Troubleshooting Mechs Part 1 (3 Min read)

A mechanical mod can be your most prized possession. 

Let’s face it. The relative high price point can often be offset by the ability to make your own builds, coil sizes and resistance values, not to mention just how cheap cotton can be purchased.

The true voltage of the battery can be output, not lost to wires or circuit boards.

This is where the lines start to blur, however. The fact that they rarely include a screen display is the reason they simply fail to work. There’s no feedback. Nada.

Over the next two blogs we’re going to look at the ways in which your beloved Mech mod seems to have passed beyond the ultimate vape clouds and entered the great vape gig in the sky.

.. Then bring it back down to earth.

Check Your Battery

I know, I know, I know!

Obvious one, I agree. Yet there is a tendency for some folk to just vape and vape until they get no output from their device. Never a good practice but it does happen.

It’s not a good practice simply because a battery that falls below 3.2V output can actually die.

Past the point of being able to safely recharge.

Swap out your current battery for one that you know has a full charge and try again.

It’s also worth mentioning at this point that a dedicated voltage checker is highly useful in preventing batteries from becoming unsafe.

Here’s another obvious one, and yes I’ll hold my hand up. Check the polarity of the battery fitted. Haven’t you put them in the wrong way from time to time? No? Never?

..Don’t believe you!

You may be thinking that your mech is special and can run with the polarity either way.

The negative terminal should always be facing the fire button at the bottom of the device.

Positioning it otherwise can lead to a potential hard short caused by damage to the battery wrap itself. In the worst case scenario a hard short to the body of the mech will cause a severe electric shock and burning.

Inspect Atomizer

Your mech isn’t going to fire if there’s a problem with the atomizer.

Problems range from a damaged coil, a centre pin that doesn’t touch the top of the contact point within the mechs threading, even an RDA for example that has never worked with your tube mod.

By far the worst situation is a short in the atomizer itself.

Short circuits occur when an electrical current flows down an unintended pathway.

A very dangerous thing to happen. Now that’s not good. It’s very ungood.

An electrical current out of control will lead to electric shock or just as bad, an exploding battery!

The most common cause is a faulty coil build. If the atomizer refuses to play ball use it with a resistance checker. Sometimes, of course, a simple bump to the side of the mod can lead to a coil leg falling out of position.

Another reason the coil build may never work is because the coil may be touching either the drip well or the side of the RDA.

Check The Fire Button

The fire button utilises a spring mechanism ( known as the throw) to apply resistance away from the bottom of the battery when not in use.

These days, magnets are more commonly used. Their positive and negative influences help repel against each other in the same way electrons do inside batteries themselves.

Magnets provide a much smoother throw and don’t wobble in the way spring based systems do.

Over time, springs become compressed and lose their ability to let the contact reach the battery.

If your mech refuses to fire but the fire button still becomes hot it’s time to replace the spring and the entire button.

In the case of magnets, make sure they aren’t cracked in any way. These too can cause a short.