New ego, technical difficulties, and more questions

[LM1]

I received the Joye ego package Friday night. Oh boy, I could use some Joye about now. I had ordered one manual, one auto, several filled carts and some cartomizers, as well as some VG, PG, and a few juices. Cignot shipped in a modified fex ex box, just slightly larger than a carton box. It fits perfectly in where I always keep a carton in my night stand. The manual one must have had some charge and charged in about an hour. Excellent!

The auto pressure switch battery took all night to charge! At first the pressure switch went on with the slightest movement. What, is it defective? Oh no, just I needed to put the carts on, they're a great windscreen, LOL. I finally figured out that these "cones" dress the thing up, though the "platinum" manual looks cool without it. It's the goldest looking platinum color I've ever seen!

I now see what DC2 meant about manual batteries might help with my throat. You don't waste any vapor or muscle work getting it going so there's less to irritate your thoat overall. I don't love the manual switch yet, but I can use it well enough.

I had no idea these batteries would be this big. The auto battery barely fits in the pencil pocket of my shirt, the manual doesn't. That's important for how I will use it at work, so I'll get good use out of both. The biggest difference seems to be the low mg carts with VG. Hardly sore throat at all now with either battery. I've noticed it's much nicer with less haze in the sunlight after I get up. Still start with an analog, but only ONE. Unless auto pilot kicks in because I'm not really awake...

I am battling my computer here big time, and am about to reformat it for the 4th time in a month, probably as soon as I finish this post. Long story, but I cannot do much searching right now. I don't even have my bookmarks going. Fortunately this forum shows up on google's first page for "ECF". Maybe in few days it will be better and MSIE 7 is giving me a lot of trouble here. So these questions might be easy enough for anyone ELSE to look up, but not for me for a while yet. Please bear with me

*Question 1* The 18mg cartomizers and cartridges are way too strong for me. This is where I need some help. Is there a way to cut the juice in a prefilled ego cartridge or cartomizer? How about after some is used up? Please enlighten me! I did order VG and PG so I have those. I can't figure out how to open the cartomizer anyway.

**Question 2** The ego has with all sorts of warning to not use them with other batteries, and to not charge the ego with other chargers. Isn't USB a standard 5V? So the problem must be the current draw. I was able to charge my cheezy smoke shop ecigs with a spare ipod usb/ac converter just fine and hoped to do the same with the ego. I also have a spare 12V/usb ipod converter that I was going to try. Does anyone have the specs on the ego battery and chargers?

***Question 3*** Why can't I just put an atomizer onto a charger and use it as a pass through? My machine can't see it's usb ports right now (part of why I need to reformat), even though it is supplying power to them. So I don't want try it, especially if someone else knows the answer.

****Question 4**** How do you all organize this stuff? I might be able to clean up one of my late husband's tackle boxes, but many of those compartments are awfully small. I do plan to hang on to my previous ecigs as spares too. Right now everything's jumbled in a plastic shopping bag and the box the ego came in. I'm thinking a soft bag, like a toiletry bag with tons of pockets, might be better than a hard case. Any opinions?

Thanks for even reading this!! May all your throats be painless

 

[DocWyatt]

"*Question 1* The 18mg cartomizers and cartridges are way too strong for me. This is where I need some help. Is there a way to cut the juice in a prefilled ego cartridge or cartomizer? How about after some is used up? Please enlighten me! I did order VG and PG so I have those. I can't figure out how to open the cartomizer anyway. "

I might be able to assist with this - even though i just got my EGO yesterday. Search YouTube for a video on filling the cartomizers. I tried the "condom" method and it is very simple. Basically, you just put juice in one of the rubber caps that you pull of the new cartomizer - and slowly slide it back in. The juice is forced into the cartomizer. Just make sure you put the correct end into it as apparently it makes a difference. Tons of quick videos just to watch, if needed. I see no reason to take the cartomizer apart as this method is fast and simple - unless there is something i do not know.

 

[DocWyatt]

Also, as far as organization - there seems to be a VERY simple solution that resellers/manufacturers need to consider - having different color ends on the cartomizers. The reason for this is simple - so you recall which is which when you fill them or pre-filled.

For instance, instead of having all caps white - a red one might be cherry, brown coffee, etc. etc.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

*Question 1* The 18mg cartomizers and cartridges are way too strong for me. This is where I need some help. Is there a way to cut the juice in a prefilled ego cartridge or cartomizer? How about after some is used up? Please enlighten me! I did order VG and PG so I have those. I can't figure out how to open the cartomizer anyway.

I'm sure there's a way for you to cut the nicotine level by adding plain VG or PG to the juice. What level are you looking for? That will determine how much to add. I'm not sure that you can do this with the pre-filled cartomizers, since the juice gets absorbed into the filler, but you should be able to do this with the cartridges. You'll just need a syringe to pull out the juice, and you'll probably end up losing a little from the filler. There are plenty of videos on YouTube for refilling both types.

**Question 2** The ego has with all sorts of warning to not use them with other batteries, and to not charge the ego with other chargers. Isn't USB a standard 5V? So the problem must be the current draw. I was able to charge my cheezy smoke shop ecigs with a spare ipod usb/ac converter just fine and hoped to do the same with the ego. I also have a spare 12V/usb ipod converter that I was going to try. Does anyone have the specs on the ego battery and chargers?

Trying to charge your eGo battery with some other charger could damage the battery. Yes, standard USB's are around 5V, but that isn't the problem here. I doubt that the iPod charger is going to fit on your eGo battery properly. Plus, the charger that came with your eGo is made specifically for it and other batteries like it. It is not made for charging 510 batteries and such.

***Question 3*** Why can't I just put an atomizer onto a charger and use it as a pass through? My machine can't see it's usb ports right now (part of why I need to reformat), even though it is supplying power to them. So I don't want try it, especially if someone else knows the answer.

The atomizer is the part that makes the vapor. In order for it to function, it must be attached to a power source (namely, your battery.) Your battery won't function as a pass-through unless you actually ordered the eGo pass-through.

****Question 4**** How do you all organize this stuff? I might be able to clean up one of my late husband's tackle boxes, but many of those compartments are awfully small. I do plan to hang on to my previous ecigs as spares too. Right now everything's jumbled in a plastic shopping bag and the box the ego came in. I'm thinking a soft bag, like a toiletry bag with tons of pockets, might be better than a hard case. Any opinions?

Organization is largely a matter of personal preference, but I bought a couple of Modular Flip-out bins from the Container Store for my stuff. The drawers are big enough to hold everything including juice bottles. They have little windows so I can see what's in there, and labels so I know where everything goes.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions!

Happy Vaping!

 

[mom_life_love]

Organization was my main problem, the way I sorted it out was went to the dollar store or craft store and bought a craft box that fits everything (however I now own 2, lol can you say addicting) I also found a hard case pencil box (small one) that I use to put my everyday stuff in, fits right in my purse, just watch that it doesnt squish the button of your pv down and burn out the atty! I also bought some small 3ml dropper bottles (you can usually find these at the craft store 2) and just put a couple with my fav juices in so I don't have to carry the big ones around and can keep the rest of my big bottles in a cool dry place! Good luck your on the right track!

 

[LM1]

Turns out my new HD is trash, new one's on the way. So until I get it all fixed, flash videos are a real problem right now, and I may not have enough low mg carts to last through that. My credit card is on fire for the moment (can you see the smoke from there? Look west...) so I don't want to just up and order more if I have all this juice and VG and PG to refill with. I'm just stuck on how without video.

I spent all day and night Sunday at a party hitting on my manual ego. But then I ran out of juice so I switched to analogs. While it was a fun party, it was also very upsetting and stressful for reasons I won't go into here. So I then smoked almost a whole pack of analogs. Dang! At least while it lasted I didn't have to worry that the manual would set off an oxygen tank (in a bedroom) from across the house (in a kitchen) and by the time it ran out it was cool enough to go outside with the analogs.

My friends were wondering if there was a way to put their prescription herbs into one of these, LOL.

TheBuss, so you don't take it apart to fill it, hmmm. HMMMMMmmm. Is that condom method as messy as it sounds? I keep getting sticky drops here and there from just opening the packages. Since it's sweet tasting, I worry that my dog might try licking it if I miss cleaning one up. She's survived a lot of health issues, including cancer 3x, and is now going very strong at 14. Last thing I need to do is poison her!

Woman of Heart, you are very helpful, thank you! I have the VG to cut it with, but the trick is apparently how to add the VG to the cartomizers without being able to see videos. Preferably without making much mess. I'm learning this stuff can be pretty sticky, hehehe.

I don't think I was clear on what I was asking about the charger. The ego battery charger is two parts for 120acv or 12dcv use: the usb part, which seems proprietary to ego, and the AC and DC converters. It's these adapters I'm actually wondering about.

So far I am not reliable to keep everything charged up. Life might be easier if I carried around the smaller usb part and use a spare ipod usb/120 adapter at work. I can't tell if there's an internal fuse in any of these adapters, either ego or ipod, in case the current draw is too much.

Mom, Life, Love, I got the ego button cover since I was worried about that. It gets pretty jumbled in my pocket with other crap and it hasn't slipped out of place yet. It's also one more thing to twiddle with when I'm using it, LOL.

Everyone, as for storage, thank you so much for the suggestions. So far I've been thinking that using anything that requires shelf space is going to be difficult. That's why I'm thinking of a toilet travel bag or a tackle box. But if I can get bins like those in some kind of case.... hmmmm...

You all are way cool (however my machine is so messed up I can't use the cool smilie)

 

[JC Okie]

Here's a way to refill cartomizers. Try to picture this because I'm going to "write" a video. LOL. On one of the cartomizers that you have already "smoked" down a little, try this. On the thread end, there is a little hole. If you will carefully drip one drop at a time of pure VG or PG into that little hole. The cartomizer will actually "suck" the drop down into it. Then do it again, and again. Depending on how much you've sucked it down (used the high nic juice that was in it,) it will hold several drops...maybe 5 or 6.....again, totally depending. Then shake it a little to try to mix the two juices (the high nic juice in the carto and the pure VG or PG with no nic that you are adding.) That will dilute the high nic juice already in it a little. On the cartos that are pre-filled and you haven't touched them, you'll need to suck some of the juice out with a syringe first, then do this. If you have cartridges and atomizers, the cartridges will be easier to cut. You can take the filler out of the cartridge, squeeze the high nic juice out of it....then put it back in and "fluff" it up a little. Then fill it up with pure VG or PG. There will probably be enough of the high nic juice left in the cartridge to mix with the 0 nic PG/VG to cut it maybe in half. Hope this helps. Messy, but if it's all you have........

 

[RedForeman]

A1: Not really. As others said you can add zero or low nic juice but no guarantee on how well it will blend/cut the contents already in there. Especially with the cartos - no way to tell what's left in there either. My advice: take the stuffing out of one of your pre-filled carts, rinse it out in the sink, blot dry it with a paper towel. Put it back in the cart and fill with lower nic juice. Before you snap it back on the atty, drop two drops of liquid right into the atty. Put the cart on and you're good to go.

A2: The wallwart that comes with the eGo charger I got from cignot is rated at 500 mAh. The end that the battery screws into takes that down to 4.2V @ 420 mAh. I'm not sure where the current is regulated so I'm not going to try mine in another a/c to usb wallwart. My guess is it would probably work, but I'm not trying it with my stuff

A3: You can't. The threads on both the atty and battery charger are male since they're both designed to be threaded onto a battery. The passthru comes with a small battery because the atty will likely draw more current than your usb port can provide. Think of the passthru as a regular battery rig that should always be connected to a usb port to charge.

A4: What's your favorite color? LOL. Some people get fancy with tackle boxes and organizers. I have a coffee mug on my desk with batteries, a couple of attys, some cartos, and a bottle or three of my favorite juices. My other juice stock is stored in an old gift box that's within reach but out of the way. Spare hardware, carts, syringe, etc is in the eGo box in my file cabinet since I don't need that too readily. I don't have small kids or pets to worry about - something you may need to consider with a more secure option than out in the open, not to mention disposing of paper towels/tissues that have juice on them.

 

[LBC]

I recently started vaping. So far I have not had a cigarette in 10 days!! Very happy about that. However, I am starting to get concerned about the quality of the juice I am inhaling. My throat was very sore the first few days. I think my throat has since gotten used to it as it is not as sore. My voice gets hoarse every once in a while and I need to clear my throat (just like I did when I smoked)
Is this normal? I also would like to mention from what I have found out online I did order from a company that sells obsolete, cheap and poorly made products. I ordered the highest quality e-cig and cartomizers yesterday and it should be here by Friday. Until then I have to deal with this e-cig, and wondering if I am actually doing more harm than good to myself in the meantime.

Thank You in advance for any replies to me.

 

[JC Okie]

I don't think much could be worse for you than regular cigarettes. I wouldn't have any concerns. The sore throat at first is common among us...many of us, anyway. And having an "obsolete, cheap and poorly made product" just means you're not having the vaping experience that you could be having....and WILL be having when you get yor "highest quality e-cig and cartomizers" that you're getting on Friday. Hang in there. I'm sure your sore throat and hoarseness will clear up as your body gets used to this new way of "smoking"....without all the nasty chemicals and smoke. I had a sore throat at first...it lasted maybe a week or less. It was/is TOTALLY worth it. Your body is just making adjustments.

 

[LM1]

I'm back, finaly. Dang, I've never had this much trouble with what should be a simple XP install. *TWO* bad internal hard drives, count 'em, *TWO*. Neither of which were obviously bad, it was more of lurking kind of bad. So I took the jump into Linux on a known good external hard drive at least temporarily. No clue what I'm doing yet, but at least I can get online now.

JC Newbie, that's the explanation I needed, thank you!! I only bought the cartomizers since they supposedly hold a lot more. I know it might not mix up great in the batting inside, but it has to be better than not being able to use them at all. Hopefully I will be able to see videos any day now, LOL.

I did figure out how to refill the smaller cartridges. I thinned out some 18mg PG based RY4 about 3:1 with VG and while it's still strong, and my sore throat was just barely starting up again, I can at least use it. Tasty too! I just added bit more VG to the mix, so it's thinned out a bit more even if I'm not sure what the ratio is anymore.

Red Foreman, how do you get them open? Is the atomizer just in there with tabs of some kind or glued or what? I don't want to break it finding out.

The specs you provided are exactly what I was looking for. I'll try it on mine once I figure out the specs on the other adapters. You're cool, thank you!

The ends not mating right would have been obvious if I'd LOOKED,, Sheesh! I think I need a passthrough once my credit card cools off.

I do need to secure this stuff away from the Wonderpuppy. She's decided to have a second puppyhood. She wasn't destructive at all the first time 14 years ago, but just now is trying it out for size? I need to get some bitter apple asap. Last night among shredded (empty) plastic bags, I found a cart from a tobbaco shop set with teeth marks on it. Fortunately she didn't seem to have broken the seals and she's fine. I can't remember where I had left it, but I know damn well it wasn't on the floor. Extremely scary!!! Right now it's all still jumbled in the box I got from cignot, but that won't be for long, that's for sure! it's going on a very high shelf for now too.

LBC, I have been very concerned about that too. I dont' want juice with melamine or lead. I have only used american retailers at least, keep the $$ at home as much as possible, right? Hopefully that will up my chances on decent ingredients, but it's only a hope. Cignot.com is great so far but I still don't know where their juice is sourced from. Doesn't say on the label.

My sore throat was real bad at first, and I had to increase my already considerable water intake. Vape, sip. That helped a lot, but it was so much that I was getting up several times a night. Getting VG cartridges made the biggest difference.

I started yesterday with a freshly opened pack of analogs to try to quantify the improvement. It was a very rough day at work where I'd usually smoke a whole pack there, out in the parking lot while on hold with various departments (gotta love cordless phones!). By this morning there was 7 left. 13 analogs gone. GIANT improvement from 2 packs/day. But I went through a cartridge and a half on the ecig, LOL.

 

[JC Okie]

Sounds like you're making progress....13 cigs versus 2 packs. Yay you! And a cartridge and a half on the ecig is better for you and cheaper than the cigs. Progress. There is a high learning curve at first with these things. Especially if you're getting some bad equipment....you don't know what's "normal" so it's hard to even figure out whether something is really wrong, or if you're just DOING something wrong. Ha. We've all been there....we were all exactly where you are. And.... (here's the good part) we all got past it and QUIT SMOKING after the newness wore off and we figured everything out. Believe me....believe all of us...it's absolutely worth it. There will be a day....not that far from now...when you're on here answering questions like a pro. It's then that you'll realize how far you've come. In a month or so, look back on this thread. You'll be amazed at yourself.

 

[Sar]

... The 18mg cartomizers and cartridges are way too strong for me. This is where I need some help. Is there a way to cut the juice in a prefilled ego cartridge or cartomizer? ...

I just recently tried carto for Ego and had the same problem. But for me it wasn't the nicotine level that was high but the flavoring of the liquid. I normally cut down my ejuice with PG by about 25%. That not only lowers the nic level but also dilutes the flavor. It was almost like going back to regular Coke when you've been drinking diet Coke for a year.

I just used the carto as it was and refilled with my normal ejuice mix when it was empty. But I was vaping much less thn I normally do with the full-strength carto.

 

[LM1]

I'm back, finaly. Dang, I've never had this much trouble with what should be a simple XP install. *TWO* bad internal hard drives, count 'em, *TWO*. Neither of which were obviously bad, it was more of lurking kind of bad. So I took the jump into Linux on a known good external hard drive at least temporarily. No clue what I'm doing yet, but at least I can get online now.

JC Newbie, that's the explanation I needed, thank you!! I only bought the cartomizers since they supposedly hold a lot more. I know it might not mix up great in the batting inside, but it has to be better than not being able to use them at all. Hopefully I will be able to see videos any day now, LOL.

I did figure out how to refill the smaller cartridges. I thinned out some 18mg PG based RY4 about 3:1 with VG and while it's still strong, and my sore throat was just barely starting up again, I can at least use it. Tasty too! I just added bit more VG to the mix, so it's thinned out a bit more even if I'm not sure what the ratio is anymore.

Red Foreman, how do you get them open? Is the atomizer just in there with tabs of some kind or glued or what? I don't want to break it finding out.

The specs you provided are exactly what I was looking for. I'll try it on mine once I figure out the specs on the other adapters. You're cool, thank you!

The ends not mating right would have been obvious if I'd LOOKED,, Sheesh! I think I need a passthrough once my credit card cools off.

I do need to secure this stuff away from the Wonderpuppy. She's decided to have a second puppyhood. She wasn't destructive at all the first time 14 years ago, but just now is trying it out for size? I need to get some bitter apple asap. Last night among shredded (empty) plastic bags, I found a cart from a tobbaco shop set with teeth marks on it. Fortunately she didn't seem to have broken the seals and she's fine. I can't remember where I had left it, but I know damn well it wasn't on the floor. Extremely scary!!! Right now it's all still jumbled in the box I got from cignot, but that won't be for long, that's for sure! it's going on a very high shelf for now too.

LBC, I have been very concerned about that too. I dont' want juice with melamine or lead. I have only used american retailers at least, keep the $$ at home as much as possible, right? Hopefully that will up my chances on decent ingredients, but it's only a hope. Cignot.com is great so far but I still don't know where their juice is sourced from. Doesn't say on the label.

My sore throat was real bad at first, and I had to increase my already considerable water intake. Vape, sip. That helped a lot, but it was so much that I was getting up several times a night. Getting VG cartridges made the biggest difference.

I started yesterday with a freshly opened pack of analogs to try to quantify the improvement. It was a very rough day at work where I'd usually smoke a whole pack there, out in the parking lot while on hold with various departments (gotta love cordless phones!). By this morning there was 7 left. 13 analogs gone. GIANT improvement from 2 packs/day. But I went through a cartridge and a half on the ecig, LOL.

 

[RedForeman]

I was referring to the cartridges not the cartomizers. The cartridges push onto the atty. When you pull it off you'll see what looks like the stuffing out of a pillow. That is what I suggested rinsing out, blot drying, then replacing to put better juice in. The cartomizers (cart/atty in one piece that screws to the battery) are glued together and can't be done that way.

 

[LM1]

I was gone again and am back for at least a moment. It's going FAR better with the ecigs than the computer! The descriptions above gave me what I needed to hold me for a bit. The condom/cap method was very messy as I'd feared. It worked well enough but I didn't want to use those on my auto batt, only the manual. Finally, with linux of all things, I got going enough to see a couple videos on how to fill this thing better. Pharmacist gave me an insulin needle (I think he said 21 ga) and voila, I was on my way!

I've just placed my second order with cignot and that should tide me over for quite a while. I'm not very adventurous with tastes, but Ry4 is excellent! Got some vanilla to touch it up with too. Next on the list: better mixing tools.