help!! mod setup problems / mod newbie

[purkle]

Hey friendlies, me again!  Stuck with my mechanical mod, first time I've put it together with the battery & atty.. can't get the circuit to complete!  Probable that I've got something the wrong way round / upside down / inside out?!  Would appreciate some help cos I've been looking forward to this moment for months!  Any ideas Adam78, giles or @johanino? Or any mechanical mod users?  Obv. there aren't any instructions with it but it seems to be fairly self explanatory apart from the fact it's not doing anything (and yes I have tried pressing the fire button lol)   Only thing I wasn't sure about was which was positive / negative end for putting the battery in, but I've tried both ways. 

It's a sentinel clone with currently an aerotank on, & Efest 2250mAh batteries (which have been prime-charged for 24hrs):




This is how I put it together:




I've got more pics but they don't seem to want to load.. at the atomiser end of the mod there's a loose centre pin which I've put in so the pin points up to the atomiser & the flat metal end should connect with the battery, that seems to be the best way it fits, and on the base end where the fire button is, there's a few wee sections which screw together with a spring in the middle to make up the fire button, I'm sure that's the right way round for all of that too & as you push the button in it looks like it should make the connection with the battery.  So not sure where I'm going wrong?!  I've got it screwed up snugly & it feels like all the connections are touching, but with the atty screwed on (which does work on other batteries) it's just not doing anything at all!

Thanks folks

[DiscoDes]

1. make sure the switch is not locked.
2. Make sure the centre pin of the atty is connecting

Do you have a meter? Can you check and see you have voltage at the atomiser when you press the button?

[purkle]

I don't think the switch does lock at all, it's pretty basic, just pushes in to connect or springs back out to disconnect if it's not being pushed in, no other actions.. yeah I think the way I've put it together the centre pin does seem to be connecting..

I do have a meter (unused as yet), how would I check the voltage? what would I connect to what? thanks

[oldsmokey]

The bottom firing switch looks OK to me. My guess is that the aerotank centre pin is not meeting up with the positive pin in the 510 connector on the mod's top cap.

Unfortunately I don't know either the Sentinel or the Aerotank. Are you able to unscrew the centre pin a turn or two in either the Aerotank connector or the Sentinel top cap 510 connector?

[purkle]

With the aerotank screwed on, & removing all parts of the mod except the end bit with the centre pin, I can feel that it is definitely connecting with the atty's centre pin, cos the pin actually sticks out slightly compared to when the atty's not attached (see in the pic, the wee half mm of black bit, that is sticking out a tiny bit further than if the atty wasn't there where it would sit flush with the brass)

AH BUMS!! can't post any pics now, annoying. Anyway I'm positive that the centre pins are connecting with each other, I can feel it. Although thanks for making me check that cos it could've easily been that.

Have I definitely got the battery the right way round aye??

[markm]

With your meter contact the black negative probe to the body of the tube and
The red positive to the end of the pin inside the 510 connector, DO NOT let this
Also touch the side, just the end of the positive pin. Then press the button.
If you are getting no power the lack of connection is inside, if you are getting volts
Then it's the connection to the atty.

You do have a lock on the switch, unscrew the housing with the flat nut like effect,
It should unscrew and slowly cover the button, until it finally locks/covers it.

[purkle]

Thanks markm, very helpful. Good to know the switch does lock, nice one! Sorry, I feel so stupid!! So I connected up like you said, black -ve probe just to the outside of the mod tube aye? with the battery inside? Did that, & red to just the positive pin, no voltage reading (on the 'up to 20V' setting on the meter).

So the lack of connection must be inside.. although I can't really see how as it feels like it is, I'll keep playing... aarrgh!!

[purkle]

Yep, I've tried the firing switch at different heights, it definitely is connecting with the battery physically, and so is the atty end connecting with both the battery and the atomiser pin. **** knows!! I thought there wasn't really any way that a mech mod could fail to work, as there's nothing to break!! Think I'll try brass cleaner on all the connections, but not entirely convinced that much is going to happen, it's not like it's a crap connection, there's NO voltage. I'll also try the second battery I have in case I've got a dud, but again I sincerely doubt that cos they both read fine in the charger & they are new from Torchy. This is strange!! All ideas are appreciated, thanks guys!

[markm]

I would start by looking at the switch, is there any throw adjustment?
Normally a screw that turns - getting closer to the batteries bottom once reassembled.

[giles]

Sorry you are having trouble purkle. Still, you're making progress - now you know how to lock the switch & also how to test voltage. Now you know how to do that, might as well check the battery.

Then, I guess, see if you have a connection between outside the base where the battery connects, and between the bottom and top of the other end. Easiest to do that by switching the meter back to resistance. Obviously shouldn't be any, probably is on one or the other.

[purkle]

hmmm? tested the two batteries, just by themselves with nothing else attached. one read 4.17V (the one I've not tried putting into the mod) and the other that been using while messing about with the mod, reads 0.42V? That doesn't sound right, they're both exactly the same, brand new, been charged exactly the same for same time, only difference is that the low-reading one has been in the mod while I've been trying to get it to work.. surely that shouldn't affect it that much?? Have I got a dud?

[purkle]

ahha.. well with the batt that was reading 4.17V in the mod, testing as Mark suggested I've now got a reading the same, so will try with the atty.. Hmmm?! (again! going round in circles here!!) So the atty produced something like vape but it tasted disgusting, that was first button-push, and any button-push since then does nothing. But the battery feels considerably warm... Tell me I'm not about to blow it up or something!!!

for info the aerotank was working perfectly on a different setup..

[markm]

Sounds like a protected battery that's protection has kicked in after being shorted.
That may have been when you tried it the wrong way round.

putting it on charge will probably wake it up again.

[markm]

Feb 11, 2014 13:49:43 GMT purkle said:

ahha.. well with the batt that was reading 4.17V in the mod, testing as Mark suggested I've now got a reading the same, so will try with the atty.. Hmmm?! (again! going round in circles here!!) So the atty produced something like vape but it tasted disgusting, that was first button-push, and any button-push since then does nothing. But the battery feels considerably warm... Tell me I'm not about to blow it up or something!!!

for info the aerotank was working perfectly on a different setup..

You have a short somewhere, the end that was getting hot shows where the problem lies.

[purkle]

well the batteries aren't protected, they're IMR. so you mean you think the voltage is low on one because I shorted it by trying the wrong way round? cool I'll try charging it again.

but with the battery that was fine that's in the mod, there wasn't really any specific area of heat it was really all over the whole tube & now Iv'e removed the battery it's just the whole battery that is warm, maybe that's normal..? but certainly the puff of strange tasting vape & nothing since, is not normal.

So you think something's shorting... any idea what might cause a short in this kind of set-up? maybe this is just a lost cause for me, it's not really fair of me to be asking every little thing like this, I've obviously got a problematic mod & also I've obviously not got a clue!!! sorry! But thanks markm, very much appreciate you helping me!