kayfun. Your coil is touching somewhere it shouldn't, to one of the posts. That's what will cause the overheating of your batteries. If you don't have an ohmmeter, with the rebuildable units I would HIGHLY recommend you get one. That way you can discover the problem before overheating, damage or meltdown occurs.

As far as the nemesis, the bottom switch is adjustable by screwing/unscrewing the post inside the tube that contacts the battery. That allows you to take up the play in the battery length and still allows you to adjust for the proper switch throw.

Be sure not to screw the devices onto your batteries too tightly. Torquing them down tightly may cause the pins to compress their insulators and cause a short. Loosen the top pin on the nemesis, screw the device onto the cap, and then screw the center pin in just until it makes good contact. Put everything together, and adjust the bottom switch until all is well.

 

[Myrany]

Let me also add those batteries are hosed. Dispose of them properly. Do not be tempted to try them again.

 

[DavidAmonettNashville]

Do you own this Yet ??

 

[ckim111]

Hi bus driver,

I actually didn't use my Kayfun with it yet. Because it was my first time I wanted to test it out on cheaper devices first. That's why I used both the I clear 30b and the protank and they both wouldn't fire. These are two tanks that I used on my ego batteries fine right before I put them on my mechanical mods. So this is why I'm so confused...

To start with, you say your batteries got hot. You've got a short somewhere and as you describe it's in your Kayfun. Your coil is touching somewhere it shouldn't, to one of the posts. That's what will cause the overheating of your batteries. If you don't have an ohmmeter, with the rebuildable units I would HIGHLY recommend you get one. That way you can discover the problem before overheating, damage or meltdown occurs.

As far as the nemesis, the bottom switch is adjustable by screwing/unscrewing the post inside the tube that contacts the battery. That allows you to take up the play in the battery length and still allows you to adjust for the proper switch throw.

Be sure not to screw the devices onto your batteries too tightly. Torquing them down tightly may cause the pins to compress their insulators and cause a short. Loosen the top pin on the nemesis, screw the device onto the cap, and then screw the center pin in just until it makes good contact. Put everything together, and adjust the bottom switch until all is well.

 

[bones1274]

Not all 18650 batteries are the same. What ohm coil did you make? Did you use an ohm meter? Did you use the ohms law calculator to see if you exceeded the amp limit of your batteries? Did you test your coil for shorts before putting it on your mod? You are lucky your batteries didn't go high order possibly hurting you or killing you.

 

[ckim111]

Yes I do own that but do I need to use it for the iclear 30b and protank? I didn't do a custom build on them.. Just used the stock coil setup..

View attachment 297065 Do you own this Yet ??

 

[ckim111]

I didn't use my own coil setup.. I just used the stock pro tank and the stock iclear 30b tank..

Not all 18650 batteries are the same. What ohm coil did you make? Did you use an ohm meter? Did you use the ohms law calculator to see if you exceeded the amp limit of your batteries? Did you test your coil for shorts before putting it on your mod? You are lucky your batteries didn't go high order possibly hurting you or killing you.

 

[ckim111]

Thank you .. I threw them out as soon as it happened

Let me also add those batteries are hosed. Dispose of them properly. Do not be tempted to try them again.

 

[bussdriver]

If the batteries get hot, you've still got a short. Don't know how to tell you exactly where, but that's what it seems to be. Try putting just the mech mod together without any device on it and pressing the switch. It should not warm up. If it does, then the mod is the problem. You'll have to investigate to find where.

If it doesn't get warm until you screw your device on, then you have a pin or device shorting.

 

[retrox]

I suggest you replace that (cooked) battery with an unprotected IMR and a 2-cent FUSE. Spend a BIT MORE for a re-usable fuse.

I would NOT suggest adjusting the firing pin of that HCigar Nemmy. Torque it down (finger-tight), as it has a tendency to back out on its own with use if you don't and could result in autofiring when you least expect it.

And as others have said, a multimeter or at the very least an ohm meter is standard gear for any mechanical user. It's the second-most important piece of equipment you need, right behind the battery (the mech itself is third )...

That's a killer combo you've got there, don't give up. I've got the same rig in front of me right now (Nemmy/KFL). It's worth it.

Just be safe and patient in equal parts.

edit: Never, ever trust a factory-built coil on a mechanical. Don't care where it came from. If you didn't build it and test it yourself, don't trust it.

 

[crxess]

Hate to sound rude and not my intent, but what you need to do is Put the Mods away and do a lot of reading. Chat with members and wear out Youtube videos until you are Sure You are ready.
Your simple statement they BOTH heated up, told me you were shorting something. Also it told me it was like not either Mod.
Continuing to press a button when noting is happening is a serious sign of inexperience, not to mention dangerous.

I own Both Mods, 5 Nemesis and 1 Maraxus. All are well built and would be very difficult to make short out.(can be done though)

If a Mod will not fire, you stop.
You inspect connections
You confirm Battery is fresh
You verify Atomizer is good, not shorting or open(broken)

Then after correcting, you try again.

 

[Mitey F]

I'm not familiar with these mods, but it sounds to me like you're needing to adjust your battery connection pins.

 

[Ryedan]

crxess got it right ^^^. You have no protection built into a mechanical mod, safety is all on you. Short the wrong battery and it could quickly vent with flame. Think pipe bomb.

What batteries did you have? You need a IMR or hybrid lithium ion like the ones in this chart. All of those will be very unlikely to vent with flame. You said your batteries were protected so they should not have heated up, the protection shoud have kicked in. OTOH, the vast majority of protected batteries are ICR li-ion which are the ones which explode when abused. At least that didn't happen

You need to make sure you do not draw more current from the battery than it can safely handle. Look at the amp limits in the chart. There is a online ohms law calculator here. Plug in the battery voltage (4.2V when freshly charged) and the resistance of the coil and it will calculate the amps. I never draw more than 2/3 of the available amp rating. More than that and it will start heating up. Get the battery hot enough and it will vent hot gas which is nasty stuff.

I always check any device before I fire it on my mech mods with a digital mulitmeter. They're not expensive and invaluable for troubleshooting. If you have a short somewhere, do not fire it on a mod until the short is found and fixed, or the atty is replaced.
You will also have to be careful not to over discharge the battery. You should also check the batteries when they come off the charger to make sure the charger didn't fail and overcharge them. That can be as dangerous as shorting them. Many people let their batteries sit for a half hour minimum off the charger before doing anything with them.

There is some very good information that goes way deeper into battery safety and mechanical mod issues in this thread. Please explore there and do a bunch more reading. Mechanical mods are not plug and play. Mistakes can be painful. If you're not ready for this, wait until you are or stick with regulated mods.

Vape safe

 

[Jaguar07]

I'm sure that you can glean this from the previous posts, if you summarize. I'm going to try to put it all into one post, in a step by step.

1) THE single most important item for any vaper is safety. With a mechanical device, you are removing any safety features a regulated device may offer you. Adding a fuze or fuze like device can provide some protection. It often defeats the purpose of using a mechanical.

2) The Battery is the most critical item of any vaping device. When you use a mechanical, the battery you use is hypercritical. There are pages of posts on how to select batteries. The cliff notes version is that there are very few batteries that should be used in a mechanical. Frankly, if it isn't a good enough battery for my mechanicals, I won't buy it for anything else either. EVERYONE should always be using IMR or IMR hybrids. IMR is the chemistry type of certain batteries, it isn't a name brand or a vendor to buy from. They don't cost any more than the other types. They are exponentially safer. Buy your batteries from reputable sources. If that young person on ebay sells you a battery that explodes, I'll bet a dollar to your donut, they won't have liability insurance. Caveat Emptor.

3) Which batteries will I use? I use batteries made by AW, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony. I buy them from Fasttech(Almost impossible to do now), RTD Vapes, and Illumination Supplies. There are other reputable vendors to choose from. I don't trust Efest or Trustfire batteries.

4) Depending on the coils you intend to make, 10amp 20amp or 30amp matters. I prefer the Sony US18650VTC4 30amp 2100mAh batteries right now. Next week that could change. I still have 10 amp and 20 amp batteries. They don't get much attention.

5) Do NOT go crazy low ohms before you really understand what you are risking in the way of your safety. Subohm is a world unto it's very own and you need to read and understand what you are risking. If you use the wrong battery and the 0.50 ohm coil, even if it is a perfect coil, you can melt down more batteries or have even uglier results.

6) Always test the resistance of EVERY atomizer type device before you screw it on to your mechanical. You are the only safety mechanism for your mechanical that has the ability to be 100% effective. If you forget to test one time, you may have a really bad day. If your mech feels warm, set it down and vape on another device for a while. Test the atomizer after it cools off. I don't remove my atomizer from my mechanical device often. If I drop or bump into something while HOLDING my mechanical, I test the atomizer again. Many may say this is overkill. I haven't ever had to throw any batteries away, or worse.

7) Always lock your mechanical before you put it down. I suspect this step is what ruined your batteries and your atomizer's coils.

If you aren't prepared to spend a lot more time doing research, maybe a mechanical device isn't your cup of tea. Regulated devices offer protections that mechanicals circumvent by DESIGN. There are lots of new choices in regulated devices that may ultimately make mechanical devices a thing of the past. ZNA, and other DNA 30 type devices are looking really interesting to me right now.

 

[dice57]

To start with, you say your batteries got hot. You've got a short somewhere and as you describe it's in your Kayfun. Your coil is touching somewhere it shouldn't, to one of the posts. That's what will cause the overheating of your batteries. If you don't have an ohmmeter, with the rebuildable units I would HIGHLY recommend you get one. That way you can discover the problem before overheating, damage or meltdown occurs.

As far as the nemesis, the bottom switch is adjustable by screwing/unscrewing the post inside the tube that contacts the battery. That allows you to take up the play in the battery length and still allows you to adjust for the proper switch throw.

Be sure not to screw the devices onto your batteries too tightly. Torquing them down tightly may cause the pins to compress their insulators and cause a short. Loosen the top pin on the nemesis, screw the device onto the cap, and then screw the center pin in just until it makes good contact. Put everything together, and adjust the bottom switch until all is well.

The Nemesis switch is not intended to be adjustable, people think it is because you can unscrew it, it is meant to be screwed down tight. if it isn't it will tend to back out over time a create a miss fire. Battery slop is taken up by screwing in the switch housing, till it is snug against the battery. If there is slop, one most likely hasn't removed the kick beauty ring, which can only be used with the kick installed or with the use of the extended center pin.

The kick ring is the small ~1/8" tube section, that must be removed so that the batteries will fit tight. It is usually screwed on right below the 510 connector, remove it and button top or flat top IMR batteries will fit nice a snug.

If you get a kick, recommend getting the Evolv kick 2, it is the best one out there and works great in the Nemi. Also getting something like the Sony VTC4 30 amp batteries, would be a good idea. Do the research on batteries an know what to use, don't guess.

Both devices you purchased are great, what you have is inexperience which caused user error. Danger Will Robinson, for you came real close to current over run already with whatever you did wrong. Either the batteries you choose could not hand the amp draw that your atomizer needed, or there was a short in your coil causing to many amps to be pulled out of the battery causing it to over heat.

 

[H. Hodges]

Hey Op, I just want to start out by saying that just about everyone already posting is giving sound advice, and I hope you listen for your sake. That being said, I just purchased the same Nemesis clone and had the same problem; that is until i noticed that there is a brass ring under the top cap. The clone in 18650 mode should consist of (in order from bottom up) the switch, the main tube (with decal and brass lock ring), 1 brass ring extension, the 18650 battery extension tube, and then the top cap without a brass ring on the bottom. I don't have a phone to take pics right now to provide, but if you go to FastTech - Gadgets and Electronics and look at the pictures they have, you'll probabbly get the idea. Again, the problem is the extra brass ring on the bottom of the top cap. once you remove it, place the stainless steel top cap directly onto the stainless steel 18650 tube. place an 18650 non-protected high drain 20 amp or better battery into the tube and tighten the battery up by screwing in the bottom switch. I also believe you have the WRONG batteries. You stated you are using "protected" imr 18650's. You need to be using 18650 non-protected high drain 20-30 amp batteries when using a mech. However, the mistake just lets you know that you NEED MORE research and/or experience prior to trying to use a mech. As always, safety is the very first thing you should consider, and you are lucky something more catastrophic did not occur! Check out Baditude's blogs on battery safety and devices. I also recommend that you cruse the forum for information on mechs, batteries, and top devices prior to using any combination of the three. Most of the people here have been in your shoes at one time and will help you through any problem. Next time, get the info before the mistake instead of the mistake before the info and VAPE ON!

 

[Sucker_dad]

Hate to sound rude and not my intent, but what you need to do is Put the Mods away and do a lot of reading. Chat with members and wear out Youtube videos until you are Sure You are ready.
Your simple statement they BOTH heated up, told me you were shorting something. Also it told me it was like not either Mod.
Continuing to press a button when noting is happening is a serious sign of inexperience, not to mention dangerous.

I own Both Mods, 5 Nemesis and 1 Maraxus. All are well built and would be very difficult to make short out.(can be done though)

If a Mod will not fire, you stop.
You inspect connections
You confirm Battery is fresh
You verify Atomizer is good, not shorting or open(broken)

Then after correcting, you try again.

Please listen to this! While blunt it couldn't be any more true. I own the nemesis it is a good mod. Getting hot is an issue that needs to be found and fixed before you continue. As for the advise to adjust the bottom pin on the nemesis. I'm going to go ahead and say ignore that the adjustment is the top pin get screwed tight to the bottom of the atty and the button screws in until snug there is no need for any other adjustment if you have it put together correctly. But do a little reading and youtube is your friend.

 

[albcig]

as everyone said be very careful using something potentially dangerous if you don't know much about it. to be sure you don't have any shorts, buy a multimeter, even a cheap one and test your mods with the icon in the photo. it should beep if there is a short somewhere.

 

[ckim111]

From my my research I was told to use protected and not unprotected batteries. This is one of the resources I used

Mechanical Mod Proper Usage Guide

But now you are saying the complete opposite? I'm very confused now..

Hey Op, I just want to start out by saying that just about everyone already posting is giving sound advice, and I hope you listen for your sake. That being said, I just purchased the same Nemesis clone and had the same problem; that is until i noticed that there is a brass ring under the top cap. The clone in 18650 mode should consist of (in order from bottom up) the switch, the main tube (with decal and brass lock ring), 1 brass ring extension, the 18650 battery extension tube, and then the top cap without a brass ring on the bottom. I don't have a phone to take pics right now to provide, but if you go to FastTech - Gadgets and Electronics and look at the pictures they have, you'll probabbly get the idea. Again, the problem is the extra brass ring on the bottom of the top cap. once you remove it, place the stainless steel top cap directly onto the stainless steel 18650 tube. place an 18650 non-protected high drain 20 amp or better battery into the tube and tighten the battery up by screwing in the bottom switch. I also believe you have the WRONG batteries. You stated you are using "protected" imr 18650's. You need to be using 18650 non-protected high drain 20-30 amp batteries when using a mech. However, the mistake just lets you know that you NEED MORE research and/or experience prior to trying to use a mech. As always, safety is the very first thing you should consider, and you are lucky something more catastrophic did not occur! Check out Baditude's blogs on battery safety and devices. I also recommend that you cruse the forum for information on mechs, batteries, and top devices prior to using any combination of the three. Most of the people here have been in your shoes at one time and will help you through any problem. Next time, get the info before the mistake instead of the mistake before the info and VAPE ON!