My refilling trick

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Mactavish

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So far since I've had my batteries (about 3 weeks) I put one in to charge before I go to bed, unplug it in the morning and put the other one in to charge until the light turns green (an hour or so). But it hasn't seemed to hurt the one that's been left in overnight, as far as I can tell.????

Many of the less expensive, read "cheap" chargers have been noted to keep applying a trickle charger to batteries left in the charger. Li-Ion batteries should NOT be trickle charged. This reduces the overall life of the battery, so the only way you could notice would be long term testing. This would be difficult and tedious as you would have to keep track of the amount of time you used each battery and if those potentially trickle charged ones, failed earlier. That's way too much science work for most of us.

So it is BEST, to remove the batteries when you charger light, indicates they are FULL. The Pila charger, is more expensive, but has been tested by many in the "candlepowerforums", to completely stop charging (no trickle) when the batteries are full. And in the very odd chance of a runaway overvoltage situation, it is another reason to remove them when full. You'll note on most sites that sell them, they always say "do not charge unattended". I find it interesting and perhaps revealing that the big name brand companies, like Duracell, Eveready, etc., do not market batteries and chargers in these types, the kinds we use for vaping, and others use for flashlights. Happy Charging! :)
 

RandomHero

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You should be able to get at least 18-20 drops in a KR808 cart (V4L type). This is assuming that the drops come from a V4L bottle and they are PG based. (I have not purchased liquid from any other source and I hate VG juice.)

Perhaps, your carts are not completely dry when you are refiling. Sometimes, once may cart is not producing enough vapor, I just consider it spent and it tales well less than 20 drops. If it start tasting burnt, then it is completely dry and you should be able to get the full complement of 20 drops in.

I just use the Cap Condom Filling Method now. It takes only a few seconds for each cart. If you are not familiar with this, look up the Video by Dogsbody. I believe it is in the Tips and Trick section.


Can you still do the spinning method with the cap condom filling method?
 

Mactavish

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Can you still do the spinning method with the cap condom filling method?

Could you still do it? SURE, question is DO you NEED to? Maybe that is what you meant. I'm a relative "newbie", but really like the "CCFM" you mention for CARTOMIZERS. The spinning has it's logic as you can tell from a 40 plus page thread. Since I prefer not getting into the carts, opening, filling, spinning, then adding more juice etc., I like just pushing the juice up through the cap end, I leave the little .... plug loosely in the atty connection hole, and as I push very, very, slowly, when the juice gets near full, it pushes the tiny rubber .... plug up, and I then remove it or it simply falls out, and then I look to see the first drop of juice just appearing in the atty hole end, and STOP pushing the juice condom. If I have to take a paper towel or Q-Tip to clean the connection end, it's no big deal. I then blow very easily from the connection end to make sure the entire hole is clear, and you can see all the way through it. A bit of juice can come out the cap end when you blow, that's the idea, again just a quick wipe, putting an empty 801 tip on the end of the carto will keep any juice out of your mouth anyways if it worries you.

So to answer "our" little question. I took a carto that was getting a bit sour, this is one I reloaded earlier. I dropped 20 drips of PG juice from a 10ml plastic bottle, into the empty rubber carto condom. Pushed the carto down, and it got "full", juice coming out the top, but did NOT take all 20 drops.

DISCLAIMER: The test would, perhaps have been more accurate if I had opened the carto to actually look inside before refilling to see if there was any visible juice, but I did NOT do this, too lazy.... and I wanted to leave some fun for you to try and report back! :)

So now I had to devise my "spinner". Lots of good ideas in this thread, thanks to Taryn! And I can see in her posts, like me she goes the simple route. No need for me here, to get into mechanical devices, or assembly line production, though thats cool too. I found an old thin aluminum metal cigar case/holder. The kind good cigars used to come in, not sure if they still do. The diameter is perfect for carto's, and the length I had will fit about 5 carto inside, best part is the top screws on. Drop the cigar case into a long thin sock, (just like Taryn's battery bags, only longer and thinner), and another good part is NO one will ask me to post a picture of my "dirty sock"! :) SPIN around 15-25 seconds. I then RE-DID the condom juice loading to see if I could get the small amount of juice that did not fit in on the first refill attempt. Some more fluid did go into the carto, but not all of it. I estimate that of the original 20 drops, 13 went in on the first refill, and maybe only 4 more on the second attempt, as I still had about 3 drops that would not squeeze in.

My CONCLUSIONS: (based on a carto that has been refilled already, and run not totally dry, which we know is NOT good.)

Seems to me, if you have no problem with the extra time and effort in removing the caps, and filling however you like to put it in, bottle, syringe, etc., then spinning, then adding more, you will most likely get MORE juice in the carto that way. Might be good if you are going out and want or need MAX capacity, again the tradeoff is the extra effort. For me personally, it seems just using the condom method of pushing juice in, works for my needs, and is less time and effort, one step, and done.

NOTE: I most likely WILL continue to spin though, as the added benefit of compacting the juice and distributing it evenly inside the carto could be worth it for better vapeing overall. Since I completely avoid the cap removal replacement steps, spinning the carts is no big time factor, and you might skip it if you are in a hurry.

A real good test (sorry I don't have a new "empty" carto) would be seeing how much you can get into an empty carto, using the condom method and spinning, and trying a 2nd condom refill, as I did above. All my little test did was prove to me that on a carto that was most likely NOT completely empty in the first place, that after spinning, I could NOT get much more juice into it the 2nd time, at least not enough to make a 2nd refill worth it to me. Your mileage may vary!
 

Pawpaw

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My question is.... where do I get one of these way cool awesome twirly bags? I can't seem to find them on the V4L site. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I am very new to all of this, and would really like to try this trick since my re-filling tech is somewhat lacking... :eek:)

They're given as freebies when you buy individual batteries. Unfortunately, they're out of stock right now. :(

You can use a glove or anything else, as long as it will hold the carto with the battery end out when you spin.
 

mn shutterbug

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Reason I ask is that I can't get 18 in but I'm usually topping it off until it tastes nasty then I do a full refill. By the time I do a full refill I blow all of the juice out, rinse in very hot water with some dish detergent....blow the water COMPLETELY out of it and then I can get about 10 in or 12 if I want to avoid leakage or swallowing it. I don't wait for drying time.

I would think that if it's not dry, that would significantly reduce the amount of liquid that could be added, depending on how wet it still is. Also, I'd think that it would dilute the juice.
 

Thyestean

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Thanks guys! I might have to break out a needle and thread and fix something up... that is until they get some in.

I don't have any of the V4L battery bags but a couple weeks ago I ordered 4 of the generic ones on an order of stuff I got. When they arrived I asked myself what the heck I ordered them for and the best thing I could think of was because they were only 50 cents each :rolleyes: Anyhow... the point being they'll probably sit here in a box and never be used. So shoot me a PM, if you want, with your info and I'll toss 1 or 2 in an envelope and drop them in Tuesdays mail. I'd send all 4 but I know once I did I'd think of something to use one for lol
 

Mactavish

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I would think that if it's not dry, that would significantly reduce the amount of liquid that could be added, depending on how wet it still is. Also, I'd think that it would dilute the juice.

Just to add, I use the condom fill method now, no spinning, no cleaning, just quick and easy. Downside, I cannot get 18-20 drops in to when refilling over and over. Upside, quick, easy, and I DON'T run em DRY. I get about 12-15 drops of PG from a 10ml plastic bottle with it's built-in dripper top, or about 1/2 condom worth of juice. If I ran em DRY, I could probably get more in, but risk BLOWING the cheap little carto atty. So, the biggest downside, is REFILLING more often, but avoiding, cleaning, spinning, needles, removing tops and rubber gaskets, etc, I still find it less trouble and work and time.

UPSIDE to refilling more often: I find vapeing FRESH juice more often a better experience, less chance of blowing atty, as I don't let it get "dry", and now that I'm vapeing cartomizers at 6 volts, even more important to not run dry. I get even less time on a carto at 6 volts, but tons of vapor, tastes fine, (some report a "harshness"), but they probably run too long on a refill. Of course you need a "mod" that allows a 6 volt battery configuration, or probably even better a true 5 volt passthrough, which I don't own just yet. I'm enjoying CARTOS more then the hassles and expense of topping off constantly the 501/801/901 refillable cartridges, as well as all the cleaning hassle involved using those.
 

resonator

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Just to add, I use the condom fill method now, no spinning, no cleaning, just quick and easy.
To be clear, you still need to clean the outside of the carto after using the condom method, right? I've been alternating between the condom method and spin method trying to find a happy medium between convenience and maximizing the juice load, and the condom fill method would win hands down... if only I didn't have to tear off a little section of paper towel and wipe down each carto after filling it.
 

Mactavish

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To be clear, you still need to clean the outside of the carto after using the condom method, right? I've been alternating between the condom method and spin method trying to find a happy medium between convenience and maximizing the juice load, and the condom fill method would win hands down... if only I didn't have to tear off a little section of paper towel and wipe down each carto after filling it.

Yes, I wipe it off with the paper napkin I use to do the refilling on. I think that those that spin with their mouth piece tops removed would have to wipe off their cartos as well. I have not seen a quicker way to keep using these cartos not yet at least.
 

Pawpaw

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