Vivi Nova Rebuild tutorial

[mrelwood]

Why spend hours fiddling around with this stuff?

Because the new heads don't perform too well at all. Mainly because of the burning rubber grommet (should use NR legs), intermittent and lacking performance and possible leaking, possibly because of the "fabric" tube around the coil.

And by rebuilding you can use the $7 a month for other things.

 

[Thompson]

Make sure you put the little silicon cap back on and that it is seated correctly. Otherwise, the tank fills with vapor.

It's seated well, I even slightly notched it so it would fit well over the SS. Still keeps bloody happening.

Are people still rebuilding these?

They sell a blister pack of heads for less than $7.

buy 2 of those & your good for months. Why spend hours fiddling around with this stuff?

Because for about $20 I'm set for years.

And as mentioned the mass produced heads are failures most of the time. Don't go trusting the Ohms stamped on the side, more often than not they are way off.

 

[L7D4N]

It's seated well, I even slightly notched it so it would fit well over the SS. Still keeps bloody happening.

Sounds like there may be a gap between the silicon cap and the wick. When you pull air up through the chamber, a gap between the cap and wick would cause air to go into the tank, as the openings would be slightly higher than the coil.

 

[oplholik]

It's seated well, I even slightly notched it so it would fit well over the SS. Still keeps bloody happening.



Because for about $20 I'm set for years.

Also have you no interest in tinkering with stuff?

To boot, if some stupid ban comes through, rebuilding maybe the only option.
And as mentioned the mass produced heads are failures most of the time. Don't go trusting the Ohms stamped on the side, more often than not they are way off.

This is one reason I'm trying to get going on RBA's, that and reduce being dependent on getting good cartos. I have one Viva Nova that's still in the box, have a Vision Eternity on the way, just need to get with it.

 

[Thompson]

Sounds like there may be a gap between the silicon cap and the wick. When you pull air up through the chamber, a gap between the cap and wick would cause air to go into the tank, as the openings would be slightly higher than the coil.

Yeah its definitely the cause. I grabbed another grommet from a different head and fixed it for a second but it's sneaking in again.

Went 3 days w/o it happening and now can't get it to stop

 

[gdeal]

Are people still rebuilding these?

They sell a blister pack of heads for less than $7.

Buy 2 of those & your good for months. Why spend hours fiddling around with this stuff?

Also would add that some people do not like silica wicks.

There is a little bit of discussion over at this thread on wick material....
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/modding-forum/284030-wick-materials-safe-vs-dangerous.html

 

[xMackx]

Are people still rebuilding these?

They sell a blister pack of heads for less than $7.

Buy 2 of those & your good for months. Why spend hours fiddling around with this stuff?

That's the difference between a DIY person and a non DIY person. You pay 7 bucks for 5 atomizer heads, the cost for rebuilding 5 heads cost me about 15 cents and the taste/flavor is way better and supposedly healthier. If you are someone who hates DIY projects then you can happily pay 46 times the price for something. To each their own.

 

[mrelwood]

Yeah its definitely the cause. I grabbed another grommet from a different head and fixed it for a second but it's sneaking in again.

Went 3 days w/o it happening and now can't get it to stop

As long as the juice doesn't leak to the battery or your mouth, you don't need to worry about that. I get vapor in the tank every now and then, and although it is a bit annoying to the microscopic OCD part of me, I just try ignore it if the vape is good.

It's usually the location of wick entering the tank that leaks the vapor. It does tell that atleast air flow is not restricted, which is crucial for a well working ato. If you're using a SS wick, the wick is round, but the slots are square, so that'll leave enough room for the vapor to get in the tank. With soft wicks, I sometimes just lift and move the wick slightly to cover any visible large air gaps.

 

[Cyrus Vap]

The burning grommet issue, and the refusal of certain vendors to even acknowledge it let alone do anything about it, is truly ridiculous. Don't care for myself because I pretty much mod or DIY everything I do these days, but it angers me because I feel at a loss when noobs come knocking and want starter gear, and that just stinks. Thankfully there is the Kanger T2 for those that don't want to play.

 

[Thompson]

Just took a gander at my coil and it was covered in some nasty gunk, wet tar type nonsense.

Been used for 2-3 days, mostly with A+ 30VG/70PG dark juices.

Gave it a quick rinse under the hot tap and dry burned, cleaned it all up. Working great again.

But is this common?

I kind of assume it built up in such a concentration because of not having an absorbent wick to get caught in?

 

[mrelwood]

Just took a gander at my coil and it was covered in some nasty gunk, wet tar type nonsense.

Been used for 2-3 days, mostly with A+ 30VG/70PG dark juices.

Gave it a quick rinse under the hot tap and dry burned, cleaned it all up. Working great again.

But is this common?

It is normal, especially for dark juices. Clear juices tend to crud a lot less.

I kind of assume it built up in such a concentration because of not having an absorbent wick to get caught in?

The crud is not just some particles from the juice that could be filtered out. It is the actual juice that cruds up when vaporized. While the speed of crudding might vary slightly from device to another, in general there is no way around it, unfortunately.

 

[Thompson]

Having a hard time keeping consistency. Not to mention a decent jostle seems to move my coil and give an E1 code.

I think when I go to put the plug into the bottom, the wire doesn't stay put and it pushes back up in some. Only thing I can figure.

I'm using Kanthal A 30awg and generally a 5/6 wrap around #400 SS. It doesn't seem to be shorting on the wick nor on the sides of the head.

Has me a bit baffled really. I get one coming in at 1.7Ω and then something happens and I get E1



Got some Kanthal A1 32awg coming as I'd like to achieve higher Ω ideally.

That and I'm being a bit stupid with wrapping the silver wire to the kanthal.

edit: just picked it up to take a puff and sure enough, E1

 

[mrelwood]

Having a hard time keeping consistency. Not to mention a decent jostle seems to move my coil and give an E1 code.

Is the E1 error on your device for a short or infinite resistance?

If it's a short, it's most likely the SS wick. They are tricky. Check how it looks when you dry burn, the coil should glow evenly. If it has brighter spots, if some spots don't light up, or if the orangeness of the coil changes, you have a partial short from the SS wick. If the coil is okay, check that the kanthal wire's ends are well cut at the coil head bottom connection. If the negative wire is bent towards the battery and then cut, it might touch the positive tap when squeezed into place. Bending it flush with the coil head's frame tends to solve it. Also, if using NR legs, they tend to short through the SS wick even easier than the kanthal. I tend to bend the legs in a way that they are a positioned a good 1mm away from the wick.

If the E1 it means infinite resistance, the positive post doesn't get a connection. The positive post in the base does move up and down a bit. But if the coil head is firmly in place, the moving post will be squeezed between the ato head and the battery. Perhaps try to screw the Nova to the battery slightly tighter.

 

[xMackx]

Crud build up is a good thing with ss mesh, oxidation, carbon, juice residue is what insulates the rw from shorting through the ss mesh. If you want to know a trick I do that helps. I wrap the coil on my large needle and mount, then I make the ss mesh the right size so it slides in easy yet almost snug, but here is the trick. Before I slide the ss mesh in I drip a drop of juice onto the coil and wet burn a few times, you would have to do this before mounting on a vivi nova because of the rubber grommet.

 

[xMackx]

I tried something different, should have took some pics. I took cotton wool (ball/batting) and rolled a wick, then took cheese cloth and wrapped the cheese cloth around the cotton wool to make a layered wick. The cotton wool is more absorbent, yet the cheese cloth has better flavor production. Wrapped my 33 awg coil with my wrap touching side by side method. Tastes just great, should be called the vivi mini fog machine.

 

[Thompson]

Is the E1 error on your device for a short or infinite resistance?

If it's a short, it's most likely the SS wick. They are tricky. Check how it looks when you dry burn, the coil should glow evenly. If it has brighter spots, if some spots don't light up, or if the orangeness of the coil changes, you have a partial short from the SS wick. If the coil is okay, check that the kanthal wire's ends are well cut at the coil head bottom connection. If the negative wire is bent towards the battery and then cut, it might touch the positive tap when squeezed into place. Bending it flush with the coil head's frame tends to solve it. Also, if using NR legs, they tend to short through the SS wick even easier than the kanthal. I tend to bend the legs in a way that they are a positioned a good 1mm away from the wick.

If the E1 it means infinite resistance, the positive post doesn't get a connection. The positive post in the base does move up and down a bit. But if the coil head is firmly in place, the moving post will be squeezed between the ato head and the battery. Perhaps try to screw the Nova to the battery slightly tighter.

Its the Provari, I'm not 100% what the E1 means, piece of paper says short circuit/shorted atomizer.

I could take the SS out and burn it again, though i think its pretty well oxidized. Easy enough to get in and out.

 

[Nuuze]

E1 could mean there's a short or voltage is set too high. If voltage is set high on low ohms you may have to turn down the volts before screwing on the Vivi Nova.

 

[Thompson]

E2 I think is voltage too high, it restricts to safe amp levels to the best of my understanding.

But after I build a new coil I drop it down to 2.9-3.3V and slowly work it up.

 

[Kemosabe]

hi guys. i just did my first SS nova wick. its awesome. i pulled the silica out of a coil and slid a ss wick into it. the coil was 3.5 without the wick and 3.5 immediately after installing. afetr a ml or so of vaping, the resistance went down to 2.8. then later i noticed it was down to 1.5 because my provari was E2-ing on me. so i checked ohms and cranked down the voltage. ive been monitoring the ohms, i really hope they dont continue to drop. any thoughts on this?

 

[xMackx]

hi guys. i just did my first SS nova wick. its awesome. i pulled the silica out of a coil and slid a ss wick into it. the coil was 3.5 without the wick and 3.5 immediately after installing. afetr a ml or so of vaping, the resistance went down to 2.8. then later i noticed it was down to 1.5 because my provari was E2-ing on me. so i checked ohms and cranked down the voltage. ive been monitoring the ohms, i really hope they down continue to drop. any thoughts on this?

Your coil is shorting through the ss mesh. If ya wanna know the trick that did it for me. Before you install your coil do a juice burn on it so your wick and coil are oxidized. SS mesh is a pain in the .... to learn but that's one trick that worked best for me. Others would include the rolling paper method, Torching and quenching, Torching and no quenching, Juice burning and so on.