Re-wicked my Vivi Nova tank and shorted out my eGo. What did I do wrong?

[Terri Macksee]

Makes me want go to clearomizers because I'm pretty frustrated right now, but I really do love the idea of just having a couple heads for my vivi nova that I rewick every few weeks. I tried 3 times, and every time got a burnt taste, like like burning rubber, maybe metal. I tried the fourth time and finally it was hitting like a champ and I thought I figured it out. The only thing I did the fourth time that was different was double wrapped the legs. It was working great for 5, 10 minutes. Great flavor, no burnt taste, huge amount of vapor. Then I got a large burst of flavor, like a "pop" almost. It stopped working. The light on the ego won't turn off now. I can only assume the battery shorted out. The tank wouldn't hit when I put it on another battery, but works now with another head so something went wrong.

I'm really not sure what I could have done wrong. I guess one of the two wires running down the inside of the head touched one of the walls. Another thing I thought of was when I put the rubber stopper on the bottom of the head and the pin inside the stopper, I just brought the double wrapped wire all the way through the stopper, then pushed the pin through like every youtube video I've watched demonstrated. Maybe I should have stopped the double wrap and gone back to a single wire when the wire got down to the stopper and to the pin. I'm not sure if I explained that clearly but I hope someone gets it.

Love the vivi nova but I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to screw with rewicking if I'm not sure what I did wrong, the batteries are too expensive for that. I'm just looking for ideas on what could have happened. Before it fried, the flavor was the best I've had out of the nova so far, so I think its worth it to look into and see if I can play detective and see what I did wrong or could have done wrong.

I'm really new to all this, like 3 weeks in, so if I'm missing something obvious I'm sorry. Also, I did not use a multimeter which I realize was stupid. However, like I said, it was hitting fine for awhile so I'm not sure it would have been able to see a problem right away.

If anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate it. E-Cigarette-Forum, you're my only hope!

EDIT: forgot to mention, using 60/40 cotton/hemp thread for the wick, 32 awg kanthal wire (.2 i think)

 

[h0kies]

Hey, I actually did something similar a few weeks ago. Made my first coil for the vivi nova - was working fine and then I decided to try and make a better one. I didn't use a multimeter either and went ahead, shorting out my first ego-t battery. Stupidly enough, I was like whaaat and put it on my second (my last battery too) and shorted that too. Like you, it was working fine for a few drags before it fried my batteries. Lesson learned. Make sure you check the resistance and for any shortages by getting a multimeter or advanced pv that can check that. After I bought a cheap multimeter from walmart which was about $20.00 (don't get the one that's $10.00) I haven't had a problem with shortages on my new ego twist battery.

My problem was that the first few attempts in making the coil, I tried attaching NR wire to the resistance wire by twisting it together which was way to bulky to fit in the little vivi nova head along with SS mesh (maybe I'm just bad at making them). My guess is that it touched the walls or each other and shorted out the batteries. As of now I've been making them with just one piece of 32g kanthal resistance wire on SS mesh with no problems or any hint of burnt rubber. I may try the braiding method later. Good luck to you!

 

[Boden]

I suspect both of you did the same thing. The positive lead (the one that touches the positive center post) touched the inside of the holder tube (the outside of the holder is the negative post)

 

[XXZOMBIEPEPPERXX]

Heres my technique ....i use 34awg nichrome and organic cotton or bamboo more cotton as of late. I wrap my wick, i do the double leg technique, now this is important, after i insert the rubber grommet, i hold the grommet in place and pull the wires as tight as i can untill the coil is as deep as it can go down in the head. You dont want the coil in the head loose and floating around. Then bend the wires over and hold them with your fingers so when you insert the metal pin it doesnt push the wires causeing the coil to become loose again. If the coil floats around it will cause the legs to short against the body of the head. After the pin is inserted i use finger nail clippers to trim the wire super close. Then i use tweezers to push the positive side even closer to the pin to insure that little piece doesnt ground against the threads. Then i put the head on the nova and put it on my lava tube to do an ohm reading if it reads good i tug the wick gently from side to side and hit the test button as i tug. If i tug and get a short reading then i know the coil is too loose in the head if this is the case i pull the pin and pull the wires tighter. Then repeat the procedure over again. I never use a standard ohm tester but assume you can use the tug the wick technique the same way. Ive never had a short yet following the tug your wick technique. I hope this helps. Let me know if yall have any questions... your friend zombie

 

[theistus]

Just had the vivi nova kill two ego batteries. The first one I thought was a fluke since it was old, much used battery. But then it killed the second one. Ohm on the coil head measure 1.3 (supposed to be 2.4). On dissection of the battery, the pcb under the button had a chip that was visibly swollen, and there was a burnt electrical smell noticeable. At. 3.4 watts, that would put the amps at 2.6 and the wattage at 8.9, which I believe is beyond the ego battery specifications for safe use (I think it's 1.8 to 2 amps?)

I loved the vivi nova, but now I am afraid to use it. at least until I get an ego-c twist or something with protection.

 

[zapped]

Try a carto tank setup.They have just as much flavor if not more and the replacement pre-punched cartos are cheap and last just as long as vivi nova heads because the filler is always wet.No danger of shorting them out either.

Vivi Novas are a hybrid between clearomizers and true tanks and IMO, based on my experiences, fall solidly in the middle between the two with carto tanks being at the higher end in price, performance and convenience.

Either that or if rebuilding is your thing make the step up to an RBA. Thre are plenty of decent chinese knockoff out there at a reasonable price.

 

[dwcraig1]

I suspect both of you did the same thing. The positive lead (the one that touches the positive center post) touched the inside of the holder tube (the outside of the holder is the negative post)

You need to make the positive leg cross over towards(away from the wall)the other side. I used existing image with my example added, note how close the ends of the coil are to each other

Bring the negitive straight down, lets call that 9 o'clock position and bring the positive to about 7 o'clock position.

 

[j4mmin42]

I had a few misadventures with the Vivi Novas a few months ago, and there's still a bunch of tutorials on my blog about re-wrapping coils and SS wicks, etc.

I no longer recommend rebuilding them because they just aren't made for it, and even when you *think* you have it right, they'll eat your batteries alive, lol.

 

[myxomatosis]

This is helpful:

A PBusardo Tutorial - Vivi Nova Cleaning & Rebuilding - YouTube