Greetings and Salutations Denizens of VU

[JBT81]

Howdy,

My name is Jordan Blake. I first picked up a vaporizer in ~2012-13. Admittedly it was a cig alike (certainly a Blu also a red one that was cinnamon flavor) but I enjoyed it immensely.

I began smoking at the age of 18 (2010). This was the first time I ever tried alcohol as well. For me the two are intimately related. I continued smoking tobacco off and on until 2017 when a roommate let me borrow his eleaf VW internal battery mod with a fairly nice tank on top of it (wish I could remember the brand).

Anyways, there she is... if anyone can identify the tank I would be grateful!

So, after some time, he asked for it back. I cried myself to sleep for a few days... THEN! Out of nowhere my best friend at the time (XXXX XXXX)

who was also one of my roommates, gave me his Smok stick V8 as he was going back to analog.

I enjoyed using it for a while until it began leaking like crazy. I passed it off to a neighbor and bought myself a voopoo too kit. I feel like I've posted enough pictures... I loved that thing to death, the fiddly doors, the vw, the temp control and wave adjustments I didn't use. One day, while on vacation in PA with my immediate family, I wanted to experiment with wattage curves. So I tried maneuvering through the menu when, to my dismay, I found that I had fried the board. I had been too lazy to buy an external battery charger and had been using the mod's pass through charging capabilities, which ruined the mod.

welp, ~100$ down the drain. BUT! It is for the sake of vaping!

I pressed on. Ever more determined to NEVER SMOKE TOBACCO AGAIN!

I purchased a 4 battery NiteCore charger. I purchased a lovely Asmodus x Ultroner Luna single battery BF semi mechanical mod. Not exactly like the one below, but much the same... MOAR PICS ~@_@~""'

I purchased some VTC5A and HB6 18650 batteries. And got back into the game.

I recently received a SteamCrave Titan pwm mod/rta.

also, here are two pictures of my first build for the rta...

the flavor is surprisingly good for such a huge tank. Then again, I do have an extremely sensitive nose.

As for liquids, I enjoy menthol less mint flavors and citrus. OH! I almost forgot, I've owned and used a Sourin Drop for roughly 1 year. Since it began firing long after I finished my puff I switched to a lovely little original LostVape Orion pod system. I usually vape Zen nic salt liquids in it. I get these from my local https://www.facebook.com/VapeDLish/ vape shop here in Centralia, WA. (any vapers in this area on VU??)

SO! I hope you enjoyed taking this journey with me into my vaping history. I'm happy to be here. Looking forward to reading/posting on VU in the future. YOROSHIKU IN ONEGAISHIMASU (yes, I am more or less a weeb).

 

[JBT81]

also, I like to use the Drop Solo or the Drop Dead RDAs on the Luna mod.

does anyone have suggestions for larger tanks to put on my Titan mod?

 

[Huckleberried]

My guess is that tank with the iStick in the first pic is the Aspire Atlantis tank.

Welcome to VU, Jordan. you're gonna have some fun here

 

[JBT81]

My guess is that tank with the iStick in the first pic is the Aspire Atlantis tank.

Welcome to VU, Jordan. you're gonna have some fun here

thanks! i will probably pick one up for the sake of nostalgia

 

[CaFF]

Greetings from the West side! (Spokompton)

I have an old iStick40 with a MELO2 tank I got free, pretty good setup actually. Not the same tank though.
I looked over a few Eleaf stock tanks, none I saw have that knurling. Hmm.

 

[CaFF]

My guess is that tank with the iStick in the first pic is the Aspire Atlantis tank.

Welcome to VU, Jordan. you're gonna have some fun here

Good eye !

Atlantis 2 Tank - I never did have one of those.

They have rebuildable RBA heads for those as well.

 

[Huckleberried]

So close...

 

[CaFF]

So close...

No worries, we're a good team.

 

[jwill]

Welcome to VU dude and really cool story. The Titan PWM + RTA setup is rad and you will fall more in love with it the more you use it. The flavor on the RTA is banging and it produces amazing clouds.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Welcome to VU

Thanks for sharing your story with us

 

[JBT81]

Welcome to VU dude and really cool story. The Titan PWM + RTA setup is rad and you will fall more in love with it the more you use it. The flavor on the RTA is banging and it produces amazing clouds.

thanks for the warm welcome!

word. i cant wait to try the series post on the deck.... although i am not sure exactly what i need to know before i try it. can you give me any tips or instructions?

also, i really need to buy some wire spools to make my own coils. prebuilds are spendy! do you have a favorite wire supplier you can recommend? i want really high quality wire. no funky additives. just ss or ni80 or whatever.

 

[JBT81]

Welcome to VU

Thanks for sharing your story with us

thank you miss JuicyLucy! i feel like i belong here

 

[JBT81]

ALSO, sorry about the name drop! i wasn't aware it was not allowed... i should read the posting rules heh

 

[DonBaldy]

Welcome to VU

 

[inspects]

Welcome aboard......

 

[inspects]

thanks for the warm welcome!

word. i cant wait to try the series post on the deck.... although i am not sure exactly what i need to know before i try it. can you give me any tips or instructions?

also, i really need to buy some wire spools to make my own coils. prebuilds are spendy! do you have a favorite wire supplier you can recommend? i want really high quality wire. no funky additives. just ss or ni80 or whatever.

Temco Industrial https://temcoindustrial.com/shop/wire-cable-accessories/resistance-wire

Advanced Vape Supply https://www.advancedvapesupply.com/collections/spooled-ss-prebuilt-wire

 

[KingPin!]

Welcome to the underground

 

[Carambrda]

Welcome and no, I don't think 41mm RTAs are fun. My 52.8mm RDA is fun.

 

[jwill]

thanks for the warm welcome!

word. i cant wait to try the series post on the deck.... although i am not sure exactly what i need to know before i try it. can you give me any tips or instructions?

also, i really need to buy some wire spools to make my own coils. prebuilds are spendy! do you have a favorite wire supplier you can recommend? i want really high quality wire. no funky additives. just ss or ni80 or whatever.

If using it with the PWM, series deck is kind of a wash in my opinion. The Titan PWM works fine as standard and with the protections there really is no benefit. if you had a full Mech setup and working in series or para series with no protections, then the series deck would come in handy. Just my 2 cents. looks like the wire question was answered and I have nothing to add other than check out some of the builders here on VU, there are some amazing builders that offer supreme quality coils at some very fair price points.

 

[Carambrda]

If using it with the PWM, series deck is kind of a wash in my opinion. The Titan PWM works fine as standard and with the protections there really is no benefit. if you had a full Mech setup and working in series or para series with no protections, then the series deck would come in handy. Just my 2 cents. looks like the wire question was answered and I have nothing to add other than check out some of the builders here on VU, there are some amazing builders that offer supreme quality coils at some very fair price points.

The Steam Crave Titan PWM is actually not a PWM mod. I know the manufacturer is calling it that, but the reality is that it's just a VV mod, which is a bit silly seeing as "PWM" MOD" is etched onto the front side near the bottom of the mod. In addition, the battery contacts on the battery door are so ridiculously tight that you run the risk of denting the batteries, which essentially makes it pretty unsafe to use especially to those who don't already know this or who, despite being aware of it, still refuse to take this properly into account. It's a careless design flaw, and there simply can be no excuse for it IMO.

 

[jwill]

The Steam Crave Titan PWM is actually not a PWM mod. I know the manufacturer is calling it that, but the reality is that it's just a VV mod, which is a bit silly seeing as "PWM" MOD" is etched onto the front side near the bottom of the mod. In addition, the battery contacts on the battery door are so ridiculously tight that you run the risk of denting the batteries, which essentially makes it pretty unsafe to use especially to those who don't already know this or who, despite being aware of it, still refuse to take this properly into account. It's a careless design flaw, and there simply can be no excuse for it IMO.

I have several of them in rotation and the only battery denting that has occurred is when I drove out of my driveway with one of them on the tailgate of my truck and it fell to the ground at a reasonably high rate of speed. The whole mod was dented and rightfully so. While I agree that it is not a true PWM in the classic sense, they do call it that so it is what it is, however I do have one that I have converted to a proper PWM . IMO these are rather good mods and great RTA's, specifically for what they cost. After having cannibalized a few, you can see in the top portion of the sled, the battery contacts have some flex in them which I suspect keeps it from denting the batteries.

 

[Carambrda]

I have several of them in rotation and the only battery denting that has occurred is when I drove out of my driveway with one of them on the tailgate of my truck and it fell to the ground at a reasonably high rate of speed. The whole mod was dented and rightfully so. While I agree that it is not a true PWM in the classic sense, they do call it that so it is what it is, however I do have one that I have converted to a proper PWM . IMO these are rather good mods and great RTA's, specifically for what they cost. After having cannibalized a few, you can see in the top portion of the sled, the battery contacts have some flex in them which I suspect keeps it from denting the batteries.

I already know the battery contacts have some flex in them. The battery contacts get squeezed so tight when the battery door is closed after the batteries are put inside, they actually have so much spring pressure on them, all it takes to dent the batteries is to set the mod down on a desk too hard so if you baby the mod it won't be such a giant problem considering the price point, I tend to agree, but you still have to be aware of this, and you still have to baby the mod, and, most importantly, the fact you have to be aware of this in cohort with the fact you also have to be aware that your batteries got dented inside the mod is why, in the end it is an inexcusable true safety hazard for sure. Worse, they advertise it as "safe to use" and "full safe protections" on their website, which clearly isn't true because it offers only part of the built-in protections of a modern regulated mod in addition to it having this battery denting safety issue so basically they didn't just lie about it being a PWM mod, but they also lied about the safety. I don't know about you, but I don't like being lied to, let alone being lied to TWICE. It reminds me of a certain "reviewer" who was such a big liar that he actually deemed it necessary to write the word HONEST (in caps) in the title of his video on YouTube. lol... just lol

 

[jwill]

I already know the battery contacts have some flex in them. The battery contacts get squeezed so tight when the battery door is closed after the batteries are put inside, they actually have so much spring pressure on them, all it takes to dent the batteries is to set the mod down on a desk too hard so if you baby the mod it won't be such a giant problem considering the price point, I tend to agree, but you still have to be aware of this, and you still have to baby the mod, and, most importantly, the fact you have to be aware of this in cohort with the fact you also have to be aware that your batteries got dented inside the mod is why, in the end it is an inexcusable true safety hazard for sure. Worse, they advertise it as "safe to use" and "full safe protections" on their website, which clearly isn't true because it offers only part of the built-in protections of a modern regulated mod in addition to it having this battery denting safety issue so basically they didn't just lie about it being a PWM mod, but they also lied about the safety. I don't know about you, but I don't like being lied to, let alone being lied to TWICE. It reminds me of a certain "reviewer" who was such a big liar that he actually deemed it necessary to write the word HONEST (in caps) in the title of his video on YouTube. lol... just lol

I generally am not known to baby things and in all reality, I am pretty hard on these. I would reckon that if there was a battery denting issue with them I would likely have run into it by now or maybe I just got a good batch and got lucky, who knows. Or maybe I baby them and think I am being hard on them, also possible but speaking from experience with them, I have had no issues with battery denting at all. Not even a little bit.

 

[Carambrda]

I generally am not known to baby things and in all reality, I am pretty hard on these. I would reckon that if there was a battery denting issue with them I would likely have run into it by now or maybe I just got a good batch and got lucky, who knows. Or maybe I baby them and think I am being hard on them, also possible but speaking from experience with them, I have had no issues with battery denting at all. Not even a little bit.

I agree it's pretty much impossible to know how widespread (or not) this problem might be. Anyway here's what I'm referring to:

 

[jwill]

I agree it's pretty much impossible to know how widespread (or not) this problem might be. Anyway here's what I'm referring to:

I cant speak for anyone else but I do have 6 of them, 5 of which work and one of those 5 is a custom job as seen in the video above, it was rebuilt into a proper PWM because of an unknown failure and I could.

All of the ones I have behave as expected and perform as one would like, except the dead one and the one that died prematurely and was replaced. It is entirely possible others have experienced this issue but speaking from my own experience this is a non issue. One thing it does bring to mind is he could have slammed that thing and jarred up the battery door and managed to get the springs bound up.

 

[Carambrda]

I cant speak for anyone else but I do have 6 of them, 5 of which work and one of those 5 is a custom job as seen in the video above, it was rebuilt into a proper PWM because of an unknown failure and I could.

All of the ones I have behave as expected and perform as one would like, except the dead one and the one that died prematurely and was replaced. It is entirely possible others have experienced this issue but speaking from my own experience this is a non issue. One thing it does bring to mind is he could have slammed that thing and jarred up the battery door and managed to get the springs bound up.

Well yes of course 6 is only a very small sample size so it has no real statistical value, instead it just shows not all of them seem to be affected by this. This might be a very rare manufacturing defect, or else it might be more common/widespread I honestly don't know so anything's possible I guess, but at least from what I can see in the closeups he hasn't jarred up the battery door in any way at all... it is why I think people should be made aware of this, as this can happen without knowing it before it will be already too late; dented batteries can short circuit themselves internally. I.e., if you happen to be unaware, you run the potential risk of causing a hard short on the inside of the batteries which may result in thermal runaway, and that also might include sudden battery explosion without any detectable prior warning signs. So, even though the issue might be rare, we still don't know that it's rare, and, even if it actually is rare, then the simple fact remains that the possible consequences are far too severe for this issue to either be ignored or be downplayed. I won't judge it any further than this. It just means that people should still be made aware so that they can THEN make informed decisions about their own safety and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[jwill]

Sorry for derailing the OP's thread. You will enjoy this mod and RTA.

 

[JBT81]

lol its cool, you guys do your thing.

i hear the ticking within the mod... how can it not be pwm? i dont understand.

also, i've dropped it several times. albeit it was on carpet covered metal or carpet covered concrete (no padding under either carpet). i have observed no dents in my batteries or the mod however, due to the possibility of risk i will be more careful from here on out with it!

 

[Carambrda]

lol its cool, you guys do your thing.

i hear the ticking within the mod... how can it not be pwm? i dont understand.

also, i've dropped it several times. albeit it was on carpet covered metal or carpet covered concrete (no padding under either carpet). i have observed no dents in my batteries or the mod however, due to the possibility of risk i will be more careful from here on out with it!

It's a VV (i.e., variable voltage) mod. It means that it is the same as any other regulated mod excepting only for the fact you adjust the voltage, not wattage, but aside from this it is the same as a VW (i.e., variable wattage) mod; it uses a buck circuit like any other regulated mod. Some people seem to think the knob is a potentiometer, but that's not true... it is a wheel button that, in the digital sense of logic, works kind of similar to the scrollwheel on a computer mouse as for what it actually does to control the voltage on the mod and to fire the mod. The output power signal of the mod doesn't look similar to that of a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) mod.

The advantage, or possible advantage of a true PWM is essentially twofold. Firstly, due to how the voltage sag of a battery looks like, the mod is inherently preheating aggressively as the voltage of a battery starts up high at the start of every pull, after which it instantaneously shoots down fast until it stabilizes and ends up lower during the final part of the pull... albeit the effect will be minimal if the battery used is a LiPo pack, as LiPo type batteries typically don't have enough voltage sag for this to be at all significant. Secondly, when you control the strength of your draw to match the speed of vapor production, there is something more predictable and consistently stable about the characteristics that define how it behaves, making it more sharply defined, and that can actually be felt on the vape. That is, in some ways similar to a mech... only different. By contrast, every regulated mod the vape just feels 'fuzzy' or 'smeared' so there's always this dominant sense of vagueness, for lack of a better way to describe it. (I don't expect everyone to understand this, but those who are familiar with the difference in how the vape feels will know exactly what I'm talking about here.)

 

[JBT81]

ok ok. i feel cheated.

thanks for the info.

 

[gopher_byrd]

Welcome to VU!

Great intro dude! As others have mentioned there are some great builders here with fair prices. Lots of howto threads in the coil building forum for when you want to up your game as a builder. http://vapingunderground.com/forums/coil-building.44/