Tektronik

That's insane! I wonder if homeowner's insurance covers random meteor strikes?

This storm system hit in the late afternoon. I was supposed to go into work at 7pm. i got up around 3:30 to help out with the kids. I had to grill some chicken for dinner. Since it was windy outside, I pulled the gas grill inside of my garage and was grilling with the garage doors open. All of a sudden the skies turned gloomy. The tornado warning sirens went off. I had the news on inside so my wife could tell me if there was a tornado in our immediate area. hail started to come down. I though, OK this is pretty normal. then the big stuff started coming down. I don't know why, but i was amazed by the sheer size of these balls of ice crashing down. they were coming down so fast, you could not see them falling. When they hit the ground, they literally exploded. My yard has large divets where the grass "exploded" and flew off in all directions. There were loud crashing noises everywhere. it was like something out of a disaster movie. my neighbor who was frantically trying to move his cars closer to his house had one of those large softball sized hail balls go right through his back window. That's when I realized these things could kill. I called to him and threw him my kevlar ACH (advanced combat helmet) and told him to put it on. that's when i noticed all of the houses were taking heavy damage. hail was puncturing holes in peoples roofs across the street, causing them to come outside. I yelled to them to get back in the house. the I realized my house was probably taking on damage as well. By this time, my family was all out in the garage and my wife pointed out to me that the chicken on the grill was getting burned. yeah, I was still grilling, but forgot all about it! When the storm passed, i surveyed the damage to my house. I was like H**y $#17. there were holes in my roof! i went into the attic, and put it this way, I didn't need to turn on the light in the attic. there was enough natural lighting that I could see where I was going, not to mention the sky above through the holes that for some, i could put my hand through. I still had to go to work, so I got ready, and headed in. Mission First. We were in the middle of an excercise this week. I got a call from my command section on the way to work and told them what happened. They said that the rain would come back tomorrow, so they let me (and probably countless others) be excused from work tonight to try and do some repairs for the second attack wave tomorrow. I decided to go to a Lowe's on the other side of town to pick roofing shingles and caulk because my area was the worst hit and the stores were packed with people. it was Hail in my area of town. Other had it worse. Small tornadoes ravaged through neighborhood--you could see the path-- its amazing how tornadoes are so indiscriminate. I wen to check on the house we are closing on next month. Luckily, the one was intact, but the house RIGHT NEXT to it had a bunch of shingles taken off, and the house across the street had its chimney knocked over and damaged that roof. Everyone was outside helping clean up and whatever they could do. When I returned to my house, everyone in the neighborhood was on top of their roofs, trying to fix the holes with various things like plastics, tarps, wood and shingles. I was lucky enough to find three packages of discounted shingles because the packaging was torn for 10 bucks. I used what i needed, kept a few for just in case and gave away the rest of it. For the first time, I'm glad that we are just renting this house. My landlord will have to take care of the real repairs, and the money i spent for temp repairs will get taken out of the rent. made me really think about the house im about to buy, though. Earthquakes level houses, tornadoes level houses, Hail destroys roofs, flooding, well that's outright scary. Its part of life, i suppose. I'm originally from San Diego, so i'm used to the ground moving, but this is altogether different!

Just got off the roof. Back is killing me. There was a very destructive storm that came through Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas. I witnessed the worst hailstorm i've ever seen. They were the size of softballs, and some even bigger, maybe the size of grapefruit. Hail was coming down so hard and fast that i'm sure it would of killed someone if they were hit directly by one. Cars that were not parked in garages looked like they were in accidents, windows shattered, mailboxes obliterated. Other parts of oklahoma city had tornadoes touchdown. A few of my co-workers had small tornadoes knock over chimneys, and remove their sheds. i got lucky, only 18 holes in my roof. I mean I could literally put my arm through the holes. Everyone was rushing to Lowes and Home Depot buying shingles and stuff to temp repair their roofs because more rain is supposed to come tomorrow. We were in the middle of a base-wide exercise when the storm hit. After my command section called my home to see if my family was alright, I was able to get excused from work tonight so I could do the repairs to my roof. There were roofing contractors everywhere tonight, looking at houses and giving advice. They were saying that there is enough work for every contractor to be backed up with roof work for the next nine months! Hopefully, anyone here from OK is still safe and doing well. Brandon, how are you doing?

I agree with many people on this thread. So far the "less is more" aspect might be the way to go for right now, but think of all the technology out in the world that we use everyday. Think of how complex a cell phone PDA is. We use those everyday and can't function without one. I just want to wait and see how well their quality control will be on it. Pulse modulation is certainly a good idea ( I kid you not, I was on the phone three weeks ago with my buddy and we were talking about that very same idea-we both work in avionics-I work on radar and he works on electronic countermeasures-both systems use pulse modulation and we are very familiar with it). Some of the main benefits applied to vaping will be longer battery life and longer atomizer life- if you set your power curves correctly. It's that first burst of energy that hurts an atomizer every time you press the switch. With an adjustable power curve, you can start off "weak" and gradually increase the power, saving your atomizer over each activation. What would be really cool is if you could adjust other elements of modulation, like the pulse width and pulse recurrence frequency; you could stretch your battery life even longer by bringing the average power down. That would be like being able to tweak your sports car's engine computer (the volumetric table, for example) for better gas mileage or better performance! Like i said, I'm more curious about the quality control of each device than anything else. Then again, you could still go through several atomizers before you find one that works because the quality of atomizers also stink. Then yet again, it all comes down to how reliable your source of power is. These cheaply made batteries that we all use could easily ruin any device no matter how simple or complex it is. I want to own one of these things, but I think I will wait for version 2 or even 3 before I pick one up for myself.

I have similar habits. I use a higher voltage for that first dose in the morning. I usually back down to 3.7 when I'm on the go and at work, and use the 6 volt generally in the evenings when im at the computer doing homework!

Hawk, For me, 901s are my favorite atty-for low voltage (3.7) I can really tell the difference in flavor between the 801, 901 and 510. I listed them in what feels to me like the temperature order. The 901 seems to be in the middle as far as vapor temperature. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the resistance, but maybe also the length of the barrel. At high volts, all three seem to blend together for me. the only thing that bugs me is that since all the atomizers get hotter at high volts, the juice tends to want to run out more readily and since the 901 has that little hole on the side, the juice finds it real quick. I've switched to high voltage (high resistance) atomizers for high volt vaping. At 6 volts, I use the 4.5 ohm atty. At 7.4 volts, I use the 5.2-5.5 ohm ones. Among the high resistance atomizers, I can't really tell the difference in taste between model numbers because they all produce warmer vapor.

It's not a Batteries Plus store, its just a privately owned battery store. If I had the capital to open up a vaping gear storefront, It'd have to be near or next to that store! I could just send ppl over there for batteries. Next time I go in there I'm going to ask if he has one of these bad boys in the back! Just watched the video. The strobe would make an excellent self defense stun device at night! You could hit em with the strobe then clock em on the head with the heft of that flashlight! Now i want one!

There's a local battery store that sells OLights in my area. They can order from Tenergy and that's how i was able to buy some 14500s and 123s and charger from a store rather than online. OLight seems to be a cool brand, they have lights that use 14500, 123 and 18650. That makes their lights compatible with my vaping batteries. There's a couple of models that uses the 16340 or rcr123a batteries that I want to take a look at. Holy crap! It uses 6 - 18650s? How does that work? Or does it come with six batteries? These lights are one of these things that I'd like to have but don't really need!

What you speak of is the same combination that I've settled upon. I use the (2) 3.0 volt batteries (tenergy-LifeP04, RCR123a) for 6 volts and pair that with a 4.5ohm high resistance atomizer. I also use (2) AW 3.7v 16340 (same size as 123s) for 7.4 volts and pair that with a 5.2 ohm high resistance atomizer. Why do I do this instead of just staying at 3.7 volts? That's because there is a real difference. The vapor is warmer, yet not too hot, the flavor is better, yet not burned up. Also with my 7.4 volt configuration, the battery life lasts hella long. Those AWs have such a high discharge current capability that with such a high resistance atomizer, it doesn't come close to what the atomizer needs or wants to balance out the circuit. The high overhead of current reserves means longer battery life, and consistent vaping. It's about as close as you can get to a Passthrough while still being portable. One thing you can't do is use 7.4 volts on a standard joye 510 atomizer. It will pop after just a few fires. I can use a the 6 volt stack with a 510, and it works just fine, but you can't let it get too dry. At 6 volts, a 2.2 ohm 510 atty feels like there's positive pressure in the chamber, you don't have to take long, even drags when you vape; you can take a quick hard hit just like you would a cigarette (2-3 second) and get lots of vapor and throat hit just like a real smoke. It all depends on the type of juice you use. Some juices cant hold up with the 6 volt, standard 510 pairing while others taste great. You'll have to find what works. I know the Essence line from eliquidplanet tastes awesome with that combo! What's cool with high voltage is that you can change the experience ever so slightly with each atomizer you try. Joye 510s are 2.2 ohms; SLB 901s and knock off 510 are 2.9 ohms; 801 attys are 3.3 ohms; then you have 4.5 and 5.2 attys to play with also. It truly becomes a hobby when you experiment what juices work with what combo. With my Xhaler, I can run the full gamut of voltages; 3.7, 6, and 7.4 and the full range of atomizers with one device. I've been considering what Brian said about the "voltage under load" fact. it's just that I don't have a anmeter setup to get true readings, so I just go by feel, it's been working so far. I wish someone could give us true readings so we can really log all the options. Hope this helps. Tektronik

Hmmmmm. Haven't thought about that, yet the winds have been crazy here lately! Brandon, do you need more MRE's? I think the Commissary still sells them here, and come to think of it, I see a lot of those floating around for sale during our exercises. I can find out how they are purchasing them directly from our supply system. It might take a bit of time, but I can find out. Let me know if you need them.

Maybe your 6 volt device is burning up the juice, that would explain why the throat hit is coming in stronger at a lower voltage; the juice is preserved at lower voltage. I'm having much success at 7.4 volts with a 5.2 ohm 510 atomizer, and 6 volts with a 4.5 ohm atomizer. If combine a standard joye atty and 6 volts of power, it's almost as if i can feel 'positive pressure" in the atomizer chamber when I vape it. Its like it wants to shoot out of the chamber! As far as throat hit, I feel it more at higher volts with my atty combinations, i'm not burning up the juice though cuz i'm still keeping the wattage close to 10 watts.

I wouldn't completely rule out the XHaler. There are many options with that device and if you like experimenting with different combinations of batteries and atomizers, then it could be a lot of fun, especially as a hobbyist to vaping. There's actually more ways to hold that device because of the switch location; You can actually press the button with every finger on your hand depending on the way you hold it. I'm not intentionally downplaying the Joker, i'm sure that unit will be awesome in its own right, setting the bar high for safety features and build quality plus ease of use and little maintenance. But if you want to be able to tinker, experiment with different wattages (because each juice has its own vaping sweetspot) then the XHaler might be a good choice.

When I got in the mail, I cleaned out the atty contact. It was all gunked up, , so I used some denatured alcohol to clean it out. Pulled out a bunch of crap that was in there. I used my own attys and that's when I noticed the flickering LED. Tried different Attys and the same thing happened. When my dad called me and told me what was happening, I told him to go back to his OEM 510 for a few days. I then went out to the garage and built him a plastic box mod. That afternoon I mailed it out along with two Magnums, (4) 14500 trustfires and a charger and one Delrin drip tip. That should hold him over till i get this fixed. Don't want him to go back to smoking; he doesn't either

My wife's dad sent me his Spade because it was not working right. When I got it in the mail, I see that its starting to go out. The LED flickers and you can hear it in the "sizzle" sound go from strong to weak when the LED flickers. I bought it for him, so that's why I'm taking care of the reapir on it. Do I send it in to VaporTalk or Vaprlife?

Some of the points I've noticed with bigger mods is that there are maintenance free models and devices that you might need to do a little work to keep them running. Of the maintenance free models, if anything malfunctions with them, you have to send them back for repairs. The types that are fully disassemble-able, then you have to get in there and do some cleaning about once a week to keep them running well. If you're the type who doesn't mind taking stuff apart to clean, then that might be the choice for you, otherwise, if that doesn't suit you, then go for the maintenance free type and keep a backup handy (such as your OEM 510 stuff) while you send yours off to get repaired. It seems like the popular upgrade is the eGo. I'd have to agree, that's a sweet unit. Keep in mind that it's still a bigger version of your 510. You will still eventually have to replace the batteries, which are proprietary and they are more expensive than your 510 batts (standard or mega). I personally prefer to use devices that allow you to be able to buy rechargeable batteries from online stores. The batteries are generally cheaper and have the same amount of charge cycles. When one starts to fade, you can buy another one for 5 or 6 bucks. All is needed is to get over the initial cost of the device itself. There's certainly much to consider, then again there's nothing wrong with sticking to you 510 stuff. I actually went back to my 510 for a day or so because I was feeling a bit nostalgic. A 510 atomizer with a mega battery and a plastic drip tip is fun and convenient. My bigger mod is hard to use in public sometimes. It attracts attention, whereas a little 510 is easy to hide. Good luck in your decision- hope you don't fall into "analysis-paralysis" mode like me on choices like this.

Remember that last PM I sent you about using a high voltage device and attenuating it by using a high resistance atomizer? They talk about it on episode 21. PPL are figuring it out now. I bet others have also figured out that two stacked 3.7 volt batteries gives you 7.4 volts and with a 5.2 ohm atomizer you hit that 10 watt sweetspot! It's only a matter of time when they really look at that 16340 LiMN battery I told you about; the lightbulb will spring to life; they will have an epiphany. Consistent power (like a VP-PT) at 10 watts and all day vaping on one set of batteries. So much for originality... If anyone reading this wants to know more. Feel free to ask!

I ordered one of those aluminum anodized tips from nhaler the other day. Going to compare how it performs against the Super T Tips. I dunno, as much as I love the Super T version because it's stainless steel and it pulls the heat away from any atomizer so well, I'm having my doubts as to how well the aluminum version does the same thing!

Way to go Brandon! Was that meeting here in Oklahoma? That would be great to see the word spreading in this state, that way, when becomes out turn to fight the legislation, there will be more of us out there!

It freaks me out every time that happens! I can't seem to duplicate the condition and make it do it on purpose, but when it backfires I jump every time. It's like you already put vacuum pressure in the chamber when you take a draw, but for the thing to suddenly burst air into your mouth is unnatural. It has never happened to me with smaller, OEM units. It has happened to me with the VP2 and a low res atty and more often with my XHaler at high volts and it does't matter if I use a 901 or 501 atty-regular of high voltage style. Yeah I'd also be interested to know just what's happening inside the chamber!

My wife comes from family of smokers, so it was no surprise when when she discovered I started smoking when I joined the military. All these years she has wanted me to quit. She can't stand the smell, the sight, everything about it. When I returned from the desert last year I discovered e-cigs through a co-worker, who by the way gave it up, but I kept to it. When I told her I was quitting for good she was so happy, but when I told her what I was going to do instead, she gave me that look. She thought it would be another fad, but it's been almost one year now. She doesn't get on me about buying more "supplies" too much, but I share all the info I can about vaping and she would rather have me doing this than going back to smoking. Her dad now uses them, I ordered a kit for him, then the Spade, and he's still going strong. I've discovered that high voltage really does it for me, and even though she still gets on me about vaping when the kids are around, she's accepted it, and absolutely loves that I don't reek of cigarettes anymore.

I can't get my atty to shut up! It keeps complaining, going on and on about how it wants more power! He keeps blabbering on about how his name is MAGNUM and he wasn't given that name because he's a wuss. No, he's called MAGNUM cuz he loves high current. He's telling me he's fine with unprotected 14500s, but what he really wants to chew on is one of those sweet 16340s( rcr123a size) but not in Li-Ion, he's says he's sick of being on a diet. He really wants to run off one 3.7 volt, 16340 in the LiMN flavor! He would love to be driven by one of those because they are 8C max discharge current! That means 4400 miliamps of power, and a super long battery life. He says that if he gets what he wants, he'll never complain again cuz that combo was how high current and long life at 3.7 volts was meant to be vaped! Like i said, he just won't shut up about it!

I've done a lot of research trying to figure out which high voltage unit to try. My first choice was the Chameleon, from Ikenvape. Too bad it's sold out (at the time). My second choice was the Prodigy V2, but after hearing so many bad things about the company not being able to keep up with their stock, and, of course, jmhester's experiences with the company, I decided to go with my THIRD choice. I now have an xHaler. What do i think of it? It's mechanically sound, the switch works every time, produces very good vapor, and is a sturdy unit. Aesthetically, though, it's ugly. There could of been more thought into the plastic housing surrounding the switch. Think of a horizontal plane intersecting a circle, it only touches at one point, and the rest tapers off as you move away from the intersecting point. The switch housing is not flush, kinda of bothers me when I look at it. I'm been debating on whether I'm going to take a dremel to it to round it out so it sits flush, or leave it alone. I bought this device because I like tinkering with things. This unit definitely has potential for further modification. The first thing I did was strip all the paint off it. I ordered the Aqua colored one thinking that it would complement any other color i used with it. Boy was I wrong. When I started using it, I had a shiny 901 atty, a polished T-tip, the black delrin endcap, the brass button surrounded by a black switch sleeve, a brass atomizer connection, and the whole tube this disgusting Aqua color! It was an absolutely horrendous color mix. So, I completely disassembled it, applied some paint stripper to the main tube, and sanded down the tube afterwards with 400, 600, 800, and finally 1000 grit sandpaper. I used denatured alcohol to throughly clean it and used the dremel to polish to a dull shine, then put the tube on my drill so I could spin it rapidly. I used a microfiber cloth and some high quality metal polish (MAAS brand), and repeated polishing it five times. What a difference! I put everything back together, and now the super shiny tube complements the silver 901 atty and T-tip. The brass top connector doesn't look so bad when you use the 801 top with it and a brass 901 or 510 adapter to give more of a "tapered" look. Also, the black end cap and switch housing kinda goes better with it now. Switch position: Many people don't like where the switch is placed- on the bottom of the unit near the endcap. I'd have to agree; it's not the best place for a switch, nor do i think a switch on the bottom like the Super Six, or Mako, etc is the best place for it either. The Ideal place is where everyone wants it, near the top so you can press with your thumb or index finger. This switch takes some getting used to. It's best to palm the bottom half of it and use your middle finger to press it down. I've had it for three days now, and I'm used to it, so I'm no longer complaining. What I like most about the device is that i can fully disassemble it, including the switch itself. I've heard many people talk about using NOALOX on the contact point for the switch, but I've been using this super thin "braid and commutator" enhancer oil that I use for slot car racing-my son is really into the whole slot car thing, and you normally use this juice on the wire braids that make contact with track as well as on your motor. I also used it on the switch to make the travel much smoother and the action is very smooth now. I don't know of many other PV's out there that you can fully disassemble and get into it like this one. For being my first HV mod, I'm going to have to say it's a good purchase. I don't regret going with my third choice, but it's likely that I'm still looking for another device to play with. It will have to have the same criteria; fully disassemble-able and requires regular maintenance. This is definitely not one of those "charge batts and use" models.

My first true MOD was the VP2. After much research I decided on buying that one. Let me tell you that the thing is built like a tank. There's little or no maintenance to it. All you have to do from time to time is clean the atomizer connection. I use EVERCLEAR. I pour it in a small shot glass, or the little cups that you get with cough medicine, and dip the whole tip in and out of it a few times, making sure not to get any in the light holes. I then blow it out with some compressed air, and it's good to go until the next major juice leak. I'm willing to bet that the same build quality and reliability goes into the new Vypr. Best of all, it's lighter, smaller, and just as reliable. I bought my father-in-law a Spade simply because it's low maintenance, and it was the next logical upgrade from a starter kit. If the Vypr was out at the time, I would of bought one for him instead, because of the bigger batteries. The whole VP line seems like it was designed with very little maintenance to the user in mind. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

Solder the 901 atomizer in the same manner as you would a 510. One wire to he center post, and one wire to the outer body. All of the atomizer connectors I've messed with have been from dead batteries. With those, I've had to be careful not to heat up the whole connector for too long; you can melt the rubber insulator on the center post, use minimal soldering techniques rather than making big globs.

It's not THAT bad, I mean it works without polishing it, it's just that I wanted to improve on it a little. Hey, it's a hobbyist thing! I polished my entire VP2 with the dremel. It no longer has that rough feel to the metals anymore. The whole thing is smoooooth, and shiny!