Safety issue with Vamo Mod

[Little Brother]

The Vamo mod has the electronics housed in a metal tube that is solid on one end with a hole drilled in it for the center connector. this means that the + contact is surrounded by metal, with a small gap between it and the metal. A nipple top battery must be used with this Mod in order to clear the metal surrounding the + contact. A flat or button top battery can short out due to this design. I had this happen to me and I got lucky, all it did was melt the hot spring. Be very careful with this Mod and use only Nipple top batteries to prevent shorts. I thought that China was starting to listen to what we want as this Mod is VV and VW along with Avg or RMS output. It works great, but should have come with a warning about the batteries. It does no good to have the latest technology in a device if it blows up in your hand. Come on China, spend a half a ...kin penny and put a plastic sheet in top of this Mod and fix the damn thing before somebody gets hurt!!!

 

[robocog]

Ordered one of these but yet to recieve it
How far does the center pin stick out - or does it not at all?
I only have flat topped cells here at the mo so I guess I'd better get ordering

Cheers for the headsup

Regards
Rob

 

[Seven and Seven]

Yeah I see what you mean. Mine should be here in a couple days. Luckily I already have nipple top batteries. I may even put a small plastic seperator in there myself.

 

[Little Brother]

I also found another issue, the remaining battery voltage won't read below 3.8v, it will still work down to about 3.4v, it just still displays 3.8. It's unfortunate though, because this really is a pretty good mod, it vapes great on an 18650, I haven't tried 18350's yet, I have to order some.

 

[Ostinato]

The 2nd batch has been improved and a gasket has been added. I wouldn't use a magnet in the 1st batch Vamos, that's all.
I have tested several Vamos and have never experienced the voltage stop you are describing. It is is unlucky piece perhaps.

 

[GIMike]

Mine doesn't have a gasket, but the hole is much much bigger than what you show in your picture. So that's a plus

 

[Little Brother]

OKC Vapes has offered to replace my Vamo with a new unit when they come in, I think that is great customer service on their part and I will continue to buy from them. I opted out of exchanging the Mod, I have made my own insulator for it and it is fine now, other than the remaining voltage reading. Otherwise I still feel this is a good mod for the money and as good or better than many costing much more.

 

[tnt56]

I'm glad to see this warning. I've used both button tops and flat tops with no issues. I'll have to check later but I think my + post sticks out farther than what I saw in the pic above. And mine has read a battery all the way down to 3.2 volts. But that was a single flat top Efest 18350.

 

[CdnBison]

Just got mine in, and it has a hole of similar size, but a gasket has been added. Currently using button top 18350.

 

[GIMike]

Here's the inside of mine. Sorry for the bad pic, crappy phone camera



As you can see, the one in mine is much bigger than the one the OP posted

 

[Seven and Seven]

Just received the chrome button version today and looks like they've addressed the issue.

 

[Ostinato]

Haha, so you did like the pig after all 7&7.

 

[Little Brother]

I got a message from Stephanie at OKC Vapes this morning. She said that and that they wanted to thank me for letting them know about the safety issue with the Vamo and that they would be getting in a model with the fix made to it. She also said that they were crediting my account for the FULL price of the Vamo! This just shows what a top notch bunch of people they are. They are a No. 1 vendor in my book and I highly recommend them to everyone. As to the credit, well, I ordered another Vamo. It will be nice to have the new version along with the one I have now as something that maybe I had an influence on. Not only that, with the fix this mod is hard to beat at any price.

 

[GIMike]

I'm not too worried about the saftey issue with the hole I have in mine. I would like to upgrade the spring though, so I can use my flattop 18650s. I took one of the springs off of those big 12v flashlight batteries, and it does work, but it makes it a bit tight. My only concern there, is that the positive connection seems to be located on a circuit board, and I wonder how secure that board is. I'm worried too much spring pressure might make it come loose and ruin it. Though hopefully my batteries don't fit up inside the hole enough to knock that loose. Nice thing about it having that hole, is that it's surrounded by metal, so the pin shouldn't be affected.

 

[HVAU]

As far as I can tell this mod is the same as the eGo APV VV sold at vaporalley. They recommend flat top IMR 18650's. I've got the mod and battery on order. I am assuming the flat top 65 mm in length and I am wondering if I can use my protected panasonic 3100 mAh's. They are close to 69 mm. Does anybody know about this?

 

[Seven and Seven]

As far as I can tell this mod is the same as the eGo APV VV sold at vaporalley. They recommend flat top IMR 18650's. I've got the mod and battery on order. I am assuming the flat top 65 mm in length and I am wondering if I can use my protected panasonic 3100 mAh's. They are close to 69 mm. Does anybody know about this?

I have used 2 stacked AW IMR 18350 700mAh batteries which measure 35mm each. Pretty snug but able to close the end cap without any problems. Looks like there is still a little room for a larger diameter battery as well but not much.

 

[HVAU]

Cheers for the answer. Just a follow up question...the panasonic's are protected 18650's. From what I have read the IMR's are recommended for perfomance, not safety, issues. Are there any thoughts, or experiences, here to the contrary?

 

[Buxton74]

I'm not too worried about the saftey issue with the hole I have in mine. I would like to upgrade the spring though, so I can use my flattop 18650s. I took one of the springs off of those big 12v flashlight batteries, and it does work, but it makes it a bit tight. My only concern there, is that the positive connection seems to be located on a circuit board, and I wonder how secure that board is. I'm worried too much spring pressure might make it come loose and ruin it. Though hopefully my batteries don't fit up inside the hole enough to knock that loose. Nice thing about it having that hole, is that it's surrounded by metal, so the pin shouldn't be affected.

A 10mm or 9.5mm battery magnet on the negative side only of a 18650 battery will enable flat tops to be used and stop any rattles from them being too short.

 

[doots]

A 10mm or 9.5mm battery magnet on the negative side only of a 18650 battery will enable flat tops to be used and stop any rattles from them being too short.

Thats what I did with magnets too..

 

[Jayblades]

I just got my VAMO from a coop like it so far in full length or shorty. My button tops and flat tops work just fine however i've noticed the that spring isn't that firm and my flat top 18650 (even with a nipple top) shake around in the cylinder and shut the device off. My ViVi Nova (which I prefer) works great on the device in VV and VW. However, I noticed that while running a dual coil eGO carto at 3.7v (with the 18650) after 2 or so hits the device shuts off, however it doesn't happen when I'm running the device on an 18350 battery. Any ideas?

Other than that and the batteries shakin' around I like it...