Eleaf iStick 40W TC

[Tam]

So... I finally jumped in and got a temperature control device and the nickel coils to go with my Triton 2. They all came in this week but I waited for the weekend so I could have time to play with it.

Put the .15 ohm coil into the Triton (primed it first), waited a few minutes for the wick to get thoroughly saturated. Put the iStick 40W into temperature control mode. Locked the resistance in at .16 ohm, set the temperature to 200F to start.

Nothing.

It's not firing.

When I check the resistance, it's now reading at 0.06 ohm. This is why it's not firing as the iStick 40W only goes to 0.15 ohm in TC.

Changed to a different coil. It reads 0.16 ohm (both on the iStick and on an independent ohm meter). Let it sit for a bit. Take another look and it's back at 0.06 ohm and won't fire.

I've put in an email to VapeNW for an exchange as I think I got a bad one, but probably won't hear back from them until Monday. In the mean time, for those of you who are more experienced in TC, do you have any suggetions?

[FXRich]

Could be the temp is set too low, I can't get any vape below about 300f. But then again I use Kanger TC and it probably is different for Eleaf products. On my TC mods the initial watts can't be set, but on yours it probably can be. You should probably wait for someone that knows more about Eleaf TC mods, than me. The ohm change is something I can't explain.

I didn't want to say anything earlier because you had already ordered the mod you have, don't know what your opinion of Kanger is but if you have to send it back, see if they can replace it with the Kanger 70w TC mod, it has settings for NI, Ti, and SS. also has a built in 4000mAh battery, it also has the controls where the istick 50w has them. The only downside is it costs $1 more. 

Edited May 7, 2016 by FXRich

[Tam]

1 hour ago, FXRich said:

Could be the temp is set too low, I can't get any vape below about 300f. But then again I use Kanger TC and it probably is different for Eleaf products. On my TC mods the initial watts can't be set, but on yours it probably can be. You should probably wait for someone that knows more about Eleaf TC mods, than me. The ohm change is something I can't explain.

I didn't want to say anything earlier because you had already ordered the mod you have, don't know what your opinion of Kanger is but if you have to send it back, see if they can replace it with the Kanger 70w TC mod, it has settings for NI, Ti, and SS. also has a built in 4000mAh battery, it also has the controls where the istick 50w has them. The only downside is it costs $1 more. 

The temperature I started at was 300F but I went all the way to 570F with no joy. 

I love Kanger products and would have no problem changing to a different mod. Thanks for the rec, I'll keep it in mind. Where did you get yours?

[FXRich]

I don't have a 70w because I prefer replaceable batteries, I use the Kanger 75w mostly. I buy from  VapeNW and from Sweetvapes, mostly from VapeNW. After recommending this mod I looked at a few reviews, and found mixed reviews on it. Sweetvapes says it will do SS in TC but other sites say it won't, don't know who to believe. Most reviews say it is similar to the istick 50w, so I figured you might like it.

Edited May 7, 2016 by FXRich

[Earthling789]

Wow, Tam... I've not experienced that issue with any of my Ni200 coils.  All of my mods fire down to 0.1 Ohm, IIRC, but the coils are fairly consistent at 0.14-0.17.  It sounds like the mod may be the issue... I think you're right. 

I wasn't aware Kanger had a TC mod with built-in battery, either... I have 3 Kangers... (two 50W and one 75W-TC) and all of them use 18650's, so I guess we all learn something new, lol...  If they'll swap out, I think I'd jump on the chance to move up to a Kanger product with higher mAh and Watts?

As for settings, I've found with Ni200 coils, anything below 250F and it's like firing a 1.8 Ohm coil at 4W... basically nothing happens...  The setting I'm running right now on one is 425F (200C), and I could probably take it higher, although I've had a few of the coils do well at 350F, too, but it was a different MOD and different juice....

[Tam]

26 minutes ago, Earthling789 said:

Wow, Tam... I've not experienced that issue with any of my Ni200 coils.  All of my mods fire down to 0.1 Ohm, IIRC, but the coils are fairly consistent at 0.14-0.17.  It sounds like the mod may be the issue... I think you're right. 

I wasn't aware Kanger had a TC mod with built-in battery, either... I have 3 Kangers... (two 50W and one 75W-TC) and all of them use 18650's, so I guess we all learn something new, lol...  If they'll swap out, I think I'd jump on the chance to move up to a Kanger product with higher mAh and Watts?

As for settings, I've found with Ni200 coils, anything below 250F and it's like firing a 1.8 Ohm coil at 4W... basically nothing happens...  The setting I'm running right now on one is 425F (200C), and I could probably take it higher, although I've had a few of the coils do well at 350F, too, but it was a different MOD and different juice....

Even with taking it up to 570F, it still did nothing. VapeNW has asked me to either send them pictures of what it's doing and/or video so they can "justify" the refund request.

[FXRich]

They should just take it back and see for themselves, personally I run at 360f -390f with my 75w TC, and the 120w TC, but I use a .5 ss316L coil not Ni200. So earthling what do you think of the 75w TC from Kanger? I got noting to compare it to except another Kanger.

[Earthling789]

@FXRich I was fairly impressed with the Kanger 75W-TC.  It is similar to the 50W non-TC version in size, weight, feel.  Compared to my 75W-TC Wismec Presa, I like the Presa better, mostly because the controls are more intuitive and they lock... and of course the ergonomics are a little better.   I do recommend the Kanger, though, especially when you can get the subtank top-mini with it for < $50 when you can catch a sale

Now, for ~ $20, the Cloupor Mini Plus 50W-TC is smaller, and works great.  I still prefer the Presa, but if price were the determining factor, the Cloupor would win.

[FXRich]

The up and down buttons on the 75w kanger can be locked if you press all 3 buttons at once, not an easy task. that is why I don't do it. I also have the 120w kanger TC, its like having the 75w with a extra battery, I treat it like a mod with a internal battery, when I got it I put 2 new LG HG2 batteries in it and have never changed them. every 4 - 5 days I plug it in to charge it. (I don't use it that much) I do pull the battery cover off when I charge it.

[Bebop]

Hi Tam.

wow.  Most of my Ni builds are pretty stable although they do tend to drop a little in resistance but not that much.

oops, never mind. I had a bunch of brilliant ideas but I just re read your post and it looks like you checked everything I would have done.  

 

Thats funky. I would send it back, I'm afraid. Just ain't right.  

Edited May 8, 2016 by Bebop

[Squid]

Not much help here, but the istick 40 is only able to set temp in tc mode, you can't set watts. I gave the istick 40 to my wife as I like to set the watts for a quick ramp up to temp.

[FXRich]

2 hours ago, Squid said:

Not much help here, but the istick 40 is only able to set temp in tc mode, you can't set watts. I gave the istick 40 to my wife as I like to set the watts for a quick ramp up to temp.

Kanger TC is the same way, no watt adjustment in TC. The istick 40w probably has an initial surge of 40w, but who knows for sure. The kanger manual says the initial surge is determined by the coil resistance, which could mean a lot of things, maybe the chip figures out what the optimal surge for that resistance should be or maybe its the max watts for the mod with that coil. one of the mods is a 120w I hope the surge isn't 120w but it might be.

[Foofightervapegirl]

I have an istick 40 watt tc,i have never had a problem with the coil resistance,but i do know you have to crank the temp up to about 450 to even get a decent draw,however that is not the temperature you are actually vaping at on this mod,if you can,glance down at the display when you take a draw, you are actually vaping around say 280-300 degrees depending,and yo u can not fix the wattage it is supposedly 'locked' at 40 watts,but again that is usually not what you are vaping at ,at 580 I pull about 29 watts usually,you can look at the display while you are taking a draw to know where you are at,or quickly press the fire button to look at the display if you can't see it while you are vaping.but lightly and quickly press it,so you don't dry burn.i hope i helped!

[Foofightervapegirl]

2 hours ago, Foofightervapegirl said:

I have an istick 40 watt tc,i have never had a problem with the coil resistance,but i do know you have to crank the temp up to about 450 to even get a decent draw,however that is not the temperature you are actually vaping at on this mod,if you can,glance down at the display when you take a draw, you are actually vaping around say 280-300 degrees depending,and yo u can not fix the wattage it is supposedly 'locked' at 40 watts,but again that is usually not what you are vaping at ,at 580 I pull about 29 watts usually,you can look at the display while you are taking a draw to know where you are at,or quickly press the fire button to look at the display if you can't see it while you are vaping.but lightly and quickly press it,so you don't dry burn.i hope i helped!

Regarding the coil I have always used kanger tanks and coils,when I use my topbox mini,and a ni200 .15 ohm coil,I usually get .19 ohms when it is locked.

[Aaronmorris]

How can u adjust the lighting cause it's very dim