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[PieOPah]

As I stated in my 'Hello' thread, I started vaping purely as an aid to quit smoking after falling back on the wagon following 4 months of success. I bought a disposable E-lite as that is all that was sold in my newsagent. I now have the starter kit which came with 2 batteries, 5 cartridges and the charger pack. With the disposables, I now have 4 batteries.

Since I had made the investment, I then started to see what else was out there (I'd never seen people vaping until I bought one!).
On a night out, I pulled out my e-... and suddenly somebody else brought out this black contraption with a button.
At work, I saw somebody with what looked like a horse syringe.

So, I have now started to read up a little more on this new 'habit' and can see that there is so much more available.

Since I have already spent over £60 to get started, I am not quite ready to upgrade or change to anything new. However, I have read about being able to fill my disposable E-lite cartridges. In the short term, this is something that I would like to look into.

I have seen the videos and read up what little I can find about this specific cartridge. I guess with that in mind, the only question I currently have is about whether or not I need to clean my old cart and if so how. I am sure I read somewhere that I need to do this, but can't find any related post.

The only reason I want to refill is so I can experience some of the alternative flavours rather than to save more money.

So, with my rather basic setup, is there any advice that can be offered?

Many thanks,
Pie

 

[Rickajho]

Hi

A lot of people started with the same path. Since you have the equipment and it's working for you - what the heck.

What you can do to refill and how you do it depends on a couple things:

Is this a 2 piece - battery and cartridge - or 3 piece - battery, atomizer and cartridge - system?

If it's a 2 piece you have a cartomizer setup. The heating element is inside the cartridge, wrapped with the filler. You can't remove the filler in a carto to clean it. Some people on ECF do report rinsing them out and reusing, but the results are variable at best. They need to be thoroughly dried out before refilling, and that can take several days. Cartos are meant to be a disposable item.

If it's a 3 piece you have and atomizer and cartridge setup. The good news is that refilling the carts is pretty easy and straightforward: you just drip more liquid onto the filler in the cart. If this was a "cheap" store kit it's hard to advise about specifics, due to variations in atty and cart designs in those kits. Some of them have a foil over the end of the cart that is punctured by the atty when you put it in place. To a point, that style relies on that piece of foil staying in place to prevent leaking. You would want to remove that foil in order to refill and... there you might start running to leaking problems with the refill. If your pre-filled carts came with a cap you removed before you connected the cart to the atty - much better.

With these types of carts you can pull out the plug of filler in there and rinse it out if you are changing flavors. It's small - use something like a small tea strainer to hold it under running water to rinse. Dry it thoroughly and work it back into the cartridge. A straightened paper clip is your best friend when dealing with these cartridges, both for reinserting the filler and moving it around a bit when adding liquid.

You may want to check in with those couple of "experts" you spotted and ask them if they can tell what kind of kind of threading your setup uses. Knowing that info is crucial to getting replacement parts. There are standard threadings, but a lot of these cheap store kits ... they are far from standard.

 

[gwilkes]

There's a ton of stuff out there

 

[namesCJDR]

yep there are alot of things in vaping and many other things are coming up quick!

 

[PieOPah]

I know from my reading that the cartomizer I have is a non standard thread.
I currently have 2 empties so I guess that I can buy some liquid and just have a go and see what happens

EDIT: I've just taken one apart. Took the 'cap off' the mouth end and inside was just a bit of 'cotton wool' like substance. There would be no easy way to remove it to clean - well, easy enough to remove, near impossible to replace. I guess I could try rinsing with it still in there, but not sure how clean I could really get it.

 

[meli.]

Hello Pie and Welcome to ECF,

I understand how spending £60 on E-Lites will make your eyes and pocket sting just a bit.

Cartomisers are cartomisers they are essentially the same, different only in resistance, thread size and brand. With regard to cleaning cartomisers a good video is A PBusardo Tutorial - How I clean my Boge 510 LR Cartos - YouTube. Just remember cleaning your cartomisers won't really extend their life that much, you will need to replace them and cleaning them does not guarantee they will work as efficiently as they did before. When they start to taste burnt and that taste prevails even after cleaning - throw them in the bin.

With E-Lites - I can't remember for sure but I think E-Lites are KR808's (901) not 510. I know you don't want to spend more money but in reality you will and E-Lite batteries really won't last as long as E-Lites say they will. I'd say your best bet is buy something like the mini stealth kit (two batteries 400mAh) for 13.99 + free postage from Vapingthings.com (UK), they are also super cheap with their Cartomisers and other products and have excellent service. Throw in an adapter (about £2.50) and you can use your old carto's with 510 batteries.

You can get e-liquid sampler packs from various vendors a good site for an excellent UK vendor list and up to date discount codes is AAEC.

Best of luck in your endeavours and happy vaping.