Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group

[AndriaD]

Thanks Andria.

By the way, after owning my kayfun Lite Plus (the one in my pic is a Tobeco from Ebay), a kinda wish I had taken a look at the 3.1 first. The side fill hole is a great improvement that I'm pretty sure is not on the Russian 91% (unless FT's version includes it - I'm not sure). There are also other versions/differences/improvements that might sway you one way or the other. Just saying... If you haven't already done it, check out some reviews/videos before you drop the hammer.

Anyway, once you get your kayfun I have a feeling you're going to enjoy it as much as I like mine.

I'm sure I will! I haven't ordered anything yet, but I think I've found the one I want, on eBay... 2MM KAYFUN LITE PLUS Clone by Tobeco - W/ Second Tank & Spare Parts - Russian - CUSTOM Extra Wide 2mm Airflow - Both Clear & SS Tanks

It's brushed, uses standard drip tip, has both tanks (clear and SS), and comes with a buttload of spare parts. It's $32.95/free shipping, from california instead of somewhere on the other side of the planet who are currently enjoying a 3-day holiday for Int'l Labor Day.

I don't think I'll really mind the bottom fill, since I'm used to that with the T3S's anyhow, and this holds a lot more than the T3S's, so it won't be an issue as often as the T3S tanks. I'll be getting this one right away, but I think I'll probably get one of those Nano kits pretty soon, to make it not so tall, and I've seen some of the nano kits with glass rather than plastic tanks.

Now I gotta watch those videos about making coils for this; the making of the coil isn't really an issue, I managed to "freestyle" a coil on a 7/64 drillbit this morning, and of course those bits won't fit on the T3S's head's slots, so after I made the coil, I went ahead and threaded the wick, so it would go to the right level in the head -- it worked great! Only needed 5 wraps on a 7/64, to get a solid 2.5Ω, so that's a real winner! But with the kayfuns, I need to learn about fastening the coil to those screws, and arranging the wick, since that's entirely different from the T3S coils, a whole new thing for me.

JeremyR, I think I've finally managed to get the wicking sorted; I finally got the 2mm hollow braided ekowool, and it works great in the coil; I've found that with that, a whole strand of 1.5mm regular silica for the flavor wick is a bit much, still some dry hits, so I pulled apart a piece of the 1.5mm and used approx half of it, and that was magic! With one that I made last night, just using the 2mm hollow ekowool seems entirely sufficient without a flavor wick at all. Time will tell on that one, if I'll need to add a flavor wick after all, with this thin juice I use.

Back to the Sigelei so I'm not *completely* off topic -- I've discovered that my major problem with the sig button is just plain impatience -- when I do "power up" or "power down", if I don't wait till the display goes off but try to take a hit, when I press the button it just keeps going in whatever direction, up or down. So I have to be patient and wait for the display to go off, after changing power level. But I redid my noalox yesterday, just to make sure it had sufficient to make sure my baby stays in prime condition.

Andria

 

[JeremyR]

fairman posted -To answer your other question about the nubs, the B3W-4005 switch body is 4.30 mm so I had to sand the nubs on the bottom until they were about 0.70 mm long (5mm total). I just opened the jaws of my micrometer to 5mm and sanded the nubs until the switch could enter the micrometer jaws sideways (do both nubs individually). I used medium grit sandpaper, and it didn't take very many swipes to rub them down. Try to apply even gentle pressure while holding the switch level as you sand it (not easy) so both nubs are sanded evenly. Stop and check your measurements after a few swipes on the sandpaper so you don't sand them too short.

Thanks for the detailed description. If I were you, I would take these posts and post them to your blog so they will always be handy...

Yeah yzer, dang near immortal for sure..

 

[yzer]

The switches are 73 cents apiece (if you buy 10). I've got two V3s and one V5. I think I'm covered for a while.

 

[fairmana]

I'm glad the switch info will help out others with similar problems. I ordered an extra 10 for myself last night since I've already used up the two I bought earlier. With shipping it came to a total of around 10 bucks. I don't plan on running out of these anytime soon even though I'll probably have to install 1 on a friend's and another 2 on my Dad's Sig's.

@Yzer: The electrical tape could be a good solution if anyone was averse to the yellow button. Another possible solution might be to use black nail polish on the underside of the outer plastic button. One thing's for sure... if you leave the yellow button you can sure tell if your circuit board is shifting, so that's a plus.

@ Andria: That Tobeco Kayfun clone you linked is exactly the same one I have, and overall I like it and it's very good quality. Like I said before though, it gets old filling it. You have to unscrew the Kayfun, figure out where you left your small phillips screwdriver, remove the bottom fill screw, fill it, put the screw back in, and screw the Kayfun back onto the Sig. Sometimes the fill screw may not want to start threading properly back into the hole so you have to fiddle around with it until it finally does. Call me lazy, but I'm fed up with it.

The FT Kayfun 3.1 ES that's on it's way has a fill valve on the side which is going to be a VERY nice change. In case you weren't aware how that works, you simply insert the needle tip from a fill bottle into the one-way valve on the side and squeeze the bottle. I also ordered some 50ml needle bottles as well. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, when you get your Kayfun, there is likely going to be some machine oil left over from the manufacturing, so clean it VERY well. I was planning on using acetone or carb cleaner and then boiling all the metal parts (don't get any solvents on your o-rings or your clear tank, it might eat them up).

Edit:
@Jeremy: Good idea, I'll make sure to keep a copy. Thanks.

 

[Fegbri]

Quick poll and question:
When you vape 4-5 times in a row, does your zmax and tank get warm/hot at the top? I've been using clearomizers (t3s, Aro, etc) and experience a warm to hot top around the screen and higher. I know we are heating up a coil, but just wandered if this is normal?

FYI- I do use noalox and my v5 is about 2 months old.

Thanks!

 

[Fegbri]

I'm sure I will! I haven't ordered anything yet, but I think I've found the one I want, on eBay... 2MM KAYFUN LITE PLUS Clone by Tobeco - W/ Second Tank & Spare Parts - Russian - CUSTOM Extra Wide 2mm Airflow - Both Clear & SS Tanks

It's brushed, uses standard drip tip, has both tanks (clear and SS), and comes with a buttload of spare parts. It's $32.95/free shipping, from california instead of somewhere on the other side of the planet who are currently enjoying a 3-day holiday for Int'l Labor Day.

I don't think I'll really mind the bottom fill, since I'm used to that with the T3S's anyhow, and this holds a lot more than the T3S's, so it won't be an issue as often as the T3S tanks. I'll be getting this one right away, but I think I'll probably get one of those Nano kits pretty soon, to make it not so tall, and I've seen some of the nano kits with glass rather than plastic tanks.

Now I gotta watch those videos about making coils for this; the making of the coil isn't really an issue, I managed to "freestyle" a coil on a 7/64 drillbit this morning, and of course those bits won't fit on the T3S's head's slots, so after I made the coil, I went ahead and threaded the wick, so it would go to the right level in the head -- it worked great! Only needed 5 wraps on a 7/64, to get a solid 2.5Ω, so that's a real winner! But with the kayfuns, I need to learn about fastening the coil to those screws, and arranging the wick, since that's entirely different from the T3S coils, a whole new thing for me.

JeremyR, I think I've finally managed to get the wicking sorted; I finally got the 2mm hollow braided ekowool, and it works great in the coil; I've found that with that, a whole strand of 1.5mm regular silica for the flavor wick is a bit much, still some dry hits, so I pulled apart a piece of the 1.5mm and used approx half of it, and that was magic! With one that I made last night, just using the 2mm hollow ekowool seems entirely sufficient without a flavor wick at all. Time will tell on that one, if I'll need to add a flavor wick after all, with this thin juice I use.

Back to the Sigelei so I'm not *completely* off topic -- I've discovered that my major problem with the sig button is just plain impatience -- when I do "power up" or "power down", if I don't wait till the display goes off but try to take a hit, when I press the button it just keeps going in whatever direction, up or down. So I have to be patient and wait for the display to go off, after changing power level. But I redid my noalox yesterday, just to make sure it had sufficient to make sure my baby stays in prime condition.

Andria

I am getting the KFL+ v2 from ehpro delivered tomorrow. It is the latest and greatest, plus has a newer style drip tip that I think will look way better on the Zmax. I'll let you know how it fits and works after I try it out.

Kayfun Lite Plus V2 by Ehpro Brushed Stainless Steel Rebuildable Atomizer Tank - Other

 

[MrsP0721]

With my cartos mine does, but mine tends to get warm at the bottom. One day I took the battery out to see if it was the battery heating up and the battery was nice and cool so I assumed it was just the mod itself venting the heat out the bottom holes. But I'm no expert!

 

[yzer]

Quick poll and question:
When you vape 4-5 times in a row, does your zmax and tank get warm/hot at the top? I've been using clearomizers (t3s, Aro, etc) and experience a warm to hot top around the screen and higher. I know we are heating up a coil, but just wandered if this is normal?

FYI- I do use noalox and my v5 is about 2 months old.

Thanks!

I had all three Sigeleis sitting on the desk five minutes ago. I hadn't vaped any of them for a good hour and all were at or near room temperature of 75 degrees.

I vaped the V5 (one week old and not yet Noaloxed) at 6.5 watts for five minutes. Whoops, I forgot to reset the puff counter. After this time the carto tank was warm, the top cap was a little less warm and the tube near the display was warm but less warm than the top cap. The entire Sigelei was slightly warm.

At the same time I held a V3 in the other hand for the same amount of time as the V5 but didn't vape it.

I waited five more minutes without holding or vaping either Sigelei. The V5 had cooled down but was still warm in all of the same places but warmest at the carto tank. The V3 was still warm from just holding it. It was much colder than the other V3 which had not been vaped or held.

APVs will warm up just by holding them and especially by using them. The more watts you run the warmer they will get. Most heat comes from the atomizer which contains a heating element (a coil). Waste heat is also produced by the electronics in the tube area behind the display screen and button. The longer you vape the warmer they get. The higher the wattage setting you use the warmer they get.

I noticed no difference in the heat produced by my non-Noaloxed V5 this last week from the heat produced by my Noaloxed V3s.

The five vent holes may provide a small amount of battery cooling but the real reason the battery cap is vented is to prevent the Sigelei from blowing up like a pipe bomb if the battery fails and outgasses.

 

[AndriaD]

@ Andria: That Tobeco Kayfun clone you linked is exactly the same one I have, and overall I like it and it's very good quality. Like I said before though, it gets old filling it. You have to unscrew the Kayfun, figure out where you left your small phillips screwdriver, remove the bottom fill screw, fill it, put the screw back in, and screw the Kayfun back onto the Sig. Sometimes the fill screw may not want to start threading properly back into the hole so you have to fiddle around with it until it finally does. Call me lazy, but I'm fed up with it.

The FT Kayfun 3.1 ES that's on it's way has a fill valve on the side which is going to be a VERY nice change. In case you weren't aware how that works, you simply insert the needle tip from a fill bottle into the one-way valve on the side and squeeze the bottle. I also ordered some 50ml needle bottles as well. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, when you get your Kayfun, there is likely going to be some machine oil left over from the manufacturing, so clean it VERY well. I was planning on using acetone or carb cleaner and then boiling all the metal parts (don't get any solvents on your o-rings or your clear tank, it might eat them up).

Well that's good news! As I said, the bottom filling doesn't really distress me, I've grown completely accustomed to that small inconvenience with the T3Ss, ARO, hypertank, and mini ptII. I have some 18ga needles that have come in very handy in tight spaces, and I like being able to measure it going in, so I don't accidentally overfill and make a huge mess. And I keep all my vaping junk except what's in my hand in one location, the back half of one of my kitchen counters (though it takes the entire thing when I'm working on something!), so that's where the screwdriver will be too, along with the ejuice. Since I'm basically a hermit, I just keep everything right here in the kitchen with me, my computer, all my vaping stuff, and oh yeah, the fridge and food is in here too.

I'm just off to order it now, having shown it to the other half and he completely agrees it's a much better deal than the barebones atty only from FT.


Andria

 

[yzer]

The Omron switches I ordered from Digi-Key this morning have shipped. $10.80 for ten switches and USPS First Class.

 

[AndriaD]

Ok, it should be here by Wednesday.




Andria

 

[fairmana]

With my cartos mine does, but mine tends to get warm at the bottom. One day I took the battery out to see if it was the battery heating up and the battery was nice and cool so I assumed it was just the mod itself venting the heat out the bottom holes. But I'm no expert!

MrsP0721, that heating on the lower tube is a good indication that you don't have good electrical conductivity in the threads. The high resistance causes heat. I highly recommend that you re-apply Noalox on your threads. That has always solved the problem when it's happened to me. Maybe you just don't have enough on there and need to add more?

 

[MrsP0721]

I wouldn't doubt it. I'm going to re apply to all my mods when I get back home.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Express using Tapatalk

 

[fairmana]

The Omron switches I ordered from Digi-Key this morning have shipped. $10.80 for ten switches and USPS First Class.

Yup, mine are coming the same way. Digikey says they have 368 in stock and another 4,800 at the factory. It doesn't appear as though we'll be running them dry anytime soon, which is nice. I'm not sure how often they update their stock levels though because I'm pretty sure it said they had 368 of them yesterday, and I know between all of us we've at least ordered close to another 25 or 30. It's no biggie, just an observation I made.

 

[Fegbri]

I had all three Sigeleis sitting on the desk five minutes ago. I hadn't vaped any of them for a good hour and all were at or near room temperature of 75 degrees.

I vaped the V5 (one week old and not yet Noaloxed) at 6.5 watts for five minutes. Whoops, I forgot to reset the puff counter. After this time the carto tank was warm, the top cap was a little less warm and the tube near the display was warm but less warm than the top cap. The entire Sigelei was slightly warm.

At the same time I held a V3 in the other hand for the same amount of time as the V5 but didn't vape it.

I waited five more minutes without holding or vaping either Sigelei. The V5 had cooled down but was still warm in all of the same places but warmest at the carto tank. The V3 was still warm from just holding it. It was much colder than the other V3 which had not been vaped or held.

APVs will warm up just by holding them and especially by using them. The more watts you run the warmer they will get. Most heat comes from the atomizer which contains a heating element (a coil). Waste heat is also produced by the electronics in the tube area behind the display screen and button. The longer you vape the warmer they get. The higher the wattage setting you use the warmer they get.

I noticed no difference in the heat produced by my non-Noaloxed V5 this last week from the heat produced by my Noaloxed V3s.

The five vent holes may provide a small amount of battery cooling but the real reason the battery cap is vented is to prevent the Sigelei from blowing up like a pipe bomb if the battery fails and outgasses.

Thanks so much!! You are a wealth of knowledge!!

 

[yzer]

Whoops. Sorry. I needed to make a little change. The changed sentence is in italics. That makes a lot more sense.


I had all three Sigeleis sitting on the desk five minutes ago. I hadn't vaped any of them for a good hour and all were at or near room temperature of 75 degrees.

I vaped the V5 (one week old and not yet Noaloxed) at 6.5 watts for five minutes. Whoops, I forgot to reset the puff counter. After this time the carto tank was warm, the top cap was a little less warm and the tube near the display was warm but less warm than the top cap. The entire Sigelei was slightly warm.

At the same time I held a V3 in the other hand for the same amount of time as the V5 but didn't vape it.

I waited five more minutes without holding or vaping either Sigelei. The V5 had cooled down but was still warm in all of the same places but warmest at the carto tank. The V3 was still warm from just holding it. The other V3 that was not used or held was much colder to the touch than the other two.

APVs will warm up just by holding them and especially by using them. The more watts you run the warmer they will get. Most heat comes from the atomizer which contains a heating element (a coil). Waste heat is also produced by the electronics in the tube area behind the display screen and button. The longer you vape the warmer they get. The higher the wattage setting you use the warmer they get.

I noticed no difference in the heat produced by my non-Noaloxed V5 this last week from the heat produced by my Noaloxed V3s.

The five vent holes may provide a small amount of battery cooling but the real reason the battery cap is vented is to prevent the Sigelei from blowing up like a pipe bomb if the battery fails and outgasses.

 

[fairmana]

OK, I need to pass along something important that I was just able to confirm. On two of the newer Zmax V3 models that I've had apart that came out around Christmas 2013, I've found a "slice" in the 510 insulator that is allowing fluid to leak into the V3 body. The insulator I'm referring to is the plastic or rubber "washer" that surrounds the positive center pin as seen when looking into the top of the 510 connector.

As I said, I've found e-liquid in both of these V3's. The first one was a couple of months ago that belonged to a friend, but I wasn't 100% sure that the e-liquid wasn't just spilled over the outer button and seeped in (it got sent back to the vendor because it died, any guesses as to why?). The 2nd one I just opened today (the backup V3 I got my Dad for Christmas) and it had a "significant" amount of e-juice in it. Luckily, it didn't appear that very much got on the circuit board because it's still works fine. My Dad and I have known something was wrong with it right away because the screen got "foggy" within the first week of use. It's basically been sitting in a drawer this whole time at my Dad's until I had time to look at it, and I just recently got it from him to try to figure out what was going on.

So I discovered all that e-liquid inside my Dad's V3 tube today and I tried to either confirm or disprove that it was coming through the 510 connector. With the top part of the V3 removed, I held it in my hand and carefully filled the 510 connector with alcohol (I did this while holding it level so the alcohol wouldn't spill out). I could see that the alcohol level was steadily dropping and also felt it dripping down onto my hand from underneath where the wires come out. I dried that up, and then held it up to my garage light and I could actually see light shining through that slit in the insulator.

I'm going to try to pack some silicone or "shoe goo" into the hole on the underside of the 510 connector (underside of the cap) to hopefully seal it and keep it from happening again.

So now I'm concerned how many of you out there have purchased a V3 (or V5 for all I know) that has this slit in the insulator. It may be that Sigelei only made a finite number before they realized the problem and stopped making them that way. It's also possible (hopefully not) that they are still for sale with this defect as we speak. If yours is one of these, be VERY careful not to allow whatever tank, etc. you are using to leak into the 510 connector.

Can we do a poll of how many of you have the slit and when you purchased your device? I've included a picture below of what it looks like (click the image for a larger view).

EDIT: I neglected to bring up the fact that there is a slim possibility that the insulator simply cracked, but since its so straight and the edges appear so crisp and neat, I'm hesitant to come to that conclusion. Both devices were also less than a month old, so I find it unlikely that could have occurred so quickly.

 

[JeremyR]

Good info fairmana,
vapie dan reported a new v5 compressed to a short in the 510. My guess is they use a press or hydraulic ram to insert the pin in the grommet and obviously it was pressed way to hard cracking the grommet.

I suppose if you could squeeze silicone into it and out the other side it would be sealed for now. Or inject an epoxy some how with a needle.

 

[yzer]

I looked into these three Sigeleis with a 14x loupe under bright light and saw no slits or cracks in the insulator material in any of them.

1. V3 generation 1 (brass eGo threading and non-removable top cap). Purchased April 2013 from ElectronicStix.
2. V3 generation 2. Purchased November 2013 from 101Vape.
3. V5. Purchased April 2014 from Desert Vapes.

 

[fairmana]

Ok, so the more I look at this closely under good light and with a magnifying glass, it's looking more and more likely that it's actually a stress crack. I guess I'm eating crow after my first post - sorry if I distressed anyone unnecessarily. I guess I should have taken the time to look at it closer before posting.

What you can see of the "washer" from the top is actually a very small portion of what I can only describe as a much larger plastic "top hat". The center pin goes through the top center of it, and on the underside you can see how the body of the top hat sits snugly in the hole and the "brim" sits against the underside of the stainless V3 cap. It's all one piece. I initially thought the washer was an independent part made of rubber to make a good seal, but the whole "top hat" is a hard white plastic (not the best design IMO). The center pin is shaped like a nail with a wider head on it than the lower part of the pin, so it seems entirely possible that it could be pushed down and crack the white plastic surrounding it. This design is different than what is used in my original Zmax V3 (a rubber grommet was used instead). I'm not sure why they decided to switch to this design. What it gains in strength it seems to give up in flexibility.

At any rate, we know that this is something that can happen if you over tighten a topper onto your device that doesn't bottom out on the top of the 510 connector when it should. I still recommend you check your Zmax for a crack like this to see if you are at risk for leaking e-liquid into your Zmax. If you're in good shape, just use caution to avoid it.

EDIT: I meant to include a pic of the underside. You can see the crack from this angle as well. Everything white is part of the same plastic piece (top hat).