Question regarding rebuilding vivi nova

[godspeed1208]

Hi there everyone, firstly if this is a dumb question please pardon me (I'm a newbie). I would like to re-wick my vivi nova and have a few doubts.

1. What is this wick thing? Some says that it's a silicon and some saying that it's a cotton? Are they some kind of special material or it's just a normal cotton yarn/sting?

2. What wire is used for this ? What wires could be used to re-wick my vivi nova? Again are they some kind of special wires and anything i need to take note off?

3. Some say that i need to check the wires voltage or something like that... I have a lava-tube and it could show me the ohm reading of the atty head, so do i need any other device to check the ohm readings or i could do without any special devices?

4. Lastly, By doing all this... is there any safety issues i need to take note off ? Like would this cause any explosions/fire/spoil my lava-tube in-case something goes wrong?

I am from Singapore and getting hold of e-cigs parts is a pain in the A*** . and i only have one left and need to find a way to rebuild them soon. So if i could find those wicks/wires locally would be great and that's why i would like to know what type of wicks and wires they are....
Thank you

 

[JazzyTech]

wow, where to start.. Oh, I know. First you should have a look at the following video. PBusardo has made hundreds of vids and explains how to rewick/coil a vivi:
A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube

To clear your confusion: The wick is silica not silicon.

You can try to use just any yarn, but that would defeat the purpose of vaping safe (in my opinion). No a good idea to use any wick that has been dyed. See my signature for a link to materials that people have found useful as alternatives to silica. (the wick wiki). http://www.tomcatt2.com/wiki/TomCatt

If memory serves, you should be able to use your lavatube since it will not fire if there's a short. I cannot quarantee this; I'd suggest you search in ECF for more info on this. Better safe than sorry.

I've personally rebuilt my vivi (all variants produced in the last 4 months) and have had good success with "Kanthal A-1 32awg" heating wire. the 32 gauge is solid enough to be used multiple times (I replace the wicks many times on one coil). You could possibly source it from ebay. I bought 100 feet(about 30m) for USD 8.

for wick I like Cotton square-braid #1/0 (not #1) because it fits perfectly into the vivi slots that hold the wick. I found mine on amazon.com. It is actually candle wick . 100% cotton. I boil it multiple times. Make sure there is nothing but cotton! Some come with metal wire inside.

Also: Cotton will get fat when wet, so you don't want to wrap the coil too tight. Some wrap with a needle inside the yarn/wick/etc.

Good luck!

 

[godspeed1208]

wow, where to start.. Oh, I know. First you should have a look at the following video. PBusardo has made hundreds of vids and explains how to rewick/coil a vivi:
A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube

To clear your confusion: The wick is silica not silicon.

You can try to use just any yarn, but that would defeat the purpose of vaping safe (in my opinion). No a good idea to use any wick that has been dyed. See my signature for a link to materials that people have found useful as alternatives to silica. (the wick wiki). MyWikkaSite: Cotton Wick Wiki

If memory serves, you should be able to use your lavatube since it will not fire if there's a short. I cannot quarantee this; I'd suggest you search in ECF for more info on this. Better safe than sorry.

I've personally rebuilt my vivi (all variants produced in the last 4 months) and have had good success with "Kanthal A-1 32awg" heating wire. the 32 gauge is solid enough to be used multiple times (I replace the wicks many times on one coil). You could possibly source it from ebay. I bought 100 feet(about 30m) for USD 8.

for wick I like Cotton square-braid #1/0 (not #1) because it fits perfectly into the vivi slots that hold the wick. I found mine on amazon.com. It is actually candle wick . 100% cotton. I boil it multiple times. Make sure there is nothing but cotton! Some come with metal wire inside.

Also: Cotton will get fat when wet, so you don't want to wrap the coil too tight. Some wrap with a needle inside the yarn/wick/etc.

Good luck!

Hi there, thank you for answers, i just saw your website link for the wicks and i'm sure i could find them but as i was reading it say on the first paragraph:
"Currently (Aug 2012), to the best of my knowledge, there are no commercial atomizers, cartomizers or tank systems using cotton/bamboo wicks. Cotton/bamboo wicks are end-user made and installed."

So just wondering , what is the wick/material in my vivi nova now?

 

[godspeed1208]

Another quick quesion, is the kanthal a-1 32awg also called nichrome wire? thanks alot

 

[JazzyTech]

The original wick I think is silica. Nichrome is also an alternative. I've always used A-1 for it's durability. Nichome is fine, just make sure you get the right resistance wire. I am not familiar with it, so I cannot assist you there.

 

[godspeed1208]

I just bought some nichrome 32 gauge wires and used cotton on my vivi nova as wicks but notice that the taste is lesser now? The original wicks that came with the vivi nova was better. What could have gone wrong?

 

[Taketheturns]

Kanthal and Nichrome are used to make coils. Theyre different kinds of wires but used for the same purpose.

You need to check resistance, make sure its not over-wicking/under-wicking, and check for shorts which can cause flavor loss. Since youre new at this, theres a whole lot of reading and watching you need to do before you successfully rebuild a wick/coil.
Good luck!

 

[DizGrizz]

I second the checking the resistance. It is quite possible that you either have too high a resistance (too many wraps) and your not getting enough heat, too low a resistance (too few wraps) and not getting enough surface area vaporized, or a short and only part of your wick is really heating. Unfortunately, you cannot check visually by doing a dry burn because cotton wicks will just go up in flames with a dry burn.

Get an inexpensive digital multi-meter and check the resistance.

 

[godspeed1208]

Kanthal and Nichrome are used to make coils. Theyre different kinds of wires but used for the same purpose.

You need to check resistance, make sure its not over-wicking/under-wicking, and check for shorts which can cause flavor loss. Since youre new at this, theres a whole lot of reading and watching you need to do before you successfully rebuild a wick/coil.
Good luck!

i have a LT, so i could check the resistance and it was 2.1 , One thing i did was to dry burn them.

 

[DizGrizz]

Ooops. You can dry burn silica and stainless steel mesh wicks (a bit of a challenge in a Nova, but doable) but any flammable product like cotton, hemp, or bamboo can't be dry burned...it just torches the wick.

Try again

 

[godspeed1208]

Ooops. You can dry burn silica and stainless steel mesh wicks (a bit of a challenge in a Nova, but doable) but any flammable product like cotton, hemp, or bamboo can't be dry burned...it just torches the wick.

Try again

Ok i'm going to try it now . one question that i have is... i won't be able to fire up unless i fill the tank with juice and if i don't like it i will be wasting juice. Anyway to prevent this?

 

[Han_Solo]

Good day champs. I need help with the rebuilt.

First off, I need help where to get kanthal wires.

Secondly, does it matter the number of coils aroun the wick? 4 or 5 coils would it make the taste better?

Lastly, I tried mine and the first few puffs tasted great. Then onwards it had a burnt taste!!! I'm ....... Need help!!

Any suggestions on ... went wrong?
Thanks in advance bros.

 

[epelto]

My 1st mod was the Pro Vari. I don't know what I would do without the ohm meter. A lot of my 2 ohm cartos ohm out at over 3 after a day of use. I ohm out all my stuff with the pro vari before putting them on my ego stuff.

 

[JazzyTech]

Good day champs. I need help with the rebuilt.

First off, I need help where to get kanthal wires.

Secondly, does it matter the number of coils aroun the wick? 4 or 5 coils would it make the taste better?

Lastly, I tried mine and the first few puffs tasted great. Then onwards it had a burnt taste!!! I'm ....... Need help!!

Any suggestions on ... went wrong?
Thanks in advance bros.

Kanthal is available on many e-cig sites and en-mass on Ebay. I buy 100 ft. at a time.

If you're vaping on cotton, and the taste was good at first and then burnt, that's usually due to the coil being too tight. Cotton needs room to breathe

I personally prefer 4 wraps. My suggestion is to try five and see if you like it. More wraps increase the resistance.

 

[JazzyTech]

Ok i'm going to try it now . one question that i have is... i won't be able to fire up unless i fill the tank with juice and if i don't like it i will be wasting juice. Anyway to prevent this?

You can drop a bit of fluid directly on the coil and a drop to the left and right of the coil. I do this everytime I rebuild using cotton. PVs that have built in resistance testers will burn the cotton(if not damp with fluid) when checking the resistance. I'm not saying all of them do this but most