Vamo Charger Flashing Red & Green

[AnsonJames]

Not wanting to sound alarmist but I wouldn't trust a no name charger from a Chinese vendor.
You'd be better off with a Trustfire TR-001, they get slated but I've had a couple of them and they never overcharged or failed me.

I've got a Pila charger now but I'll still use the TR-001 in work without worry.

 

[Gummy Bare]

and yes, those batteries look like they're not IMR, and possibly not even protected ones; if you can afford it, buy a couple of IMR batteries like AW of Efest or Panasonic.

from what I've read in the manual i downloaded using "protected batteries" is not a good idea with the Vamo... unless i'm understanding the bellow incorrectly:

"Protected type Li-Ion batteries will not work in this device – the over current protection renders them unusable as they usually have a current limit of 2.5 Amperes and this device uses current higher than that figure.. Please use High drain Safe rated batteries with no on-board protection for optimum use of this device."

 

[Dom C]

It sounds to me like your batteries are fully charged and now your charger its trickle charging them which basically means that when it flashes red its sending just a tiny bit more power to keep them topped off. Doesnt sound like a problem, but i would also recommend either making sure your batts are IMR or just picking up a couple AW IMR batts.

 

[xpen]

from what I've read in the manual i downloaded using "protected batteries" is not a good idea with the Vamo... unless i'm understanding the bellow incorrectly:

"Protected type Li-Ion batteries will not work in this device – the over current protection renders them unusable as they usually have a current limit of 2.5 Amperes and this device uses current higher than that figure.. Please use High drain Safe rated batteries with no on-board protection for optimum use of this device."

Well, protected batteries do work with the vamo (and just about anything else), but you should be careful to keep a moderate wattage setting and/or use higher resistance atomizers (let's say >= 3 ohm); otherwise the protection circuit in the protected battery will trip and you'll need to take the battery out of the tube and back again for resetting it.

My recommendation was in fact to go for IMR (Li-Mn) batteries, like AW or Efest, if you can; they're unprotected but made with a safer (than Li-Ion) chemistry, and provide much higher discharge rates - especially the AW.

Given a choice, the best option is thus using IMR batteries; otherwise make sure you use at least protected Li-Ion batteries, for your safety.

 

[Gummy Bare]

thanks for all the info guys, sorry for such a long thread about batteries and charger BS... this is my first real APV so I didn't want to just assume everything was fine and that I knew what I was doing based on my eGo only (VV & non VV) experience. The batts that came with the kit do not look like IMR from the info I can find on the website they came from. Here's the page and description of the batts: 18350 battery for lavatube vv350 - VaporBreak

The manual says to use IMR or AW type cells. What does AW mean?

I'm now using the Vamo and it seems to be working fine. You were correct on a bit of an over charge as the battery showed 4.3 volts instead of 4.2. I decided to only use one battery at a time just in case there are any issues with the higher voltage. I just hope the batteries aren’t broken or unsafe now. I'm going to order some new ones this week (or today).

I usually use GotVapes website for my orders. Will these batteries work okay for my Vamo?

“eFest IMR 18350 800mah Button Top 3.7v Rechargeable LiMn Battery”: eFest IMR 18350 800mah ButtonTop 3.7v Rechargeable LiMn Battery [gv-EFEST-IMR18350Button-800mah] - $6.45 : GotVapes.com, E-cigarette Supplies - Atomizers Cartomizers Mods Juice and more

And then here’s the bigger one I was looking at “Panasonic IMR Hybrid High Drain 18650 2200mah Button Top Li-Ion”: Panasonic IMR Hybrid High Drain 18650 2200mah Button Top Li-Ion [gv-PANASONICHybrid18650-BUTTON] - $11.49 : GotVapes.com, E-cigarette Supplies - Atomizers Cartomizers Mods Juice and more

Now I just need to figure out how to work it, lol. I’m defiantly going to use RMS mode all the time. I was wondering if most of you are using watts or volts mode? I don’t have any HR attys yet, but will be ordering some with my new batteries. I’ve got some smoktech DCT 1.5ohms tanks, they actually read 1.5ohms on the Vamo (heard some people ST DCT 1.5ohms didn’t work because they read 1.2ohms on the Vamo). And the other things I have are 2.5ohms clearos and novas.

Any recommendations on what volts of wattage I should be running on the 2.4ohm clearos & novas? And what about the SmokTech 1.5ohm DCT’s?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[xpen]

AW is a battery brand, like Efest or Panasonic; IMR is a type of batteries, based on Litihum-Manganese chemistry. AW and Efest make the most popular IMR batteries, especially AW: any one of those batteries would be fine in your vamo.

Note: I'm not sure how the Panasonic "Hybrid IMR" works... it seems to mix up the Li-Mn and Li-Ion chemistries. Personally I'd stick with traditional IMR (AW or Efest), but I may just be too conservative so ask for other opinions on this one.

Size: 18650's are bigger and heavier, but last longer, and must be used with the full-sized vamo; 18350's provide (far) shorter vaping time but you can use them removing (unscrewing) the lower tube and enjoy a shorter/lighter vamo.

There's also a 3rd option, where you fit ('stack') two 18350 batteries in the full-length vamo; I'd advise against that configuration, as battery stacking might cause electrical/safety problems.

Yes, use the RMS configuration all the time, it produces the best vaping performance; it should be a set-and-forget option, in my opinion.

The beauty of a variable wattage (power) device is that you set the watts according to your vaping taste, and it takes care of feeding the appropriate voltage according to the atomiser resistance. So there's no recommendation for the wattage, taste how it vapes and raise/lower the wattage according to your preferences. I'd start experimenting from 6W upwards, but that's my taste

Low-resistance atomizers (like 1.5 ohm) seem not to work too well with the vamo, even with IMR batteries, so I'd use atoms from 2/2.5 ohm upwards.

Note: 4.3V is a little too much, but since the vamo only shows 1 decimal digit, it may have rounded an actual 4.25V (maximum recommended voltage) to 4.3 on display... Anyway if the vamo reads 4.2V... it's better

Overcharging would definitely shorten the life of your batteries, or even - in the extreme - cause weird things to happen. go with IMR's.

thanks for all the info guys, sorry for such a long thread about batteries and charger BS... this is my first real APV so I didn't want to just assume everything was fine and that I knew what I was doing based on my eGo only (VV & non VV) experience. The batts that came with the kit do not look like IMR from the info I can find on the website they came from. Here's the page and description of the batts: 18350 battery for lavatube vv350 - VaporBreak

The manual says to use IMR or AW type cells. What does AW mean?

I'm now using the Vamo and it seems to be working fine. You were correct on a bit of an over charge as the battery showed 4.3 volts instead of 4.2. I decided to only use one battery at a time just in case there are any issues with the higher voltage. I just hope the batteries aren’t broken or unsafe now. I'm going to order some new ones this week (or today).

I usually use GotVapes website for my orders. Will these batteries work okay for my Vamo?

“eFest IMR 18350 800mah Button Top 3.7v Rechargeable LiMn Battery”: eFest IMR 18350 800mah ButtonTop 3.7v Rechargeable LiMn Battery [gv-EFEST-IMR18350Button-800mah] - $6.45 : GotVapes.com, E-cigarette Supplies - Atomizers Cartomizers Mods Juice and more

And then here’s the bigger one I was looking at “Panasonic IMR Hybrid High Drain 18650 2200mah Button Top Li-Ion”: Panasonic IMR Hybrid High Drain 18650 2200mah Button Top Li-Ion [gv-PANASONICHybrid18650-BUTTON] - $11.49 : GotVapes.com, E-cigarette Supplies - Atomizers Cartomizers Mods Juice and more

Now I just need to figure out how to work it, lol. I’m defiantly going to use RMS mode all the time. I was wondering if most of you are using watts or volts mode? I don’t have any HR attys yet, but will be ordering some with my new batteries. I’ve got some smoktech DCT 1.5ohms tanks, they actually read 1.5ohms on the Vamo (heard some people ST DCT 1.5ohms didn’t work because they read 1.2ohms on the Vamo). And the other things I have are 2.5ohms clearos and novas.

Any recommendations on what volts of wattage I should be running on the 2.4ohm clearos & novas? And what about the SmokTech 1.5ohm DCT’s?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Gummy Bare]

Hum, I just tried to stack the batteries with the extension and they won’t fit. They are the button top style batteries and the length of both of them is too long to fit the end cap with spring on the unit. The last battery hangs over the end and makes it impossible to screw down the end cap correctly. I have attached some pictures of what it looks like with one battery and then with the extension with stacked battery’s.

vamo with single battery:


Vamo with stacked battery's, bottom battery hangs over end:


Vamo with cap attempted to be put on... doesn't fit:


Is everyone using flat top batteries when stacking? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[xpen]

you're lucky they didn't fit... stacking batteries in general may prove dangerous, but stacking non-IMR, non-protected batteries means looking for trouble. forget those batteries, trust me, of if you can't just use them one at the time in the shorter vamo.

there's plenty of discussions in other threads of this forum where people speak about stacking flat/button-top batteries in the vamo (or about the impossibility of doing so, like in your case)

Hint: the label size of a battery (18mm diameter by 35mm length -> 18350) rarely matches its physical dimensions... normally they're longer than they should, as battery makers try to cram more and more capacity (mAh) into them but then they need that extra undeclared mm. or five.

 

[Gummy Bare]

Thanks for the info xpen. I watched a few vamo videos on youtube and saw people stacking two 18350's over using one 18650 for some reason. Their batteries where differant than mine, but not sure which ones since I'm new non eGo style batteries.

I think I'll pick up a few 18650's and skip the stacking then, seemes easyer anyway.

The youtube video had some guy hooking the vamo up to some crazy testing box and running it through some big ... graph meter. He was saying with one 18350 or one 18650 the vamo was unable to reach the max 15watts it claims. But with two 18350's it came far closer if not all the way to 15watts (can't remember).

 

[xpen]

you're welcome

I think skipping/postponing stacking is a good idea, until you get some more grip on variable voltage/wattage devices, especially the batteries side of it; it can be done, even though it's hardly needed for normal use, but it brings some extra risk which can only be mitigated if you fully understand what you're doing. No offence intended, of course.

The guy reviewing the vamo was probably Phil Busardo (pbusardo here and on youtube) and he's one of the best vaping reviewers around.

I've heard too that the vamo wouldn't reach the full 15W with 'only' one battery, but I think 10/11W should be good enough for the time being. They're good enough for me, anyway

 

[Gummy Bare]

Yea, being new to VW type APV's is kinda why I went for the vamo. Didn't want to spend a grip of money on a provari or zenisis mod right off the bat. This way I can see what I like and what I don't, plus if I do something stupid and break it its not gonna be a big deal for the price.

What's a good tank to run on this badboy? all the stuff I have is regular ohms. I kinda wanna try out some HR stuff. Not sure if I should get a metal vivi nova with higher resistance coils, or get a carto style tank with higher resistance... all the carto tanks I have are dual coil LR's.

Also, what's the deal with some clearos having a super high almost unrealistice ohm reading when checking it on the Vamo? So far I've put a smoktech dct 1.5ohm, 3 differant stardust style clearos on (all suppousably 2.4ohms... some real vision and some random generics), and a vision vivi nova mini 2.4ohm.
Most all of them read around the resistance of what they are supposed to be. Some read a little more then what they should, but I belive the vamo since with thoughs ones I could push more volts on them when using my ego twist. But... I had one clearo that read 7ohms when first attached, then I took it off and put it back on and then it was around 5ohms. How can that be that a 2.4ohm clearo is reading 5-7ohms? The clearo in question fit on nice and goos just like the others that read normal.

 

[Rodderik]

the panasonic 18650s work great in the vamo and there is no rattle in the battery compartment. for the 18350s i've seen that 2 button tops wont fit or just barely fit. but on the same note, i have 2 flat top efest 18350s and the plastic around the battery is too thick for them to make contact in the middle.

 

[SirSteve]

Not unusual to get a slight variance in the ohms, they aren't always spot on and some vendors even post the +/- tolerance. If it is within about .2 ohms I wouldn't think much about it. The VAMO might not be completely accurate either, not knocking the VAMO, I love mine, but I am sure they also have a tolerance and probably round up or down. I had just recharged an 18650 battery and on my multimeter it read something like 4.18, in the VAMO it read 4.2, nothing to get excited about.

I am fairly new to this game, but my understanding is that a super high resistance like the one you reported is a sign that your coil is very near the end of its life. I have noticed a drop in resistance on my VAMO on a few occasions, usually though around .2 ohms, not really sure what causes this.

And please follow everyone's advice about the batteries, mine shipped with one Efest IMR 18650. I bought a second one like the first and am pleased with them so far. AW are supposed to be great, I can't say first hand though. Stacking please don't, many do, but they have years of experience with these types of batteries. I am currently using a DCT with it at 1.5 ohms and 8 watts, works great.

 

[kiwivap]

Most all of them read around the resistance of what they are supposed to be. Some read a little more then what they should, but I belive the vamo since with thoughs ones I could push more volts on them when using my ego twist. But... I had one clearo that read 7ohms when first attached, then I took it off and put it back on and then it was around 5ohms. How can that be that a 2.4ohm clearo is reading 5-7ohms? The clearo in question fit on nice and goos just like the others that read normal.

It will round the battery voltage reading, as Steve pointed out.
For the ohms reading - it's giving you what the ohms actually are. The stated ohms of a coil can be a little different in reality. Its just the way they are coiled when made. There can be a variation up to +/- 2 ohms. So a 2.8 ohm head can sometimes really be a 2.6 or a 3.0. I've found 2.8 ohm heads read 2.9 ohms, and 2.7 ohms. I've also found the ohm reading can different on a dirty head that is gunked up. In watts mode the Vamo adjusts the voltage for you anyway - so a variation in ohms won't matter.

 

[Gummy Bare]

Not unusual to get a slight variance in the ohms, they aren't always spot on and some vendors even post the +/- tolerance. If it is within about .2 ohms I wouldn't think much about it. The VAMO might not be completely accurate either, not knocking the VAMO, I love mine, but I am sure they also have a tolerance and probably round up or down. I had just recharged an 18650 battery and on my multimeter it read something like 4.18, in the VAMO it read 4.2, nothing to get excited about.

I am fairly new to this game, but my understanding is that a super high resistance like the one you reported is a sign that your coil is very near the end of its life. I have noticed a drop in resistance on my VAMO on a few occasions, usually though around .2 ohms, not really sure what causes this.

And please follow everyone's advice about the batteries, mine shipped with one Efest IMR 18650. I bought a second one like the first and am pleased with them so far. AW are supposed to be great, I can't say first hand though. Stacking please don't, many do, but they have years of experience with these types of batteries. I am currently using a DCT with it at 1.5 ohms and 8 watts, works great.

Thanks man, I’m defiantly trying to be carefully about the whole thing. That's why I started this whole thread as soon as the charger didn't function as the manual told me it would. I didn't want to assume everything was all right with it. I know how the quality control in these Chinese products can be lacking quite a bit.

From what people are saying I don’t think I’ll be stacking the batteries at all. A 18650 should do just fine. I like the small version with just one 18350, but I really want to have some longer battery life and just feel this heavy chrome badboy in my hand when it's all set up with the extension.

I gave my DCT 1.5ohm a shot on it, but it wasn't giving me the heat and throat hit I thought I was gonna be able to get after finally getting something that could go past 4.8v... which is all I could give the DCT's before with my ego twist and vision spinner. Maybe a higher ohm single coil Boge carto tank pushing high watts\volts will give me the hit I’m looking for. I love the idea of cartomizer tanks having the coils always soaked with juice so you never get dry hits like with the clearo & novas with wicks you have to swish the juice around and lay them sideways on the table sometimes to get them wet with liquid. I've only just began using carto tanks, most of my vaping experiences have been with clearos.

 

[Gummy Bare]

It will round the battery voltage reading, as Steve pointed out.
For the ohms reading - it's giving you what the ohms actually are. The stated ohms of a coil can be a little different in reality. Its just the way they are coiled when made. There can be a variation up to +/- 2 ohms. So a 2.8 ohm head can sometimes really be a 2.6 or a 3.0. I've found 2.8 ohm heads read 2.9 ohms, and 2.7 ohms. I've also found the ohm reading can different on a dirty head that is gunked up. In watts mode the Vamo adjusts the voltage for you anyway - so a variation in ohms won't matter.

Yea, the slight difference in resistance wasn't bothering me at all and made since to me seeing how it would be hard to manufacture things to be exact all the time. It was mainly the one that was supposed to be 2.4ohms but was reading 5-7ohms; which is more than double what it's supposed to be. Someone above was suggesting it could be old and on its way out… but it’s actually quite new, like 4 days old. Maybe it’s just a bad apple. I’ve also heard that some clearos don’t fit as good on the Vamo head and the lack of correct connection could be giving incorrect resistance readings.

 

[kiwivap]

I gave my DCT 1.5ohm a shot on it, but it wasn't giving me the heat and throat hit I thought I was gonna be able to get after finally getting something that could go past 4.8v... which is all I could give the DCT's before with my ego twist and vision spinner. Maybe a higher ohm single coil Boge carto tank pushing high watts\volts will give me the hit I’m looking for. I love the idea of cartomizer tanks having the coils always soaked with juice so you never get dry hits like with the clearo & novas with wicks you have to swish the juice around and lay them sideways on the table sometimes to get them wet with liquid. I've only just began using carto tanks, most of my vaping experiences have been with clearos.

Use single coil, standard resistance. Low resistance is for people who don't have the power options and want a warmer vape. With pvs like the Vamo you don't need LR. Also, if the ohms of your coils are below the stated 1.5 you run close to cut off point with the pv.

 

[kiwivap]

Yea, the slight difference in resistance wasn't bothering me at all and made since to me seeing how it would be hard to manufacture things to be exact all the time. It was mainly the one that was supposed to be 2.4ohms but was reading 5-7ohms; which is more than double what it's supposed to be. Someone above was suggesting it could be old and on its way out… but it’s actually quite new, like 4 days old. Maybe it’s just a bad apple. I’ve also heard that some clearos don’t fit as good on the Vamo head and the lack of correct connection could be giving incorrect resistance readings.

Could be a dud. Have you tried reading it again since?

 

[Gummy Bare]

the panasonic 18650s work great in the vamo and there is no rattle in the battery compartment. for the 18350s i've seen that 2 button tops wont fit or just barely fit. but on the same note, i have 2 flat top efest 18350s and the plastic around the battery is too thick for them to make contact in the middle.

The place I normally order from only has the hybrid high drain Panasonic batteries, not sure about using those ones as someone said earlier in the thread. Do you know of a good site to get some Panasonic IMR 18650 button tops from?

 

[kiwivap]

Here:
Panasonic Hybrid/IMR CGR18650CH Button Top

They have AW and Efest too.