The Final Count Down -- Are You Ready?

[curious8]

AW has been out of business for years. When's the last time you bought AW's from RTD?

Last order was late 2017. I know AW is out of business but RTD still has them on their website. Wrote them to ask how much longer they'll be good for - will update when i hear back

 

[bnrkwest]

RTD Vapor still carries the AW brand, which is what I still use in my old (but trusty and much loved) Provari's. I buy their 18490's and RTD is a great vendor and very responsive.

Good to know thanks! I have little Ruby Provari mini out thinking about what topper to use on her I still love Provari's, my main vapes are my Radius's.

 

[Horselady154]

Last order was late 2017. I know AW is out of business but RTD still has them on their website. Wrote them to ask how much longer they'll be good for - will update when i hear back

I wish they'd start back up, but with Provape closed, I'm doubting that is going to happen.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

If you click on any of the AW batteries on RTD you will find that they are, as they have been for several years, OOS. I wish they'd start production again but it isn't likely to happen at this point.

 

[Zazie]

We're easy to figure out

Bah, you all think you're much less complicated than you are and we're much more complicated than we are. The sexes are much more alike than either one believes. If we'd all understand that, life would work much more smoothly.

 

[Bronze]

I see Aegis is coming out with a mod with a giant display screen on it. Looks like a dang cellphone. Just what we need. Another gadget for motorists to play with while driving. Facetime on my mod anyone?

 

[curious8]

If you click on any of the AW batteries on RTD you will find that they are, as they have been for several years, OOS. I wish they'd start production again but it isn't likely to happen at this point.

Oops, spoke too quickly before. You're absolutely right Flamingo Tutu (great name, by the way), the 18490s are sold out on RTD vapor, sigh

 

[Bronze]

Oops, spoke too quickly before. You're absolutely right Flamingo Tutu (great name, by the way), the 18490s are sold out on RTD vapor, sigh

The AWs have been sold out for a long time at RTD. Don’t know why they don’t pull them from their website. Just confuses people. Any AWs still remaining anywhere are likely on their last legs. Rechargeables dont last forever. Used or unused.

 

[rosesense]

The AWs have been sold out for a long time at RTD. Don’t know why they don’t pull them from their website. Just confuses people. Any AWs still remaining anywhere are likely on their last legs. Rechargeables dont last forever. Used or unused.

I bought a bunch a few months ago and they hold a full charge just fine. I am guessing they might not hold up for 15 years but I am good with that.

 

[Bronze]

I bought a bunch a few months ago and they hold a full charge just fine. I am guessing they might not hold up for 15 years but I am good with that.

Somebody may know better than I, but unused e-cig batteries lose half their capacity after 3-4 years even if stored properly. That's what I have read anyway. That's probably still better than a brand new efest.

 

[FranC]

Somebody may know better than I, but unused e-cig batteries lose half their capacity after 3-4 years even if stored properly. That's what I have read anyway. That's probably still better than a brand new efest.

IDK. I have some older than that and they seem fine to me.

 

[Bronze]

IDK. I have some older than that and they seem fine to me.

Every battery I have owned (many AWs) were pretty much crap after 3-4 years. Of course, I used them. Efests were crap after 3-4 hours.

 

[FranC]

Every battery I have owned (many AWs) were pretty much crap after 3-4 years. Of course, I used them. Efests were crap after 3-4 hours.

I don't have any efests......LOL

 

[Bronze]

I don't have any efests......LOL

If you did, you'd like your AWs even more.

 

[rosesense]

Probably depends on the use they get. If I only used 1 or 2 batts, I wouldn't expect them to last for years. I rotate through so many, they aren't used a lot and seem to last. I have some that are 10 years old and still hold 3/4 of a charge.

 

[DeloresRose]

Should I keep it above .3? I watch a guy pretty often on youtube and I’ve heard him mention to keep it above that on mechs as a sort of loose suggestion.

Since I have “cloud chuckers” with the regulated, one option that’s crossed my mind is to mix up a higher nic% juice and find a single coil mtl rba/rta. Some of the more “high end” looking tanks I see people post would look pretty nice on a mech, you know what I mean? Like the taifun/kayfun, more oddball (not mainstream like a zeus x style) ones that you see around if you look hard. They don’t seem to be as easy to find as the popular tanks.

Something like that and then run at low amps. I hadn’t really even considered what to put in it. I have some dual 26/36 kanthal on a spool but I just got it so I’m not real familiar with how it ohms out. If I do go the mtl route I may go with round wire like you suggest, I think it will perform just fine and won’t need to be spun up.

I guess this is going to be a long post but one factor on my mind is, how do you accurately gauge battery life and when to swap your battery? Is performance steady and then drops suddenly, or is it a gradual decrease? Or is it something like, I know I get a tank and a half out of this battery and it will be at 3.5 volts?

I keep my ohms above .3 because for one thing, I don’t like the vape I get any lower, and secondly the resistance can change, but never so much I need to worry if it’s gone beyond the safe zone.

As for battery life, it drops steadily and you likely won’t get near as long out of one as you do on a regulated. You’ll get a very anemic hit and it’ll be time to swap it out.

I used kanthal briefly and can’t recall how it ohms out, as I use SS now. I use 26g x whatever fused clapton because I’m not dexterous enough to manage round wire, or anything thinner. I can wrap anything, but getting it installed and wicked I bend them all something fierce.

The rest of your questions are going to be your personal preference... if you don’t like mtl on other set ups, you probably won’t like it on a mech either. But you might. Try it and see. And if you’re looking for hard-to-source RBAs someone will likely be able to give you leads.

 

[Bronze]

Probably depends on the use they get. If I only used 1 or 2 batts, I wouldn't expect them to last for years. I rotate through so many, they aren't used a lot and seem to last. I have some that are 10 years old and still hold 3/4 of a charge.

Well certainly properly stored batteries (charged at 50% in moderate temps) will last longer than a battery that is used every day. But if you're getting 3/4 charge from a 10 year old battery (used or unused) I would say you have an outlier.

 

[Iron Molly]

Probably depends on the use they get. If I only used 1 or 2 batts, I wouldn't expect them to last for years. I rotate through so many, they aren't used a lot and seem to last. I have some that are 10 years old and still hold 3/4 of a charge.

Agreed! I have set of six AW I rotate through, and they are probably 6 years old and still fine. Maybe don't last quite as long, but long enough. But I'm totally not pushing them tootle puffing on my regulated mods!

 

[Rossum]

Somebody may know better than I, but unused e-cig batteries lose half their capacity after 3-4 years even if stored properly. That's what I have read anyway. That's probably still better than a brand new efest.

Yeah once upon a time, (previous decade) there was a rule of thumb that Li-ion cells would lose as much as 10% of capacity per year, even if they were un-used. But I think the chemistry has improved since then.

I have some VTC5s that were made in January of 2014. They've been used off-and on. They still test at ~90% of their rated capacity and their IR measurements are pretty decent too.

 

[Bronze]

Yeah once upon a time, (previous decade) there was a rule of thumb that Li-ion cells would lose as much as 10% of capacity per year, even if they were un-used. But I think the chemistry has improved since then.

I have some VTC5s that were made in January of 2014. They've been used off-and on. They still test at ~90% of their rated capacity and their IR measurements are pretty decent too.

Well, and then add that "shot" has a different meaning to different people. Some find 75% capacity completely acceptable while others find it completely unacceptable. So these untechnical descriptors tend to cloud the discussion.