Tech Help! Please, Mod and RBA

[MeetFloot]

I recently bought an AGA-S rba and a Blade China clone battery mod. Worked great for a day and now nothing.
My batteries have juice and I don't think the atty has a short. Using a multimeter, on the atty alone with no coil, between the positive post and anywhere on the case yields full resistance. Does this not indicate that the positive terminal is fully isolated?

Now I feel that it is the battery mod. If I flip the inner slider tube upside down, without the battery, it can contact and engage the spring loaded positive post switch; I would do this to test the resistance through the 510 positive post. Should not this resistance be but a few ohms or tens of ohms? When I try it I observe 200k-20k ohms, until I press very firmly on the positive post with the mm probe, at which point the resistance will drop lower with increased pressure, as low as ~5-10 ohms. Should it not always remain at fairly low resistance?
When I attach the atty, no coil, I can read a full 4 volts. But it will not heat a piece of 30g kanthal, even a very small one. Is this because the 510 post resistance is so high, and though the voltage can pass, it can not generate enough amperage?

Any help or explanation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is this battery mod junk? I will probably exchange it for something else.

 

[ScorpioZZZ]

I recently bought an AGA-S rba and a Blade China clone battery mod. Worked great for a day and now nothing.
My batteries have juice and I don't think the atty has a short. Using a multimeter, on the atty alone with no coil, between the positive post and anywhere on the case yields full resistance. Does this not indicate that the positive terminal is fully isolated?

Yes it sounds like your pos is isolated from the neg.....



Now I feel that it is the battery mod. If I flip the inner slider tube upside down, without the battery, it can contact and engage the spring loaded positive post switch; I would do this to test the resistance through the 510 positive post. Should not this resistance be but a few ohms or tens of ohms? When I try it I observe 200k-20k ohms, until I press very firmly on the positive post with the mm probe, at which point the resistance will drop lower with increased pressure, as low as ~5-10 ohms. Should it not always remain at fairly low resistance?
When I attach the atty, no coil, I can read a full 4 volts. But it will not heat a piece of 30g kanthal, even a very small one. Is this because the 510 post resistance is so high, and though the voltage can pass, it can not generate enough amperage?

Any help or explanation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is this battery mod junk? I will probably exchange it for something else.

Sorry but 5am here and trying to understand your issue.... So far it sounds like your 510 pos has a flaky connection

With no load (coil) even though there is too much resistance you can still read the supply voltage. Once you complete the circuit the voltage will drop over each resistance spot. So if your pos pin connection was 4 ohms (easier math) and your batt was 4 volts you would have 1 amp current through that connection never making it to your atty and the batt can only do so much.
See if you can fix the pos connection from the 510 pin to where the battery would connect to it. If correct it should meter out very low and no jumping. Then make sure the pos to neg in the mod is open with no jumping.

 

[Baditude]

I recently bought an AGA-S rba and a Blade China clone battery mod. Worked great for a day and now nothing.
My batteries have juice and I don't think the atty has a short. Using a multimeter, on the atty alone with no coil, between the positive post and anywhere on the case yields full resistance.

"Full resistance"? Not sure what you mean by that? What is the resistance measurement of the coil you wrapped on the AGA? It should be somewhere between 0.6 - 3.0 ohm when you test it on the multimeter.

Not meant to be insulting, but do you know how to use a multimeter correctly? I can't assume anything if I don't know you, understand? I don't like to assume you are noobie vapor judged by your 3 forum posts.
Multi-Meter How to for Electronic Cigarette users - YouTube

Strange that you say everything was working fine before, and now nothing. My first thought would be dead batteries. What is their voltage readout on the multimeter? They should be between 3.6 - 4.1 volts.

Second thought would be a short in the AGA coil or a blown coil. How are you certain there is no short? Resistance of the coil can change drastically on the AGA positive post if the thumb screw becomes loose. An unstable coil could potentially ruin a battery or the mod.

I'm not at all familiar with your battery device, and will step aside to others who may help you with determining if it has a malfunction.

I have an information resource in this blog for RBAs: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/baditude/4454-7-advice-tips-vapors-looking-try-their-first-rba.html

 

[tidegirl]

I think building coils is a fine art that takes a lot of practice. I have built coils that test fine on a multi meter, but will not fire on an ego because it detects a short. I have killed several sets of batts this way.

 

[MeetFloot]

I thank you all for your timely and well though out responses.
I do believe the battery mod has a flaky connection at the 510 positive post. But I will clarify a few points. The battery voltage reads ~4v. In the mod, with the switch engaged, I read ~4v. With the atty attached to the mod, and no coil installed, I read ~4v at the atty coil terminals (or between the atty positive post and the mod frame). But it will not heat even the smallest piece of wire when attached.
Now for the rba itself. When I wrote "full resistance" i meant this: With the multimeter set to its highest setting of 2million ohms, and the probes located on the positive terminal and anywhere on the frame of the atty, I get no reading at all (this is with no coil installed). Now if I "short out" the atty by placing my finger across the 510 connections, I will get a reading of ~1.6million ohms. I feel that if the atty resistance is higher than the resistance of my finger, it indicates that there is no short circuit in the atty itself.
I thank you all again for your responses. I look forward to learning more on this forum.

 

[MeetFloot]

Once you complete the circuit the voltage will drop over each resistance spot.
--I am unsure of the technique used to observe this occurrence. Could you provide brief instruction of the method?

So if your pos pin connection was 4 ohms (easier math) and your batt was 4 volts you would have 1 amp current through that connection never making it to your atty and the batt can only do so much.

--If I understand, you are saying that if the batt mod positive pin has a low resistance ~4ohms, then it can supply ~1amp current, which is enough juice to make a small wire glow. But if that pos pin resistance is much higher, it cannot supply enough amperage to do anything, but the full voltage will still be observable. Does this sound accurate?

I apologize for requiring so much clarification. Thank you for your reply.

 

[tj99959]

Sure you're not talking about an old Galileo mod with SS switch contacts. Seems like I remember reading about 50 threads all trying to resolve this problem back in the day.
Poor conductive materials, dirty contacts, etc,etc can all lead to this problem. (will read voltage, but no current flow under load)

You need to troubleshoot it one connection at a time instead of looking at the entire mod.

 

[gully]

I think the OP is using this,

Blade electronic cigarette only body free shipping - $42.80

or is it this?

$19.03 TMP Mechanical Electronic Cigarette Battery Compartment at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

 

[tj99959]

I think the OP is using this,

Blade electronic cigarette only body free shipping - $42.80

or is it this?

$19.03 TMP Mechanical Electronic Cigarette Battery Compartment at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

Knew that, but the problem is the same. With the Galileo they changed out the contact screws to resolve the problem.


the more things change the more they stay the same

 

[MeetFloot]

I think the OP is using this,

Blade electronic cigarette only body free shipping - $42.80

or is it this?

$19.03 TMP Mechanical Electronic Cigarette Battery Compartment at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

I am using the first one you linked to from ecigonlineshop: A Vision Blade Ching-Chang-China-Clone. I got mine from a B&M for an astro price. I think today I will exchange it (plus more dough) for a Vamo.

 

[MeetFloot]

I determined that the mod clone blade did have a faulty 510 positive post. I exchanged it, plus some scratch, for a new TESLA! Now I am cooking with fire. The Tesla is amazing with great features. And the AGA-S is steaming like a dream. The build is easy once I had some amps. Get a Tesla and feel the power of the force.
Thanks again for all of the helpful responses.

 

[kiwivap]

I determined that the mod clone blade did have a faulty 510 positive post. I exchanged it, plus some scratch, for a new TESLA! Now I am cooking with fire. The Tesla is amazing with great features. And the AGA-S is steaming like a dream. The build is easy once I had some amps. Get a Tesla and feel the power of the force.
Thanks again for all of the helpful responses.

Glad you have something you like.

 

[ScorpioZZZ]

Once you complete the circuit the voltage will drop over each resistance spot.
--I am unsure of the technique used to observe this occurrence. Could you provide brief instruction of the method?

Not sure if this is what your asking but for example lets say 2 1k resistors in series with 9v battery attached to each end. Measured from between the resistors would be 4.5v.

So if your pos pin connection was 4 ohms (easier math) and your batt was 4 volts you would have 1 amp current through that connection never making it to your atty and the batt can only do so much.

--If I understand, you are saying that if the batt mod positive pin has a low resistance ~4ohms, then it can supply ~1amp current, which is enough juice to make a small wire glow. But if that pos pin resistance is much higher, it cannot supply enough amperage to do anything, but the full voltage will still be observable. Does this sound accurate?

Sounds ok, by the way I see you found out your 510 was messed up. I have been playing with making NiMh mods and have 2 510s I took apart to solder, what pieces of crap! Tiny silicon grommet separates the center pin from the base and it tears very easy. No surprise they can be damaged very easy. Hope your new mod works for you!

I apologize for requiring so much clarification. Thank you for your reply.

Your welcome, enjoy the adventure!