New to forum and having issues with my lavatube

[KTark]

Hello!
I have had my Apollo lavatube for two days now and it's already having serious issues. I'm getting almost no vapor and the draw gets tighter and tighter. I'm using a 6 mL 3.0 ohm DCT tank. It worked great the first day, it blew me away. Now I'm just getting angry.
I have switched out three different cartos. The battery reading on the LT screen says I have 3.7V on one batt and 4.1 on the other.

Help please!

TY,
KT

 

[-Optics-]

What voltage are you running the DCT on? Are you using a fresh full battery and getting that same problem? Is it flooded or leaking? Had a slight issue with mine flooding and effecting the draw but all good now. If still having issues, contact their live chat and i'm sure they'd be happy to help you.

 

[PittBoss]

I have had a couple of smoktech cartos go to crap on me after the first day and ended up with results like yours. Are they pre-punched, how many holes, type of liquid? I grabbed some more Boge XL, punched em and problem solved! Don't get me wrong, not all the smoktech cartos do that, I just prefer the Boge for reliability.

 

[KTark]

What voltage are you running the DCT on? Are you using a fresh full battery and getting that same problem? Is it flooded or leaking? Had a slight issue with mine flooding and effecting the draw but all good now. If still having issues, contact their live chat and i'm sure they'd be happy to help you.

Thank you for the reply. I've been trying to run at 4.8 - 5.0 v since that was the sweet spot on the first day. I'm not sure if my batteries are fully chargedl I'm rather new to this. I had one in the charger for about 7 hours an d the led was still red. Like I said, on the screen it says 4.1 v, is that full? I will take your ad vice and try the live chat.

 

[KTark]

I have had a couple of smoktech cartos go to crap on me after the first day and ended up with results like yours. Are they pre-punched, how many holes, type of liquid? I grabbed some more Boge XL, punched em and problem solved! Don't get me wrong, not all the smoktech cartos do that, I just prefer the Boge for reliability.

They are pre-punched, one hole. Liquid is Vapor Girl Khalua chocolate cofee (pretty thick)

Live chat at Apollo recommended 5.3 v, which has helped. Still not as much vapor as I had on day 1 w/5.0 v though. He said maybe liquid down center hole. I'm checking that now.

 

[KTark]

The worst part is on day 1 this thing was a whole new world to me; vaping heaven....

 

[sailorman]

I'm surprised you got decent results on the first day with thick juice on a pre-punched carto. I'm willing to bet that is your whole problem and if you manually fill the carto, you'll find it's working again. You need to enlarge the hole, slot the carto, or better yet don't use a tank carto for thick juice.

A fully charged battery should come off the charger at 4.2V. The LT will cut off at about 3.3V. You really shouldn't wait for that to happen. I recharge at 3.8V and that gives me at least 8-10 hours of heavy vaping. That may be a bit excessive for you, but I'd recommend staying at 3.5V or above. LTs start dropping voltage to the carto at voltages below 3.7 or so.

You really need to invest $10 in a cheap digital multimeter. That will let you diagnose problems and find out whether they are in your carto, your battery, or your Lavatube. For what you need to do, they're really dead simple. You need to be able to measure battery voltage independently of the Lavatube. You need to be able to verify your switch is working properly, the resistance of your cartos and whether they are burned out. Sometimes you might think they're burned out when really they are just not making proper contact. A multimeter will let you figure that out quick.

 

[PittBoss]

Yeah, if it happens to flood, it can fill up that tube and/or collapse it to where you will get little airflow. I believe your liquid is 70/30 and should be no problem as far as wicking properly goes, save for, flooding..Hope you get that figured out soon KT!

 

[sailorman]

If just manually filling the carto doesn't work, here's another problem you may be having.

The Smoketec DC tank is known for being an iffy fit on a Lavatube. If it is screwed on tight enough to make contact with the center post of the LT, it may be down so far on the top of the LT that the air is getting cut off.

When you used it the other day, the center pole of the LT connector was higher. This let you get a connection without having to screw the tank on so tight. Now the center post of one of the cartos you used has pushed the center pole of the LT so far down that you have to screw the thing on too tight for a good draw. All cartos don't have exactly the same lenth of center poles. If you get a long one, it will jam the battery connector center pole down a little bit. That will keep subsequent cartos from contacting unless they're screwed in so tight that the air is cut off.

Here's how to fix it:

Fix one: Get a 510/510 shorty adapter/extender. Problem solved.

Fix two:

Remove the battery and the tank/carto.
Take a wooden toothpick or a bent paperclip, or something, and gently pry up around the edges of the center pole of the LT battery connector. Work around the edges of the center pole to lift it evenly. You only need to raise it a tiny bit, maybe 1/64" or less.

This will let you put the carto and tank back on without having to screw it down so tight on the LT that you cut off the air pathways.

 

[BGabe]

I'd venture to guess that the lavatube may be seeing the dual coil carto as a short and dropping your voltage to 3.7. The problem on the lavatube is it doesn't tell you when it does that like the Provari. Not sure how it managed to be OK on day one, but this was the issue I had with my lavatube. The switch is not rated to handle the proper amount of amps it takes to drive a dual coil cart. Try using single coil cartos only. Trust me on that, it makes a HUGE difference. That was the reason I got rid of my lavatube. It's hard NOT to use dual coil cartos these days.

 

[sailorman]

I'd venture to guess that the lavatube may be seeing the dual coil carto as a short and dropping your voltage to 3.7. The problem on the lavatube is it doesn't tell you when it does that like the Provari. Not sure how it managed to be OK on day one, but this was the issue I had with my lavatube. The switch is not rated to handle the proper amount of amps it takes to drive a dual coil cart. Try using single coil cartos only. Trust me on that, it makes a HUGE difference. That was the reason I got rid of my lavatube. It's hard NOT to use dual coil cartos these days.

Sounds like the OP was using a 3ohm carto on a DC tank. The Apollo rep would certainly have told him if the problem was using a 1.5ohm DC carto.

The newer LT's have upped the amps to 3.2, so it's no longer an issue, but I have an older LT with the 2.5A cutoff and it's not an issue for me either because it's quite easy not to use DC cartos. You just don't buy DC cartos. I don't like them much in my other mods and I don't like them in my LT, so I'm in good shape.

If I want to power two 3ohm coils, I'll fill up two 3ohm Boges, stick them on the ends of 2 kGos, tape them together and vape them at the same time. No sense in being twice as rough on one battery when you can use two batteries and get the exact same results.

 

[KTark]

My thanks to all of you for your help and advice. It appears that the carto was indeed clogged. That's fixed and working better, but now my charger isn't functioning properly. When it charges at all (intermittent at best), it maxes out the batts at 3.5 v/give or take a fraction. I do have a multimeter, so I am using that for testing them. Apollo says they are sending a new one along. So now I'm back to using my eGo-C for now. I have ordered some boge XLs to try and see if those work better w/the tank when the VV is powered properly again.

Thanks again, this forum is an amazing wealth of info, very glad I found it. Cheers!

KT

 

[BGabe]

My thanks to all of you for your help and advice. It appears that the carto was indeed clogged. That's fixed and working better, but now my charger isn't functioning properly. When it charges at all (intermittent at best), it maxes out the batts at 3.5 v/give or take a fraction. I do have a multimeter, so I am using that for testing them. Apollo says they are sending a new one along. So now I'm back to using my eGo-C for now. I have ordered some boge XLs to try and see if those work better w/the tank when the VV is powered properly again.

Thanks again, this forum is an amazing wealth of info, very glad I found it. Cheers!

KT

Oh. That sounds bad. Hope it is the charger and not the batteries. Most suppliers include "high drain" batteries with the Lavatube which are typically not protected. Luckily the LT has a cut-off that will prevent any damage to the battery. But, definitely check those batteries several times after you have received your new charger. If they are still not getting a good charge, then toss 'em. Good luck with your LT. Nice PV, but sadly it was too "iffy" for me.

 

[Pras21]

I'm surprised you got decent results on the first day with thick juice on a pre-punched carto. I'm willing to bet that is your whole problem and if you manually fill the carto, you'll find it's working again. You need to enlarge the hole, slot the carto, or better yet don't use a tank carto for thick juice.

A fully charged battery should come off the charger at 4.2V. The LT will cut off at about 3.3V. You really shouldn't wait for that to happen. I recharge at 3.8V and that gives me at least 8-10 hours of heavy vaping. That may be a bit excessive for you, but I'd recommend staying at 3.5V or above. LTs start dropping voltage to the carto at voltages below 3.7 or so.

You really need to invest $10 in a cheap digital multimeter. That will let you diagnose problems and find out whether they are in your carto, your battery, or your Lavatube. For what you need to do, they're really dead simple. You need to be able to measure battery voltage independently of the Lavatube. You need to be able to verify your switch is working properly, the resistance of your cartos and whether they are burned out. Sometimes you might think they're burned out when really they are just not making proper contact. A multimeter will let you figure that out quick.

You sir are ALWAYS helpful. I find myself reading your responses when i do a search.

 

[sailorman]

Oh. That sounds bad. Hope it is the charger and not the batteries. Most suppliers include "high drain" batteries with the Lavatube which are typically not protected. Luckily the LT has a cut-off that will prevent any damage to the battery. But, definitely check those batteries several times after you have received your new charger. If they are still not getting a good charge, then toss 'em. Good luck with your LT. Nice PV, but sadly it was too "iffy" for me.

You should check out the new ver. 1.5 Lavatube. They will accept protected batteries now, although I still prefer the unprotected IMR batteries. They also upped the current limit to 3.2 amps, fixed the switch issue and changed the electronics to maintain voltage under load better. It's really a drastic improvement over the version 1, which I'm perfectly happy with and haven't had any trouble with.

BTW, the reason vendors typically send unprotected batteries is because protected batteries don't fit. The original lavatube uses IMR batteries which are inherently safer chemistry and don't need to be protected. Now, with the new version LT, they have an excuse to send those cheap Trustfires with the crappy Chinese PCB protection board. I trust chemistry for protection far more than I trust some cheap ten-cent PCB board.

For the OP, if you want the ultimate battery for a lavatube, you can get the Panasonic CGR18650CH batteries at Smartvapes or orbtronic. They're the absolute best IMR batteries on the market, even better than AWs. And, they're 2250mah so they last a couple days between charges. They're only about $8-10 and would be a good upgrade even if your original batteries turn out to be o.k..

 

[KTark]

For the OP, if you want the ultimate battery for a lavatube, you can get the Panasonic CGR18650CH batteries at Smartvapes or orbtronic. They're the absolute best IMR batteries on the market, even better than AWs. And, they're 2250mah so they last a couple days between charges. They're only about $8-10 and would be a good upgrade even if your original batteries turn out to be o.k..

Thanks again sailorman. I've just ordered two of them from Smartvapes. Can't wait to try them out!

KT