My m401 battery is blinking "prematurely"

[ePuffDaddy]

Hi guys.

Is it normal for the m401 battery to blink even way before it discharges? Mine is going like this, particularly after a long draw.

TIA

 

[HaploVoss]

Well - most auto batteries have a 'cuttoff' -- if you take a long draw, longer than say 5 seconds or so, the battery will automatically cutoff and blink letting you know that you exceeded the cutoff point. Once it stops you can take another drag.

 

[ePuffDaddy]

Silly me, haha. Thanks HaploVoss!

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

Well - most auto batteries have a 'cuttoff' -- if you take a long draw, longer than say 5 seconds or so, the battery will automatically cutoff and blink letting you know that you exceeded the cutoff point. Once it stops you can take another drag.

On what model?

All of the M401s that I have just do nothing when you reach cut off. No flash, no draw, nothing.

If it's flashing all the time after a draw, sounds like it's faulty to me.

 

[ePuffDaddy]

Hi Sludge, a friend told me that there's another m401 variant that doesn't do the blinking thing when cutoff is reached. Can this be the case with yours?

Oh my, now I'm confused.

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

Possibly, I've got about 4 or 5 different brands of 401 (EVOlution (Intellicig), Pilot (e-cigs.co.uk) EM4 (Eastmall) & some generics) none of them blink when they go into cut off mode.

What brand is yours?

 

[HaploVoss]

Also - just how often does this happen? All m401 batteries I have seen do still have a blinking cleaning cycle that happens every so often... that could also explain blinking before low-charge indication if this does end up being a battery without a cutoff blink yes?

Another thing to consider... does it seem to perform properly? Does the battery life seem good? Do you get a good draw off of your 401 for the duration? If so then I would doubt it would be faulty, but I guess it would be worth investigating the brand as Sludge suggests just in case.

Take care,
- Hap

 

[Ez Duzit]

Also - just how often does this happen? All m401 batteries I have seen do still have a blinking cleaning cycle that happens every so often... that could also explain blinking before low-charge indication if this does end up being a battery without a cutoff blink yes?

Another thing to consider... does it seem to perform properly? Does the battery life seem good? Do you get a good draw off of your 401 for the duration? If so then I would doubt it would be faulty, but I guess it would be worth investigating the brand as Sludge suggests just in case.

Take care,
- Hap

I've been using the 401 for a few months now and can't remember a cleaning cycle ever kicking in. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never noticed it.

 

[HaploVoss]

Ok then I will hand it back to you guys. Perhaps there havebeen some changes to the 401. I have 3 different kinds of cheapies from Deal Extreme, a China Supplier, and a "Dragon" 401 I traded for from a member on these forums. They all have cutoffs and every so often have a cleaning cycle -> So perhaps They are just old?? (This thread got me curious so I've drug them all out and charged up a battery a piece on them LOL)

Take care, and I hope you get it figured out soon!!
- Hap

 

[Ez Duzit]

Ok then I will hand it back to you guys. Perhaps there havebeen some changes to the 401. I have 3 different kinds of cheapies from Deal Extreme, a China Supplier, and a "Dragon" 401 I traded for from a member on these forums. They all have cutoffs and every so often have a cleaning cycle -> So perhaps They are just old?? (This thread got me curious so I've drug them all out and charged up a battery a piece on them LOL)

Take care, and I hope you get it figured out soon!!
- Hap

I got my Dragon about 2 months ago, but honestly don't remember ever enduring a cleaning cycle. Maybe it happened, and I vaped right thru it.

 

[ePuffDaddy]

Thanks for the inputs, Hap. And Sludge. And Ez.

To answer some of the queries presented here:

1. I've got the m401 (white) from a local supplier which, I was told, got their stock from healthcabin.net.

2. The first week I didn't at all notice the batt blinking "prematurely." That time when I would test the cutoff point of the batt, I would take a long draw until the LED light turned off. No blinking as far as I remember. This could be why I had no prior idea that there are batts that blink when cutoff is reached.

3. As regards performance, here's something I observed just now: I have 2 atties at the moment, let's call them vanilla atty and mango atty. The "premature" blinking is more apparent when I'm using vanilla atty, and I have a harder time drawing on it. Does the blinking have a connection with the atty? Or is it plain coincidence?

4. About battery life, I can't really tell if it has been compromised by the "premature" blinking. I've been using two batts (oh I forgot to mention, they are both "early blinkers") and managing to have them last me through the day. The way I'm vaping non-stop (not uncommon for a newbie, I suppose), it also means these two batts undergo multiple recharging cycles in a day, one going dead just in time when the other hits full charge (about every 2 1/2 hours of continuous use). It's always been this way from day one EXCEPT yesterday, when one went empty a good ten minutes before the other went full. Happened only once though. Apparently, this "glitch" was what prompted me to open this thread and ask about the blinking.

So there. What a rollercoaster ride of nic-induced emotions! Started with a seemingly legitimate question, which turned out to be something silly, which now is turning out to be not just legitimate but a tricky one! Hope you guys are still with me on this ride to higher states of m401-battery-blinking-prematurely consciousness.

 

[Ez Duzit]

Thanks for the inputs, Hap. And Sludge. And Ez.

To answer some of the queries presented here:

1. I've got the m401 (white) from a local supplier which, I was told, got their stock from healthcabin.net.

2. The first week I didn't at all notice the batt blinking "prematurely." That time when I would test the cutoff point of the batt, I would take a long draw until the LED light turned off. No blinking as far as I remember. This could be why I had no prior idea that there are batts that blink when cutoff is reached.

3. As regards performance, here's something I observed just now: I have 2 atties at the moment, let's call them vanilla atty and mango atty. The "premature" blinking is more apparent when I'm using vanilla atty, and I have a harder time drawing on it. Does the blinking have a connection with the atty? Or is it plain coincidence?

4. About battery life, I can't really tell if it has been compromised by the "premature" blinking. I've been using two batts (oh I forgot to mention, they are both "early blinkers") and managing to have them last me through the day. The way I'm vaping non-stop (not uncommon for a newbie, I suppose), it also means these two batts undergo multiple recharging cycles in a day, one going dead just in time when the other hits full charge (about every 2 1/2 hours of continuous use). It's always been this way from day one EXCEPT yesterday, when one went empty a good ten minutes before the other went full. Happened only once though. Apparently, this "glitch" was what prompted me to open this thread and ask about the blinking.

So there. What a rollercoaster ride of nic-induced emotions! Started with a seemingly legitimate question, which turned out to be something silly, which now is turning out to be not just legitimate but a tricky one! Hope you guys are still with me on this ride to higher states of m401-battery-blinking-prematurely consciousness.

Different atty's for the same model absolutely perform differently. Some will draw easier then others, and some might give weak vapor. It's kind of the luck of the draw. If you are serious about vaping you probably want more then 2 atty's. I have 7 for my 401 but out of those, at least 2 of them will never get used because they perform like crap. Weak vapor, hard draw, etc...

How soon after a fresh charge have you seen the erratic blinking? Because if you normally get 3 hours or so, and it suddenly starts blinking at 2 hours, it's just the battery needing a charge.

A bunch of things factor into why that might happen. In your case, if you are using an atty with a hard draw and weak vapor, you are taking longer hits, and more of them, to compensate. So the battery might wear out as much as a few hours sooner. You have to realize that these batteries don't really last 4-5 hours. It only seems that way, but in reality, they might give 6 or 7 minutes of continuous power. But we break that up into several 4 to 5 second sessions. If you draw an extra 3 seconds with each hit, trying to compensate for a weak atty, your battery life for that session will be cut almost in half. Hence the early blinking of the battery, which you think can't possibly need a recharge yet, but in reality, it does.
Hopefully this solves your mystery. Get yourself a few more batteries, and a few more atty's.

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

How soon after a fresh charge have you seen the erratic blinking? Because if you normally get 3 hours or so, and it suddenly starts blinking at 2 hours, it's just the battery needing a charge.

A bunch of things factor into why that might happen. In your case, if you are using an atty with a hard draw and weak vapor, you are taking longer hits, and more of them, to compensate. So the battery might wear out as much as a few hours sooner. You have to realize that these batteries don't really last 4-5 hours. It only seems that way, but in reality, they might give 6 or 7 minutes of continuous power. But we break that up into several 4 to 5 second sessions. If you draw an extra 3 seconds with each hit, trying to compensate for a weak atty, your battery life for that session will be cut almost in half. Hence the early blinking of the battery, which you think can't possibly need a recharge yet, but in reality, it does.
Hopefully this solves your mystery. Get yourself a few more batteries, and a few more atty's.

Pretty much what I thought after reading post #11. It is possible to get it to flash (as in it needs a charge), put it down & get another draw on it later. What I don't know is, how often you can do this or how many times it's possible. It would get progressively harder draw though

I've never known a M4 series battery to go into cleaning cycle AFAIK they don't have one. (this is going by the ones I (& my other half) own (20 or so))

 

[ePuffDaddy]

I would've understood the blinking if it happens after an hour or so of use. But sometimes it would blink on the first draw right after getting screwed out of the charger. Yes, that soon.

You think I'm undercharging? I don't necessarily remove the batt from the charger immediately after the green light turns on. Given my estimate that it would take me 2 1/2 hours to change batts, well that's about the same time the batt is in the charger. I think about 30 minutes after I see the green light.

Am I still making any sense here?

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

I have no experience of the brand you use so I can't comment on that, but it doesn't seem right at all to me.

How many spares do you have? I would suggest at least another battery & I like to have at least 4 atties available at any one time.

Are you otherwise happy with your 401? If so maybe you should source your spares from somewhere else

China EastMall although they only seem to do manuals (which is not necessarily a bad thing)

UK Intellicig autos only ATM (again not necessarily a bad thing)

US TrueSmoker both autos & manuals.

All of whom I know to be reliable reputable companies (Never trust a company that doesn't stock M4 series )


How long have you had them? If they are still under warranty, it might be worth contacting your supplier or healthcabin.

Have you posted this problem in the HealthCabin section of the forum? HealthCabin - e-cigarette-forum.com • The place for electronic cigarette reviews, news and chat Might be worth a go.

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

Angela has just reminded me that the 401 passthroughs we bought from Central Trade flash as if the battery is flat when you take an overly long drag on them (ie above the usual 5-7 second limit on most M401s).

This in turn reminded me of a review by Scott that I think was a M401, that flashed in such a way & then only cut out for a few seconds, rather than the more traditional M401 period of 2 minutes.

Can't for the life of me remember what brand it was for though**, but this may well be the cause of your incessant flashing


** Trying to find out for you ATM (just emailed Scott for conformation)

 

[Sludge Van Diesel]

It was a M401, although not AFAIK anything to do with HealthCabin

Here's a link to the review....

The Mirage M401 electronic cigarette

So it does look like this is the norm for some M401s.

I hope this helps you get to the bottom of your flashing.

EDIT: Scott has just emaild me to say that the HC M403 does indeed shut down for seconds rather than minutes after flashing. So it seems logical that their M401s do the same (this appears to be the new trend with M4 series batteries)

I think we've sussed it out. (as long as it still vapes after this period) You'll just have to learn to keep your drags to under 7 seconds

 

[ePuffDaddy]

Thanks so much Sludge for bearing with me. I guess we've "sussed it out" alright. And yes, I can still vape after the flashing. No noticeable reduction in vapor or flavor.

Thanks again!