New Vivi Nova leaking out of top (drip tip), and couple other problems

[zorphon]

Hey all. New member here, but have been lurking and learning a ton from the various resources and threads on this forum for months.

My question is this:
I just got a 2013 model Vivi Nova V-Fate 2.0ml version (the smaller one) from MyVaporStore, which upon my research has been shown to be a legit site and I think(?) it's a Vision reseller.

Anywho, so I've tried cleaning it out and doing a few things here and there to fix the problem, but whatever I do it keeps leaking out the top of the tank.

For instance if I turned my battery/tank on it's side or put the drip tip down, it would start pouring all the liquid right through the drip tip. Also frequently when I draw on it, it also pulls liquid right through the tip into my mouth.

It's extremely frustrated and I have no idea what's wrong with this tank or perhaps it's something I'm doing wrong.

It's a top filling tank, so I'm unscrewing the top and letting the liquid drop down slowly along the side of the tank until it reaches the wick and then I wipe excess off with a paper towel and screw back on the top. For some reason though, all the liquid is totally just open to the top portion of the tank and flows right through it unless I keep it 100% vertical. I've tried 3 different 510 drip tips, the delrin one it came with, the one from my Protank 2, and a different stainless steel one I have. All of them pour the liquid right through it.

It might be because I cut the wicks too short, but I'm not sure if that would cause this problem or not. The wicks come like an inch long on both sides so I cut them down, I might have cut them too short. Further, I might not be filling it right. I'm assuming you just screw the top portion off and drip it down the side of the tank (with a needle nosed bottle) until it reaches the wicks or just shortly under them.

I'm a bit confused though, because I don't know how the wicks could get fully saturated like this, and you'd have to keep the tank completely full all of the time for it to reach the wick. But if you fill it up the wick, it's right by the center post which would cause it to leak into the battery part. So I'm not really sure what to do here/if I'm doing something wrong.

The main problem though is that I don't know how to fill it properly, how long the wicks should be, and most importantly why it's able to be totally poured out through the drip tip and how to stop that from happening.

Thank you so much in advance! I've tried everything and am desperate to fix this.

As a side note, what is another affordable tank you guys would recommend that isn't a ProTank? Ideally something with less maintenance. I also got a Mini Protank 3 recently but it's leaking all over the place through the center post into the battery part too. Between this new tank and the last one I ordered which was the Mini Protank 3, they're both leaking horribly in different ways. Am I getting super unlucky or doing something wrong?

 

[Panorama911]

Welcome in...Trim the wicks to just touch the top of the bottom cap. Fill to a level just below the wick slots on the center tube. As for the leaking, I have had several leak under the glass due to poor silicone sealant between the outer shell and the glass. You can test this by cleaning the case up, remove both caps and cover one end in your palm and blow into the other end, if you get any air to pass, it will leak out the end nearest your palm. If no air can be passed flip the case to the other end and repeat. If no air is passed on either end your cheeks should puff up like a chipmunk when blowing into it.

This means the case is sealed.... It could be you don't have the coil screwed in completely and juice is getting into the center tube, this can also be from the top silicone cap not fully pressed down onto the wick as juice can get through the wicks slots in the coil base. The latter is more the culprit than the threaded portion but it can leak around the threading if too loose.

My bet is you are filling the tank too much, lower the level by a 1/8th" below the wick slot.

 

[Panorama911]

BTW...if you pull the drip tip off you can see there is plenty of space to leak juice out and for this reason you should never tip the V Fate beyond horizontal, if that, even laying on it's side it can leak. Always keep it in an upright position, particularly with a full tank.

 

[zorphon]

Welcome in...Trim the wicks to just touch the top of the bottom cap. Fill to a level just below the wick slots on the center tube. As for the leaking, I have had several leak under the glass due to poor silicone sealant between the outer shell and the glass. You can test this by cleaning the case up, remove both caps and cover one end in your palm and blow into the other end, if you get any air to pass, it will leak out the end nearest your palm. If no air can be passed flip the case to the other end and repeat. If no air is passed on either end your cheeks should puff up like a chipmunk when blowing into it.

This means the case is sealed.... It could be you don't have the coil screwed in completely and juice is getting into the center tube, this can also be from the top silicone cap not fully pressed down onto the wick as juice can get through the wicks slots in the coil base. The latter is more the culprit than the threaded portion but it can leak around the threading if too loose.

My bet is you are filling the tank too much, lower the level by a 1/8th" below the wick slot.

When you say trim the wicks to touch the top of the bottom cap, do you mean have them like a half inch or so long so they site down the side of the tank right above the top of the bottom cap that screws onto the battery? If indeed they are supposed to sit that much lower, that is my problem. I trimmed them way too short. And I'm probably overfilling.

I just noticed that the very bottom of the tank with the battery post is like slightly bent. It must have came like this from the vendor because I just got it a day or two ago. Here's a picture describing what isn't sitting flush, let me know if this would cause any problems or is just an aesthetic thing:

i.imgur. com/egCwPXS. jpg (just remove the space before com and jpg, can't post links yet as I'm a new member)

I apologize for the TERRIBLE quality of the picture. For some reason my phone just could not focus. However you should still see what I mean though. The right side of the very bottom part is raised higher than the left. It appears like it's popping out, but I've tried pushing it in and it just won't. I think the thing is just bent or something from the factory.

 

[zorphon]

BTW...if you pull the drip tip off you can see there is plenty of space to leak juice out and for this reason you should never tip the V Fate beyond horizontal, if that, even laying on it's side it can leak. Always keep it in an upright position, particularly with a full tank.

Darn I was afraid of that. It's just an aspect of this tank I guess. Hmm. I just was getting frustrated with the inconsistent performance of my ProTanks and having to unscrew from the battery every time I wanted to fill so decided to roll the dice and try a top filler. Maybe I should just get a non-protank BCC tank instead, since bottom coil seems better. Other than the ProTank what is a good quality and affordable pyrex BCC? (I only need like 2.0ml-2.5ml capacity, don't want something super bulky)

 

[Stosh]

Couple possibilities here, inside the silicon top there's a little metal piece, and it needs to be right side up or it will leak. The metal cup should be oriented so the open side is up.

Re: your wicks, the last picture here...Rebuilding a Vivi Nova | VAPE News Magazine .. is a pretty good indicator, and be sure to "fluff" them up just a bit to help seal.

I've been using and rebuilding the Vision Vivi for about a year and a half, once you get the processes down, they work wonderfully....

 

[Panorama911]

I trim the wicks just enough to not get caught up in the threads. I could not get the image to come up so I cannot see what you have going on....As for the tilted base, it happens, I have several that are not quite square. It is due to the machining done when the tap is making the internal threads or the die for the outer threads, simply put they are not matched so some will look like there is a gap in the case....just an aesthetic issue. But if too far off it can be an issue for the silicone sealant used for the glass to the outer case.

Now I need to ask this...there a 2 versions of the V Fate, one with a smooth edge on the caps and one with a knurled edge. The knurled edge uses a different Nova coil, the one without the metal cone in the silicone cap on the center tube....Stosh mentioned this in his post but I am not sure which he refers to. One has the cone, the other is a metal cap with a hole in it.

Which style do you have?

 

[zorphon]

I trim the wicks just enough to not get caught up in the threads. I could not get the image to come up so I cannot see what you have going on....As for the tilted base, it happens, I have several that are not quite square. It is due to the machining done when the tap is making the internal threads or the die for the outer threads, simply put they are not matched so some will look like there is a gap in the case....just an aesthetic issue. But if too far off it can be an issue for the silicone sealant used for the glass to the outer case.

Now I need to ask this...there a 2 versions of the V Fate, one with a smooth edge on the caps and one with a knurled edge. The knurled edge uses a different Nova coil, the one without the metal cone in the silicone cap on the center tube....Stosh mentioned this in his post but I am not sure which he refers to. One has the cone, the other is a metal cap with a hole in it.

Which style do you have?

Hmm, not 100% up to snuff on terminology for tank components, but I am fairly sure based on your description that I have the version with the knurled edge. It is the same type of knurled edge on the bottom cap of the ProTank, if that's what you mean.

 

[zorphon]

Couple possibilities here, inside the silicon top there's a little metal piece, and it needs to be right side up or it will leak. The metal cup should be oriented so the open side is up.

Re: your wicks, the last picture here...Rebuilding a Vivi Nova | VAPE News Magazine .. is a pretty good indicator, and be sure to "fluff" them up just a bit to help seal.

I've been using and rebuilding the Vision Vivi for about a year and a half, once you get the processes down, they work wonderfully....

Other than the fact that they have to be vertical or it comes out of the drip tip they work wonderfully anyway. From what I can tell that is normal, but you kind of make it sound like it shouldn't be leaking anywhere ever. When you turn yours on the side or upside down does juice pour right out?

 

[Stosh]

Other than the fact that they have to be vertical or it comes out of the drip tip they work wonderfully anyway. From what I can tell that is normal, but you kind of make it sound like it shouldn't be leaking anywhere ever. When you turn yours on the side or upside down does juice pour right out?

Mine don't leak right side up, upside down or on their sides. They are the Vision brand, but their original design, not the newer V-Fate, not sure how much difference there is between them. Looking at the pictures on MyVaporStore the coil design would seem to be the same, tough to be sure as they change designs so often.

If the juice pour out it would seem either the silicone top on the coil assembly isn't sealing against the top cover, or the coil isn't tightened down (but that would likely stop it from vaping), or the wicks aren't filling the holes enough and it's leaking through there.

 

[zorphon]

Mine don't leak right side up, upside down or on their sides. They are the Vision brand, but their original design, not the newer V-Fate, not sure how much difference there is between them. Looking at the pictures on MyVaporStore the coil design would seem to be the same, tough to be sure as they change designs so often.

If the juice pour out it would seem either the silicone top on the coil assembly isn't sealing against the top cover, or the coil isn't tightened down (but that would likely stop it from vaping), or the wicks aren't filling the holes enough and it's leaking through there.

Interesting. Hmm. Well I just screwed the other atomizer head it came with on to see if that would help/fix it.

To my horror I realized something. That picture I posted earlier with the fact that the bottom seemed bent of sorts is more than just the bottom. The entire central post, once the tank is screwed on to the battery and both caps are on, sits at an angle inside of the tank. Where the top cap screws down and upon looking inside of the drip tip I can see that I can actually see the top of the silicone top on one side of it, since the center post goes into the tube at an angle and doesn't come up even around the top cap. I tried to push it more evenly and I think I was able to a little bit, but still. The problem makes it not fit as tightly/evenly on the battery and the battery post, and I'm assuming doesn't make the seal on the top cap and into the drip tip tight enough. Hmph.

 

[Stosh]

To my horror I realized something. That picture I posted earlier with the fact that the bottom seemed bent of sorts is more than just the bottom. The entire central post, once the tank is screwed on to the battery and both caps are on, sits at an angle inside of the tank. Where the top cap screws down and upon looking inside of the drip tip I can see that I can actually see the top of the silicone top on one side of it, since the center post goes into the tube at an angle and doesn't come up even around the top cap. I tried to push it more evenly and I think I was able to a little bit, but still. The problem makes it not fit as tightly/evenly on the battery and the battery post, and I'm assuming doesn't make the seal on the top cap and into the drip tip tight enough. Hmph.

Woo hoo, I think you found your problem!! The center post needs to hit the top cover dead center for the silicone piece to seal against it, if it doesn't the juice would "pour out the drip tip".

 

[Panorama911]

I wish I could see the image but yeah it sounds like a bad tank...Knurled edges is a diamond like surface to aid in gripping.

 

[zorphon]

Well I think I was able to center it a little more. It's at least mostly sealed, it leaks just a tiny bit into the top cap under the drip tip, but a manageable amount that I'm just wiping out occasionally. I e-mailed MyVaporStore about it being bent and they dropped a new one in the mail today, without even needing me to return mine, which is pretty sweet. Hopefully the new one is more flush and centered and shouldn't have any problems.

I have noticed that this Vivi Nova hits WAY better than my old ProTank 2 that I used for a long time. In fact, it creates like twice the amount of vapor in the same length of draw on the same battery. Maybe the ProTank 2 was a dud, but this is just so much better it's mind blowing.

 

[Stosh]

...I have noticed that this Vivi Nova hits WAY better than my old ProTank 2 that I used for a long time. In fact, it creates like twice the amount of vapor in the same length of draw on the same battery. Maybe the ProTank 2 was a dud, but this is just so much better it's mind blowing.

Guess you're a "top-coil'er" nothing wrong with that, I've been for a long time.....
Vapers seem to split into top vs. bottom coil, or top vs. bottom feed, or tube vs. box mod, or tobacco flavor vs. anything but tobacco flavors, or cotton vs. eco-wool.....fortunately there's something for everybody.

 

[Panorama911]

Yeah and which ever they are into is the BEST.... Great to see you have it all worked out and I have all good things to say about the vendor of choice.:

Guess you're a "top-coil'er" nothing wrong with that, I've been for a long time.....
Vapers seem to split into top vs. bottom coil, or top vs. bottom feed, or tube vs. box mod, or tobacco flavor vs. anything but tobacco flavors, or cotton vs. eco-wool.....fortunately there's something for everybody.