Smoktech Vmax Owners - tips, tricks and quirks

[Phoenix07013]

Here's one of the reviews on chargers I read
Review of / Measurement on Xtar WP2 II charger
And the sysmax i4
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-SysMax-NiteCore-Intellicharger-i4-V2-Charger
Overall both good chargers, but I was able to get the xtar and the required spacers for just under $20 with free shipping from ebay

 

[Modnar]

I had the same thing happen to 1 of my 2900maH AW ICR's .......as long as you use a vinyl type type tape (black electrical tape, or 1 of the various colors they now have) it should be fine. Just keep an eye on it with a good inspection every time you take it out to re-charge it to be safe. Electrical tape is about 1-2mm thick depending on the company who made it so keep in mind if your mod has a tight fit already it may be a better idea to just buy another battery instead of risking a fatal type short.
Best advice I can give you is just use good "safe" judgement. No need to push your luck over a $7 dollar battery.

FYI...The new 18500 IMR E"FEST batteries have tested extremely well. Very high and stable discharge rate, and long lasting considering.

Take care and good luck.

Ok I'll order some electrical tape

Im using it with a kick in a Siam mods cube (Shoutn't be a problem fitting it in the tube with some tape on it)

Thanks

 

[Phoenix07013]

In regards to the zmax
One would think that it should be pretty good from the get go based on lessons learned from the vmax, but then again, it seems like the pv world has become so competitive and profitable, we are almost guaranteed to get questionable first iteration products, if it happened to the now most valuable company to own (apple and iPhone 4 with its antenna issue) it's most certainly likely to happen to our exploding world of vapors. Plus we are not likely to see this until November/December anyhow.
Just look at our own beloved vmax, and its growing pains. 4 revisions within a year (I made this a very broad time gap because I truly don't know how long it's been out for)
As many others have stated, you'll likely be a guinea pig on its first couple iterations

 

[VapingTurtle]

GDay Guys

Mine has started to develop the "sticky button" syndrome.

Any fixes for this known?

What is your warranty situation? Did you get it from a vendor that will back it up? That might be your best solution if it's covered, because any jimmied fix is likely to reoccur.

 

[VapingTurtle]

The BEST charger is the i4 Intellicharger and I will put that up against the Pila HANDS DOWN!

Freddie, does this mean you have a Pila and have comparatively tested it against the i4, or does it mean that you own the i4 and are proud to own it?

 

[rotohammer]

Also...the wick you sent me...do you use that as a whole or separated down to threads ? For the life of me I can't get this thing to produce anything remotely close to a juice flavor. Probably just me tho. Any hints would also be appreciated.

Threads, use all of them at once. If you use the candlewick as is braided, you get really muted bland flavor as well as dry hits.

 

[Optimo]

Yeh guys still waitin to hear if anyone can help me with this.

Cheers.

OK, where do we get this Zmax from?

Take your batts out look inside where the button is and push the button a few times and notice how the gap between the actual button is. Try to slide something like a little peice of electrical tape or something inbetween the plastic floating button and the fixed button. It should give it enough reinforcement to start working right again.

 

[dwcraig1]

Now even my ViVi Nova early rev is fantastic, I was doing my coils way to tight, amazing. 3mm silica. 32g NiCr, 2.4 ohm

Is this 3mm silica going to fit in my Phoenix RB with dual coils?

 

[Optimo]

Now even my ViVi Nova early rev is fantastic, I was doing my coils way to tight, amazing. 3mm silica. 32g NiCr, 2.4 ohm

Is this 3mm silica going to fit in my Phoenix RB with dual coils?

Amazing how much better a loose coil is aint it It should fit if not you can always unbraid a few strands off it. I'll tell you something that has been vaping flawless for a few days now...I took a small piece of 400 SS mesh and wraped it around some silica wick then coiled it. The flavor is down right the best and it wicks like none other...I can't even get a dry hit no matter how hard/fast I vape and best of all nomore burnt tasting htis even when the wick gets really dry.

 

[Optimo]

I was having the same problems as Cyrus and Jim with the SS mesh dropping ohms and hitting weird on the VMax...just had to toast the hell out of the SS mesh and quench it several times then coat it in juice and burn/quench 5-6 more times. Now the ohms stay stable and hits like none other and never shorts out. 2.5 ohm single SS mesh coil in the Phoenix XL and it's bliss.

Just burning/quenching 3 times or so is not enough...the more the better.

 

[dwcraig1]

Amazing how much better a loose coil is aint it It should fit if not you can always unbraid a few strands off it. I'll tell you something that has been vaping flawless for a few days now...I took a small piece of 400 SS mesh and wraped it around some silica wick then coiled it. The flavor is down right the best and it wicks like none other...I can't even get a dry hit no matter how hard/fast I vape and best of all nomore burnt tasting htis even when the wick gets really dry.

Did you wrap the whole length of silica or just under coil or?

 

[Optimo]

Did you wrap the whole length of silica or just under coil or?

Just enough to wrap the coil on, no need to wrap the whole wick in SS. I made it so the coil only touches the SS mesh and I have the silica flowing down into the juice well to wick it up to the coil. I put it in just like a standard silica wick/coil.

Pretty much the SS acts as a shield from burning/gunking up the silica...works really good.

 

[dwcraig1]

Just enough to wrap the coil on, no need to wrap the whole wick in SS. I made it so the coil only touches the SS mesh and I have the silica flowing down into the juice well to wick it up to the coil. I put it in just like a standard silica wick/coil.

Pretty much the SS acts as a shield from burning/gunking up the silica...works really good.

And do you oxidize SS with silica inside?

 

[Optimo]

And do you oxidize SS with silica inside?

Yeah, oxidizing SS mesh is a must or the coils will short.

 

[buffaloguy]

Vapnj, not sure why,I never thought of this before but in trying to post that data why not take screenshots and upload them as images? Have you tried that?

 

[VapingTurtle]

Those bottom coil filler-less Ravens that fit in a DCT are in at GotVapes.

 

[dwcraig1]

Those bottom coil filler-less Ravens that fit in a DCT are in at GotVapes.

I am headed there now, thanks

 

[Optimo]

For you dwcraig: Phoenix XL Rebuildable Follow-up & Using SS Mesh With Silica Wick - YouTube

 

[rotohammer]

Pretty much the SS acts as a shield from burning/gunking up the silica...works really good.

The problem really is that all wicks are woven too tight. I'm running cotton threads and I don't get any burning or gunking because it never gets dry enough. I get thick ghosty vapor with CE4 V2 clearomizers and I chain vape until the mouthpiece is too hot for my lips.

In theory, isn't the silica not supposed to burn up? And isn't cotton waaay more combustible than silica? Yes and yes, but for our style of vaping we need high volume wicking action, looser woven wicks are the answer.

The cool thing about cotton is that you can come up with a hundred different combos of wick material and wick formations on the cheap. What you learn with cotton you can then do with other materials.

To be clear though, If I run my cotton wick real dry, my Vmax will shear it into two pieces in seconds.

The downside to SS mesh is that it absorbs some heat that could be going to your wick , and to some degree it acts like an insulator after its layer of liquid is vaporized. Its much harder to find the sweet spot voltage, as too little voltage gives little vapor and too much will dry it out faster than it can wick resulting in a dry hit. Loose fiber wicks operate well over a wider range of voltages, typically 3.3 to 4.5v for my 2.6ohm coil atomizers.

 

[Optimo]

Good to know...I'll have to try some cotton. Can I just go to Walmart and get some white unbleached cotton yarn then boil it to prep it?