Noisy cricket.

[TheWestPole]

I took the plunge and bought one of these things as my first mech after thorough research - omg, I love it. I love it so much, I had it acid etched.

I've got a 6 wrap dual clapton (26/32 kanthal) in there at the moment which comes out at .48 Ohms. So with 8.4V, that will pull 17.5A from my 25r batteries, so well within safety limits, if my research is correct. It's a hot vape though, but I like that.

I do have a question though; one that I've not been able to find a definitive answer to.

Obviously with no battery level readout, when is the best time to put fresh batteries in? I know it's a bad idea to completely discharge 18650s (that's why regulated mods won't fire below an certain level) and so far, I've been erring on the side of caution and swapping them out after about 4 or 5 hours, to be safe.

That chemical etch is beautiful.

I stick to 3.3V as the low limit for running a battery down on a mech (6.6V on a dual series). Unless you're testing the mod (like with a Tab 521) you have to go by the change in the vape strength/heat. This is not so tricky or subtle in practice though. I find with single or dual parallel mechs that when I feel the performance sagging and want to refresh the battery, the battery I pull out is hardly ever lower than 3.6V, as read by my charger. If your charger doesn't read voltages, try a voltmeter until you get a feel for it. With a little practice you will get it down, I assure you.

 

[B2L]

I took the plunge and bought one of these things as my first mech after thorough research - omg, I love it. I love it so much, I had it acid etched.

I've got a 6 wrap dual clapton (26/32 kanthal) in there at the moment which comes out at .48 Ohms. So with 8.4V, that will pull 17.5A from my 25r batteries, so well within safety limits, if my research is correct. It's a hot vape though, but I like that.

I do have a question though; one that I've not been able to find a definitive answer to.

Obviously with no battery level readout, when is the best time to put fresh batteries in? I know it's a bad idea to completely discharge 18650s (that's why regulated mods won't fire below an certain level) and so far, I've been erring on the side of caution and swapping them out after about 4 or 5 hours, to be safe.

First, where did you have it etched? That looks awesome!

Second, I change mine at about 3.7V, anything below 3.3V is pushing it.

 

[Smucky]

That chemical etch is beautiful.

I stick to 3.3V as the low limit for running a battery down on a mech (6.6V on a dual series). Unless you're testing the mod (like with a Tab 521) you have to go by the change in the vape strength/heat. This is not so tricky or subtle in practice though. I find with single mechs that when I feel the performance sagging and want to refresh the battery, the battery I pull out is hardly ever lower than 3.6V, as read by my charger. If your charger doesn't read voltages, try a voltmeter until you get a feel for it. With a little practice you will get it down, I assure you.

Thanks - I love it too.

Unfortunately, I only have a Nitecore I2 intellicharger and no voltmeter, so I guess I'll just wait until the vape drops off a bit and stick them in my regulated mod to see what the battery level is to give me a rough idea.

B2L - I had it done by a guy who has his own business/page on Facebook who does this type of thing and makes custom mods. He's in the UK though, but I don't think he'd have a problem doing overseas stuff. Here's a link to his page - there's some good work on there, IMO.

Slammer Mods UK

 

[TheWestPole]

Unfortunately, I only have a Nitecore I2 intellicharger and no voltmeter, so I guess I'll just wait until the vape drops off a bit and stick them in my regulated mod to see what the battery level is to give me a rough idea.

There you go.

 

[mhertz]

It depends, but as stated, just don't run them lower than 3.2v min(per cell) which a regulated also cuts at usually. You will get better battery-longevity by switching them out at 3.7v'ish+, but batteries are cheap/disposable-items, so I don't go for longevity(in batteries) and just switch-out when I feel like it and the vape dwindles too much...

There's some builds, like mine with 20g ka1, that simply almost stops firering altogether before reaching the min recommended value and others with higher gauge wire can go on for a pretty long time and still vape at the min level. Some are also more "sensitive" to the sagging and change the minute they notice drop-off e.g. at 3.9v, and others don't mind the sagging somewhat as long as not to much, like me...

It's a skill that is only gonna be learned by doing it, but check the voltage with whatever in the beginning before you are comfortable with it(and also later on, but instead for checking battery-state/health)

 

[Smucky]

Thanks for the advice guys.

As it happens, I just went for a vape and did notice that it had dropped off slightly. I put the batteries in my Fuchai and it said they were just under half empty.

They've been in the cricket for about 7 hours so far with moderate use, so there's not much difference in amount of time used to when I swap them for fresh ones when using the regulated mod.

Next thing for me now is researching the possibility of getting a metal replacement firing button for it.
I like shiny things.

 

[sonicbomb]

+10 for Jimmy.

 

[B2L]

B2L - I had it done by a guy who has his own business/page on Facebook who does this type of thing and makes custom mods. He's in the UK though, but I don't think he'd have a problem doing overseas stuff. Here's a link to his page - there's some good work on there, IMO.

Slammer Mods UK

He does beautiful work, I messaged him and he got right back to me. Thanks! I knew Facebook would be good for something one day.

 

[gnocchi]

has anyone gotten their hands on the refreshed version of the switch? curious as to what's changed with them

 

[Smucky]

He does beautiful work, I messaged him and he got right back to me. Thanks! I knew Facebook would be good for something one day.

No problems bud; glad to help.

 

[Smucky]

has anyone gotten their hands on the refreshed version of the switch? curious as to what's changed with them

Mine's got ridges along the edge. Is that what you mean? I think the one with ridges is the newer button but I'm unaware as to whether there's been a newer one since then...

 

[gnocchi]

Mine's got ridges along the edge. Is that what you mean? I think the one with ridges is the newer button but I'm unaware as to whether there's been a newer one since then...

I'm not quite sure either, supposedly they redid the button when they came out with the new colours as well

and I can't quite figure out or find more detail as to what they did lol

 

[rhm3769]

Just bought one yesterday.... The two working at the shop that day had no idea what is was.... Didn't ask me any questions except if I wanted to join the rewards program....
I've done enough research on here, have experience with the style top cap so its doubtful they'd have taught me anything, but still....

In fact, the girl who took it out of the display for me said she thought it was regulated and adjustable up to 70W....

Haven't played with it too much yet, I don't have any builds in compatible atties that I feel safe with trying out on it....

 

[r055co]

maybe the one's I have are sony's then. I dunno, I typically vape at 25-35 watts on regulated mods. I still build my RDA's at about .5 ohms or so, so I'm probably fine. I pull up an ohms law calc before I build for the NC just to be safe though.

0.5 is rowdy as hell on the Cricket, my advice is to build around 0.8 at first. You'll more than likely be happier around that especially if you vape at 0.5. I enjoy my builds around 0.9 with fused Clapton's. 0.5 you're going to be taking quick short hits, I enjoy more of a longer draw to enjoy the Vape.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Unothegreat]

I did just that. Came out to 1 ohm. It tastes a but off to me, and I'm still taking short hits. I stick with it for a bit before breaking down and buying a dummy 18650.

 

[Haylon357]

Just bought one yesterday.... The two working at the shop that day had no idea what is was.... Didn't ask me any questions except if I wanted to join the rewards program....
I've done enough research on here, have experience with the style top cap so its doubtful they'd have taught me anything, but still....

In fact, the girl who took it out of the display for me said she thought it was regulated and adjustable up to 70W....

Haven't played with it too much yet, I don't have any builds in compatible atties that I feel safe with trying out on it....

I'm sad to say that this is more common than not. Information these days are a tap away. So there is no excuse for someone selling vape gear to not know what they are selling. Same applies to the consumer when it comes to buying . One of the local vape shops here doesn't have a clue on what they are selling. I go in from time to time and ask them what a certain item is. Just to see if they are improving from the lack of knowledge. No dice. They are in it strictly for the money and could care less if someone gets seriously injured.


Sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

 

[Unothegreat]

I'm sad to say that this is more common than not. Information these days are a tap away. So there is no excuse for someone selling vape gear to not know what they are selling. Same applies to the consumer when it comes to buying . One of the local vape shops here doesn't have a clue on what they are selling. I go in from time to time and ask them what a certain item is. Just to see if they are improving from the lack of knowledge. No dice. They are in it strictly for the money and could care less if someone gets seriously injured.


Sent from my LG V10 using Tapatalk

And sadly, it's shops like this that perpetuate all the bad information, and lead to problems down the road.

I've seen a shop out here in Boise flat out REFUSE to sell someone a mechanical mod because they didn't know the difference between a mech and regulated mod, nor did he know what ohms law even was.

That's about the only store I buy things from these days, when I'm not getting it online.

 

[rhm3769]

And sadly, it's shops like this that perpetuate all the bad information, and lead to problems down the road.

I've seen a shop out here in Boise flat out REFUSE to sell someone a mechanical mod because they didn't know the difference between a mech and regulated mod, nor did he know what ohms law even was.

That's about the only store I buy things from these days, when I'm not getting it online.

The woman didn't know it was a mech, the guy at least knew it wasn't regulated and took two batteries....
On my first visit, the owner and his wife were working and seemed to know their stuff....
The noisy cricket was the only mod they didn't have one out of the packaging in the display case and they've never been asked about it....

Finally got around to building something for it, dual 28g 10 wraps each at 2.5mm, comes out around 1ohm, not warm enough for me but I'm liking it on the Lush.... Eventually going to rebuild and try for 0.8 ohms or so....

 

[Ben85]

I have found around 0.6 to be my sweet spot with this. No fancy builds, just 3.2mm dual parallels.

 

[Unothegreat]

I'm running dual 28 gauge reading at 1ohm. It's really coming into its own now. I've been using it off and on all day, and I'm really liking it now. Maybe it just took some time for the coils to calm down.