Using built-in chargers

[William Hartman]

It's nice to have a charger in the new SMOK X Cube Mini. I did have some problems with the IJUST2 with the built-in battery. While using maybe too much during charging it would heat up around the base of the Aspire Mega tank and I had to stop using it. I don't know if it was a problem with the leaking the tank does. The coil doesn't seal and liquid enters the area below that and also pours out of the top below the air holes, so that might be it. It also feels like heat is being generated from the Micro-USB cord, right under the tank. I dont see that happening with the SMOK TFV4 the way the coil is mounted and because it doesn't need to be disassembled with the flip-top filler. I like the fact that the new version SMOK (Mini) charges now, but someone told me always use a seperate dedicated charger for the batteries. I am getting a 3000 Mah battery 40 Amp from Imren. I think it would be better to charge with the unit because you have a battery indicator on the screen. There is not much out there for my price range but this seems pretty well put together.

 

[djsvapour]

I never charge via usb with the battery in the mod.
(edit... that is a lie... I had to just the once with a mini Cloupor)
Too many bad stories for me. I don't know how true some are, but for example even the current pin-up of the e-cig world (Reuleaux DNA200) doesn't seem able to charge evenly across all the batteries.

 

[Caterpiller]

Imren 40A 3000mAh 18650 Bench Retest Results...only a 17A battery, damaged at 30A

I'd consider a different choice of battery if you are planning to go anywhere near 15amp draw.

@Mooch has tested and rated these as 17amp CDR (maximum).

Again thanks to @Mooch for all the work he does to keep us safe

 

[Susan~S]

Like @djsvapour, I too do not use the usb to charge my 18650 cells.
____

Re-wrap resellers are notorious for misrepresenting their batteries' true specifications, and advertise specs much higher than their true specs when compared to independent bench testing.

There are only a few battery manufacturers in the world who make their own "cells", including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony.

All the other brands on the market buy the second and third tier cells from those manufacturers and re-wrap them under their own brand. These are "second and/or third tier cells" which did not meet the higher standards of the original manufacturer. So, in order to compete with the original manufacturers' batteries (first tier), these other companies feel obligated to publish specifications which are inflated to make them appear superior to those of the original manufacturer.

* (AW is Andrew Wan, a former Panasonic employee who branched out to create his own "brand" of batteries. He allegedly has agreements with the major cell manufacturers to purchase first tier batteries from them. Not all batteries are created equal, so AW tests these batteries for quality. The best get chosen to be AW brand, and are re-wrapped as AW.)

Do your research before you buy. Decide what battery to buy depending upon the application that you will use them. Mooch can help you here => Calculating Battery Current Draw for a Regulated Mod

Here are links to some of @Mooch other battery blogs:

• There are no 18650 batteries with a genuine rating over 30A!
• Battery pulse ratings are useless!
• 18650 Safety Grades -- Picking a Safe Battery to Vape With
• Links to all his battery tests to date: List of My Battery Tests

 

[William Hartman]

That's why all the Sony batteries were not as good as this one, because the specifications on this are wrong. I think that if I got one of the Sony's then I couldn't tell if it was real unless I got it from the manufacturer somehow. I just saw a tank on the auction site there identical to the TFV4 and I was reading the bottom and it said "This is not a real SMOK brand tank it is a cheap version identical to the original". I think the Sony batteries aren't easy to authenticate and I don't trust that. I'm sure it's easy to rewrap batteries under a name brand. Thanks for the advice. That's the most important part.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

To avoid lesser quality, re wrapped, fake / counterfeit batteries only buy from reliable well known vendors / dealers.

 

[Susan~S]

To avoid lesser quality, re wrapped, fake / counterfeit batteries only buy from reliable well known vendors / dealers.

Oops! Forgot to post links.

Here are several reputable battery suppliers in the US.

• RTD Vapor
• Illumination Supply
• Orbtronics
• IMR Batteries
• Liion Wholesale

 

[suprtrkr]

+1 to everybody. I don't care for on board charging, and buy good batteries from a reputable dealer.

 

[Canadian_Vaper]

It's nice to have a charger in the new SMOK X Cube Mini. I did have some problems with the IJUST2 with the built-in battery. While using maybe too much during charging it would heat up around the base of the Aspire Mega tank and I had to stop using it. I don't know if it was a problem with the leaking the tank does. The coil doesn't seal and liquid enters the area below that and also pours out of the top below the air holes, so that might be it. It also feels like heat is being generated from the Micro-USB cord, right under the tank. I dont see that happening with the SMOK TFV4 the way the coil is mounted and because it doesn't need to be disassembled with the flip-top filler. I like the fact that the new version SMOK (Mini) charges now, but someone told me always use a seperate dedicated charger for the batteries. I am getting a 3000 Mah battery 40 Amp from Imren. I think it would be better to charge with the unit because you have a battery indicator on the screen. There is not much out there for my price range but this seems pretty well put together.

I do use built in chargers in single battery mods however I never use them for pass through vaping, most battery failures happen when a battery is being charged, I'd definitely recommend unplugging it before vaping then plugging it back in when your session is done.

A good battery for your mod would be a LG HG2

 

[William Hartman]

Yes that's when it was really heating up with that pass through feature. I used to use that all the time with the cheap pens. Not the best idea and means your probably using the battery's power level down way too much. Might be good if you could use the passthrough without a battery in it.

 

[Toronnah]

I charge a 2600mah Li-Ion battery onboard at least once a day. Sometimes twice.

It's a Samsung S5.

Don't see how a cell phone is too much different from a vape device.

 

[William Hartman]

Wow. Someone told me the leaks are caused by using a 50/50 mix juice. I don't get it, it should not leak with any ratio. Nothing should be able to go into the area beneath the coil or into the breather tube no matter how it's designed. There is nothing about the Mega tank that I like except the outside. I really need an overpriced tank, something with a lot of designing. Also too, it worked perfect until a couple months went by, I think the threads wore down.