Please help - Geekvape mod keeps burning coils

[scotiwis]

Hi, for years I've been using Zenith Pro tanks with 1.6ohm coils on iStick Powers running at 8W with mount baker juice, recently I bought 2 x Geekvape L200 mods to use with my Zenith Pros and these are the issues I'm getting:

vaping at 8W with Zenith Pro 1.6ohm and usual Mt Baker juice - when firing the button it seems to jump right up in power for the first second and then settles down from 2 seconds onwards.
The first second is louder, then it goes quieter, and (using Power Mode set at 8W) the voltage and amps show higher for first second then settle down lower after first second.
In other words it seems to pump out substantially more power in the first second of pressing the fire button before it settles down.
This behaviour is a lot worse if the L200 has been sitting idle for say 10 mins or more - when I pick it up and hit the fire button there is a big initial power surge (very loud, very high volts/amps showing) before settling down - the result of this is it burns my coils every time.
The only semi-workaround I have found is when I pick it up I quickly tap the fire button briefly, then wait a few seconds, then fire it - it still surges this way, but it doesn't burn the coils, but it's a stupid way to have to vape.

I'm getting this same behaviour with both of the L200's I bought, with my old Zenith Pro tanks and with my brand new Zenith Pro tanks, and tried 1.6ohm and 1.2ohm Zcoils, and tried vaping at 8W, 10W, 15W - always the same thing, initial surge/louder/higher Volts/Amps for first second and then settles down 2 seconds onwards. And much worse if been sitting idle (burns coils)
I tried VPC mode on the L200's as a test - I put P1-3 as 8W and 4-5 as 10W, it still surges in the first second higher than what it should be for 8W. In Power Mode the screen shows 8W (that I've set it to) but the volts and amps are shooting off initially high then settling (eg going from 7v down to around 3.5V)
I've never had an issue with burnt coils on my Zenith Pro tank / 1.6ohm / iStick Powers so really not sure what's going on with what appears to be an initial power surge when firing the L200's
Any advice welcome.

 

[Territoo]

I'm not certain, but it sounds like the mod is set to preheat the coils. That particular Mod is meant for sub ohm DL coils, not MTL at low watts, such as you are using. My only suggestion is to go into the settings menu and see if there's an option to turn off the preheat. Other than that, I don't know.

 

[scotiwis]

I'm not certain, but it sounds like the mod is set to preheat the coils. That particular Mod is meant for sub ohm DL coils, not MTL at low watts, such as you are using. My only suggestion is to go into the settings menu and see if there's an option to turn off the preheat. Other than that, I don't know.

Yeah but the specs and description for the L200 says 5-200W so it does supposedly support lower wattage, seems there's no option to turn off preheat that I can see, but thanks for the suggestion anyways

 

[smacuser]

I’m going with the mod may be a dud. I had a GV Solo and L200 I used with my Zenith II at 9 watts with 1.2 coils. Both got shelved before their time for various wonky reasons. GV doesn’t have the QC it used to.

 

[englishmick]

I don't have an L200 but I do have some other Geekvape mods. I thought preheat only happened in TC mode though I'm not an expert in this stuff. Pre heat happening in power mode at low power setting doesn't make sense. I use mine at low power, 12W, and that never happened.

I know my older Geekvape mods are still running and never had any problems. But the last one I bought was dodgy, TC mode didn't work right. A while ago and I can't remember exactly, but I think it was burning coils. It's fine in power mode though. I've heard similar complaints about the quality of GV mods going downhill. Plus they seem to have closed their customer service so you can't contact them with questions or complaints.

I can't see any explanation for your problem other than a bad mod. But maybe someone with more knowledge will come up with something. There's a GV subforum here somewhere.

Good luck

 

[smacuser]

There’s a GV subforum here somewhere.

Good luck

I believe they packed their and left town.

 

[scotiwis]

I’m going with the mod may be a dud. I had a GV Solo and L200 I used with my Zenith II at 9 watts with 1.2 coils. Both got shelved before their time for various wonky reasons. GV doesn’t have the QC it used to.

Yeah, but I bought two L200's - from different stores - and they're both behaving exactly the same

 

[scotiwis]

I don't have an L200 but I do have some other Geekvape mods. I thought preheat only happened in TC mode though I'm not an expert in this stuff. Pre heat happening in power mode at low power setting doesn't make sense. I use mine at low power, 12W, and that never happened.

I know my older Geekvape mods are still running and never had any problems. But the last one I bought was dodgy, TC mode didn't work right. A while ago and I can't remember exactly, but I think it was burning coils. It's fine in power mode though. I've heard similar complaints about the quality of GV mods going downhill. Plus they seem to have closed their customer service so you can't contact them with questions or complaints.

I can't see any explanation for your problem other than a bad mod. But maybe someone with more knowledge will come up with something. There's a GV subforum here somewhere.

Good luck

Thanks for the feedback, yeah I initially thought it might be a bad mod, but I have two of them - purchased from different stores - and both behaving the same. I guess it could be a bad batch at a stretch maybe,

 

[englishmick]

I didn't notice you had two of them, guess that has some significance. Makes the bad chip theory a little less likely. And if they produced an entire batch with that problem there would be a lot more complaints out there. Maybe there's something in boost mode that needs to be reset. I never used boost mode.

I read some reviews. Seems it has an option called factory reset. No idea what it does but it might be worth a try.

 

[scotiwis]

I didn't notice you had two of them, guess that has some significance. Makes the bad chip theory a little less likely. And if they produced an entire batch with that problem there would be a lot more complaints out there. Maybe there's something in boost mode that needs to be reset. I never used boost mode.

I read some reviews. Seems it has an option called factory reset. No idea what it does but it might be worth a try.

Thanks, yeah I tried the factory reset and still the same deal

 

[Falconeer]

Like others I think it's behaving more like Temp Mode or preheat and I'm puzzled.

I have an L200, am an MTL vaper and I'm firing mine at 12 -13 watts with a 1 ohm single coil and it operates very smoothly.

I do wonder if revisiting Settings might be an idea.

Good luck and I hope you get it fixed soon.

 

[scotiwis]

Like others I think it's behaving more like Temp Mode or preheat and I'm puzzled.

I have an L200, am an MTL vaper and I'm firing mine at 12 -13 watts with a 1 ohm single coil and it operates very smoothly.

I do wonder if revisiting Settings might be an idea.

Good luck and I hope you get it fixed soon.

Can I ask - when you hit the fire button does it initially show higher volts/amps (for like the first half a second) and then settle into lower volts/amps as you continue to hold? I just want to know if this part in itself is normal for the L200.

 

[Falconeer]

Can I ask - when you hit the fire button does it initially show higher volts/amps (for like the first half a second) and then settle into lower volts/amps as you continue to hold? I just want to know if this part in itself is normal for the L200.

It's in my hand at the moment, firing a Brunhilde MTL, 1 ohm coil at 13.5 watts (I'm just about to dry burn it and change the wick hence the higher wattage) and when I press the fire button it goes straight to 13.5 watts - no intial jump reading.

It says it's in power mode.

It's been my daily driver for just over 2 months now.

 

[scotiwis]

It's in my hand at the moment, firing a Brunhilde MTL, 1 ohm coil at 13.5 watts (I'm just about to dry burn it and change the wick hence the higher wattage) and when I press the fire button it goes straight to 13.5 watts - no intial jump reading.

It says it's in power mode.

It's been my daily driver for just over 2 months now.

yeah, when I fire mine it goes straight to 8 watts and stays at 8 watts (in power mode), but it shows on the screen the volts/amps kicking off high briefly then settling lower, does yours do that?

 

[Falconeer]

yeah, when I fire mine it goes straight to 8 watts and stays at 8 watts (in power mode), but it shows on the screen the volts/amps kicking off high briefly then settling lower, does yours do that?

No mine doesn't - this pic isn't brilliant but the moment I hit the fire button this is what comes up

 

[tomcat1]

I am running the exact same setup, and having the same issues. Maybe even more intense than you describe it. When I push the fire button with the 1.2 coil, at 10w, the tank literally lights up red for a split second because the coils are getting so hot.
The only thing I've found is to use the .8 coils, they do not have the same issue and work great at 12w for MTL vaping

 

[scotiwis]

I am running the exact same setup, and having the same issues. Maybe even more intense than you describe it. When I push the fire button with the 1.2 coil, at 10w, the tank literally lights up red for a split second because the coils are getting so hot.
The only thing I've found is to use the .8 coils, they do not have the same issue and work great at 12w for MTL vaping

Yeah, I had to give up on it in the end, Geekvape support were no help on it, I ended up ditching them and getting a couple of Eleaf iPowers which work perfectly!

 

[Falconeer]

Sadly, at times though you might really want something to work for you but no matter what you do, it just won't ... so to save ongoing frustration the best thing to do is what you've done - chuck the thing out and move on.

Been there done that and got the T shirt (several) - over Christmas the Svoemesto Lite went to Vape Heaven, followed by the Alberich and Nautilus 3 in January!