Arizer Solo

OF

Well-Known Member
I don't have my Solo with me right now, I'll do the test in a day or two.

Also about the Solo not showing any light except the blinking green charge light while charging, is this anything I should be worry about ?

Thanks, look forward to the test results if not the answer it might point to......

I've never seen that happen, so wanted to hold off comment at least until I tested an idea: This may very well be an artifact of the second level safety (in the battery pack) kicking in. That is, that safety works by disconnecting the pack electrically so the charging/battery level circuit would 'see' zero Volts until enough charge bled in to reset the safety.

Battery pack start life in this mode since the PCBs were unpowered before this. The revert to that state, that is even if there's more than 2.5 Volts per cell it still needs power from the outside to energize the PCB (after which a good battery pack will keep it powered up. That is you build a pack from two charged batteries and it doesn't work until you try to charge it some more.......

Just a guess, but one I want to test out before saying it might be involved.

Otherwise, once again, GA is spot on. The man is wise.

OF
 

fubar

Ancient and opiniated inhaler
Read on for today's Solo "bush remedy" - quick and dirty reclaim from clogged screens for the desperate
(please ignore if someone has already posted this tip but I couldn't find it by searching)

Executive Summary:
Where I live, reliable raw material is expensive and hard to come by.
Screens are useful but gradually tend to clog up with resin - "screen hash?"
I started out cleaning my screen with ISO. Salvaging was a pain.
Now I get vaked as I clean - I vaporise my screen to clean it.

Details for anyone interested:

I use domed SS screens but I think they're probably too fine because they clog up with sticky resin mixed with fine ABV - maybe once or twice a week, causing progressively increasing airflow resistance.
They're cheap enough to be disposable, but they're also not that hard to clean so I like to recycle them while extracting any leftover goodness.
Burning off works for sure but wastes the potential reclaim - don't even think of inhaling combusted screen goo - it's ghastly*

1) flatten dome and finger-thumb pinch/wipe both sides to remove any loose ABV - it might burn.

2) drop something flat and heat proof to cover and protect the bottom of the SS oven - eg glass disk or maybe spare clean screen**

3) heat solo until it's stable at a the temperature that works for you - I'd start a level or two higher than you normally vape at

4) drop flattened gunky screen into protected oven

5) insert stem - not hamster style - you want the screen to stay down right near the oven holes

6) pull hits. I find the taste varies from slightly rancid though to definitely awful but effect (IMHO) is pretty good.

7) when the vapour tastes worse than you are willing to put up with or stops, turn off Solo

8) tip solo upside down to dump screen and oven protector onto suitable surface - the screen itself has pretty low thermal mass but a glass disk will stay hot longer.

9) When not hot, another wipe with a finger/thumb and a few partial rotations***, a re-dome over a pencil and we're good to go - again and again.

I can vouch for active ingredient reclaim. The downside is taste which is, well frankly it's terrible compared to what Solo users get used to - that's why this is only for the desperate.
It seems to work well - condensed there on the cooler screen while vapour passed through I guess.

As always, YMMV.

* I confess to once, very stupidly, inhaling the burning gunk through a stem - combusting it with a lighter applied to the gunky screen still in place at the bottom of the bowl - everything tasted of that same awful taste for a few days until I cleaned the stem properly. Don't try that at home, kids.

** Yes, of course you can get stain off the oven but why make work for yourself if you can just prevent direct contact with gunk?

*** On the rotation thing - it's hard to explain but if you grab the edges at two opposite sides between your L + R forefingers and thumbs tight and move your hands - one slightly up, the other down - then reverse. The wires in the mesh will kind of scrape past each other a little as you deform the weave. It seems to help get dusty fines loosened off the wires so the air flows like new.
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
FCer OF suggested using a lighter to burn the screen to clean. Hold it with tweezers and then just brush it off after, it cools quickly. Works like a charm. You can rinse it off with water at the end.
 

fubar

Ancient and opiniated inhaler
FCer OF suggested using a lighter to burn the screen to clean. Hold it with tweezers and then just brush it off after, it cools quickly. Works like a charm. You can rinse it off with water at the end.
Of course - but desperates like me who need to reclaim the precious good stuff that process burns off weep at the thought and look forward to the day good herb is so readily available that we can afford to be equally cavalier.... :)
 

Quetzalcoatl

DEADY GUERRERO/DIRT COBAIN/GEORGE KUSH
Of course - but desperates like me who need to reclaim the precious good stuff that process burns off weep at the thought and look forward to the day good herb is so readily available that we can afford to be equally cavalier.... :)
Have you tried dry-hitting your stem? That's how I pre-clean my stems. Of course I do this through water path so the taste is offset slightly.
 

fubar

Ancient and opiniated inhaler
Have you tried dry-hitting your stem? That's how I pre-clean my stems. Of course I do this through water path so the taste is offset slightly.
Yes - but I think I get quicker and more complete conservation by adding some conductive heat transfer from the surface of the oven) to the convection of a dry hit in the stem.
Absolutely agree it's an option and probably less rancid - suited for less desperate circumstances perhaps :)
This is another one of those issues where half the fun is finding what particular variation works for you and it's good to document and share options here - thanks!
 

HomeFree

Well-Known Member
I tried another session at 7 to start with a heat soak until I could smell the herb cooking, then ripped it through water, whoa boy! Not nearly as good of taste as at #3-5, but whooped my butt from the last of my Ghost Train Haze, emptied out the jar. :( second pull was pretty tame, third and fourth was just a whisp of vapor.

Solo is an awesome and versatile little toy. It's cool to be able to play around a little bit with things like load size, heat soaks, grind consistency, temperature, filtration, all from a portable unit.

I am almost finding my groove! :D
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Managed to make a turbo stem out of a mishap where part of my internal screen broke (my fault lol). I like this more now. Might need to snag a turbo at some point...

You know, this should really be very easy for an enterprising lad to do.

Holes like that are traditionally ground with copper tools, often simple tubing. An abrasive paste is put 'on the work' which embeds itself in the soft copper and gets carried around against the glass. All sorts of abrasive powders, usually in oil or soap suspension as a paste, are used. Glass is really pretty soft when the time comes. Diamond isn't the only thing that cuts glass......

Anyway, make a clamp with rubber jaws the shape of the stem from opening to half an inch or so past the screen with the stem upside down (pointing at the floor). Center it over the nearest drill press, dab on some grit and 'cookie cutter' the center out. Set the tooling up right (so it's easy to swap out stems) and you can go to town on a pile of stems.

Just thinking out loud. And now, back to our regularly scheduled program, which is already in process.

OF
 

Ano

FC Lover
Well apparently my Solo have a quite amazing battery.

I've just finished doing back-to-back sessions on 7 with the top open after charging it to solid green, and here is how it went :
Light 7 : 2 sessions
Light 6 : 2 sessions
Light 5 : 1 session
Light 4 : 1 session
Light 3 : 2 sessions
Light 2 : 2 sessions
Light 1 : 3 sessions

So... 13 sessions for a total run-time of 2 hours and 46 minutes.

I guess I'll just charge it when I have no lights showing up on start-up, and forget about the "no lights while charging" issue I've been having from time to time.

I'm also quite surprised to see such a difference between doing these no-use sessions and the real ones. I usually get about 8 real full sessions (most of them bellow temp 7) after charging the Solo and unplugging it before reaching the solid green light.
 

Stu

Maconheiro
Staff member
I'm also quite surprised to see such a difference between doing these no-use sessions and the real ones. I usually get about 8 real full sessions (most of them bellow temp 7) after charging the Solo and unplugging it before reaching the solid green light.
I'm not surprised. The battery gets drained much harder when you're using it (removing heat from the chamber by inhaling) so it has to constantly kick in to compensate. If you're not hitting it, it takes much less energy to maintain set temp.

:peace:
 

Ano

FC Lover
I'm not surprised. The battery gets drained much harder when you're using it (removing heat from the chamber by inhaling) so it has to constantly kick in to compensate. If you're not hitting it, it takes much less energy to maintain set temp.

:peace:
Yes, I knew about that, but I was expecting a difference of maybe 2-3 sessions, not 5 ;)
I guess starting with the Solo already hot every session after the first one played its part too.
 

photobooth

Well-Known Member
I've started running into some issues with my M1A Solo. I turn it on and it starts heating only to suddenly turn off for no reason. Sometimes I'll get 5 minutes of runtime, sometimes 1-2 minutes and then it shuts off.
Once it shuts off early, I need to plug it into and out of the charger before it will start again. Any Solo gurus have any suggestions? Might be time to contact the seller?
 
photobooth,
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OF

Well-Known Member
I'm not surprised. The battery gets drained much harder when you're using it (removing heat from the chamber by inhaling) so it has to constantly kick in to compensate. If you're not hitting it, it takes much less energy to maintain set temp.

:peace:

Exactly so. That's why the 'no human input' part of the test.

While I don't understand right off why 13 sessions rather than the 9 or 10 I usually see on new batteries, one thing is clear that battery is just fine.

This is with no stem, sitting upright and not plugged into the charger? Interesting.

I've started running into some issues with my M1A Solo. I turn it on and it starts heating only to suddenly turn off for no reason. Sometimes I'll get 5 minutes of runtime, sometimes 1-2 minutes and then it shuts off.
Once it shuts off early, I need to plug it into and out of the charger before it will start again. Any Solo gurus have any suggestions? Might be time to contact the seller?

Thus far I think every similar report has come back to a battery on it's last legs? Do you have a PA for it? If so, I assume it's fine that way?

OF
 
OF,

Ano

FC Lover
This is with no stem, sitting upright and not plugged into the charger? Interesting.
Yep, that's it.
It was at battery level 2, I charged it to solid green (took around 2 hours), unplugged it a few minutes after reaching solid, then did the test right away.
The sessions were really back-to-back, as in it never stayed off more than 4-5 seconds, and every time I turned it back on it was still on heat level 6-7.
 
Ano,
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photobooth

Well-Known Member
Exactly so. That's why the 'no human input' part of the test.

While I don't understand right off why 13 sessions rather than the 9 or 10 I usually see on new batteries, one thing is clear that battery is just fine.

This is with no stem, sitting upright and not plugged into the charger? Interesting.



Thus far I think every similar report has come back to a battery on it's last legs? Do you have a PA for it? If so, I assume it's fine that way?

OF
No PA for it, probably about 3 years old, always just the basic stock charger+battery usage. Could very well be the battery giving up the ghost. Time to get in touch with @CentiZen I guess!
 

OF

Well-Known Member
No PA for it, probably about 3 years old, always just the basic stock charger+battery usage. Could very well be the battery giving up the ghost. Time to get in touch with @CentiZen I guess!

Sad to say it may be about that time. 3 years is a pretty good run I think?

You could try the 'charge it until the light goes solid and do back to back step 7 open top runs. I bet you see something like 4 or 5?

Good luck with it. You know you really want to put it back in top form, right? Think of the pleasure it can continue to give......

OF
 
OF,

TheSandyLorax

Well-Known Member
I took my solo apart to clean out the AVB and when I took apart the bowl I found this hard white material on the side of the stainless steel bowl. I am assuming it is not safe to still use. Am I wrong?

Here is an album.
http://imgur.com/a/Nv9cc
 
TheSandyLorax,
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