Three Dead eGo-T Attys

[JimmyJet]

Good evening folks. First post from a newbie.


I have read a few threads where someone described having several attys fail in one evening, and frankly I was skeptical. But tonight it happened to me.


All three attys were genuine eGo-T with logo. All three came from a reputable supplier. All three were about two weeks old with equal usage. Two were standard and one was LR. All three worked great until tonight. Then boom, only the faintest of vapor was produced. I've used the same liquid since day one.


In an attempt to “revive” them, I boiled them for about ten minutes and dried them carefully. No luck. They were still “dead”.


Out of curiosity I removed the wicking needle from one atty, which exposed the coil. I connected it to a battery and pressed the button. The coil glowed red hot and I could hear it hiss.


Out of further curiosity I took a dummy cartridge, stuffed it with teabag, and added several drops of liquid. It gurgled a bit but gave me a few good hits of tasty vapor.


So, I am thinking the wicking system failed? Opinions? Suggestions?


Thanks, JJ

 

[Evie]

This may help, if your atty is heating up, it's probably your wick.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ego-type-models/169520-simplecjs-ego-t-wick-mod.html

 

[JimmyJet]

Thank you. A 30 minute boil seemed to fix them. Maybe not perfect but certainly producing vapor again. That was close. Darn near reached for an analog last night.

 

[rise2it]

I've given up on these things (Ego T), and I could care less about the 'revision B' that's supposedly coming.

In no other industry would customer's put up with the level of poor quality @#$# that we do with vaping, and the vendors, even if they know something is bad/defective just keep pumping it out anyway...'good service' means more than shipping junk quickly.

<end rant>

 

[tonyorion]

Go out and spend $5-$10 to buy a multimeter and test for an open circuit. If the coil is burnt out, no amount of voodoo, sacrificing to the altar of Baal, wicam ritual, or anything else will help short of rebuilding the atty. I understand that Druids run around naked in the forest; I might get lucky and find a willing maiden (for an old guy, I still have a 31"waist, 46"chest and 16.5" arms), but I doubt that will do anything for my atty.

So why waste time trying to do the impossible with all of these stupid resuscitation methods that will not work if the coil is burned through?

Attys and cartomizers die. It's the way the technology is and cannot be helped. There are rebuildable attys such as the A2 from Germany, and you can rebuild standard and ego attys with a little bit of mechanical skill and a lot of patience (it's worth the effort to learn in case there is a ban).

Standard Cartomizers are cheap and not worth the effort. Attys are not worth the effort either at $3-4 a pop for genuine Joye's if you shop around.

At $10-$13 for an eGo atty, it gets to be expensive.

I have completely gone off the eGo system due to the ludicrous failure rate of the batteries (8 out 10 ego, and 3 out of 3 Riva) and will no longer buy any PV without a replaceable battery. Other than a regulated voltage and a sleek design, the eGo offers nothing.

The new ePower looks to be an interesting concept (won't accept ego accessories though; it will accept 510 stuff). Less than $50 for a kit with two 1050 mAh batteries, charger, two attys, and 5 carts. Best thing is that you can replace the switch. I am banking that this thing could go vv in the next version. Just get a new switch without having to buy new batteries and charger.

 

[wyojoe]

I have 2 eGo batteries and 3 Riva's for about 4 months and ALL are still working fine. I agree with tonyorion that you should buy a cheap ohm meter. Menards have them and Harbor Freight. Then that should be the first thing you check with any atty or cartomizer that is acting up, then you KNOW if it is worth cleaning and messing with.

 

[Pissy]

I've been using mine for a month, no problems at all!

 

[breaktru]

It's unusual for 3 atty's to go at once with a standard eGo battery. Sounds more like a battery or battery connection is at fault.

 

[Astronomer]

Go out and spend $5-$10 to buy a multimeter and test for an open circuit. If the coil is burnt out, no amount of voodoo, sacrificing to the altar of Baal, wicam ritual, or anything else will help short of rebuilding the atty.

I find your lack of faith in the powers of Baal disturbing

 

[MickeyRat]

Out of curiosity I removed the wicking needle from one atty, which exposed the coil. I connected it to a battery and pressed the button. The coil glowed red hot and I could hear it hiss.

So, I am thinking the wicking system failed? Opinions? Suggestions?

I think you're right. You should be able to salvage those attys. Look at the link in Evie's post.

 

[redheadone]

I agree with the other thread about buying a voltmeter. I did when one of my attys arrived DOA Vicki over at Cignot told me about this and even how to do it. I can now test to see if I have an atty with bad resistance or if it is something else. A normal atty resistance should read from around 1.7 to around 2.2 anything higher or lower and you definately have a problem. fortunately for me I have had one atty that was DOA All the rest of mine are working just great

 

[Sandfury]

Its sad to see that people have had such bad experiences with their Ego-T's. I really like mine and because of the ease of use I was able to get my mother who is a 20 year smoking off cigs. I guess its a case of your milage may vary. Something else to consider, I did read in the massive Ego-T thread (if I remember correctly) someone used a sonic cleaner with mouthwash in it to get their atomizers back to an amazing condition.

 

[MickeyRat]

Its sad to see that people have had such bad experiences with their Ego-T's. I really like mine and because of the ease of use I was able to get my mother who is a 20 year smoking off cigs. I guess its a case of your milage may vary. Something else to consider, I did read in the massive Ego-T thread (if I remember correctly) someone used a sonic cleaner with mouthwash in it to get their atomizers back to an amazing condition.

I actually like the LR attys. I didn't like the regular attys. However, that wick is a real weak point with the eGo. I don't hear anything to suggest that there's been an improvement in that part with the new super Bs either.

 

[JimmyJet]

I should have mentioned that all three "dead" attys were connected to three different batteries.

 

[wyojoe]

I should have mentioned that all three "dead" attys were connected to three different batteries.

You said in your first post that you took off the needle plate and the coil turned red, so your atty was not dead. It may be like you said the you have a wicking problem but not on three of them at the same time. If the coil glowed red it was working so maybe you clear cart was plugged with a round piece of plastic inside that was cut when you first punctured the bottom of the cartridge. Take the bottom cap off of the clear eGo-t cartridge and remove the round plactic disk. Put the cap back on and refill it and put a couple of drops of juice in the middle of the needle and watch it wick in. (this primes the wick) if it does not wick in then you have some kind of plug in the needle. Some times the wick gets pushed thru the needle or you puff on it way to hard, and the atty gets flooded and makes it seem like it is not working, if that happens you will need to blow it out and try again. Like the one person above said, you need to check the atty with a OHM meter FIRST to see if it is good or bad to start with. The meter is very cheap to buy if you look around.

HOPE this helps

 

[Dan Patrick]

I have 3 of the ego pass through batteries, had one for about 3 months and have had no problems with it. I even got it in water trying to get some juice off of it that had collected in the cone. It stopped working completely and went crazy. I left it on top of the hot DVR to dry for a couple of days and now it is working great. I am vaping it right now with a 306 Cisco LR atty and I just blew a big plume of vapor for ya! It's great to have at work (co-workers freak on my silver bullet, goose neck and MAP tank) and now I ordered the tanks for road trips. I don't have any thoughts that it will be as good as dripping, but its better than drip'in and driving. Don't do it!

 

[orion7319]

Thank you. A 30 minute boil seemed to fix them. Maybe not perfect but certainly producing vapor again. That was close. Darn near reached for an analog last night.

This is the deal with the ego t's. The wicks gum up on you, especially if you use dark color juices or juices with sweetener. It's a VERY easy fix though once your ego stops wicking well. Pop the needle plate and wick off. Leave the wick in the needle plate and hold the needle plate from the needle with some pliers. Take a lighter, and set the wick on fire. It will burn until the wet ejuice is burned off. Continue to burn it until it glows red. The wick should start to turn white. This will clean the wick better than anything you can try. It's made out of silicate and is rated for a couple of thousand degrees. Next step is to do a hot water rinse on the atty. Next run the wick under a faucet at low flow. This is to get the strands clustered together so it will go in centered on the coil. You don't want to touch the wick after you have cleaned it as it will most likely fall apart. Put it all back together and do another hot water rinse. Blow it out really good, prime it and enjoy!

 

[adam.phillips]

I've burned thorough 3 in as many weeks. I've tried all the tips here in the forum short of rebuilding one. I'm going to switch to cartomizers if the next batch I ordered doesn't last longer than a week.

 

[JimmyJet]

Thank you all for the excellent insights. This thread turned out to be much more helpful and educational than I expected. Two lessons learned here...

1) Out of fear of buying a pack of analogs, I searched and bought a couple eGo Mega Cartomizers. They are not as elegant as eGo-T's but they definitely work. They are also dirt cheap. With a coupon code I bought some for about $2.50. From now on I will always keep a few spares for backups.

2) As a newbie I was not confident to try some of the “surgical” repairs that have been mentioned. Instead, I boiled the “dead” eGo-T attys for about 30 minutes. Specifically, I stood the attys vertically on end with the larger end sitting on the bottom of the pan. This resulted in a lot of bubbles percolating up and through the cone. This may not be the best way but it sure as heck got the attys working again.

One thing I should mention is that the boiling caused the logo and clear coat to peel off. Mine are colored in stainless so I really don't care. Also I have heard that it's best to use distilled water to avoid deposits.

This brings me to another question. Is there such a thing as boiling eGo-T attys for too long? How about an hour?

Again, thank you all for the help.

JJ

 

[swedishfish]

I've burned thorough 3 in as many weeks. I've tried all the tips here in the forum short of rebuilding one. I'm going to switch to cartomizers if the next batch I ordered doesn't last longer than a week.

There ya go. In theory they're great, I was a fan at first too. They're just a little too labor intensive and temperamental. They're new though. I think they release this stuff too fast maybe but who knows, 6 months from now they may be perfected. I might sit back and wait a bit.

I'm thrilled with my ego and like cartos although the whole thing with tanks seemed so much easier. I could get by and be happy with my current setup indefinitely really.