Sigelei Zmax and my RBA problems.

[Sad Society]

I recently got a sigelei Zmax. This mod will give me/show me the atty resistance.

So every time I try to use an RBA on it. The mod always gave me a 'Low Load' screen error. Meaning that it can detect something is there but it won't fire. I always thought that it was because my RBA builds were too low of an ohm, and the sigelei has low ohm protection.

Last night I finally made a higher ohm build. That was measuring about 2.0 ohms. So I tried it on the sigelei Zmax. It would fire when I first screwed on the RBA and then it would always go back to 'Low Load' error. I tried this several times and got different atty readings. The first time it fired and said 1.9 ohms. The second time it said 1.7 then 1.4 (huh?) and back to 1.7 again. This was after unscrewing it and putting it back on and getting it to fire and always getting 'Low Load' error everytime on the second fire attempt.

Now here is my theory of why it might be doing this...

My favorite RBA that I use(Penelope). It uses Non-resistance wire that I connect to the resistance wire. The non-resistance wire I use is 100% nickel. I think the Sigelei Zmax doesn't like this wire and will always give me a 'Low Load' error everytime...regardless of Ohms. If this is the case then I'll have to get some silver wire and try to use that as my non-resistance and see what happens.

I have another RBA that doesn't require any non-resistance wire and I'm going to rebuild that one tonight and try it on the Sigelei Zmax and see what happens.

BTW: I can use these low ohm builds on my Lavatube without any problems. And my wife has been upset because I haven't been using my Sigelei.

 

[Royaldrunker]

i think from what i have found , if your ohhms are fluctuating soo much you have hot spots which need to be fixed or the mesh isnt oxidized enough

 

[Rule62]

Have you tried your set up on the Sigelei in VV mode, just to see if it works?

 

[Scottinboca]

Try making a 2.5-3ohm coil. As a coil heats up the resistance can drop. If it real time detecting the atty, this is what may be going on. If you say away from LR coils the resistance won't be close to the "low load" protection thought each fire of the atty. Try that and see if it helps.

 

[dwcraig1]

I'm going for a problem with the 510 connection, possibly the grommet on center pin on the mod is broken.

 

[Technonut]

I found that the SS wick needs to be isolated (Insulated) from the wick opening on my Genesis RBA's... To accomplish this, I used the air tube from spent cartos I have lying around, using them as a sleeve to insulate the wick openings.

I've been running a 1.8 Ω coil on my SS AGA successfully with the Sigelei Zmax lately, and have had no issues using this method with the AGA-T, and AGA-S also.

Not sure about the Penelope. (Don't own one)

EDIT: On all of my mechanical mods, the SS wicks I make are oxidized enough to cause no issues or hot spots.

 

[rem700]

All ohms cross checked with Provari
2.2 -2.0 -1.5 all worked on my Segeli when I tried one RBA that fluctuates between 1.3-1.4 it would initially fire on the Segeli then after two or three hits it would show the low load reading, I am thinking after the coil heated it lowered the resistance just enough to cut out pn the Segeli even thou it continues to work on the Provari.
I never did check to see what the amp limit was on the Segeli.
Until you figure the wild swinging ohms on your RBA I wouldnt blame the Segeli.

 

[dwcraig1]

I was under the impression that the OP is not using a stainless wick, but I could be wrong

 

[Sad Society]

No I'm not using any SS mesh in my RBA. The Penelope is not that type of RBA. It's a bottom feed tank with silica or cotton...just to name a couple of wick materials but not oxidized SS mesh. Although I have seen ppl try it.

 

[Sad Society]

The regular 'made in China' atty's work on my Sigelei. I thinking I will have to try a different gauge wire, like 32 other than 28.

 

[Technonut]

No I'm not using any SS mesh in my RBA. The Penelope is not that type of RBA. It's a bottom feed tank with silica or cotton...just to name a couple of wick materials but not oxidized SS mesh. Although I have seen ppl try it.

I thought you may have other RBAs which use SS mesh. Also, I threw some info out to others who may be having issues, and ran a search for "Sigelei Zmax RBA"...

 

[Lentulusbatiatus]

I was using a Penelope successfully on my SigMax but I used silver no res wire, infact I've started using only no res on the ceramic side and just taking my .20 Kanthal from the coil to the metal side seeing as it's such a short length needed for contact. Doing this with 4 wraps of .20 kanthal on a doubled 3mm wick gave me 1.6 Ohm and worked great.
I did have problems however with my Aga-T on the Sigmax, after some head scratching and taking it apart,cleaning,changing posts, new coils etc decided the SigMax which is very picky with low load must be picking up on grounding through the wick. I drilled out my wick hole to same size as the center hole and used one of the spare grommets in the wick hole, made my wick slightly thinner to fit and it works like a dream now giving a 2.0 Ohm reading on a 5/6 wrap .20 Kanthal.

 

[dwcraig1]

No I'm not using any SS mesh in my RBA. The Penelope is not that type of RBA. It's a bottom feed tank with silica or cotton...just to name a couple of wick materials but not oxidized SS mesh. Although I have seen ppl try it.

Are the set ups that are giving you problems just happen to be cotton?

 

[Sad Society]

Are the set ups that are giving you problems just happen to be cotton?

Yes, but I don't think the cotton matters. I was able to get one of my RBA's to fire using 32g kanthal and some cotton. And the Sigelei read it at 3.0 ohms.

 

[Sad Society]

I was using a Penelope successfully on my SigMax but I used silver no res wire, infact I've started using only no res on the ceramic side and just taking my .20 Kanthal from the coil to the metal side seeing as it's such a short length needed for contact. Doing this with 4 wraps of .20 kanthal on a doubled 3mm wick gave me 1.6 Ohm and worked great.
I did have problems however with my Aga-T on the Sigmax, after some head scratching and taking it apart,cleaning,changing posts, new coils etc decided the SigMax which is very picky with low load must be picking up on grounding through the wick. I drilled out my wick hole to same size as the center hole and used one of the spare grommets in the wick hole, made my wick slightly thinner to fit and it works like a dream now giving a 2.0 Ohm reading on a 5/6 wrap .20 Kanthal.

This is what I do as well on my Penelope. I only use no-res wire on one side and let the kanthal touch the metal on the other.

.20 Kanthal is most likely 32 gauge.

 

[dwcraig1]

Some how your story sounded familiar to me, I thought that I had read about something like that. Actually I posted something of a similar situation. Let me start by reminding everyone that when the electric light bulb was first being developed it used a burnt cotton thread for a filament.
So here is what I had happen, prior to getting my first Vmax I was using 1.5 ohms DC cartomizers but switched to 2.5 ohms for on the Vmax. Well I still had a few around so I thought that I'd use them. The ohms kept dropping below the Vmax's cut off so I carefully disassembled a couple of them and low and behold the upper coil (the drier one) had totally burnt the cotton "diaper" to the point that the carbon was bridging the coils. Just thought this may be what is happening in your case.

 

[dwcraig1]

This is what I do as well on my Penelope. I only use no-res wire on one side and let the kanthal touch the metal on the other.

.20 Kanthal is most likely 32 gauge.

If my Terminator was a V2 Oddy clone, I would just use NR on one side also

 

[Lentulusbatiatus]

This is what I do as well on my Penelope. I only use no-res wire on one side and let the kanthal touch the metal on the other.

.20 Kanthal is most likely 32 gauge.

Sorry.. yes .20 is the metric measurement for 32AWG. With 4 wraps and no res just one side i'm getting 1.5 Ohms now, been using it a few days.

 

[Sad Society]

I finally rebuilt my Penelope RBA with 32g wire just so I can use it on my semi new Sigelei Zmax. The resistance now reads 2.7 ohms. And I bumped it up to 10 watts!! I would normally use 28g wire for lower resistance and lower power but the Sigmax doesn't like that wire.

I mean I guess I can try many wraps of 28g and try to get it to an ohm level that the Sigmax will accept. But that will also require trying to get that many coil wraps to fit in the RBA as well. I'm sure it can be done.

I know I can make the 32g wire a lower ohm with fewer wraps but this was first attempt to make my RBA even work on the Sigmax.

I like lower single coil ohms because it will make the battery last longer. But at 2.7 ohms I finally got it to work.

 

[Sad Society]

Ok, I just rebuilt again. Because I didn't like 2.7 ohms. Now I'm at 1.8 using 32g.