Troubleshooting Mechs Part 2 (3 Min read)

In part I of troubleshooting mechs we looked at batteries, atomizers and the fire button as potential reasons for your device seemingly going the way of the dinosaur. 

Today we will look at pins, battery amp load and critical battery flaws as well as hot springs

..Pay attention at the back! I may be asking questions.

Pins

A mech mod can house up to three pins. All of which are adjustable. There’s one for the bottom of the battery, one for the top and one that connects the atomizer to the battery itself.

Predominantly these pins are reverse threaded which means they can be maintained by applying a clockwise motion.

You’ll need to ensure these threads are adjusted to the point where they make a firm but not tight contact with either atomizer or battery. Overtightening will deform the top or bottom of the battery rendering it useless and more importantly, unsafe.

Hybrid mods are the exception to the rule. Instead of a pin in the top cap, a hole is bored. It is essential that the atomizer includes a protruding centre pin in order to achieve contact directly with the battery. Without this protrusion there is a high chance of shorting the device.

Of course, the atomizer will fail to work in this instance and there’s a strong likelihood of the battery venting hot gas!

Battery Amp Load And Critical Battery Flaws

It doesn’t matter whether you build your own coils or not. It is vital that you understand the capacity of your battery. Make sure you have a genuine one too!

The most popular batteries currently used in mech mods can operate under loads of up to 35 amps. The majority of coil builds work perfectly under these conditions. You can run into problems when using a sub ohm coil with a counterfeit battery though!

We’ve previously discussed Ohms Law and this is where it comes in very handy when calculating the number of amps required vs coil resistances. For this reason alone, it’s worth reading my blog if you haven’t already.

On a mechanical mod the top post acts as the positive terminal while the rest of the body works as the negative. The positive terminal remains uninsulated and the battery wrap is the only thing protecting the negative terminal.

If the battery wrap becomes torn, the exposed metal will effectively be touching the negative terminal and consequently cause a short to occur.

Either responsibly dispose a cosmetically damaged battery or ensure that you have it re wrapped.

Other signs to look out for include bulging, warping or becoming painfully hot to the touch.

Hot Spring

Your mechanical mod may have a top or side mounted switch. There’s a chance it has a safety feature known as a hot spring.

Should a short scenario exist with one of these mechs, this hot spring collapses to break the circuit before it can ever happen. The fire button ceases to function because there is now no circuit to complete.

In this instance you will need to replace the hot spring in order for the device to function again. This will allow you time to figure out why the short was impending.

Conclusion

To conclude, it’s never a good idea to use a mechanical mod that becomes painfully hot to hold.

That’s a clear sign that the battery is under extreme stress. Your own safety, as always, must take top priority. Allow the device to cool down, remove the battery and perhaps take another look over both parts of our blog.

Hopefully you’ll find an answer, but if in doubt kick it out.