trouble with mechanical mod!

[nmaraldo]

i was using a sigelei 13 (... go figure right?) for about a month or longer, and let me say, it was working like a dream. not an ounce of voltage drop, super pleased
then about a month in the button started getting hot and or id get misfires. and ill admit that was using coils around the 1 ohm mark and probably not the best of batteries (i have a problem with testing boundaries...) but thats not what im here for. as i under stand that using sub 1 ohm coils on cheap batteries will give you problems...

anyway i bumped up the resistance and... same problem. actually got to the point were it wont fire at all. ok maybe i probably effed my batteries, and noticed that the button spring seems to be looser/shorter.

fine got some brand new panasonic NCR18650PDs (which to my knowledge have the highest amp limits, and can handle ohms as lows at .5 or .4 aside from those sonys, which apparently can handle 30amps) and a variety of other protected batteries with limits at least over 8 amps. put some standard pre-built attys on it and... still wont fire. not a single atty in my collection will fire, and i made sure all posts made contact every where. stripped it, sanded it, cleaned it. nothing.

but the strangest thing is i can test the mod with a multimeter and still get the exact same voltage as testing the battery straight up! meaning it will send a current, just wont fire an atty!

if there are any pro electrical engineers/ handy modders/ or someone with this kind of experience, would you mind pondering this with me??
my guess is that the spring in the button definitely has something to do with it. maybe it is suddenly now a higher resistance than any of my attys, and they just get by-passed in the circuit?

 

[Rule62]

The problem definitely sounds like it's in your switch. You may be able to solve the problem by shimming it. There are instructions for switch shimming, using .002 brass shim stock, in the MKB-TS thread. I have a Sigelei 13A which I shimmed, and it works perfectly.

 

[ZeroDisorder]

I don't have any experience with the Sigelei #13, but since you have a voltage at the 510 the circuit is getting completed. This narrows it down to a: bad switch contact, bad battery contact, or bad 510 contact. Since you say the switch gets hot, it's most likely the switch contact is not the best and you're dropping a significant amount of voltage across it.

+1 on what Rule 62 is recommending.

 

[nmaraldo]

The problem definitely sounds like it's in your switch. You may be able to solve the problem by shimming it. There are instructions for switch shimming, using .002 brass shim stock, in the MKB-TS thread. I have a Sigelei 13A which I shimmed, and it works perfectly.

thats a pretty big thread and unfortunately there isnt a thread search. i imagine you mean placing a small brass ring inside of the swith to create a tighter connection?

 

[Rule62]

thats a pretty big thread and unfortunately there isnt a thread search. i imagine you mean placing a small brass ring inside of the swith to create a tighter connection?

Exactly. Make a cylinder of .002 brass shim stock to go around the shoulder of the switch button.

 

[Rule62]

Post #502 here has a picture of a disassembled switch. The one in the picture is from an MKB-TS, but the principle is the same. You can read on from there.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...1929-mkb-ts-mechanical-mod-ggts-clone-51.html

 

[nmaraldo]

thanks a lot. hopefully i can unscrew the contact pin from the button cap, havent been successful yet. do you think i can get shim stock from a hardware store or lowes?

 

[Rule62]

thanks a lot. hopefully i can unscrew the contact pin from the button cap, havent been successful yet. do you think i can get shim stock from a hardware store or lowes?

I don't know about Lowes or HD, but you can find the .002 brass at Ace Hardware. Probably some hobby shops will have it too.
To unscrew the button from the contact pin, take the bottom cap off, and grab the pin with a needle nose pliar. Hold the pin with the pliars, and unscrew the button. The switch will come apart.

 

[CloudZ]

If you are getting the full battery voltage across the atty posts but it wont fire anything, and the button gets hot, you likely have an internal short circuit. I am not familiar with the #13 internals, but take it apart and check it very closely to see where this could be happening. It will likely be somewhere along the positive connection.

I had this happen to me with my KTS, the grommet for the positive pin inside the 510 connection got torn which caused it to short against the body when an atty was screwed down. This shouldn't happen normally, it was due to a careless modification I tried to reduce the gap between the mod and the atty.

 

[Mortificant]

I think the most concerning thing about this post is how often I'm seeing "I heard" or "I think". It would really behoove you to do some research into this kind of thing, as I'm sure you're very aware of what can happen to batteries in mods with crappy contacts or if you're trying to push too much power out of a battery outside of it's recommended operating capability.

Your button is getting hot because there is probably a short in your atomizer somewhere, or you're trying to push too much power out of your batteries.

You might be getting misfires because it's a Sigelei and "I've heard they do that."