Penelope inconsistent

[yankeebobo]

Hi all. I've read all raving reviews about the ody and Penelope. My wife and I picked one up about a week ago now. Now for the life of any of us, we can't get it to consistently vape right. We'll assemble and it'll vape like a dream for a while. It can be an hour, it can be 3 hours. Sometimes we can too off the tank and sometimes we sint fet theough half a tank. And then bam. The hits turn bitter. NOT burnt. And inconsistent. It'll clear and you'll get a couple of good capes off it and then bam. Back again.

Now we have tried single wick, dual wick, 3 coils, 4 coils and even squeezing a 5th coil in. It's run at 1.5ohms, 2, and 2.5 and some in between. Depending on ohms, we've run at 3.7V, 4, 4.5 and again values in between. We have toyed with the flow control. Closed, open, and at various stages.

We have dumped out the juice and looked at the coils. Nope. No burn. Pg, VG, pg/VG blends. When she works, she can kick a train in the .... When she chokes, the train is off the track.

Has anyone experienced this? I mean NOTHING is consistent. And it's ready to take a walk soon.

 

[Xaiver]

I've had that issue twice...first was with my first coil that I wound. It would wick...and if I left it alone after using it for about 2-3 minutes, it would fill back up again and work fine. My 2nd coil was gorgous until I dropped my PV and it cut out. In a panic, as soon as I got home I tore Penelope apart and re-built the wick and it worked great...except that I was experimenting with the coil.

I made sort of an S coil around a dual wick, and for whatever reason, the top wick wasn't getting enough liquid. So...that one was getting dryish hits too.

From my experience with this, the 'burnt' flavor isn't NEARLY as bad as a burnt flavor on a Carto/standard Atty. What I consider the burnt flavor on Penelope is what I would take an extra couple off-pulls on an atty to re-prime it, because it was running low.

Maybe someone else will come along with some better info for you, but here's what I've got for you to try out and see if it helps:

Make sure that the coil is -touching- the wick, but not pinching the wick. You want it wrapped loosely around the wick, so that it's making contact, but not strangling it and cutting off the juice flow.

When you're putting the top nut on over the wick, make sure that there's a little bit of room, same theory with the above. We want to make sure that the wick has enough space to do it's job, and isn't getting strangled.

The wick I'm testing out now, I put the short wick of the dual below the long one. My theory there was that the liquid has to travel past the short wick ends to get to the top, giving a bit more surface area for the liquid to travel to the coil.

My experience with the flow control has been to open it anywhere from 1/4 turn to 1.5 full turns, and when it starts flooding, then you went too far.

Hopefully this helps
-X

 

[imeothanasis]

yankee, can you please try to grab the negative wire under the big ring that keeps ceramic housing in place? And please leave wicks up to the lower o-ring.

How many coils you have made with Penelope until now? If its only one then please make another one

Hi all. I've read all raving reviews about the ody and Penelope. My wife and I picked one up about a week ago now. Now for the life of any of us, we can't get it to consistently vape right. We'll assemble and it'll vape like a dream for a while. It can be an hour, it can be 3 hours. Sometimes we can too off the tank and sometimes we sint fet theough half a tank. And then bam. The hits turn bitter. NOT burnt. And inconsistent. It'll clear and you'll get a couple of good capes off it and then bam. Back again.

Now we have tried single wick, dual wick, 3 coils, 4 coils and even squeezing a 5th coil in. It's run at 1.5ohms, 2, and 2.5 and some in between. Depending on ohms, we've run at 3.7V, 4, 4.5 and again values in between. We have toyed with the flow control. Closed, open, and at various stages.

We have dumped out the juice and looked at the coils. Nope. No burn. Pg, VG, pg/VG blends. When she works, she can kick a train in the .... When she chokes, the train is off the track.

Has anyone experienced this? I mean NOTHING is consistent. And it's ready to take a walk soon.

 

[cardboardcutout]

Hi all. I've read all raving reviews about the ody and Penelope. My wife and I picked one up about a week ago now. Now for the life of any of us, we can't get it to consistently vape right. We'll assemble and it'll vape like a dream for a while. It can be an hour, it can be 3 hours. Sometimes we can too off the tank and sometimes we sint fet theough half a tank. And then bam. The hits turn bitter. NOT burnt. And inconsistent. It'll clear and you'll get a couple of good capes off it and then bam. Back again.

Now we have tried single wick, dual wick, 3 coils, 4 coils and even squeezing a 5th coil in. It's run at 1.5ohms, 2, and 2.5 and some in between. Depending on ohms, we've run at 3.7V, 4, 4.5 and again values in between. We have toyed with the flow control. Closed, open, and at various stages.

We have dumped out the juice and looked at the coils. Nope. No burn. Pg, VG, pg/VG blends. When she works, she can kick a train in the .... When she chokes, the train is off the track.

Has anyone experienced this? I mean NOTHING is consistent. And it's ready to take a walk soon.

strange thats all i can say,is this the first rebuildable you have had ?
sounds like you could be wrapping the coil to tight,if its a dry wick you are getting why up the volts as that will only make things worse,try taking a dry draw first to wet the wick and see how that helps maybe use less wick in the channels as using to fat a wick the juice wont flow very well,turn the volts down or use a battery thats not fully charged as sometimes when i coil a poor coil it works better with less power and worse with high power

 

[yankeebobo]

Xavier - ill try your method of short under on my next wrap. Course I can't seem to order the wick from COV use to stock so I have some spare thinner wick. (Course with my luck I can use FOUR of the thinner wicks and it'll work better.)

Imeo - My wife has tried several coils. She gave up and sadly because she really loved the concept/look. So I've taken a couple stabs. The wicks are cut to o-ring, pinch wire between nuts, etc. I mean I've followed videos to a T.

Here's an example. Today it's vaping fine. It's morning. It's been turned open FOUR turns all night with VG in it! I'll keep at it.

 

[yankeebobo]

Cardboard - don't misunderstand me. I am not reaching to crank the Vs up. I tested a higher ohm, wet the wick, and took a few hits after a fresh fill. I actually don't care for it at all above 4.3v or so.

But I will do another later and make sure to pay attention as to how tight I'm wrapping the wick.

 

[MrJonesJr]

i think it's definitely from how you are wrapping the coil. i had the same problem because i was wrapping them too tight around the wick....then i wrapped them too loose.

like mentioned above, wrap them so they touch the wick, but not choke them. now i get them right every time.

 

[Roszam]

My husband and I seem to be having the same problem? Watched the German instructional video and it does not seem we are doing anything wrong. Hubbie, who does all the rebuilding is getting frustrated...

 

[CaptSteve]

It helps if you guys take some close-up pics of your set up so we can try and help

 

[Roszam]

A couple of photos. Thanks.

 

[yankeebobo]

Ok. I have rebuilt the coil. Roszam FYI

I've combined everyone's suggestions in this thread. And THUS far it seems to be the wrap. Now granted, keep in mind I've been vaping on it for only an hour but.....

I did wrap it looser. I do have a tendency to "have to hold them together (in other words tighter than required)". To make SURE I didn't over tighten the coils, my wife told me to use the paper clip method. Open a paperclip and use a single extension essentially like you are wrapping two wires. So I wrapped TWO wicks, the wire, AND the paper clip. Not tight. But not loose. Basically a mild snug. Once the coils were done, remove the paper clip by just sliding it out. Space out the coils and finish the process.

Ok. The verdict on ONE hour of vaping. And it's Boba's Bounty in there. A thicker 100% VG. Haven't topped off since original fill. And HOLY COW the vapor, throat hit, and let me say about the flavor. There are things in boba's bounty I didn't even know existed.

I am HOPING like hell that this is what it's supposed to be like. I am HOPING like hell that it was definately too tight of a wrap. If this holds, either another Penelope or an Ody will be in the near purchase.

I WILL report back either tonight or tomorrow to let you all know what it's like after a couple of refills and using it as I HAVE to get past the 4-6 hour marker especially with thicker VG juice.

so far? Thanks everyone. And good luck Roszam

 

[danks]

On the first two coils I wrapped with mine I had a similar issue. When I first got the Penelope I used the included wire and a single piece of wick. Worked great for a little over a day and then I kept getting that burnt taste. I realized my tank was low so I refilled it, still no luck... Figured I just burned the wick because I was vaping when it was pretty dry.

On to my next coil: Also used a single wick and again worked great the first day. Next day I was getting the burnt taste again even with plenty of liquid in the tank. After reading around the forum I found I wrapped the coil too tight.

Third attempt: Used 2 pieces of wick and didnt wrap the coil as tight, shorter piece of wick is sitting on top. I made this coil about 3 days ago and I filled the tank for the second time last night. So far so good!

I do notice though I need to leave the liquid control open a bit after a nights rest. I usually close it when I go to bed so I find I need to leave it open longer before I start vaping again to get good hits.

Now I havent tried my Penelope with any other juice besides Malty Toffee right now. Its a 70/30 vg/pg so I'm thinking I'll have better results when I switch to another juice with a higher PG content.

 

[Roszam]

Will try the 2-wick method and report back. Our coils so far have been made with the paper-clip method so that could not be the problem. I agree that when the vaping's right it's awesome, but when it's not...

 

[yankeebobo]

Oh when it's not, you need to bleep at my house. I am adamant on getting it going. Going on two hours now. No top off. Flavor amazing and kicks like a bull. My boba's bounty in here is 12 and it feels like an 18. I have 18 in a tank. But my coils were definately too tight. Like a turnicate.

 

[yankeebobo]

Oh. Btw. The same wire length I used yesterday netted me a 2ohm. Today looser better spaced put me at 2.5 ohm. Cranking it at 5.2v. Ideally I want to lower it back to 2 ohms but I'll vase at 2.5 until it goes happily as long as it kicks.

 

[Roszam]

Hubby says wick is the problem. He tried some of it on the Bulli and the problem repeated itself. Will try stainless mesh. What size should I buy? Can anyone recommend a seller in Europe, or a Nextel alternative in Europe?

Thanks

 

[yankeebobo]

I honestly don't know about the mesh in the Penelope. Maybe imeo or someone can confirm but I don't think the mesh would be a good idea for this unit.

That being said, it would be interesting if you could. I'd love to know.

 

[cardboardcutout]

yep you could use mesh if you like but i find the fg wick best,have you tried burning the wire 3 times as this makes it softer and better to wrap the coil,you will find that after a few coils you will do it easy thing is dont try to hard ,wrap it like you dont care if it works or not and i bet it will be great ,another thing you can reuse the wire a few times as it normally the wick that gives up first,dont think about ohms as i find it better to go with length of wire and i have nothing to measure the ohms anyway lol

 

[yankeebobo]

I know this has been beat to hell as a topic but has anybody found the 3mm / 1/8" silica wick anywhere? This is really bugging me that the item is out there without replacement parts and supplies.

 

[imeothanasis]

I am sending wick and wire to Bruce on Monday yankee