Smoktech ZMax Owners - Pics., Tips, Tricks and Quirks

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natgas

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I agree; the Z is on it's way back to madvapes and they have assured me they will check it out and determine if it was a short in the system or what. I won't be getting another until they resolve these issues. I do like the unit a lot and hope to be able to get version 2 or 3 or whatever is brought out after the fixes.
 

Strontium

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I agree; the Z is on it's way back to madvapes and they have assured me they will check it out and determine if it was a short in the system or what. I won't be getting another until they resolve these issues. I do like the unit a lot and hope to be able to get version 2 or 3 or whatever is brought out after the fixes.

Your Z was shorted 100% - that is only explanation why CGR get very hot.

Pure IMR would get into "welding-melting" mode within seconds if fully charged.
 

lrage

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I agree; the Z is on it's way back to madvapes and they have assured me they will check it out and determine if it was a short in the system or what. I won't be getting another until they resolve these issues. I do like the unit a lot and hope to be able to get version 2 or 3 or whatever is brought out after the fixes.

The scary part is whether you're was a 1 in a million, or a sign of a potential widespread problem. I'm going to start taking the battery out of mine at night and while unattended.
 

Shekinahsgroom

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Marck73 sir mine are both the old labeling on two (just the +/- size and mah) and new (made in china, rohs, etc.). The 1600 mah old labels are 18.4mm/64.3mm and 18.4mm/64.8mm, new labels are 18.4mm/65.1mm 18.4mm/64.9mm. 200mah old labels are 18.4mm/65.5mm and 18.4mm/65.4mm, new labels are 18.4mm/65.6mm and 18.4/65.7mm. As I said, very slight diffrence, between 1-2mm.

The 2000 mah batts that you have are fakes if they're made in China, cuz AW doesn't sell or manufacture any of their cells in China....they're all made in Japan.

They're likely Efest cells with a fake AW jacket.

Several Chinese sites used to carry them, but after Volcano got caught in their "AW IMR Scandal" last year, those cells started to disappear from those sites and were shown to be 'sold out'.
 

AnsonJames

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The 2000 mah batts that you have are fakes if they're made in China, cuz AW doesn't sell or manufacture any of their cells in China....they're all made in Japan.

They're likely Efest cells with a fake AW jacket.

Several Chinese sites used to carry them, but after Volcano got caught in their "AW IMR Scandal" last year, those cells started to disappear from those sites and were shown to be 'sold out'.

I've got a few AW's - some 18650's, 18350's and 18490's.
They're all made in China (according to the covering) and they're legit from respected vendors.
 
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Morandir835

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Aw battery cells can come from japan, but where he adds his pcb, shrink wrap, etc is China so all AW cells are technically made in China. They're legit cells, from legit vendors. Got some AW batteries directly from AW, imr 18490 cells, they both have made in China on them.

Jcamacho (sir or Ms.?) and how did you draw that conclusion? In all my testing the efest batteries (18490 1100mah imr, and 18650 1500mah) did perform well, as well as the AW batteries of the same size and mah, but didn't last as many cycles under the same use and charging conditions. The 18650 2000mah and the 18350's were a completely different story. The 2000mah had a higher resistance than that of the AW cell, couldn't handle more than 8.2a of current being drawn (rated for 10a just as the AW 2000mah is), and after 132 and 138 cycles saw significant loss in capacity. Have two AW 2000mah imr that are 288 and 312 cycles deep, and both still perform almost as good as new. The 18350 batts the efest had a higher resistance as well compared to the AW (which means lower amperage output, more dramatic voltage curve), and where the AW is listed 700mah and with a hobby charger measured an actual 698mah, the efests are listed at 800mah, and the best number I saw with testing my 4 samples was 673mah. Again right ~125 cycles they started losing performance. How is saving that $1 worth having to spend another $6.59 after 125 cycles later, when I can spend the $7.60 on am AW 18350 and 200 cycles later still going strong?
 
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Shekinahsgroom

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Aw battery cells can come from japan, but where he adds his pcb, shrink wrap, etc is China so all AW cells are technically made in China. They're legit cells, from legit vendors. Got some AW batteries directly from AW, imr 18490 cells, they both have made in China on them.

Jcamacho (sir or Ms.?) and how did you draw that conclusion? In all my testing the efest batteries (18490 1100mah imr, and 18650 1500mah) did perform well, as well as the AW batteries of the same size and mah, but didn't last as many cycles under the same use and charging conditions. The 18650 200mah and the 18350's were a completely different story. The 2000mah had a higher resistance than that of the AW cell, couldn't handle more than 8.2a of current being drawn (rated for 10a just as the AW 2000mah is), and after 132 and 138 cycles saw significant loss in capacity. Have two AW 2000mah imr that are 288 and 312 cycles deep, and both still perform almost as good as new. The 18350 batts the efest had a higher resistance as well compared to the AW (which means lower amperage output, more dramatic voltage curve), and where the AW is listed 700mah and with a hobby charger measured an actual 698mah, the efests are listed at 800mah, and the best number I saw with testing my 4 samples was 673mah. Again right ~125 cycles they started losing performance. How is saving that $1 worth having to spend another $6.59 after 125 cycles later, when I can spend the $7.60 on am AW 18350 and 200 cycles later still going strong?



That's debatable and not what I was told by Andrew Wan (is that right? Been a year or two since I spoke with him) that none of the IMR cells were made OR sold to anyone in China.

I dunno, maybe I misunderstood?

I know that the Li-ions are packaged and jacketed in China (not sure about the PCB's cuz I didn't ask), but Panasonic cells are made in Japan....not China, that much I do know without having to ask. :)

I agree about the Efest cells, although they perform well out of the gate....die off very quickly and their stated capacities aren't even close to their actual capacities.

Savings I can't comment though cuz I don't buy retail, I buy direct.

But an added note, neither AW or Efest or any other known 18650 IMR can stand up to the power of a Panasonic CGR-CH! :)

And when purchased wholesale, you just can't beat the savings!!
 
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Shekinahsgroom

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And in the end of the AW scandal Volcano was to have the company that made the AW knockoffs make Volcano branded batteries because they were good batteries even though the label was faked

Wow, that's surprising.

I didn't follow the scandal past the aftermath, but didn't Volcano claim that they didn't know that they were fakes?

Now, I could see that claim being legitimate IF they bought them from a manufacturer in Japan....but not if they purchased them from a Chinese manufacturer??

I don't doubt that the cells were good, I just wasn't buying into Volcano's claims of "We didn't know...", cuz that just seemed a little too far fetched to believe....know what I mean?

Volcano was the inventor of the Lavatube and since they were very well aware of the proto and manufacturing processes in China when they contracted L-Rider to build it....they would have KNOWN if the IMR's were not authentic.
 
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retird

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Please report back here what MV determines as the cause of the malfunction....

I agree; the Z is on it's way back to MadVapes and they have assured me they will check it out and determine if it was a short in the system or what. I won't be getting another until they resolve these issues. I do like the unit a lot and hope to be able to get version 2 or 3 or whatever is brought out after the fixes.
 

Morandir835

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Shekinahsgroom (guessing sir by the name?) AW is located in China (Honk Kong to be exact). He doesn't make the cells, but the protection circuits, the labels, etc. He selects what cells he's going to use, makes sure they're quality before putting his name on them, etc. but he doesn't make the cells themself. It's why the sanyo 1500mah imr, AW 1600mah imr, and efest 1500mah imr all have similar characteristics. Difference is AW gets the higher binned cells so to speak from sanyo. Same goes with many other battery resellers. Orbtronics, Callie's Kustoms, AW, all use the same panasonic 3100mah cell, they use their own pcb and labeling on them and quality control. Think of it like with graphics cards, there's multiple vendors for the same card (will use the GTX 680 as the example). The difference is certain companies get the better binned chips from Nvidia, some use their own custom pcb, etc. So while card a and b are both based off the same exact chip, card a from one manufacturer gets outperformed by card b from a different company.
 

Shekinahsgroom

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Shekinahsgroom (guessing sir by the name?) AW is located in China (Honk Kong to be exact). He doesn't make the cells, but the protection circuits, the labels, etc.

Okay, so you just proved my point exactly!

The IMR's are not made in China, they're merely re-labeled....in China.

Now adding a PCB to a li-ion cell, you'd be able to make the claim of "Made in China" since a component was added to it altering it's original design.
 
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