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Burn marks? Carbon build up? Arcing

I've been looking up what it could be but I couldn't find a definitive answer. Does anyone know what these are and how to fix it?
 

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BigNasty

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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if pitted then you have an arc issue that is going to go from zero to fucky fast.
if not pitted then carbon, just wipe off and go about your day.
 

Zamazam

Evil Vulcan's do it with Logic
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To me it looks to be pitted. What Ohm's are you running your atty at?
 

PaulS

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Safety is always issue one. You check the ohms on your atty with an ohm reader. Pitted batteries should safely be disposed of. If the wrapping deteriorates on the top of your battery - rewrap. I'm not trying to be a dick here. I'm not trying to school anyone. But we vapers need to be careful.
 

smacksy

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I've been looking up what it could be but I couldn't find a definitive answer. Does anyone know what these are and how to fix it?
I had the same issues using a stainless button and switch housing in my stainless BFM...I used fine grit sand paper to remove the arc pits on the battery bottom and batt contact on the button... Was OK for awhile but arcing kept reoccurring... I finally solved the issue of arcing altogether by ordering the optional brass switch housing, copper button and copper contact from BCV for my BFM...That was a year ago now and still working good...No arcing or pitting issues anyone... just sayin

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I had the same issues using a stainless button and switch housing in my stainless BFM...I used fine grit sand paper to remove the arc pits on the battery bottom and batt contact on the button... Was OK for awhile but arcing kept reoccurring... I finally solved the issue of arcing altogether by ordering the optional brass switch housing, copper button and copper contact from BCV for my BFM...That was a year ago now and still working good...No arcing or pitting issues anyone... just sayin

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Yeah I was thinking it was the button because my friends epic smpl doesn't have this problem and it uses a brass button. The rem smpl I have uses a stainless button. Do you think this is the problem?
 

MrScaryZ

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I have never seen pitted batteries from a Mech must be the Stainless or as you guys said the switch but then agasin I do not use Stainless steel Mechs ;)
 

smacksy

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yeah I was thinking it was the button because my friends epic smpl doesn't have this problem and it uses a brass button. The rem smpl I have uses a stainless button. Do you think this is the problem?
It was for me using a stainless button.
Problem solved when I got the the brass and copper switch assembly with the copper batt contact and copper button

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Zamazam

Evil Vulcan's do it with Logic
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Yeah it's pitted. How do I check the ohms on my atty? It's a freakshow mini
Ok, this really concerns me. Do you have an Ohm Meter or regulated mod that can check the resistance? At this point you have no idea how low the build is, nor if it is shorting or not. If you are going to build drippers or rebuildable tanks, an Ohm Meter is the most essential piece of equipment you can own. It will tell you the Ohms, but also if your setup is unstable or shorting. If you don't have an Ohm meter, buy one.

For Arcing and pitting to occur, either the switch and 510 top cap are dirty,or you've got a build so low that the mod switch has problems handling the current. Be safe dude, check that build with an Ohm Meter.
 
Ok, this really concerns me. Do you have an Ohm Meter or regulated mod that can check the resistance? At this point you have no idea how low the build is, nor if it is shorting or not. If you are going to build drippers or rebuildable tanks, an Ohm Meter is the most essential piece of equipment you can own. It will tell you the Ohms, but also if your setup is unstable or shorting. If you don't have an Ohm meter, buy one.

For Arcing and pitting to occur, either the switch and 510 top cap are dirty,or you've got a build so low that the mod switch has problems handling the current. Be safe dude, check that build with an Ohm Meter.

Ok, this really concerns me. Do you have an Ohm Meter or regulated mod that can check the resistance? At this point you have no idea how low the build is, nor if it is shorting or not. If you are going to build drippers or rebuildable tanks, an Ohm Meter is the most essential piece of equipment you can own. It will tell you the Ohms, but also if your setup is unstable or shorting. If you don't have an Ohm meter, buy one.

For Arcing and pitting to occur, either the switch and 510 top cap are dirty,or you've got a build so low that the mod switch has problems handling the current. Be safe dude, check that build with an Ohm Meter.
Do I have to clean my atty before I check, like remove the cotton? Is it possible to be at 0.2-0.3 ohms?
 
I had the same issues using a stainless button and switch housing in my stainless BFM...I used fine grit sand paper to remove the arc pits on the battery bottom and batt contact on the button... Was OK for awhile but arcing kept reoccurring... I finally solved the issue of arcing altogether by ordering the optional brass switch housing, copper button and copper contact from BCV for my BFM...That was a year ago now and still working good...No arcing or pitting issues anyone... just sayin

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Also did sanding remove all the arc pits? How long would it last until you had to do it again?
 

MrScaryZ

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Also did sanding remove all the arc pits? How long would it last until you had to do it again?
Dude you need to check what .ohm level you are at either get a OHM checker use a VV/VW mod to tell you or learn about coil wrapping
if you follow the guide on http://www.steam-engine.org you will know darn close to what OHM your build is at..
What you are doing scares me to death you just might blow yourself up. If you think you might please do record it so we can use you as an example what not to do. ;)
..
 

smacksy

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Also did sanding remove all the arc pits? How long would it last until you had to do it again?
As others have stated you should use an ohm meter for your builds to be safe. Study up on ohm's law how it pertains to batt saftey and at least have a working knowledge of basic electronics before attempting to build for your mech..
To answer your question if you look closely you can see where I used scotchbrite (in this case) to remove small arc marks on the bottom of the 26650 batt and the little copper batt contact you see in the middle of the switch.. Using a .3 ohm build I clean the switch and batts about once a month vaping it everyday...
d8f8d57e31035dc91df942e2bdd02fda.jpg

Hope this helps some...
 
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smacksy

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
It's pitted, how do I check the ohms? I'm using a rem smpl with freakshow mini atty
I check ohms on my atties using a separate ohm meter like this..
fd7a744c5af183e078ab1c98a37854b8.jpg

I check voltage on my mods using an inline voltmeter like this
99b74f2fb49c0c2bab2567a2db00aed2.jpg



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PuffOn

Bronze Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Use noalox or de-oxit on the contacts.
Did anyone mention, get an ohm meter ;)
Stay safe!
 
Dude you need to check what .ohm level you are at either get a OHM checker use a VV/VW mod to tell you or learn about coil wrapping
if you follow the guide on http://www.steam-engine.org you will know darn close to what OHM your build is at..
What you are doing scares me to death you just might blow yourself up. If you think you might please do record it so we can use you as an example what not to do. ;)
..
Can I use a multimeter?
 

Bean8379

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I want you to know the reason why you need t be able to check ohms, which no one has explained yet. Your battery has a certain amount of amps it can discharge safely. Let me give you an example. I am using an efest 1600mah battery that the wrap states is 30 amps. However, I searched online for testing info on this battery and found out that it fell off around 20 amps in testing. I don't sub-ohm, so this battery is fine for me. But some battery manufacturers or "re-wrappers" (vendors who buy batteries and wrap them with a different brand sticker) sometimes lie about the amp rating. Luckily, there are sites that have tested a lot of different batteries and shared the info, so that we know the actual amps a battery can handle. Now let me tell you why this is VERY important for ANYONE using a mech mod. Ohm's law states that voltage divided by resistance equals amps. The lower the resistance at any given voltage, the higher the amps. To put that into perspective, a fully charged 18650 should read about 4.2v. At 4.2v, 0.21 ohms is 20 amps exactly. Now like I said, I don't sub-ohm, so I'm nowhere near my battery's limit. But the point of this is, go too low in ohms and you will exceed your battery's amp limit. Do that, and well, KABOOM! So you should never be using a mech mod without knowing your battery's amp limit and reading your resistance. You can use a multimeter, but its very important that you set your multimeter to the proper setting if its not automatic, 200 ohms and with it set to that setting and turned on, touch the positive and negative leads together and read the resistance in the leads themselves. Mark this number down. When you go to read the resistance in your coil, subtract the number you have written down from the reading you get from your coil. For example, if the resistance you get in the leads is 1.5ohms and your coil reads 2ohms, then you have a 0.5ohm coil.
 

Ryedan

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Do I have to clean my atty before I check, like remove the cotton? Is it possible to be at 0.2-0.3 ohms?

You can check it with the cotton in it. Yes, it's possible that it's quite low. Tell us what wire gauge the coils are, how many wraps are on each coil, what diameter pin you built it on and how many coils are in your atty and we can tell you about how many ohms it is. As long as you give us the right numbers.

Get yourself an ohms checker. MVS has them for $16 and if you check around you may find one for a bit less than that. I always check my builds with one before putting it on a mechanical mod. There is always the possibility of a short in the atty if the insulator between the positive center post/510 connection and the deck is damaged. This way I can check that and also make sure I've wrapped the coil to the resistance I wanted.

I don't know how deep those pits are on the bottom of your battery. If they are any deeper than just below the surface I would recycle them and get new ones. The problem is you didn't keep them clean and the pitting got out of hand. All mechanical contacts will arc when contact is made with current flow. You can't see it in tube mods becuase you can't see the contact surfaces when the mod is assembled. I can see it in my Reo Grand with the door off and no matter what resistance you use, it always sparks. The spark is bigger with lower resistance because that means higher amperage is taken from the battery so the lower you set up at the more aggressive the pitting will be.

What I do is look at my batts every time I swap them out and if any are starting to pit I gently use 600 grit sandpaper or emery cloth on the surfaces. If the batts are pitting you need to check the mod's switch surfaces too and do the same there if needed. Yours needs work there. Light pitting is cosmetic only and will not damage your battery. Deep pitting will eventually compromise the battery casing.

I use the Steam Engine Ohm's law calculator to check the amp draw for a given resistance. Make the voltage 4.2, plug in the resistance you want to build at, hit enter and it will output the amps and watts. I don't go over the amp limit of my batteries.
 

Bean8379

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I found an ohm meter on eBay for $6 shipped. I've been using a multimeter, but the ohm meter should be here tomorrow.
 

AmandaD

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I found an ohm meter on eBay for $6 shipped. I've been using a multimeter, but the ohm meter should be here tomorrow.

Be careful of cheap ohm meters with low builds. I had one that was extremely inaccurate and therefore hopeless for low ohm builds. (Of course you can verify against the multimeter!)
 

Bean8379

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I don't sub ohm, so thats not a big deal, I will see how accurate it is tomorrow, I have an app that calculates coils and according to the app the coil I'm using now should be right around 1ohm, we'll see what the ohm meter reads when it gets here.
 

Bean8379

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Some people understand that it is possible for cheap stuff to work (doesn't mean it always will, just means its possible), and some people just don't.
 

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