Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group

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Gato del Jugo

ProVarinati
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The screen can pop off, it's only Glued in place. Mine has been off actually for a few months and i haven't glued it back on. A tiny bit of Elmer's glue held it in place quite well.

Thanks, good to know!

I was thinking that maybe the way it's sitting in there, that it couldn't pop out..

But after your post, I took a much closer look, and it appears you're correct (was hoping that there could have been some slight design tweaks between your sub-version & mine.. nope!)


Mine hasn't sufferered any more drops, but has received a few knock-overs on the desk.. Wouldn't be surprised if that was the culprit...
 

yzer

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My sigelei history.

1. First generation V3 was purchased late in April 2013 as a kit for $74. This V3 still works fine with no visible damage. The mysterious blue 18650 batteries are still in use. I kept the single-cell charger for a travel charger. I tossed the clearo after using it a few days.

2. Second generation V3 purchased body-only in mid-November 2013 for $42. This one worked for five months and then refused to boot up after a seemingly light bump. This V3 is waiting on the workbench for investigation and possible repair.

3. First V5 purchased late in April 2014 for $46, body only. Working fine with no visible damage.

APV cost for one year of vaping two Sigelei V3s and a V5: $162. After one year I have two working Sigeleis and one that may or may not be dead.

I could have spent about the same for a new entry-level Provari. Assuming the Provari worked after one year I would have one working Provari instead of two working Sigeleis. For the second year of Provari ownership I could pay for an extended second year warranty or pay for lengthy repairs. I can attempt Sigelei repair myself if needed or replace a Sigelei V3 or V5 within three business days for under $50.
 
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JeremyR

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From my view I can keep this single sigelie going for a few years. Might cost me 1.50 for a new switch if I feel the need to replace it some day. Other mods simply break in other ways before the chip goes out. I had two mods in 2 months that the 510 busted on them, rendering them nearly useless. I love stainless!

I have no mod back up and see no need to as this isn't just going to break one day. From what I can tell I can make any basic repairs until the chip dies.
 

69CamaroSS

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Thanks, good to know!

I was thinking that maybe the way it's sitting in there, that it couldn't pop out..

But after your post, I took a much closer look, and it appears you're correct (was hoping that there could have been some slight design tweaks between your sub-version & mine.. nope!)


Mine hasn't sufferered any more drops, but has received a few knock-overs on the desk.. Wouldn't be surprised if that was the culprit...

Lay it down ;) assuming your tank won't leak. I usually lay my V5 down and sometimes prop it up with a book or remote control etc...running stacked with 2 18350's, she's quite a bit tall and really top heavy with the monster Nautilus on top filled with 5-6mls.
 

Alxx Nova

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I've been using the Artemas carto tanks at work. The tank holds 5 mil and it uses flanged cartos. So with its locking ring at the bottom the tank can never slide off. I use either smok or boge flanged xl cartos. I do prefer my Kayfun, RSST, & Kraken but the Artemas is so much lighter it's easier to carry around at work. It holds so much, and with only using it at work, I just fill it every other day.

I paid $10 for mine but I see madvapes has them on sale for $6. It comes with a 1.5 dual coil and in different colors. Here's the link and a pic of the locking ring.
Anodized Artemas Locking 510 DCT
 

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Gato del Jugo

ProVarinati
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yzer,


It's not been my intention to make this a ProVari thread..

I'm actually paying Sig a compliment.. As I said, it's nice for the price (as both my PVs are), and I use it alongside my ProVari every day..

In doing so, it's also quite easy for me to compare & contrast the two, side by side -- as I speak from real-world experience


And there's a few others out there that I'm aware of who own/have owned both, as well.. p. opus is one, off the top of my head... He's the guy who did the recent challenge of completely submerging his ProVari in a glass of water.. Have you seen the thread & photos?

Anyway, I believe all of them have stated that the ProVari is better.. And it's also a lot more expensive -- which obviously is another factor

Is it worth the extra money? To me, it is.. To you & others, obviously it's not.. That's cool, too


My ProVari, which isn't much younger than the Sig, has taken just as much abuse, with dropping & knocking over (sometimes pretty hard & swift) -- and yet it's shown no sign of ailing or falling apart, both in terms of physical wear or operation.. Meanwhile the Sig now has 4 separate issues, albeit nothing life-threatening at this stage

I'm actually impressed, at some level, that a $40 Sig is still ticking pretty well, considering..

And I'm sure Jeremy is pretty impressed with his, given the abuse his has taken


That doesn't mean, though, that there aren't better PVs out there which are also an equal or perhaps even better value...
 

AndriaD

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I gotta get one of those carto tanks, but I want to buy, at first, just the tube/caps, no carto, I'd rather choose my own, those single-coil designed to be used in DCTs. And I have a fair selection of drip tips already, considering I really prefer the T3S's that don't need them. :D But I need to get some more plastic and glass tips, maybe ceramic too, I've heard those are great. But where can I find the absolute rock-bottom price for *just* the carto tank, nothing else?

Andria
 

JeremyR

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I've got a kamry x8 an I like it. It's Much better and stronger Than the cheap smoktech ones. It's actually a real nice tank very Sturdily built. I really like the locking feature to keep it from slipping & allows you to set the draw off the mod. It's very Sturdy and looks great on the v3 .

null_zps5ba52c38.jpg


I also had really good luck with the kamry carto that Came with it. Actually thats still the original from a long time ago... I need to get some cartos for this baby!

These guys have it in stock.. Although this is not where I got mine.
X8 Carto Tank 3.0ml with Fill Port and Base Carto Secure Knob [gv-X8CartoTank] - $15.95 : GotVapes.com, E-cigarette Supplies - Atomizers Cartomizers Mods Juice and more
 
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fairmana

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I got the V3 #2 that failed last Sunday to work this afternoon. A full cleaning and new Noalox will follow. Still getting a few misfires with it (it never misfired before). Hope to get that cleared up. I may have three fully functioning Sigeleis later this evening.

Yzer, curious to know how it worked out for you. Did you just pull it apart and do a full internal cleaning? Do you have any other strange symptoms besides misfires? (ex. strange screen characters when booting up, other weird behavior, etc.)

I had something similar happen to a buddy of mine's V3 as I mentioned it in an earlier post. After dropping it, it would shut down unexpectedly and he couldn't always get it to turn back on, often accompanied by garbled screen characters. Just curious if you had similar symptoms.
 

yzer

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Here is a report on the Sigelei failure and fix to this date.

Device: Sigelei Zmax V3 (Second Generation) I call this V3 #2. I also have a 12-month old V3 (First Generation) and a new V5.
Start of service life: 12/6/2013
Device usage: Heavy. Shared daily vaping usage about 50/50 with V3 #1.
Failure date: 4/20/2014
Nature of failure: Sigelei appears on the screen after the battery is inserted but will not boot up.
Possible cause of failure: The V3 flew horizontally for several feet inside a car that was executing a fairly high-G turn, striking upholstered door material. Failure occurred immediately after this event.

Preliminary work: I attempted to boot up the V3 several times during the next days without success. Different batteries were tried.

Repair/maintenance session 4-27-2014:
-Rotated fire button. Did several 100-click procedures. No effect.
-Attempted a firmware reboot. Device did not respond. Attempted normal boot-up without success.
-Battery removed. Held down fire button 15 seconds. Released fire button and re-installed battery. Attempted boot-up without success.
-Battery installed backwards to test or work reverse battery protection circuit.
-Installed battery properly. The V3 booted up. Operation was extremely bad with many misfires. Pressing the fire button resulted in firing or not firing or causing the menu items to appear unexpectedly.

Now that I had the V3 working at a minimal level I proceeded with maintenance. Disassembely was limited to removing the top cap, the battery cap, the battery spring and the telescopic tube.
-All threads were completely cleaned with paper towel wetted with rubbing alcohol. The B+ battery post, battery spring and the inside of the battery cap were cleaned in the same way.
-A thin coating of fresh Noalox was applied to tube and battery cap threads and the base of the battery spring. All threaded parts were worked several times to distribute Noalox evenly.

Note: During maintenance I noticed that the battery spring had compressed several mm during nearly five months of use. I reassembled the V3 and adjusted the battery tube several mm shorter than usual.

After maintenance the V3 returned to nearly normal operation. This V3 rarely misfired prior to 4/20... maybe once a every couple of weeks. It now misfires maybe 5% of the time and the misfire rate is improving with time. All misfires are of the no-fire type and will not cause menu items to appear unexpectedly.

I have no plans to escalate repairs (removal of 510/eGo assembly) at this time. My next step it to buy a can of ElectrO-WasH during my next trip to Sacramento this week. I don't have any of this stuff left at the workbench. I will use ElectrO-WasH to wash the inside of the head assembly including the electronics. Maybe that will help to eliminate misfires on this V3 completely.

I plan to use V3 #2 for the next day or two for observation and return to using the new V5 for the rest of it's warranty period. I'll report back on the ElectrO-WasH results.
 

JeremyR

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So your determination is the spring had compressed in the Landing? Did it hit the tail then.. Luckily otherwise it would have been a board shift.. My 3 1/2 yr old(strength of a 5 yr old) son tossed mine yesterday slammed it into hard wood trim and metal register. Made a really loud noise as his arm is even stronger than before, definitely could be a mlb player.. No issues at all! :) (I do have the board retainer fix)

I must have missed the electroowash talk, will wait to hear the results..
 

MrsP0721

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My 3 1/2 yr old(strength of a 5 yr old) son

lol, My youngest son was about 2 and accidentally fractured my mother's skull by throwing a small toy that happened to hit her in the head! It was insane! He's almost 6 now and BOY does that kid have an arm! My husband swears he's the next NFL superstar lol. So off topic, sorry, but I've learned not to overestimate a child's strength lol.
 

AndriaD

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Ok, how come none of you Sigelei experts told me to BE SURE that my Sigelei was set in RMS rather than Mean mode? Mean is right, with some of those dry hits I was getting!

So in the Kayfun vs Kayfun Lite+ thread, someone finally asked me if I was sure it was set in "RMS" mode... I wasn't, so I checked... and the stupid thing was in "Mean" mode! I have no freaking clue what either of those mean, but once I changed it to RMS, suddenly I can vape with a T3S at 7.5w and no priming puff -- and no dry hit! AARGHHH!

Why would the factory default be "Mean" when RMS is so clearly so much better???

Andria
 

yzer

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Ok, how come none of you Sigelei experts told me to BE SURE that my Sigelei was set in RMS rather than Mean mode? Mean is right, with some of those dry hits I was getting!

Why would the factory default be "Mean" when RMS is so clearly so much better???

Andria
The first mention of RMS is right here.

Post #1

RMS gives an accurate reading of voltage and wattage. Mean (average) does not. Some Sigelei Zmax users claim that they can exceed the 15W limit by using 2x18350 in Mean settings.

There is really is no good reason why RMS and Mean should be selectable at all. Zmax would work better if was only RMS to begin with. The history of the Zmax chip that was developed by Yihiecigar comes into play. The first chip was Vmax. It was Mean and VV only. That didn't work out well because everyone noticed the Vmax was running hotter than every other variable voltage mod. Yihiecigar corrected this issue my making RMS/Mean switchable on the new VV/VW Zmax chip. The latest high powered chips made by Yihiecigar for Sigelei and other Chinese manufacturers are RMS only and not Mean/RMS selectable.
 
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