newby frustrated with countless dead 401 batteries

[williedrew]

Well I am a newb who just typed out a very long post only to find I wasn't logged in. So here is the short version.

Been vaping for two weeks. Started with a 401 starter kit from a local dealer. batteries lasted a day. Bought two new manual batteries from a different dealer. They lasted maybe two days. we had been using a USB charger at this point. So the second dealer gave us two new batteries and we also purchased a new wall charger with them.

All of this lasted two days once again. We also got 4 replacement automatic batteries from the original dealer. They all took a charge once and died.

The original two manual batteries we had started to work again with the wall charger. After one use they refused to turn off and caught on fire. Burnt my fingers, melted the mouthpiece. The atomizer was red hot. smoke was everywhere.

Long story short we have been through 10 batteries in two weeks. we have spent over 100 bucks and still have no ecigs. We love them. I have been smoking HARD for 20 years and finally quit easily and happily with ecigs but we are at this point SCARED of them and SICK of them.

could it be 10 bad batteries? three bad chargers? the electricity in our 3 year old upscale apartment? the fact we have three large fish tanks running in our apartment? our brand new laptop? just plain old cheap ecigs? would buying the eGo kit our dealer has solve the problem? We are very leery to spend one more dime on these ecigs but we love them and we are deperate. Please help.

the same thing seems to happen every time. They work awesome the first day. Comepletely drain while charging the second day. Then act up and not want to charge at all, then finally charge and get really really hot.

We have tried everything with the batteries from freezing them, to keeping them in the fridge, to trainint them to not leaving them sit overnight. we are at a loss. any help or advicde would be great. thanks

 

[Kurt]

Wow! This does sound like strangely bad battery luck. If they are getting very hot from the charger, you might want to check the voltage of the charger. It should be about 5.2V. Charging too fast is bad on batts, but I've not heard of so many lasting a day or two and then not being able to take a charge.

that said, the 401 is not as well liked in general as some other PV models. Weak vapor and very short batt life seems to be the common criticism.

The ego is a great PV, and while I think you would be happy with it, it is pricey. I personally would be looking into a better low-cost PV, like a 510 from Cignot. $35 for a kit, and it would get you into the 510 world, where the sky is the limit. I know of few big-batt mods that are fitted for a 401 atty. On the other hand, the 510 atty is used on almost all of them. But the 510, even a normal kit, is terrific, and considered superior to the 401.

If money is no issue, you will not be disappointed with the ego. If money is an issue, look into the 510. And I would be getting your money back on all the 401 stuff. The vendor might have gotten a batch of lemons, or old ones that have been sitting around a long time before shipping out. Most PV gear is 30 days for a refund. If you can't get money back, and many of us lose money in the beginning by buying less-than-ideal PVs and letting the warranty run out. Try not to let that happen to you! A hot battery in the charger is a bad sign, and generally means the material inside has gone bad somehow.

Storing Li-ion batts is best done in the fridge, but not the freezer, which can damage the materials inside. They do not like frozen cold. They do like cool and dry. Fridge is ok as long as they are in something like Tupperware, and perhaps a drying packet or two. But they should be fine at room temp. They don't last forever, even if unused.

Good luck! And let us know what you decide and how you like it.