Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group

[AndriaD]

I realize that the posts in this thread could be considered a group of V3's or V5's that we can pull data from, but I doubt that everyone would post a comment who is experiencing problems.
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I've been reading along in this dialogue, and what you're saying seems to be that old nugget, 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence'... which is absolutely true. I don't really get the folks that can lurk quietly in forums, I'm certainly nothing like that (NO! ) but apparently they do exist, strange as it seems to me.

The only "mis"-anythings I've seen with my own v3 are without a doubt 99.99% operator error -- there just might have been one actual mis-fire, before I got it thoroughly noaloxed -- but I just consider that my own good fortune, and realize that others may not have that same experience -- just like our Silverado truck, which we swear by, but of course, others swear *at* their Silverados. I think it's maybe a similar kinda of thing -- a solid mid-range value, not the best, not the worst, but generally gets the job done. That's the kind of economic world I live in, so I don't expect a rolls or provari experience out of a silverado or a sigelei.

Good dialogue though, y'all...

Andria

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

I have sometimes fallen asleep and left my V5 on all night. I do try to power off if I know I will not be vaping for awhile. Could there be a problem leaving the Z on for extended periods of time and not vaping?

 

[Thayamax]

I leave mine on all the time even when I'm not using it. I've never had a problem. The only time I turn it off is when I put it in my purse.

 

[yzer]

I use Menu Item #1 to disable the fire function for safe pocket carry. This does not power down the Sigelei V3 or V5.

The only way to power down completely is to remove the battery cap.

Even with System ON these Sigeleis consume next to no power if left unused overnight. There is no need to power down or disable the fire function overnight.

 

[AndriaD]

View attachment 347988

For those that are bothered by the gap: I snagged a Kayfun Provari beauty ring in a trade. It fits the V3 round top perfectly.

And a regular Kayfun stainless ring makes a perfect beauty ring on a Sig flat-top, for the same gap-hiding purpose, though it does take a bit of finessing to make sure the 510 connector is long enough to reach the battery post -- my Tobeco KFL+ clones, you can loosen the 510 connector just a smidge to extend it without loosing the kayfun coil's block.

Andria

 

[fairmana]

I have sometimes fallen asleep and left my V5 on all night. I do try to power off if I know I will not be vaping for awhile. Could there be a problem leaving the Z on for extended periods of time and not vaping?

Usually, I go from battery to battery without ever turning it off. There are the very few exceptions where I'll turn it off to put it in my pocket so it won't fire accidentally, but that's not very often. Don't worry about any extra power consumption, the processor inside the Sigelei uses very little power when not in use and you won't notice any longer battery life just because you turned it off at night. The total power used by the processor during a full battery cycle is a fraction of the power used to take a single vape hit.

 

[BXfan]

I've started a log to track the puff results for the 6 various batteries i use on my Zmax's to see if there are any noticeable differences. I realize this won't be exactly "scientific" of course, because of the array of toppers and coils and me constantly switching back and forth between Mean and RMS depending on the juice, but just wondering if any patterns or dropoffs will come to light. I can only do it on the V5 because the V3 has no counter so it will take some time. Maybe if anything comes of it i'll identify the batts and post the results.

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

BX fan, sounds like a project, good luck. Wish I was as organized as you.

 

[MSD1405]

Hi All,
I purchased a Sigelei Zmax V5 last week and overall it has been great. There are a couple of things that I am unsure if normal or whether I have a faulty unit.

Mod Sound: When holding the power button in I can hear a faint rapid electrical clicking sound while taking a vape (rattlesnake(ish) as somebody else mentioned). The sound is coming from the MOD and not the Atomiser. I have checked with Mini Protank II, Clearomisors, and other gear. Same result. Its not loud but loud enough to hear while vaping and annoying!
Question: Are others experiencing this Or have I got a bad unit with an electrical issue. I don’t notice any burning, overheating. All works well other than the annoying electrical rapid clicking noise. Perhaps this is normal?

Auto Shut down and Resetting: When the Battery (18650 2500mah) gets down to around 3.5volts (The battery LED still shows half full), I noticed the unit shuts itself down “no warnings”. I go to take a Vape and its off! When I turn it back on, the screen shows the Ohm output as per when one starts the unit in Demo (or whatever its called) mode. All the settings are lost and places unit back into Mean mode.

Questions:
- Should it turn itself off without any warnings?
- Should it be “resetting itself” rather than just shutting down and keeping the settings?

I am interested if anyone else is experiencing this on the V5 version.

 

[yzer]

Hi All,
I purchased a Sigelei Zmax V5 last week and overall it has been great. There are a couple of things that I am unsure if normal or whether I have a faulty unit.

Mod Sound: When holding the power button in I can hear a faint rapid electrical clicking sound while taking a vape (rattlesnake(ish) as somebody else mentioned). The sound is coming from the MOD and not the Atomiser. I have checked with Mini Protank II, Clearomisors, and other gear. Same result. Its not loud but loud enough to hear while vaping and annoying!
Question: Are others experiencing this Or have I got a bad unit with an electrical issue. I don’t notice any burning, overheating. All works well other than the annoying electrical rapid clicking noise. Perhaps this is normal?

Auto Shut down and Resetting: When the Battery (18650 2500mah) gets down to around 3.5volts (The battery LED still shows half full), I noticed the unit shuts itself down “no warnings”. I go to take a Vape and its off! When I turn it back on, the screen shows the Ohm output as per when one starts the unit in Demo (or whatever its called) mode. All the settings are lost and places unit back into Mean mode.

Questions:
- Should it turn itself off without any warnings?
- Should it be “resetting itself” rather than just shutting down and keeping the settings?

I am interested if anyone else is experiencing this on the V5 version.

Sound. Yes, a faint sound from the V5 body is normal. I can also hear a similar pulse sound from low resistance cartos. These sounds will vary with atomizer resistance and device power.

Low battery warnings and behavior. The V5 has two ways to check battery voltage. The first method is the battery voltage "gauge" that appears on the lower left display corner when the device is fired. This is a bar graph shaped like a horizontal battery icon. This indicator is not very accurate in my experience. My V5 battery gauge shows 1/3 full when low battery cut-off occurs. Luckily, the V5 provides accurate battery voltage readings (like the V3) at Menu Item #4. Low battery warning for the V5 happens at 3.3V and the device will refuse to fire at 3.2V: just like the V3. My first warning that the battery is low usually happens when I get a dry hit. Then I fire the Sigelei when looking at the display and see the "Low Vol" message.

Settings. I run the V3 and V5 in VW mode. All of these settings are remembered after a battery change.
-last wattage used setting
-Menu Item #5 LCD Display setting
-Menu Item #6 LCD ON/OFF setting
-Menu Item #7 Power Voltage setting (VV or VW operation)
-Menu Item #8 RMS & Mean setting
-Menu Item #9 Mobile Power setting (ON or OFF)

other answers...
No, the unit should not turn itself off and refuse to operate unless the battery is too low. Low drain batteries or atomizers of less than 1.3 ohms may cause this issue. All bets are off if protected batteries are used on theis rig. Use only safer-chemistry unprotected high drain IMR or hybrid batteries.

All of the needed settings are saved during battery changes if operating in the Power (VW) mode. If I recall, some of the V3 settings were lost during battery changes if operating in the Voltage (VV) mode. I don't know if that is true with the V5 or not as I use only VW now.

 

[PaulBHC]

My V5 is in VW mode and remembers all of your settings except #5, it defaults to Last Watts Set.

Battery graphic is usually between half and one third remaining when it quits and displays Low Vol.

Side note, my new 18350s are shorter than my older ones.

 

[yzer]

Although I always operate the V5 in VW mode I have Menu Item #5 set to Display Voltage like I did with V3. That way I see power in watts on the top line of the display when I fire it. This setting is saved during battery changes.

Menu Item #5 on the V5 has some extra goodies. In addition to Display Resistance and Display Voltage iV5 has Display Current and Display Time. Display Time is a stopwatch of sorts.

 

[yzer]

Ahah!

I have tried to fire the V5 with the battery at 3.2 volts in order to see the puff counter result before changing batteries. When I did I got resistance reading in ohms when I fired: even though my settings are for showing watts on firing.

This happens because the battery is too low for reliable operation at 3.2V. Wait three minutes and try it again. The battery voltage should rebound a little and you should be able to see firing watts and the puff counter again... maybe once.

This condition goes away and the Sigelei returns to normal operation after a charged battery is installed.

 

[MSD1405]

Sound. Yes, a faint sound from the V5 body is normal. I can also hear a similar pulse sound from low resistance cartos. These sounds will vary with atomizer resistance and device power..

Good stuff so all normal so.

Low battery warnings and behavior. My first warning that the battery is low usually happens when I get a dry hit. Then I fire the Sigelei when looking at the display and see the "Low Vol" message.

The problem I have is I don't tend to get "Low Vol" warning before the shutdown. I have seen it once so know what the message looks like.

If I recall, some of the V3 settings were lost during battery changes if operating in the Voltage (VV) mode. I don't know if that is true with the V5 or not as I use only VW now.

On the V5 I can confirm the settings do save if I change the battery under normal circumstances.

I have tried to fire the V5 with the battery at 3.2 volts in order to see the puff counter result before changing batteries. When I did I got resistance reading in ohms when I fired: even though my settings are for showing watts on firing........The battery voltage should rebound a little and you should be able to see firing watts and the puff counter again... maybe once.
This condition goes away and the Sigelei returns to normal operation after a charged battery is installed.

Mine totally reset everything and I have to set things up again eg Display, Volts, RMS&Mean. Note: This isn't the case when I switch batteries....and only with unexpected power off.

Thanks all for your responses. From memory my Battery still has at least 3.4 to 3.5 volts when it shuts off....and when I place it in my Charger it also shows as having 3.4 volts. I'll monitor it more closely. Overall everything seems to work and issue is minor for now.

 

[MSD1405]

Ha.........it just restarted now. No warning and showing with a Siegeli on the LED screen. I then push button 5 times and unit comes on.
The only thing showing is the Ohms. When I check the battery Voltage, it still has 3.7 volts remaining so definitely not a low battery power issue! All the settings have reset. A tad annoying indeed. :-(

Am using a IGO-L with a 2.2ohm coil running at 4.2volts.

 

[BXfan]

Low battery warnings and behavior. The V5 has two ways to check battery voltage. The first method is the battery voltage "gauge" that appears on the lower left display corner when the device is fired. This is a bar graph shaped like a horizontal battery icon. This indicator is not very accurate in my experience. My V5 battery gauge shows 1/3 full when low battery cut-off occurs.

The bar graph seems to operate similar to the illuminated color warnings on the fire button of my Innokin VV3 - Green is good. Yellow is supposed to mean half charge but in practice means you have maybe another 20 hits before going red. Red is supposed to mean low but the unit is about to be shut down. I've read this has to due with the way some batteries hold their charge - IMR's can hold out well in the high range, but when they start to deplete they do so rapidly due to the nature of their chemistry. I've read of other chemistry types that can hold out longer at the 3.5 & 3.4 range but can't recall thier particular chemistry at the moment. Safer chemistry IMR's do seem to be the best fit for vaping in a regulated APV.

 

[fairmana]

MSD1405,
IMO your shut-down problem could possibly be a load issue with your batteries when they are getting close to being depleted or it could be a problem with a good electrical connection at your threads (or a combination of both).

When your battery voltage level is reduced, the device attempts to pull more current from the battery to compensate (in order to maintain the voltage or wattage setting you currently have set). If you have a less-than-solid connection at the threads, this may cause a shut-down problem to be more likely to occur when the battery level is reduced (highest current demand from the battery). You never stated whether you were using Noalox on your threads. If you aren't, then I highly recommend you apply it and then see if the problem persists. If it does, then begin to suspect the type of battery you are using.

As already mentioned, make sure you are using an unprotected battery. Protected batteries have a cut-off circuit in them that limits the amount of current they can supply. If you exceed that current level, the battery will cut-off and stop providing current (will probably shut down the device). This is most likely to occur when the battery voltage level is reduced and the V5 is trying to pull more current to compensate for the lower voltage level. High-drain unprotected batteries do not have a cutoff circuit and can handle higher levels of current drain than regular batteries (depending on what level of current drain they are rated for). I suspect that exceeding the current handling capacity of a high-drain battery will simply limit your vape to what the battery can handle (not shut down your V5 completely), but I've never put that to the test personally.

As a caveat, I just want to mention that I've used "protected" batteries in my V3 successfully without any issues, but only because I never exceeded the cut-off current rating. Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the one's I have are rated at 10 amps cut-off. Many protected batteries are cut-off rated at much lower current levels and are more likely to cause problems if you try to use them.

Best of luck, and I hope you get your issue figured out.

 

[yzer]

The puff counter on V5 works pretty well. Using identical batts, same atomizer and power the count is usually ±25 puffs each time I change out a battery. I get about 360 puffs from a red Efest 18500 1100 mAh.

 

[yzer]

Right now I have 92 puffs at 3.9V.

 

[MSD1405]

MSD1405,
You never stated whether you were using Noalox on your threads. If you aren't, then I highly recommend you apply it and then see if the problem persists. If it does, then begin to suspect the type of battery you are using.

As already mentioned, make sure you are using an unprotected battery.

Excellent reply, thanks for all those suggestions and facts. Rather than quoting all your post, I selected the above two points:
Noalox: No I don't and have been looking for some but its not available in Australia. Am looking for something simular as I fully understand the need for it. I also suspect you are right about potential poor connection being the cause. Just need to find "Noalox" down under ................suggestions welcome but will Google around.

Unprotected Battery: Yeap I believe so and the place I purchased the V5 from selected them and packaged them in for me; I am using LG 18650 HE2. I am sure there are better batteries out there and will look around in time.

Thanks again for that great summary