PWM and lavatube effecting taste?

[quisp65]

I read about people using the ovale V8 having to dial low in voltage d/t the pulse width modulation (PWM) made the coils get hotter than what the PV was set at. I read alot of V8 users vape at 3.0. Does PWM also make the lavatube hotter than what it's voltage is set at? If so has it effected anyones ability to enjoy their favorite ejuice?

I got my lavatube yesterday and couldn't get my favorite flavor to taste right that I was vaping on my fluxomizers 2.6ohm. It was tasting burnt so I dialed it all the way to 3.0V and it still tasted bad, sometimes burnt and the drip tip seem to get hotter than on my KGO. I tried every reasonable voltage and no luck. With my fluxomizers I use no middle seal so its aluminum drip tip sits right on the ceramic cup so I can notice changes in heat easily. When I put it on my KGO it seem to taste better, but was hard to tell because my taste buds were going out which usually happens when I order a new product. So I checked the voltage of my new lavatube with my voltmeter and the volts seemed pretty accurate. No problems there. So I let it go till this morning to see if I noticed the same issue and I still do.

Related to PVM? Or maybe I just need to give it more time and I'm doing something stupid, but this question is on my mind because I'm not enjoying my favorite flavor on it and I'm also not vaping my favorite flavor on it anymore because I'm sick of having an awful taste. I'm thinking this flavor (Kahlua) likes a low voltage. My Strawberry Malt seems to work ok set around 3.4v.

 

[Blitzer]

Many people have the opinion that Lavatubes produce a hotter vape, you aren't alone on this.
The PWM is actually switching a higher voltage off and on rapidly to achieve the average voltage you
selected on the display. There are valid technical reasons why it might seem more powerful, than a constant voltage.
Shouldn't be enough difference to give a burnt taste though. I have no experience with fluxomizers, so I can't comment
on why it might taste burnt. With a cartomizer, once you have burned it- toss it! Is it possible to get a higher resistance
fluxomiser? That might solve your problem. Switch to tanks and cartos maybe?

 

[quisp65]

Thanks,

I read lots about the V8 with this but hadn't read anything that I remember about this regarding the lavatube. Maybe my lavatube will eventually find a place for me in my vaping world but right now I'm using my KGO. I have developed my favorite flavor on my favorite carto (fluxomizer) and maybe time will change me and gravitate towards using my lavatube more. It works as it was promised. I can go up a bit (not much) in ohms on the fluxo... I'll eventually give that a try. I might eventually make my lavatube my tank PV.

Curious... and for future reference.... are there any VVs that don't use PWM? Preferably inexpensive ones?

 

[Blitzer]

Well, the original Lavatube V1 wasn't PWM. Thats the L-Rider lavatube with the red power button,
and "Fluted" ends. They should be selling dirt cheap very soon, since the new Lavatubes are due to hit the streets any day now. You could also build a madvapes vv box pretty cheap if you felt like wiring it up. Lots of analog regulator devices out there, but most use stacked batteries. That's thought to be unsafe. I never had any problem stacking though.

I wouldn't get rid of that PWM lavatube though. It's a great device. Put a 3 ohm carto on it. Or if you have any old
dual coil cartos laying around- snip the top wire showing inside to double the resistance. I am loving my new PWM lavatube with tanks I make myself out of grommetts, washers, and poly tube. I got some of those triple punched single coil tank cartos to go in my tanks, and honestly I have never vaped better.

 

[Blitzer]

BTW I use KGO's and EGO's as well. They are more public friendly, than whipping out this giant "death tube"
and sucking massive clouds of smoke out of it! Sometimes it's better to go low key. At work it's usually a KGO with a 3.5 ml tank, a shorty skirt, and a stainless drip tip. Looks pretty sharp!

 

[Lex0r]

Well, the original Lavatube V1 wasn't PWM. Thats the L-Rider lavatube with the red power button,
and "Fluted" ends. They should be selling dirt cheap very soon, since the new Lavatubes are due to hit the streets any day now. You could also build a madvapes vv box pretty cheap if you felt like wiring it up. Lots of analog regulator devices out there, but most use stacked batteries. That's thought to be unsafe. I never had any problem stacking though.

I wouldn't get rid of that PWM lavatube though. It's a great device. Put a 3 ohm carto on it. Or if you have any old
dual coil cartos laying around- snip the top wire showing inside to double the resistance. I am loving my new PWM lavatube with tanks I make myself out of grommetts, washers, and poly tube. I got some of those triple punched single coil tank cartos to go in my tanks, and honestly I have never vaped better.

Can I ask exactly what materials you are using for your DIY tanks? Do you buy the materials online?

 

[quisp65]

Well, the original Lavatube V1 wasn't PWM.

Arrgghhh! I was back and forth between the Apollo v1 and the 1.5t, but I went with the 1.5t! But how could I have known my favorite flavor is so picky with a slight higher temp. That's something you find out on your own.

I'll keep the thing, I'm sure it'll become part of my usage. Fluxomizers aren't reliable on the ohms and can vary, so I'm not expecting much luck there. Soon I'll find a CE2 tank that I favor and I'll probably be able to "up the ohms" so I'll be able to hit the sweet spot for everything I vape. My strawberry malt tastes fine on my PWM lavatube.

 

[Blitzer]

That Kahlua sound pretty tasty! Do you mix it yourself?

 

[Blitzer]

San Diego is my favorite city in the US BTW. I went to boot camp there!

 

[Blitzer]

Can I ask exactly what materials you are using for your DIY tanks? Do you buy the materials online?

Vinyl grommets, 5/16" bore diam., 5/8" outside dia.
Clear Poly Carbonate tube, 5/8" inner diam. 1/16" thickness walls
Washers to fit, that's an ongoing project! You have Lowes or Home Depot so shouldn't be tough.
Me, I have to order everything on Amazon cause I am in Germany.
I got 6 ft of tubing, and 50 vinyl grommets- that's like a lifetime supply right there -for very little money!

 

[Blitzer]

My tanks look just like smoketech dct's, as long as you don't look too close!
No leaks though!

 

[quisp65]

That Kahlua sound pretty tasty! Do you mix it yourself?

I get it from Kahlua E Juice Baker Vapor 15ml - Mt Baker Vapor - Electronic Cigarettes

They are one of the cheapest places to get ejuice. I saw a spreadsheet a while back on prices of ejuice and I think only Madvapes beat them on the price of 30 ml bottles.

As stated earlier... it vapes best on the cool side.

 

[Blitzer]

Thanks for the info.

 

[quisp65]

Would there be an adapter that might take a couple of tenths or so off the voltage that would reach the cartomizer? If this thing would go down to 2.8V or something I could probably use it. Keep taking my favorite flavor off my Kgo and putting it on my lavatube and set it at 3.0 volts only to take a few puffs and quickly put it back on my Kgo. If I didn't run this thing through a voltmeter I would swear it was giving off too many volts. Maybe I could buy some crappy batteries

One thing I'm not liking is the thought that I'm going to have to have differerent resistant devices for my Kgo & lavatube. I want to be able to switch my cartos between them.

 

[quisp65]

Well... I got my 3 adapters in the mail today. Out of the 3, my 510-ego adapter must increase the resistance a hair because with it on it taste ok now at 3.0 volts. If I take it off it taste like crap, back on it taste good. Not much room for error or a different carto that might be a different resistance but at least I answered my own question. Maybe I could put a little washer in it to increase it further. I don't want to blow myself up though.

 

[unloaded]

If you can get it to wick a little better you'd probably be set. The burnt taste is from it not wicking fast enough to keep up with the hotter coil.

 

[Blitzer]

I'm with unloaded on this one. It's most likely an issue with your fluxomizer not wicking properly. I haven't heard too much good about Fluxomizers.
In any case, don't waste money on "crappy Batteries". They would have the same performance, just not last as long.
And DONT! try to make any voltage attenuators out of washers, you might get a bad surprise! Shorted lithium ion batteries go BOOM! Your lavatube will continue to produce the same output voltage even if your batteries were a little lower in voltage.
Use that money from the crappy battery purchase to get a pack of 3 ohm cartomizers- very cheap. (less than 15 bucks for a pack of 5, and a drip tip). You will like them on your Lavatube. After a while, maybe try a 3.5 ml tank from Hoosierecig supply.

 

[quisp65]

ty all...

I'll mess with this longer and try different cartos on this thing. It is all still pretty fresh to me and maybe I'm doing something stupid... don't really want to change my vaping style though or shop for multiple cartos for different PVs, I'm buying to much as it is

But I still can't get out of my head that it's PWM.....
With computers you can swap components to find out what is broken. I did that and ruled stuff out and that's why I concentrated on the lavatube because it worked good on my two other PVs and my LT measured 3.19 volts when set at 3 volts. I guess it's not broken because it's doing what it's designed to do, but I'm surprised at the heat difference at lower volts on the LT.

I wish I had a non-PWM lavatube in my hand so I could further rule out me being nuts by seeing if I could make this carto taste good and use a wider range of voltages with the non-PWM lavatube. I'm running everything I got under 3.4 volts on the LT and I'm surprised by that. Even my 2.8 ohm Vivi Nova head that measures 3.2 ohms on my other ohm meter I run low.

 

[Blitzer]

Are you smoking real cigs? If not, then whatever you are doing is not stupid!

Using cartos kind of simplifies things IMO. This juice wants more heat, use a lower res carto, and pump up the volts if you need even more heat. That other juice burns your tongue using higher volts, then use a higher res carto, and drop the volts.
Then if you say you want "Menthol Atomic Cinnamon Spontaneous Human Combustion Juice" at max power, you grab the carto you have set up for it. After regaining conciousness, you decide to go back to Kahlua- put your Kahlua carto in and drop your volts. Pretty easy. Keeps flavors seperate. I do the same thing with tanks. I have a tank for real cig, another for RY4, another for Caramel Mocha Cream, etc... Each juice has it's happy place as far as ohms and volts.

One thing you might try, if you have any atomizers kicking around. Try dripping your Kahlua into an atty, use a drip tip or even an old empty atty cart as a mouthpiece. You may find that the juice drips fine on the lavatube, at 3 volts. (or higher)

Your idea that PWM is a bad thing, well... You are you and I am me, but from a technical standpoint. It's great!
I think PWM will be more and more prevalent in new devices. Maybe ultrasonic heater vibrators down the road, but for now
PWM gives a great amount of vapor and flexibility for most folks. The LT is still only suppling voltage, the real vaping action happens in your atty, carto, tank, fluxomizer, clearomiser, etc...

 

[Blitzer]

ty all...

I'll mess with this longer and try different cartos on this thing. It is all still pretty fresh to me and maybe I'm doing something stupid... don't really want to change my vaping style though or shop for multiple cartos for different PVs, I'm buying to much as it is

But I still can't get out of my head that it's PWM.....
With computers you can swap components to find out what is broken. I did that and ruled stuff out and that's why I concentrated on the lavatube because it worked good on my two other PVs and my LT measured 3.19 volts when set at 3 volts. I guess it's not broken because it's doing what it's designed to do, but I'm surprised at the heat difference at lower volts on the LT.

I wish I had a non-PWM lavatube in my hand so I could further rule out me being nuts by seeing if I could make this carto taste good and use a wider range of voltages with the non-PWM lavatube. I'm running everything I got under 3.4 volts on the LT and I'm surprised by that. Even my 2.8 ohm Vivi Nova head that measures 3.2 ohms on my other ohm meter I run low.

Your Vivi nova resistance, measured on the Lavatube or using a DVM? I have several DVM's here, and the only one that gives me accurate resistance readings on cartos/atty's is a Fluke DVM. This DVM goes to a calibration lab periodically to be checked. Sadly the real story on Lavatube voltage output and only be told at the 6 volt setting, loaded with the carto.
That's fairly accurate if you have a good meter. The other voltage settings can be calculated from the measured ohms of your carto, and from this peak loaded voltage. Unless you have an oscilloscope. I did a thread detailing my findings on an oscilloscope using the Lavatube 1.5T, here on ECF.