Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 Telescopic: User's Group

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RIMP

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I thought it was the other way around...? Long end cap for the 18650s, short end cap for the 18350s (and 18490/18500, or so yzer said).

Andria

I may be wrong:ohmy: I used the shorter cap for the 18650 and the longer on my 18500 cause then I wouldn't have to telescope it out as much to make it longer. Did that make any sense?
 

JeremyR

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Short cap makes the battery tighter. Too tight on the battery not good if you haven't modded it with a retainer so be careful . Yes you do have telescopic adjustment so you can make a different cap work in dif configs if you want. But the short cap is for shorter brands of 18350; where in single mode they would be too loose with large cap.
 

yzer

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I thought it was the other way around...? Long end cap for the 18650s, short end cap for the 18350s (and 18490/18500, or so yzer said).

Andria
I have been very consistent on this. It's the short battery cap for 18350 and the tall battery cap for everything else.

Sigelei Zmax V3 and V5 battery tube adjustment



Flat top or button top battery: doesn't matter with these instructions.

-For 18350 battery. Using the tall or short battery caps screw down the telescopic tube to the shortest length. Screw down the battery cap all the way. If the spring in a long battery cap has compressed it may not fit 18350 well. The short battery cap is a better fit with 18350.

-For 2x18350: Use the tall battery cap. The short cap will leave tube threads exposed with 2x18350

-For 18490, 18500 and 18650 batteries using the tall (15mm) battery cap. Place the battery into position in the tube and adjust the tube length until only 1/16" to 1/8" of the battery extends past the end of the tube. Tighten the tall cap all of the way down.

-For 18490, 18500 and 18650 batteries with the short (10mm) battery cap. Place the battery into position in the tube and adjust the tube length so that the base of the battery is 1/8" to 3/16" below the end of the tube. Tighten the cap all of the way down.

Keep in mind that the battery springs found in both the tall battery cap and the short battery cap are the same size. They are identical springs. For all batteries longer than 18350 the goal is compress the spring about 1/2 of its relaxed length regardless of the cap size. The short cap will give you the shortest overall length for the Sigelei with a 18350 battery inside. For 18490, 18500 and 18650 batteries the overall length of the Sigelei for each battery size will be the exactly the same when using either the tall or short battery caps so long as the spring is 1/2 compressed. The only advantage to using one cap or another at sizes above 18350 is the tall cap will be much easier to screw on than the short cap.

Typical lengths I get on Sigelei V3 Telescopic with different batteries. Just an estimate depending on how tight I compress the spring.

18350: 100mm with short battery cap, 105mm with long cap.
18490: 111-114mm with either battery cap, spring 1/2 compressed.
18500: 112-115mm with either battery cap, spring 1/2 compressed.
18650: 127-130mm with either battery cap, spring 1/2 compressed.
2x18350: 132-135mm with the long battery cap, spring 1/2 compressed.
 

yzer

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I may be wrong:ohmy: I used the shorter cap for the 18650 and the longer on my 18500 cause then I wouldn't have to telescope it out as much to make it longer. Did that make any sense?
Doesn't make any sense. So long as the battery spring is compressed 1/2 way with either cap the adjustable battery tube makes up the ±5mm difference in battery caps with a ±5mm difference in tube length.
 

Marty163

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As we're talking about battery caps I thought I'd drop an update to my missing larger/extended bottom cap.

After lengthy discussion with Fasttech they have informed me that as of 14 Jul 14 the Zmax only comes with one bottom cap (I ordered mine on the 29th).

Not all bad news though as they agree that it should of been the larger cap and not the small one. I am now waiting out to see what their next move is.

And even bettet than that, a very benevolent ECF member posted one of their spare bottom caps across the pond to me in the UK. It arrived today!
 

yzer

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Keeping the battery spring no more than 1/2 compressed is something of a subjective rule but I think it is good one. There have been problems with the circuit boards or the half round board housing breaking loose on V3 and V5 and shifting position. This was more of an issue with first generation V3 but it has happened to the second generation V3 and the V5 as well.

Compressing the spring half way provides enough pressure on the battery to keep it solidly in place without rattling about in the tube. 1/2 compression should not provide too much pressure on internal parts. Depending on how well the Sigelei innards were glued into place (two locations on the second generation V3 and all V5) you might be able to compress the spring all of the way down on a regular basis without damaging the mod or maybe not. Increasingly more force is required to compress these battery springs for the last 1/2 of full compression.

Now consider what happens if you have the battery spring fully compressed. That means the spring is smashed flat between the battery and the base of the battery cap. The design of the tube threads on these Sigeleis gives anyone a lot of mechanical advantage, so it is possible to keep turning the battery tube down to tighten even after the battery spring is collapsed as flat as a pancake. If that happens the only way that tube is going to travel more is by breaking the circuit board or the board housing free from the glue joins inside the tube. Once that happens the display will be off center from where it was and the switch and fire button will be out of alignment causing misfires. When this happens the Sigelei will need disassembly and repair.
 
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yzer

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As we're talking about battery caps I thought I'd drop an update to my missing larger/extended bottom cap.

After lengthy discussion with Fasttech they have informed me that as of 14 Jul 14 the Zmax only comes with one bottom cap (I ordered mine on the 29th).

Not all bad news though as they agree that it should of been the larger cap and not the small one. I am now waiting out to see what their next move is.

And even bettet than that, a very benevolent ECF member posted one of their spare bottom caps across the pond to me in the UK. It arrived today!
That's great news! Glad to here that FastTech may be stepping up to the plate, as well.
 

yzer

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PBusardo did a review of the Sigelei V3 in May of 2013. This shows a first generation V3 with it's brass 510 threading and the quirky firmware that did funny things with menu displays. He also proceeds to show everyone exactly how to overtighten the battery spring with an 18490 at 6:00 into the video. As is to be expected, lots of people bought Sigelei Zmax V3s after seeing this video.

 

tchavei

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One of the battery forums I mentioned earlier is here; Torchy battery prices
Both the Sibeile and Torchy are rated high (better than AW 18350) and he also sells the EFest.
I wasn't able to find Sibeile in the US (I don't include ebay and Torchy doesn't sell on ebay.us)
The Xtar 18350 did good in tests - outperformed AW. I can find those.
All of these are IMR. There's not a lot of interest in developing 18350's (outside of vaping).
Bought a couple of them today(18350). I want to thank you once again for the heads up about those :)

I will report how they perform once I have them.

I'm just sorry I didn't hear about then sooner... Have 3 efest and two AW already... Oh well, you can't have enough Batts can you? :)



Regards
Tony

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aikanae1

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Bought a couple of them today(18350). I want to thank you once again for the heads up about those :)

I will report how they perform once I have them.

I'm just sorry I didn't hear about then sooner... Have 3 efest and two AW already... Oh well, you can't have enough Batts can you? :)



Regards
Tony

Sent from my GT-I9195 through Tapatalk

That just means you need more mods. LOL.
Do update. I've always been curious about them.
Gotta luv Torchy the battery boy.



I also ran into these today:
Andy Wong's thread (Mr. AW)
IMR16340 / IMR14500 / IMR18350 / IMR18490 / IMR18650 / IMR26500 *Part 2* - Page 55

Wonderlite AW (pre ships to US and Eu) AW Li-Ion & IMR Batteries Sales Thread *USA* & international. ***Part 2***
 
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DingerCPA

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O.k. Couple of days now with my new V3. Likin' it immensely. However, I'm not sure what to do about the gap between the top cap and my Nautilus. I do have the flat-top V3, but there's about 3 mm between the base of the Nauti and the top of the V3. Dare I push in the positive contact on the Nauti?
 

fairmana

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I just un-screw the threaded top cap on my flat top to firmly meet the underside of my topper. It looks better but more importantly (for me) is that it strengthens the union between the ZMax and the topper in case I drop it. So far, I've been able to avoid damaging the 510 connector on my toppers this way.

I don't know how it would look with a Nautilus, but you can check out this post as well.
 

fairmana

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I don't have a Nautilus DingerCPA, but from what I've seen on the web it appears that the pin might be "floating" and pushes against the bottom of the replaceable atomizer (I could be wrong). If that's the case, I don't think you can push the pin in any further once it's all put together. You might be able to file the pin down a little to make it shorter, but without owning a Nautilus myself, I wouldn't want to steer you in the wrong direction and possibly ruin your Nautilus. Maybe someone can chime in that has a Nautilus with better info. If you dig a little, there's probably a Nautilus thread here on ECF where you can post this question and get a better answer.
 
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