My Vivi Tank modding

[woody1911a1]

i've been psyched since these were first announced . you didn't need to be in some inner circle or take out a second mortgage on your house to buy one or many . i've got 16 coming from a co-op here but couldn't wait so i've bought several from venders as they've become available .

i mainly hang out and post at another forum but thought you guys would appreciate

the following are copies of my posts :

ok , back from vacation to find 2 vivi tanks waiting in my mail

those were from litecigs . i've also got 2 more coming from hoosier later this week and 16 coming from an ecf co-op . ecf co-ops aren't allowed to charge anything but actual costs . they were less than $7 shipped lol .

i bought these with the intention to modify , but first i'll try one stock out of the box .

i filled it from the bottom with a syringe by just sliding it open a lil . then wet the wick good . then stuck it on a lavatube set at 3.3v . i fully expected it to taste gross but it didn't !!

i've been vaping it for @ an hour and i couldn't be happier . vapes like a champ and taste is approaching normal .

disclaimer : i use bluemist juice exclusively and it wicks great in everything .

then i put it on one of my provaries and the draw was ok but a little tight so 5 seconds with my dremel and voila

so that and the fact that my mail also included a letter and check from the IRS saying case closed makes me one happy camper .

cheers Woody

 

[woody1911a1]

ok , even though it was working close to perfectly out of the box (that will depend on the juice you use) i rebuilt one of mine .

first off , these are for people with good manual dexterity and either good eye sight or a magnifying headset .

i drilled the holes out to .089 (#43 drill) from the stock .076 .

then wrapped a coil using http://www.avidvaper.com/rebuildable...zer-coil-wick/ btw boil this wick for a few mins before using and 32g kanthal @5 wraps .

then using one of these
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen cover
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen
threaded it through the holes and trimmed it .

WOW ! it measured 1.6 ohms and at 3.3 v on my provari hits like a storm .

i'll perfect my technique better and report back .

noooo this is not for the "can't be bothered " folks , but provides a solid base for the do it on the cheap likes to tinker crowd .

cheers Woody

 

[woody1911a1]

first off forget what you know as far as ohms of the attie and the volts you set your pv at . set it to absolute min to start off with . i'm using 3.3 on my provari's and 3.0 on a lavatube and i've no interest in turning it up any !!!!

the hole diameter will depend on the diam of the wick you use . my experiment worked f'ing great . it was a very loose fit allowing good wicking and if held upside down lets just a lil through . the vacuum created in the lower chamber keeps juice from just flooding .

no this isn't a beginners toy , but then again , no one said it was .

 

[woody1911a1]

by today my last nites rebuild had broken in wonderfully and i just had to rebuild my other one .

learning curve taken care of after doing the first one i pre rolled a wick/coil only this time i used 7 turns of 32g kanthal for a 2.7 ohm coil . took it apart and drilled the holes . remember the size of the holes depends on the wick you're using . nice and loose aids in wicking and ease of threading the wick .

i'd lost the needle threader so i just used a 2" piece of kanthal bent in half . pushed it up through the hole and put the end of the wick in the loop and pulled you'll never get a wick through those holes otherwise . attached the coil ends trimmed the wick ends and voila . less than 10 mins including cleaning and drilling .

vaping happilly at 3.8 v 2.7 ohms

 

[woody1911a1]

this is a pic of the first try last nite

then tonite took off the cap and pic

think that wick is wet enough ?

 

[woody1911a1]

ok today's mail brought me a couple more vivi tanks to play with so now my genisis version .

first i drilled out the wick hole closest to the neg post to 7/64 (i got that diam from one of mamu's posts and since this is my first foray into ss wicks it sounded like a good place to start . thanx Mamu )

then i put a spacer on the pos post to raise it .

then using 32g kanthal wrapped the wick and connected the leads .

 

[woody1911a1]

k , i'll update my experimenting as more come in and as i fiddle

note personally i really don't find any advantage to ss mesh over my double boiled silica . my silica rebuilds wick better and taste better so far , but reserving judgment .

cheers Woody

 

[Suthrnbuckhunter]

Nice...what did you use to plug the other wick hole?

 

[woody1911a1]

nothing , even with my thin 80/20 bluemist juice you can turn it upside down and it doesn't flow through

 

[munchichee]

Thanks for the info. Just got mine in from hoosier but have no way to drill the holes right now. It wasn't wicking well with 65/35 juice out of the box for me though. Hoosier has these replacement wick/coils.



The wicks are extra long and the tips have been treated with something making them stiff so come to a point - easy to thread through the small holes then trim. I can't comment on how they work because I need a smaller gauge needle to fill it. I shoved whatever size I had in there and filled it but it chopped off the wick at the hole. I did however recoil a vivi nova head with one of these and it isn't wicking well either though.

 

[Dieseler]

Thanks Woody for your thread.
I also really like this tank and now have 3 of them.
I use the silica wick minus some strands to fit loose in the wick holes and it vapes fantastic with my own coil.

Question did you used any non resistance wire coming off the posts and connect to the Kanthal resistace wire that wraps the coil similar to the original setup.

 

[munchichee]

Thanks Woody for your thread.
I also really like this tank and now have 3 of them.
I use the silica wick minus some strands to fit loose in the wick holes and it vapes fantastic with my own coil.

Question did you used any non resistance wire coming off the posts and connect to the Kanthal resistace wire that wraps the coil similar to the original setup.

I was wondering the same thing about the NR wire. It looks like he just ran the wire to the post so there aren't really any legs. But then I'm still not sure if wrapping the kanthal itself around the posts will cause it to get hot. Bout to find out.

I drilled the holes out to 3/32 (it was the smallest bit I had) and now the wick fits pretty loose but it still getting dry hits. The OP drilled his holes to .089 and mine are .094 so I don't know what's going on. Gonna try my own wire now with the silica wick.

 

[woody1911a1]

nope no nr wire . there really are no legs because the wick ends are right up against the posts .

what kind of juice are you using munch ? pg/vg ?

 

[munchichee]

nope no nr wire . there really are no legs because the wick ends are right up against the posts .

what kind of juice are you using munch ? pg/vg ?

NLV Gold 65/35. I even added a good quirt of 100% unflavored PG to about 1/2 tank of it and didn't seem to help. Your wick looks a little thinner than mine I think. Either that or your hole is bigger. It's highly possible my bit was in the wrong slot in the toolbox but the holes already touch the edge of the center column so not sure about drilling any bigger. Maybe I will try a different juice first.

Update:

woody I posted this in another thread and would like to hear your thoughts -

I've had zero luck with these. Only drilled the holes out to 3/32 so far - even bored out little further cause the wick still fit kinda snug. Out of the box nothing but dry hits after the juice I primed it with was gone. Tried a 3.0 ohm replacement coil and still wasn't wicking good. Tried wrapping 5/6 or 6/7 (not sure but it metered 2.7) with my own kanthal 32 ga with one of the silica wicks and blahhh...Tried wrapping the coils close together, spaced out evenly, tighter wrap, looser wrap, more coils, less coils, extra long wick, shorter wick and still the same results! Was using 65/35 NLV juice at no higher than 3.8, but just to be sure I replaced it with DK-TAB 100% PG - btw is a juice I can't stand - and while it did wick better briefly I'm still not getting much vapor and the dry hits start after 3-4 hits running 2.3 ohms at 3.5-3.8v.

Unless I'm completely missing something here (and with others having a bad OOB experience) the problem seems to be the wick. Possibly the coil too, but I'm not sure cause I don't have any other wick till the cotton and mesh arrive.

 

[anavidfan]

i really love these, but I havent bought as many as you have. Ive noticed something though. The first one I bought was the short wick version,(2.0?) out of the box great, a bit tight on the draw so I made the vents larger. Much better, great vape, great smooth quiet draw. Second one I bought was a long wick(2.5?) it gave me problems, if it drew it didnt have much taste and vape was small to none. It was completly different, different heads, had one x-tra unattached wick lying on the top of coils and no little inner cup around the coil. Made the vents on this one larger, no go. I returned it. I got 2 more in today of the short wicks, again great out of the box, wicked great, made the vents larger and even better. Same as the first one. Have you found differences in the ones youve gotten? Also the first one I got has a crooked center pin, it is not straight. It is off enough that the little plastic cup doesnt center up when I screw the cap on.Doesnt seem to affect the quality of vape, just bugs the OCD in me. Do you think I could use a plier gently to move it? Just not sure, dont want to break it. I really like these and Im going to give a try at modding it a little more. I wish I could get some at the price you got, but the short wicked ones.Id like to play around to get the best out of these humble little units. Thank you for any advise you can share with me.

 

[munchichee]

i really love these, but I havent bought as many as you have. Ive noticed something though. The first one I bought was the short wick version,(2.0?) out of the box great, a bit tight on the draw so I made the vents larger. Much better, great vape, great smooth quiet draw. Second one I bought was a long wick(2.5?) it gave me problems, if it drew it didnt have much taste and vape was small to none. It was completly different, different heads, had one x-tra unattached wick lying on the top of coils and no little inner cup around the coil. Made the vents on this one larger, no go. I returned it. I got 2 more in today of the short wicks, again great out of the box, wicked great, made the vents larger and even better. Same as the first one. Have you found differences in the ones youve gotten? Also the first one I got has a crooked center pin, it is not straight. It is off enough that the little plastic cup doesnt center up when I screw the cap on.Doesnt seem to affect the quality of vape, just bugs the OCD in me. Do you think I could use a plier gently to move it? Just not sure, dont want to break it. I really like these and Im going to give a try at modding it a little more. I wish I could get some at the price you got, but the short wicked ones.Id like to play around to get the best out of these humble little units. Thank you for any advise you can share with me.

I think you are referring to the Vivi Nova - this is the Smok tech Vivi Tank which is something completely different. Yet for some reason the Vivi is still in the name. Not sure if there is a logical reason for it other than to confuse people, or more likely is a marketing tactic since the name is already so popular.

 

[anavidfan]

oops, your are correct, thought you were talking about the vivi nova, nevermind.........

 

[rekeybobby]

i need to fine me a decent price drill do you have a link i dont want to buy something and find out i brought a cheap motor or something and it breaks in a week thanks

ok , even though it was working close to perfectly out of the box (that will depend on the juice you use) i rebuilt one of mine .

first off , these are for people with good manual dexterity and either good eye sight or a magnifying headset .

i drilled the holes out to .089 (#43 drill) from the stock .076 .

then wrapped a coil using http://www.avidvaper.com/rebuildable...zer-coil-wick/ btw boil this wick for a few mins before using and 32g kanthal @5 wraps .

then using one of these
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen cover
Amazon.com: Dritz(R) Needle Threaders: Home & Kitchen
threaded it through the holes and trimmed it .

WOW ! it measured 1.6 ohms and at 3.3 v on my provari hits like a storm .

i'll perfect my technique better and report back .

noooo this is not for the "can't be bothered " folks , but provides a solid base for the do it on the cheap likes to tinker crowd .

cheers Woody

 

[Unspokenzero]

woody I got 2 of these in from a vendor the other day OOB it was good but got lots of dry hits. I did everything you are supposed to do evenly space the coils ensure the resistance wire was completely touching the wick and only the NR wire was on the post then I bored out the wick holes to 3/32 and AMAZING Vapor, smooth TH and TONNS of vapor! Great tip.

I am now working on my other tank to get that one vaping like a charm. This one I want to do a SS mesh setup like you have done. Can you give the exact diameters of the wick hole you bored out as well as the spacer size you are using. I tried with just the standard wick holes and I keep getting hot spots in my kanthal and the wire breaks. I have tempered my wick using the jack frost method about 6 times then burned off my juice on it so I am not getting any shorts. Anything would help.

 

[Got-Ta-Go]

Not to jump into your thread and as you can see I'm not Woody, but you mightlook at how Scubabatdan modded the tank
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-making-genesis-style-atty-4.html#post6902680
3 suggestions to the above from my modding 2 tanks so far (you can take them or leave them):
1) no need to cut the ground screw in half
2) these tank's post will separate from the top plate when you're drilling the hole if the drill bit binds - I used a pair of Vice Grips to hold the top plate edges while drilling holes
3) these tank's post will separate from the bottom plate when you're pulling the tank off (wires break too) - be careful. You have to take the tank off to make the mods, plus you take it off to add liquid. Rather than continuing to worry about it just to fill a tank, I took one of the now extra holes in the top plate and drilled it out a little bit so it will accept a filling needle. If it does come apart, go ahead and put some 2 part epoxy (Dan used Gorilla Glue, I used JB Weld with 50% success) in it.

woody I got 2 of these in from a vendor the other day OOB it was good but got lots of dry hits. I did everything you are supposed to do evenly space the coils ensure the resistance wire was completely touching the wick and only the NR wire was on the post then I bored out the wick holes to 3/32 and AMAZING Vapor, smooth TH and TONNS of vapor! Great tip.

I am now working on my other tank to get that one vaping like a charm. This one I want to do a SS mesh setup like you have done. Can you give the exact diameters of the wick hole you bored out as well as the spacer size you are using. I tried with just the standard wick holes and I keep getting hot spots in my kanthal and the wire breaks. I have tempered my wick using the jack frost method about 6 times then burned off my juice on it so I am not getting any shorts. Anything would help.