MNKE 18650 low vapor production

[jfarnio]

I recently got my first mechanical mod (hcigar nemesis clone) and so far am very pleased with it. At first I got 2 efest 18350 batteries and upon doing more research into sub ohm battery safety decided to purchase an MNKE 18650 battery which I have heard good things about. I built my first single micro coil which meters at about 1.5 ohms and used cotton for the wick. I am very satisfied with both vapor production and flavor of the micro coil. However I have noticed that my efest batteries produce a ton more vapor than my MNKE battery does. I'm not sure what the reason for this is since all the batteries are fully charged (around 4.2 volts on the multimeter).

I was wondering if anyone had any input to this scenario. Is this normal? Or is there something wrong with my MNKE battery? I just purchased it less then a week ago.

I appreciate any thoughts on this problem!

Thanks,
Jared

 

[InTheShade]

Welcome to the forum jfarnio.

Stacking batteries is usually not recommended, and in fact, can be dangerous.

But Using 2 stacked 18350 doubles the voltage (7.4V), you'll always get more power than using a single 18650 (3.7V). This is normal. Running a 1.5ohm coil means you are pulling about 35 Watts or more through your coil with the stacked batteries. With the 18650 you are at around 9 watts. Huge difference.

Using stacked batteries can be tricky and you need to practice safe charging methods.

Mark each of them, use them always as a pair and rotate which battery you put at the top of the mod each time.

Personally I don't stack 18350, there are too many variables and I am always worried something could go horribly wrong. Read more on general battery safety from a great member (Baditude) blog http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/baditude/4848-9-battery-basics-mods-imr-protected.html and if you insist on going the stacked route, educate yourself on the safe stacking of batteries.

 

[Baditude]

Given the information that you have provided, I don't understand why you are getting this result, either.

Both the Efest and the MNKE are high drain IMR batteries, the correct chemistry type that you should be using. The MNKE batteries have a far better amp rating of 20 amps continuous discharge rate while the Efest are only rated at 6.4 amps, so the MNKE batteries should be outperforming the Efest.

You did't say if you were using your mod in a single 18350 mode or stacking the two 18350 batteries. Stacking would provide more voltage and therefore more vapor than using a single battery. I don't approve of stacking batteries, because unless you are very knowledgeable & diligent in the method of matching pairs of batteries you will be increasing your risk of draining your batteries to failure and hard-shorting them into thermal runaway.

DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF MOD BATTERIES

 

[jfarnio]

Sorry for leaving some of the details out. I actually told you guys the wrong type of efest batteries. I was thinking that they were 18350s but actually they are 18500s and I am not stacking them I am just using them one at a time and interchanging the tube attachments on my nemesis when going from one type of battery to the next.

It does puzzle me that I am getting this result as well. I just did another rebuild in fact and built a single 1.2 ohm micro coil with cotton again and am getting the same result. Hmmmmm.

Any ideas?

I apologize for saying the wrong type of efest battery. I was sure that they were 18350's and didn't look at them to make sure before I posted.

I doubt if it makes any difference but the micro coil is on a trident clone.

Thanks for the links to battery safety!

I did order two more of the MNKE 18650s which should be coming in some time this week so I'll be able to decide if my battery is at fault or not but wanted to see if there are any solutions in the mean time.

Thanks!

 

[pianman6954]

As already stated, stacked cells are going to produce double the voltage which is going to produce awesome vapor at 1.5 ohm but is a good bit dangerous and no vendor endorses this, I roll mostly micro-coils now but use my Vamo to keep the voltage at a relatively steady 4.1-4.2 volts. Working rba/rda are a lot about tuning and tweaking, try using thicker gauge kanthal with more wraps and test to see if you can get the resistance down a bit with the same or better surface area.

 

[*deleon517*]

jfarino, one thing that comes to mind is the spacing of the tubes. do you notice any play at all when the 18650 mnke's are in the device. sometimes when i switch from a 2000mah aw to a 1600mah battery the 1600mah is a little flat to me. what i have found is the 1600 mah is ever so slightly smaller, just enough to make the connection weak. luckily i use a k100 mostly and just need to do a slight twist of the mod to make a better connection.

 

[Paul.K]

Do you have a meter to measure the voltage of your mnke battery? Also when you are using them in the 18650 mode are you using the kick ring on your nemesis?

Sent from my cotton stuffed microcoiled Android unit.

 

[InTheShade]

No need to apologize, it still raised a good point and I'm glad you're finding those links useful.

As for the issue, I got nothing else... sorry.

If you can't get a solution here, i'd suggest to get a few more posts under your belt (you need 15) and head to the APV Discussion or maybe in the RBA section as a lot seem to use those same batteries. That is Rebuildable Atomizer Systems

 

[jfarnio]

Whenever I switch from the efest 18500 to the MNKE 18650 I not only have to switch out the tubes but I have to adjust the connection at the bottom by unscrewing the pin so that the MNKE fits snug. The MNKE requires the pin to be unscrewed quite a bit more. I'm not sure if having to have the bottom pin unscrewed more would cause a weaker connection. Does this seem like it could be the root of my problem?

I am not using a kick on my nemesis. I don't have one and have never used one. Honestly I'm not all that familiar with them aside from reading up on what they are.

I am using a multimeter to check the batteries and even when both the efest and MNKE are fully charged at about 4.1 or 4.2 volts the efest produces significantly more vapor.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Paul.K]

I meant the kick ring that comes with the nemesis. It's a short ring that gets screwed on used for when using a kick in the 18490 mode with the 18650 tube. You must not use it if not using a kick and only using the 18650 battery. If your battery is snug that's fine but if you are using that ring it may cause you having to adjust your switch too far out. Just throwing it out there to cover all bases.

http://vapingwarfare.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/nemesis-remove.jpg

 

[Mr343]

If all your connections are not the issue then you may have just received a couple of bad batteries in the case of your MNKE's.... all I can think of. Those MNKE's should be hitting harder than the efest. I use both and they work better for me always. Maybe not much but should be. How does the atty sound? Do you hear more action with the efest's too? If not maybe you are vaporizing off juice too quickly...one would think that you would get that dreaded burnt taste but in some cases you may not if timing is right. not common at all that you did get bad batts... but has to be thought of... or you got fake MNKE's.... hummm that might be. I have heard of these floating around. Where did you buy them?

just food for thought

 

[jfarnio]

Ohhh alright. I see what you are talking about now and no I'm not using that. I doubt if I could even adjust the screw far enough out to accommodate that even if I wanted to. Thanks for the diligence on your part though.

I'm curious if the new MNKE's will perform any differently. I just checked and they are scheduled to get here by Tuesday so I will keep you guys updated on what I observe with them.

 

[jfarnio]

Mr343,

I got the MNKEs from a local vapor shop that I have done quite a bit of business with in the past. But yes I definitely hear a lot more action with the efests and when I take off the top of the atomizer they visually sling off a lot more vapor than the MNKE does.

 

[Mr343]

Hummmm.....Well something is up. Those orange batteries are better than those efest you have figuratively speaking. That said from many test charts I have studied... that particular efest is the best and most consistent discharging battery they make. They can hold a solid 10amp through the life of the charge. Good but no MNKE... even though the set up you are running does not require even 10 amps by any stretch.

I am having a hard time figuring out what you have going on if all connections/tubes configuration stuff is confirmed, other than just a couple of bad batteries. I wish I could have had the magic screw driver for you man...

Hope you get it sorted out, curious how the next MNKE set run... Keep us posted

 

[jfarnio]

Just got the new MNKEs and got them charged up and still the same deal. The efests are definitely still outperforming them. Very weird.

I do have a pretty cheap charger (trustfire) but if its charging up all the batteries to around 4.2 volts I don't see why it would make a difference.

I might try going into the vapor shop and see if anyone there has any insight into my situation.

 

[Paul.K]

At this point I'm more inclined to think you have an issue with your mod being in the 18650 mode. If you have a meter can you measure the voltage at the 510 positive post with it in the each respective mode and measure the voltage?
Also did you get the batteries from the same vendor?

 

[Thrasher]

the real nemesis has several different pins available, one of which is a longer set to help with certain batteries. with out handling it myself, going by what is said here it may in fact be the pin is unscrewed too much, as this is pretty much all it can be if the batteries are authentic. you can try cleaning the threads on the longer tubes to see if that may help as well.

 

[jfarnio]

I got these new batteries from a different vendor (a seller on ebay that has a 100% rating). But I will have to give testing the batteries with a multimeter while in the mod a try.

But my nemesis is an hcigar clone and didn't come with any extra pins. However, I have heard good things about this particular clone.

I will update you guys when I get around to testing the batteries' voltages while in the mod.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Ryedan]

I also think this issue is coming from the mod. There's no way it's the batteries. Something in 18650 mode is causing more resistance than the mod in 18500 mode.

 

[jfarnio]

If that's the case (that for some reason there is more resistance when in 18650 mode) do you think that measuring the resistance of my trident while on the mod in 18650 mode using a multimeter would yield a higher resistance then with the mod in 18500 mode?

If so I will have to try that as well when I have my multimeter on hand.