Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group
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So about a month ago, I was very fortunate to have an active member of this Zmax forum put me in touch with another ECF member who was having trouble with her Spire. I offered to give her something for it, but once she found out I was a military vet (just like her husband), she sent it to me for free. People like that are few and far between these days so I can't thank her and her husband enough for their kindness. I even had to convince them to allow me to pay for shipping! I felt a little better when she told me she got the mod for free from ECF but the fact remains that she could have easily gotten some money out of it had she wanted to. She was "paying it forward" and I really appreciate that. I didn't mention her name here because she'd probably get mad at me, but I wouldn't sleep well at night if I couldn't mention her generosity along with this post.
So with that said, the problem she said she was having with the Spire was that it would occasionally fire without pressing the button. I received the Spire around 15 December and used it for about 2 weeks, but I couldn't get it to do the same thing for me. A couple of days ago, I finally found the time after the Holidays to remove the original Spire circuit card and replace it with a sigelei V5 board. When I popped the tube and removed the board, I noticed droplets of what appeared to be water (didn't seem like e-juice) in several areas, so I assumed it had gotten wet and caused her problem (I'm surprised it was functional at all with all the moisture I found). Once I cleaned it up, I set about doing the "Immortality Mod" by replacing the stock V5 switch with the Omron B3W-4005, performing my trademark 'slip' modification to the support rails, and finally inserting a spacer under the top cap. As I write this, it's working fantastic with no problems whatsoever.
I'm really loving the look of this Spire, and the V5 on-board is a huge bonus. I'm not putting down my other Zmax's mind you, but the brass trim and button look great and it's a pleasant change from the SS tubes I've gotten used to. The upper body of the Spire with everything removed from it (removable top cap, telescope tube, battery cap) is identical to the V3/V5 except that it is completely smooth with no engraving on the body whatsoever. The circuit board is a V3 board as we suspected. The fancy Spire battery cap is longer than you'd expect, which is likely due to the brass ring Beyond Vape wanted to include on it. As a result, Beyond Vape needed to make their stylized telescope tube shorter than the standard V3/V5 tube. When the Spire telescopic tube and battery cap are mated, the length is the same as when the V3/V5 tube and the sigelei battery cap are mated. Since the telescope tube is shorter, I've had to get used to having more battery stick out of the tube prior to threading on the battery cap. The Spire removable top cap is basically the same height as Sigelei's with the different stylizing and the fact that it has 6 equally spaced air holes around the circumference of it.
A few 'minor' issues with the Spire that I felt worth mentioning...
Pictures coming up in my next post...
So with that said, the problem she said she was having with the Spire was that it would occasionally fire without pressing the button. I received the Spire around 15 December and used it for about 2 weeks, but I couldn't get it to do the same thing for me. A couple of days ago, I finally found the time after the Holidays to remove the original Spire circuit card and replace it with a sigelei V5 board. When I popped the tube and removed the board, I noticed droplets of what appeared to be water (didn't seem like e-juice) in several areas, so I assumed it had gotten wet and caused her problem (I'm surprised it was functional at all with all the moisture I found). Once I cleaned it up, I set about doing the "Immortality Mod" by replacing the stock V5 switch with the Omron B3W-4005, performing my trademark 'slip' modification to the support rails, and finally inserting a spacer under the top cap. As I write this, it's working fantastic with no problems whatsoever.
I'm really loving the look of this Spire, and the V5 on-board is a huge bonus. I'm not putting down my other Zmax's mind you, but the brass trim and button look great and it's a pleasant change from the SS tubes I've gotten used to. The upper body of the Spire with everything removed from it (removable top cap, telescope tube, battery cap) is identical to the V3/V5 except that it is completely smooth with no engraving on the body whatsoever. The circuit board is a V3 board as we suspected. The fancy Spire battery cap is longer than you'd expect, which is likely due to the brass ring Beyond Vape wanted to include on it. As a result, Beyond Vape needed to make their stylized telescope tube shorter than the standard V3/V5 tube. When the Spire telescopic tube and battery cap are mated, the length is the same as when the V3/V5 tube and the sigelei battery cap are mated. Since the telescope tube is shorter, I've had to get used to having more battery stick out of the tube prior to threading on the battery cap. The Spire removable top cap is basically the same height as Sigelei's with the different stylizing and the fact that it has 6 equally spaced air holes around the circumference of it.
A few 'minor' issues with the Spire that I felt worth mentioning...
- The spring that came in the Spire battery cap was made from thinner (stainless?) wire and IMHO was too easily compressed. I replaced it with a thicker spring from a spare Sigelei battery cap to firm things up.
- The button is heavy solid brass (not hollowed out) which I really like, however it didn't have any sort of plastic or silicone 'interface' on the underside of it. As you can imagine, there was significant movement and rattle in the button. A blob of hot glue on the back of the button that I trimmed down with a razor blade took care of most of that.
- The battery cap is slightly rounded on the bottom which gives the Spire a little wobble when it's stood up on a flat surface. It's not a big problem because it's not enough to cause it to fall over on it's own. I've been trying to train myself to lay my mods down to avoid accidentally knocking them over so maybe this will help me finally learn to do that.
- Lastly, the telescopic tube is a bit sloppy. Tightening up the tube a little more than I normally would helps a bit but it's still not as stable as what I'm used to. The tube can shift at a slight angle when grasped firmly in the hand. It's not a major issue for me since I don't often grab it so that it shifts, but it's something I felt worth mentioning. The assumption is that Beyond Vape made these separately along with the top cap and battery cap and only contracted with Sigelei to send them the upper body with the custom firmware.
Pictures coming up in my next post...
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Here are the pics I promised. The last pic is meant to show the difference between the Sigelei telescope tube and battery cap when compared to the Spire's.
I am really surprised you found the fit issues with the body. It was touted as being better than the production Zmax. It appears my dream has been dashed.
Sorry to hear that Dan. I'm not sure why Beyond Vape made that telescope tube larger on the inside. They could have simply taken measurements from a Sigelei tube and just duplicated it. I just measured the inside diameter of a Sigelei tube and it comes to 20.15 mm. The Spire measures at 20.35 mm. It's not much but I can tell the difference that 0.20 mm makes. Keep in mind also that all their tubes may not be the same either (different production runs). If I recall correctly, I believe I held a Sigelei V3 belonging to a friend that was just as sloppy.
I did try to stuff a very thin o-ring under the lip of the telescope tube to help eliminate that shifting, but the Spire tube doesn't have a scalloped rim like the Sigelei telescope tube does. I just couldn't get the o-ring to stay in there. It kept popping out as I went around the circumference trying to stuff it in. I thought the movement in the telescope tube would bother me more but after a while I realized it's not that big a deal. I could also be making this sound more extreme than it really is. It's not that significant, and it really doesn't shift unless you grab it just right which apparently in my case is rare. I can only say with certainty that it's more pronounced than it is in my other Zmax's which are a better fit. If it were that big an issue, you could opt to use a Sigelei telescope tube with the Spire battery cap (18650 mode). The trade-offs would be that the Sigelei tube would ride a little higher on the main body since it's longer (no biggie really) and you'd be giving up the nicer looking Spire tube which may not be an issue. You'd still have the brass highlights...
I did try to stuff a very thin o-ring under the lip of the telescope tube to help eliminate that shifting, but the Spire tube doesn't have a scalloped rim like the Sigelei telescope tube does. I just couldn't get the o-ring to stay in there. It kept popping out as I went around the circumference trying to stuff it in. I thought the movement in the telescope tube would bother me more but after a while I realized it's not that big a deal. I could also be making this sound more extreme than it really is. It's not that significant, and it really doesn't shift unless you grab it just right which apparently in my case is rare. I can only say with certainty that it's more pronounced than it is in my other Zmax's which are a better fit. If it were that big an issue, you could opt to use a Sigelei telescope tube with the Spire battery cap (18650 mode). The trade-offs would be that the Sigelei tube would ride a little higher on the main body since it's longer (no biggie really) and you'd be giving up the nicer looking Spire tube which may not be an issue. You'd still have the brass highlights...
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If I understand correctly, sounds like copper tape might take up some of that slack too. I'm curious, is the threading on the Spire and Zmax interchangable? It's sounds as if they are.
The Spire landed in capable hands. It's also affirming to the quality of the Zmax that most of us already suspected. Do you feel like doing it again only with time lapse video? Seeing those changes would have been interesting.
I think we need a place for old Zmax's to die for future parts replacement. Did you ever find out anything on those Z5 boards?
Excellent report on your snooping about with the Spire, fairmana. I was surprised that the brass button is solid and does not feature the silicon plug found with Sigelei's stainless steel buttons. Your mods including the V5 board, Omron switch, rails and spacer make your Spire a unique and remarkable device.
Thanks aikanae1! I also appreciate the suggestion for using copper tape. My worry with any sort of tape is that the adhesive would electrically insulate the threads and impact device performance. This morning I was actually thinking about using some aluminum foil if it ever becomes an issue. I believe I remember JeremyR posted a loooong time ago that he used foil with a situation he was dealing with in the threads and it worked out for him. However like I was telling Dan, it's really not that bad and doesn't really bother me or have any affect on performance that I've noticed.
Yes, the threading is the same on the Spire and Zmax. The upper body of both devices were made by Sigelei so they are both identical in every way except for the lack of engraving on the outside for the Spire. Both use a Yihi circuit board except that Beyond Vape had Yihi customize the on-screen logo for them.
Doing the circuit card replacement was really no different than what I showed in the video I uploaded to YouTube a little over a year ago. The only difference is that the board that I removed was not the same one that I replaced. I don't know if you ever saw that video, but here's the link if you ever feel like checking it out.
I haven't checked on those Yihi V5 boards yet. I did manage to get verified by ECF per your suggestion, but I haven't had much time yet to figure out what the next steps would be to organize anything like a group buy. The smartest thing might be to write to Yihi and ask them if they even have any boards available before taking any further steps with a group buy. The most favorable situation in my mind would be if they had a smaller quantity of available boards that they would be willing to sell us at a discount just to get rid of their leftover inventory. A group buy would then make sense. However, if they are only willing to sell us 1000 units minimum, that would basically be a show stopper for us. I may be wrong, but I doubt we could put together enough interested individuals to come up with the funds that would be necessary in that situation. Any other thoughts/comments from the forum are definitely welcome.
Thanks Yzer. Yeah I was also surprised about the solid brass button. I've been giving it some thought. Didn't the Spire come on the market back when the 2nd Gen V3's were still the latest Zmax available (or close enough to the release of the V5)? I'm not certain, but if that's the case, Sigelei hadn't started using the silicone plugs either. They were still using the clear solid buttons with no silicon backing. As a matter of fact, the brass button is exactly the same shape and size as the clear plastic button. Putting it in that perspective, it makes sense why Beyond Vape didn't offer the silicone plugs since they weren't being used by Sigelei yet. They were essentially selling the Sigelei Zmax V3 with Beyond Vape's aesthetic improvements to the main body. This is just off the cuff but it does make perfect sense.
Here's more pics of the Spire disassembly. I took them mostly to record the amount of water that was in the tube. You can see how even the rubber mat I was working on was getting a little wet as I moved the parts around. The circuit board was surprising dry which probably explains why it was still working (probably dried itself off from the small amounts of heat the components were generating). It's a minor miracle it didn't short itself out somewhere. The water was mostly on the inside tube walls and the circuit board support.
Here's a final pic of the mess I had on my workbench the day that I did the Spire. I figured since I was at it, I'd do a switch replacement on another V5 that hadn't gotten one yet. I used my last two Omron B3W-4005 switches from the batch of ten I bought from Digi-Key back in May of 2014. I guess it's time to put in another order! They have 2,232 of them in stock and they're still 76 cents each, so no worries. 
The spare parts in the zip-lock bag on the paper plate are from my Dad's 1st Gen V3 that had the OLED screen bite the dust about 2 years ago (I gave him my 1st Gen V3 since I already had a 2nd Gen V3 at the time). I could probably get it back from him just to have it in my collection since he's got several V3/V5 Zmax's now and could care less about that old 1st Gen (also why I'm running out of Omron switches!). I got him vaping with me to quit smoking about 4 years ago using an Ego-C and dragged him along with me and the vaping upgrades as new things popped up. He'll be 73 years old this year. Thank god we quit smoking the cancer sticks.
The spare parts in the zip-lock bag on the paper plate are from my Dad's 1st Gen V3 that had the OLED screen bite the dust about 2 years ago (I gave him my 1st Gen V3 since I already had a 2nd Gen V3 at the time). I could probably get it back from him just to have it in my collection since he's got several V3/V5 Zmax's now and could care less about that old 1st Gen (also why I'm running out of Omron switches!). I got him vaping with me to quit smoking about 4 years ago using an Ego-C and dragged him along with me and the vaping upgrades as new things popped up. He'll be 73 years old this year. Thank god we quit smoking the cancer sticks.
Too much water to have been condensation.
Wash your hands after handling the guts from that one. Two places it may have been dropped, one is the sink, the other might have some bacteria.
"PoopMax"?
LOL! Yeah, you can bet the thought crossed my mind. Fear not because the tube, parts, my hands, the bench top, etc. got a good cleaning with bleach and water. I'm hoping that's not where it got wet, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
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