Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group

[Deckacards]

Now this is very concerning. Those are in fact the batteries that came with the kit, and if they are dangerous, then why would Sigelei put them in their kit and risk a law suit? Not that I haven't heard that this is possible before with other mods, but damn...now I am a little worried. Are there any precursors I should watch for before they fail? I've heard that you can stack batteries as you've done, and have it be ok, but it is still relatively unsafe (or rather less safe than using one 18650). I've already spent my vape budget for this month, but damn....now I'm more confused than ever which batteries to get and whether or not I can wait until February to do so. Right now, the zmax is what I am using exclusively...

I'm also very interested in your battery comparison, fairmana.

That website I linked in my post could have incorrect information. I'm not sure how reliable it is, but either way, I've since stopped using the Sigelei batteries and moved on to the Panasonics with discharge limits beyond what the Zmax is capable of allowing through its circuitry.

I should have mentioned in my previous post that while I stack 18350s to achieve 15w on a dual coil Igo-s, doing so can be dangerous. IMR batteries should be used and voltages should always be tested using a voltmeter before stacking the batteries in the Zmax.

If you are on the lookout, I would recommend the Panasonics. I picked up two of them for $19.99, but I am sure there are better prices online. I also have some Efest 18650 IMR 2000 mah batteries on the way that I'll use with my Nemesis clone, when that arrives as well.

 

[JeremyR]

I am noticing that I really need 11watts in my 1.8-2.2ohm PT mini II's to get the full flavor from the NET's I've been into lately, but the batteries that came with my V5 kit don't seem to be able to keep up that long. They won't do above 10 watts after the battery goes down to around 3.7/3.8 volts. Would better batteries fix this problem and if so, which ones, or do I need to get a mechanical mod (still confused as to what the mechanical ones are really for)?

btw - my V5 bought from GoodeJuice has no Sigelei logo under the fire button, just ZMAX V5 on the side. Still shows SI 2.0a. Flat top with removable top cap.

I recommend the higher resistance. 1.7 & 1.5 is too much for a vv with 1 18650. It has a amp limit of 2.5-2.8. The only way to achieve a 4 amp limit is stacking 350s. Time and time again i try lower res and it doesn't work as good. the lack of power is noticeable. 2.5-3 work best for me and 2.3ohm is the actual maximum performance with 1 battery.

Here's my thoughts on this... The realistic amp limit is 2.5 amps with a single battery. But 4v stacked.. So a single battery with a 1.7 ohm coil @ 2.5 amps max, is likely yielding 4.25 volts & 10watts output even if your set at 6v or 15w. Then consider the voltage drop to the coil. You can set it to 15 watts/ 6v but your not getting it... A 2.3-2.4 ohm would perform better yielding 6 volts at 2.5 amps and a full 15watts. Review the chart specs 2.5 -2.8 amps maximum output. (Stacked @ 4 amps 1.5 ohm 24 watts 6 volts)

Since we don't have anything from sigelei. You can see what pro vape says about the provari amp limit. Look halfway down this page - at technical answer . Frequently Asked Questions

Use this chart to match up amp limit, volts, ohms,& watts
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...xZLVd5aDkwUEJEZXc&f=true&noheader=false&gid=1

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The kit bats wear out pretty quick. Your better off with some efest imrs for 7.00 each. I don't think its gonna blow on ya but be weaker and weaker every day.

 

[BecknCO]

I recommend the higher resistance. 1.7 & 1.5 is too much for a vv with 1 18650. It has a amp limit of 2.5-2.8. The only way to achieve a 4 amp limit is stacking 350s. Time and time again i try lower res and it doesn't work as good. the lack of power is noticeable. 2.5-3 work best for me and 2.3ohm is the actual maximum performance with 1 battery.

Here's my thoughts on this... The realistic amp limit is 2.5 amps with a single battery. But 4v stacked.. So a single battery with a 1.7 ohm coil @ 2.5 amps max, is likely yielding 4.25 volts & 10watts output even if your set at 6v or 15w. Then consider the voltage drop to the coil. You can set it to 15 watts/ 6v but your not getting it... A 2.3-2.4 ohm would perform better yielding 6 volts at 2.5 amps and a full 15watts. Review the chart specs 2.5 -2.8 amps maximum output. (Stacked @ 4 amps 1.5 ohm 24 watts 6 volts)

Since we don't have anything from sigelei. You can see what pro vape says about the provari amp limit. Look halfway down this page - at technical answer . Frequently Asked Questions

Use this chart to match up amp limit, volts, ohms,& watts
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...xZLVd5aDkwUEJEZXc&f=true&noheader=false&gid=1

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The kit bats wear out pretty quick. Your better off with some efest imrs for 7.00 each. I don't think its gonna blow on ya but be weaker and weaker every day.

Wow man - that took me a minute to try and understand, but i think I get the gist of it. Thanks for the detailed explanation. So maybe, I need to start thinking about buying or learning to build higher ohm coils. I just always equated more flavor with 1.8's, but I see that's not the case. If I am looking at getting a cheap mech mod and want to use the batteries for both - I guess Efest or AW is the way to go then?

 

[JeremyR]

Yeah I mean I don't know 100% that its correct, but the numbers match up and that power is what I notice in use. Nobody really talks about this Usually hear crickets when I mention amp limits around the forum. I'm not sure how the sigelei really puts out and the difference between watts and volts. Some ohms you could get more watts using voltage; does it put out more than 15w if you run in voltage mode.. I'm not completely sure without a pbusardo test kit it's theoretical. It definitely hits a max voltage Point with the 1.7 and I know it's not puttin out 6 volts. It takes stacked 350s to pull off that feat.

So yeah try a higher ohm and you should be able to get more watts out of it. .. People go to mechs because then they are only limited by the battery amp limit.. figure ohms @ 4.2v max 3.7v avg. this calculator works for figuring under 1.4 ohms. Watts - volts - amps - ohms conversion calculator

Imrs start at 10 amp limit, to be safe your configuration should stick to 8 amps. Should be
Plenty for you but a 20-30 amp is what a lot of subohmers use.

 

[JeremyR]

On the logo V3, I chose to remove the threaded collar and use the channel locks on the threads. The teeth in the jaws lined up well with the threads and I managed to work off the top cap with very minimal damage to the threads. The collar still screws on and off smoothly after working it a few times to work off any slight burs I caused. Some miniature files helped also. Again, no damage worth mentioning here.

A small plastic "horseshoe" part like this would be pretty cheap for Sigelei to include in their PV's and it should eliminate the possibility of this problem ever occurring.

My friend and I have had these new V3's for only about a month now. I'm a bit confused as to why this happened, since I've been pretty careful not to

View attachment 293771

Sweet job whatever works! Like me you just found something around the house.

For removing the top- take off well ring and use a sacrificial ego to vise it. Those threads are strong but I wouldn't vise the threads bare.

Next time you open it I glued my board into the cradle to make sure it didn't pop out. You may find the board and cradle can push up a little at the top and throw off the button. That's why I went with notches and pinning the cradle down inside the tube.. You know from this point it becomes easy to make more adjustments.

I am considering using a punch to make a couple indents to hold the top cap tighter in the tube. Once I have it perfected to make it more permanent. The other day my son got a wild hair and threw it, for the 20th time probably, hit the table and slammed to the floor and for the first time it did pop out with the 16oz oddy. The wires are soldered really strong. Any other pv the would have broke.. It also helped not having the board glued so it could slide out a little.

How are your buttons working.. Next time you can go for Button line up. I like it a lot better, fires easier.

Sigelie I hope your listening. Its ridiculous the you've left out a 2 cent piece that would solidify the sigelei nicely. This is what we want - reliability without modding. Not a Cell phone charger!

Thanks for Sharing your repair I'm sure we will help many sigelie users save Their zmax. Because with this repair this thing is a solid reliable, quality unit.

 

[fairmana]

For removing the top- take off well ring and use a sacrificial ego to vise it. Those threads are strong but I wouldn't vise the threads bare.

It's quite possible that grabbing the outer ego threads might be a solid solution. Part of my concern was not having enough leverage using the smaller diameter 510/ego connector on the top cap and bending or snapping that off the top cap (top cap much larger diameter than the 510/ego connector). I realize it's stainless, but I'm still a bit wary of using it. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

I've had the top cap off of 3 different V3's that have the threaded collar, and none were consistent regarding the amount of force I needed to use. So what concerned me is that your top cap may have come off easier and therefore using the 510/ego threads worked OK, whereas if I tried that with a top cap that was on more firmly, I might damage that connector. No way to test that without actually doing it, but I'm still wary. If I damage the collar threads slightly no big deal, but if I bend or snap off the 510/ego connector, that's a show stopper.

Of the three top caps I've removed so far having the threaded collar (main body in a vice with leather strap around it):

The first I left the threaded collar on it, and using a leather strap around it to protect it, I grabbed it as close to the main body as I could with channel locks and it worked off just fine. The 2nd one I used the same procedure as above and managed to pull off the threaded collar (ouch!). Since that didn't leave me much room to grab the top cap, I resorted to using the channel locks directly on the small area of threads for the collar. The teeth in my channel locks happened to be just the right spacing so that the teeth went over the threads instead of crushing them. I adjusted the jaws of the channel locks so that they came in contact perpendicular to the top cap (jaws were not angled). I squeezed the handles on the channel locks as hard as I could while I worked back and forth to keep the jaws from slipping off the threads and messing them up. That worked out great and marred the threads in a very insignificant way. I did this for the final "logo" V3 and again it worked well.

Another consideration is that the jaws of the channel locks make contact with the top cap in a very small area since the top cap is round and the jaws are square. Worse case scenario IMO is that you slightly damage the threads in those two small contact areas and need to clean them up a bit with a small "V" shaped jewelers file. On the third one I did using this procedure the collar threads on and off just as nicely as it did before I removed the top cap. I almost didn't need to, but I did a very minor touch up with the afore mentioned file.

This has been my experience thus far for what it's worth. I'd much rather use the ego threads since I can wrap those to avoid any thread damage, but it's a toss up for me regarding how safe that is. Anyone removing the top cap from their V3 will need to make their own risk assessment as to how they want to approach it.

 

[Gato del Jugo]

This morning my cat knocked mine off from about 3 feet, untanked but in 650 mode.

Concrete under the carpet & carpet padding.


Works fine.. just was hoping it would have fixed the previous screen shift...

 

[yzer]

I ran into this wandering around on the internets today.

It answers one burning question. How is Sigelei pronounced? Based on my limited experience with Chinese pronunciation it could be written as Tzi-guh-LEE. A loaded Sigelei and an empty ashtray can be spotted at a work station at 0:19.

 

[fairmana]

How are your buttons working.. Next time you can go for Button line up. I like it a lot better, fires easier.

@ JeremyR:

Sorry, forgot to respond to your other question... Before my circuit card broke loose, my button lined up good from top to bottom, however from side to side, it was off a bit. I honestly didn't even notice till I had it apart and could look down the inside where it was obvious the circuit card wasn't square with the outside tube. The circuit card cradle was glued at the factory turned inside the tube about 10 degrees from optimal. When I re-glued it in with new epoxy, I made sure the circuit card was square to the face with the screen and the button. Worked out good.

 

[fairmana]

I ran into this wandering around on the internets today.

It answers one burning question. How is Sigelei pronounced? Based on my limited experience with Chinese pronunciation it could be written as Tzi-guh-LEE. A loaded Sigelei and an empty ashtray can be spotted at a work station at 0:19.

Yzer, thanks for sharing the vid. It was an eye opener on the people and the environment where these are assembled. Pretty cool where they showed how they did the laser etching of the "Sigelei" logo on the tube.

It was also evident that these were being put together by hand by several employees sitting at multiple assembly stations. Not hard to see how you might get one put together well by a guy that's on the ball, while the guy in training or that didn't have his coffee that morning might crank out a bunch with screens/buttons that don't line up right.

 

[yzer]

I liked that vid. I'm also a big fan of "How It's Made" on Discovery channel. It would be fun to see more of the Sigelei machine shops because that's where they do their best work. I'm pretty sure their machining is highly automated.

 

[frank.gotch]

I'm loving mine so far. I've been using a Pro-Tank 3 on it. I get No Load errors once in awhile but I'm gonna blame that on the PT coils, I think I got a bad 5 pack of them because I was getting a lot of no hits from my eGo batteries too. Just used that version check trick and it's 2.0a. The 18650 Efest 2200 is GREAT, lasts forever and really doesn't take that long to charge.

 

[JeremyR]

Hey frank the low load error is when it reads ohms below 1.3-1.4. You may be using a 1.5 ohm coil and it's fluctuating , or you have a light short causing the ohms to drop that low, but not a hard short.

 

[frank.gotch]

Hey frank the low load error is when it reads ohms below 1.3-1.4. You may be using a 1.5 ohm coil and it's fluctuating , or you have a light short causing the ohms to drop that low, but not a hard short.

It actually says "No Load", like if you were hitting the fire button with nothing on top of it. It's a 2.0 ohm coil. I've seen the "Low Load" error last night when I was messing around with the RBA I bought. Does that sound like a short? I searched and couldn't find many posts about the actual "No Load" error. I haven't had any since I've been home tonight, and that's with the same coil/tank over a few hours. I think I read yzer mention that his v3 took awhile to respond after a battery change the first few days after he got it and I've noticed the same issue with this v5. Maybe it's all part of the unit "settling" or "hitting it's stride" if that makes any sense?

 

[JeremyR]

That may be something new with the v5. My v3 says 9.9 ohms with nothing on top... Low load is under 1.4 ohms. If there's a short it should read short!! .


@becknco

I took off the 1.7 ohm and I've got a 3 ohm coil on it now. It does perform much better all round, also bigger clouds now. I could always fog up the room with 3 ohm but had trouble doing it with the 1.7. That's my experience. The battery also lasts twice as long, I'm usually at 15w/6v all day.

 

[Gato del Jugo]

So far this is my 1st & only mod...


What do you guys have as a back-up?


Just concerned that one day this thing could quit on me, drop & break it, or simply lose it or something.


Tempted to get a 2nd one, though also open to something else in the VW category that can fit at least a 490/500 (not necessarily telescopic).

Anything comparable?

 

[BecknCO]

I have a itaste vv3 I got for about $27 shipped from 101vape - but my fiancee now uses that exclusively. I'd recommend it however - edit - my bad - I see you want to use batteries whereas the vv3 IS the battery. I don't own anything other than those and some joye ego c's.

 

[fairmana]

I'm assuming you'd like to stay in the same price range...

Several months back when I was getting ready to crack into my Sigelei V3, I bought a Vamo V3 as a backup just in case my Sigelei didn't make it. It's not a bad device at all vape-wise but I had a little trouble getting used to the extra buttons (changing my power unintentionally). My wife uses that one now since I've bought another Sigelei as a backup.

I've also heard good things about the SMOKTech SID, but have no personal experience with it.

Just some ideas...

 

[JeremyR]

Another sigelie or a innokin MVP or vv3 is a good backup with 800mhz pwm. I have just a couple of my old egos . Not great but works if I need to order another mod. A cheap mech would be great

 

[yzer]

So far this is my 1st & only mod...


What do you guys have as a back-up?


Just concerned that one day this thing could quit on me, drop & break it, or simply lose it or something.


Tempted to get a 2nd one, though also open to something else in the VW category that can fit at least a 490/500 (not necessarily telescopic).

Anything comparable?

I bought a back-up for my Sigelei in November. My back-up before that time was the old E-Power 14650 tube mod but I knew it wouldn't satisfy my current taste for VV/VW vapor. I considered Innokin VTR but honestly, the box mod form factor doesn't suit me and the VTR tank capacity was too limited. Vamo is too long and I don't like what I see about the build quality. MVP2? No way. It's a disposable APV. So that got scratched off the list too. Next up for consideration was the Innokin SVD which I considered seriously just to try something different that had VV/VW and a telescopic body. Ultimately, I didn't want all of the SVD buttons or the screwed-on display. I never considered a Provari seriously although I can easily afford one. I just don't like tossing money away for snob appeal.

So, when I read about the new Sigelei Zmax Telescopic V3 improvements I had more reasons to buy another. I kind of wish I considered the Telescopic V5 a little more closely. All I thought about was that I didn't want the cell phone charger but I liked the new OLED display. Prices on the new V3s were low in November so I pulled the trigger on another one. I now have two V3s.