My Atty Resurrection Method

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grantemsley

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I tried this on a couple of my M601XL attys that are getting clogged. They have a hard draw and a slightly nasty taste to them.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it doesn't seem to work. After following the guide, dripping some liquid on it and trying to vape from it, I get a tiny puff of smoke followed by a nasty...well, it's not really a taste, it's more of a burning/stinging sensation of the nose. And the hard draw is still there.

Any idea where I'm going wrong? I've tried it both with the stock battery (3.7v unloaded, so probably around 3.2v loaded), as well as with my home made mod (4x1.2V AAs) at around 4.2V loaded.

When you say hot water, to you mean hot from the tap water, or recently boiled water?
 

DC2

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I tried this on a couple of my M601XL attys that are getting clogged. They have a hard draw and a slightly nasty taste to them.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it doesn't seem to work. After following the guide, dripping some liquid on it and trying to vape from it, I get a tiny puff of smoke followed by a nasty...well, it's not really a taste, it's more of a burning/stinging sensation of the nose. And the hard draw is still there.

Any idea where I'm going wrong? I've tried it both with the stock battery (3.7v unloaded, so probably around 3.2v loaded), as well as with my home made mod (4x1.2V AAs) at around 4.2V loaded.

When you say hot water, to you mean hot from the tap water, or recently boiled water?
I've never had this happen to me so I am just guessing here...

Did you rinse it out really well with really hot water to get any old juice out before you did a dry burn?
If not, your dry burn may have baked on some of the old juice that was in the mesh that surrounds the little coil pot.

Did you dry burn long enough, or do enough dry burns, so that no more smoke was coming off and the entire coil was glowing?
If not, you still need to do more dry burns.

Did you rinse it out after doing the dry burns?
If not, then you may be vaping the ashes of what came off when doing the dry burns.
 

evnan111

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This is the only method I use, and I have attys that are 4-5 months old and still going strong. One in particular, I have vaped well over 300ml through and it hits like the day (after) I got it.

1. Blow out any excess juice.
2. Rinse with hot water and blow out thoroughly. (no need to dry over night, or anything. They have a built in dryer ;))
3. Connect to battery...preferably something higher voltage than stock. I use my variable voltage power supply that's connected to a PS passthrough and set it to about 5.2V for a 510 (6.5ish for an 801), but if all you have is stock, then that will work too.
4. Push button until you see orange hot...carefully...not super bright (white hot).
5. Let off button and blow down the barrel (from a distance, not with your mouth actually on it), this kind of flash cools it and also gets some of the moist air out to speed the drying process.
6. Repeat (steps 4 and 5) 5-10 times... you will see that gradually (once you've got it dry) the glow will occur much quicker.
7. Once you have it to this point, press and release the button at a rate that just holds the orange glow (kind of a manual 'pulse width modulate'). Keep this glow going for 20-30 seconds, being very careful to maintain the glow at low orange (not bright red/white) or you'll pop it.
8. Once you have done that, repeat steps 2-7 one more time.

At this point you will have an atty that performs like (or better than) brand new. I have used this technique with 510, 801, 901, 401, and 4081 attys and it always works for me. I like this method because it is quick and simple. No need for any cleaners or overnight soaking. Takes 2-3 minutes and you're back in business.

** You do have to use some caution, as you can pop an atty pretty easily until you have the method down. I haven't popped one in quite some time though.

**Also, no need to remove the wick (that's in there for a reason), as you are baking all the gunk out when you do this. This is the reason for the second rinse in the middle of the process. You basically turn the gunk to ash with the sustained orange glow, then rinse the ash out.

If anyone tries this, give some feedback and let me know if you find any ways to perfect this method. Seems to work great, but there are always ways to improve ;)

Edit: (some tips on the "rinse, dry and burn" stages of the process)

**Tips on the 'rinse' stage (step 2)
Step 2 is meant to get as much juice out of the atty as possible. The more juice you can get out with the water rinse, the faster you will get the atty dry in steps 4&5. (The water will evaporate off much quicker than juice.)
- Rinse by just running hot water from the tap first. Then once you have it somewhat clean, fill the atty barrel with water then (before all the water runs out), put it in your lips and blow the water through really hard. This will give all the nickel foam that's in the atty a kind of "power wash" and get most of any remaining juice out.

**Tips on the 'dry' stage (steps 4 & 5):
Steps 4 and 5 are meant to get the atty 'bone dry', before you move on to step 6 and the button pulsing.
-The more water you can blow out before connecting to the batt, the better. Blow through the atty really hard from both ends (not at the same time:rolleyes:)
- You can also blow gently down the barrel (from a distance), while holding the button in step 4 to speed the drying process. This will clear the hot moist air out of the atty and allow for a quicker drying time. The key in these steps is to get the atty dried out.

Tips on the 'Burn' stage (step 7)
The whole key to not popping the atty is keeping a good visual on the coil, and watching the hottest part while pulsing the button. I have had a few attys that will get bright hot on one end of the coil and nothing on the other end of the coil. The way to make this method the most effective is to maintain that orange glow at the hottest end while pulsing the button. If you keep it up long enough you will see the glow slowly migrate across the coil. When you are all done the entire coil should glow when the button is pressed.
Once you are past the drying step, you should not hold the button for more than one second. It should really be much shorter than that. More like a button pulse of 2-3 times a second.[/QUOTE


THANK YOU PING. Had 2 attys with my Tornado that lasted two weeks, both went out same day. AND then 3 more that went bad in as many days... I was direct dripping and thought that had something to do with it so started to follow your Cart Mod technique and have been very happy with my attys for last several days. Better taste than dripping to me. Do you drip?

BUT WITH YOUR ATTY REVIVING METHOD I have saved the first two "bad attys" and boy they work so well. Great plumes of smoke and taste. Expect the other three to come back also as I had not used them long. Thank you much. Saved me some money also. Was bummed thinking I would be going through a five pack at TW every month. Any tricks for keeping or maintaining Tornado or 650 mah batteries?

How come it seems to fizzle out the atomiser everytime I use water. I feel safer with just burning and blowing atomiser. I only put one of the three in some hot water and blew thoroughly but have had to put it aside. Just burning only alittle orange red so am letting it dry alittle and will go back to it again. Alot of people have written that they have bad luck with water. I've had that same feeling but the idea of getting rid of the ashes after burning is a good thing. Thanks for your entries Ping.
 

DC2

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How come it seems to fizzle out the atomiser everytime I use water. I feel safer with just burning and blowing atomiser. I only put one of the three in some hot water and blew thoroughly but have had to put it aside. Just burning only alittle orange red so am letting it dry alittle and will go back to it again. Alot of people have written that they have bad luck with water. I've had that same feeling but the idea of getting rid of the ashes after burning is a good thing. Thanks for your entries Ping.
That is the water boiling off, and it takes the place of having to let the atomizer dry.
Basically, you are burning the water off instead of having to let the atomizer dry.

There is no reason anyone should have any bad luck with water unless they are not letting it dry all the way.
An atomizer with too much water will seem like it doesn't work, but it really does, you just have to wait a lot longer for it to heat up.

It is good to rinse it after doing the dry burns, but it is very important to rinse it really, really well BEFORE doing the dry burns.
That rinse beforehand is to get all of the old dried up juice out from the mesh that surrounds the coil pot.

If you don't rinse that old juice out you could wind up baking that it into the mesh while burning the other gunk off the coil.
 

Nietzsc

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When I rinse my attys with water I do it with a seringe plugged in to the atty, so when I pull the plunger the water goes through the atty and the water that comes out from the first rinse it is dirty as hell, on the second rinse after the second dry burn the water looks still dirty but not as much so the water definetely plays a part by taking away old burned juice cause on the third rinse the water looks clean.
 

ukeman

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hey evnan,
glad to see your post because if you got your Tornado with the TW Titan 510 attys (2.2 Ohm) those are in the Ohm range that i find hard to find. I use them on my Phidias which is a tad hotter than most 3.7v mods and they are expensive.

[/B][/QUOTE - THANK YOU PING. Had 2 attys with my Tornado that lasted two weeks, both went out same day. AND then 3 more that went bad in as many days... have been very happy with my attys for last several days. Better taste than dripping to me. Do you drip?
BUT WITH YOUR ATTY REVIVING METHOD I have saved the first two "bad attys" and boy they work so well. Great plumes of smoke and taste. Expect the other three to come back also as I had not used them long. Thank you much. Saved me some money also. Was bummed thinking I would be going through a five pack at TW every month. Any tricks for keeping or maintaining Tornado or 650 mah batteries?
[/QUOTE]

My question is about using a multimeter to check Ohm spec on attys...
If the meter shows No Reading at all, does that mean don't bother trying to ressurect them?
Are they gonners?

thanks
 

ukeman

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to add to that question, if the multimeter reading is whacky, like 14.9 on a 510, what gives there?

[/QUOTE]

My question is about using a multimeter to check Ohm spec on attys...
If the meter shows No Reading at all, does that mean don't bother trying to ressurect them?
Are they gonners?

thanks[/QUOTE]
 
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ukeman

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am using an eGo PT and i probably should have used my HV PT, but anyway the LR atties are the easiest to clean... if you keep a light touch.
the reg 510's don't seem to take well to 3.7 dry burning... hard to get them orange.
i have one that has had some dark juice that made it taste like burnt rubber ... and it needs extra work... will see.
 

grantemsley

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If your multimeter gives no reading (a 1 on most meters I've used) and you've double checked your cables and/or tested it on a good atty - then it's destined for the trash. Maybe you can fix it, but unless you are desperate, broke AND have excellent soldering skills, its not worth it. You can be absolutely sure because when you put it on a battery, it won't glow, won't heat up at all.

If the meter gives weird readings like 14.9 ohms I can think of a few things that might do it:
- Bad or miscalibrated meter - test a working atty or a known value resistor
- Bad connection between the atty and your test leads - make sure the connector is clean and the leads are touching it firmly
- Almost broken atty - I'd imaging that it is possible for an atty to fail in such a way that it still almost makes a connection. But I doubt it.
 

ukeman

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thanks.
on another 510 (reg) i got the slightest firing... like 1/4 power ignition... no color. even at 5 and 6 volts, no color just a low sound.. it's gotta be gonner.
no?

If your multimeter gives no reading (a 1 on most meters I've used) and you've double checked your cables and/or tested it on a good atty - then it's destined for the trash. Maybe you can fix it, but unless you are desperate, broke AND have excellent soldering skills, its not worth it. You can be absolutely sure because when you put it on a battery, it won't glow, won't heat up at all.

If the meter gives weird readings like 14.9 ohms I can think of a few things that might do it:
- Bad or miscalibrated meter - test a working atty or a known value resistor
- Bad connection between the atty and your test leads - make sure the connector is clean and the leads are touching it firmly
- Almost broken atty - I'd imaging that it is possible for an atty to fail in such a way that it still almost makes a connection. But I doubt it.
 

DC2

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From what I understand from reading this entire thread, if it fires at all, then it can possibly be saved.
The more gunked up it is, the longer the burns should be and the more rinse dry/burn cycles you should do.

Somebody will correct me if I am off base with the instructions for a really, really gunked up atomizer.
I have never had to deal with a really, really gunked up atomizer.

Mine glow orange at 3.7v quite quickly, because I maintain them every week or two.
 

Nietzsc

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Yeah, it is really strange that your atty doesn't glow even at 5-6 volts. I always clean at 3.7 volts and at first the atty doesn't glow because it's still wet with juice on the first dry burn and with water on the second, but it doesn't take long to start glowing.

You should be fine cleaning your attys every two weeks to prevent gunk from building up, I find that when the atty starts to leak all over the place is time to clean it.
 

deback

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I debridged one of my atomizers a couple of weeks ago. It worked fine for the first two days. I don't drip very often, so I probably used it for a couple of hours. Then it started having a burnt taste when I'd try to use it, even though I had enough liquid in it (like at least 6 primer drops and 3 drops after that).

So, last night, I soaked it in 91% isopropyl alcohol for an hour or so. Then soaked in hot water for an hour or so. Then soaked in IA for an hour or so. This probably wasn't all necessary. Then I let it dry overnight.

I just did step 7 of the Highping method...pushing (pulsing) the button constantly, to keep the orange glow, for about 20 seconds. Then I dripped in 6 drops, blew lightly into the mouth end a couple of times, dripped in 4 more drops, blew lightly once, vaped twice, got a little burnt taste, dripped in 3 more drops, and now it's working fine, with no burnt taste.

Since this atomizer has been debridged, I have to add 3 drops more often than every 9 drags (which I have to do when using an atomizer that hasn't been debridged).

Thank you, Highping! The Highping method works, and I won't debridge any more atomizers. I like it better using non-debridged atomizers. They seem to work much better for me.
 

DC2

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Thank you, Highping! The Highping method works, and I won't debridge any more atomizers. I like it better using non-debridged atomizers. They seem to work much better for me.
I keep trying to figure out if there is any point to debridging an atomizer.
I haven't tried it myself, and I don't really intend to unless there is some point to it.
 

Vaporologist

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I keep trying to figure out if there is any point to debridging an atomizer.
I haven't tried it myself, and I don't really intend to unless there is some point to it.

I tried it a few times with older 510s and didn't like the end result very much. Even though the flavor improved slightly due to a removal of the gunky wick, most of them started leaking quite a bit. I know people who remove the wick and the bridge on a brand new 510 atty before they ever even use it, but it's not for me. The only atty where I actually prefer to pull the wick out is the Cisco's LR306. I find it has a much better flavor that way. But I don't remove the bridge itself.
 
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