Arizer Solo II

dynospec

Well-Known Member
It's still not too late, they still make 'em and they're a lot cheaper now that the Solo II is out:
http://www.planetvape.ca/solo-vaporizer.html

Unfortunately, IMO the superior version that you could power by the mains with a special adapter is no more. We 'demanded' and got 'use while charging' (like a cell phone) instead. While there are some guys having some troubles with Solo II (hopefully minor and soon resolved), Solo I has a reputation for 'tank like' survival. Hey, @ataxian has been using his considerable skills but still can kill his.....



Love it, ever the team player. It's inspirational the way you offer to teach the new guys the tricks of glass breaking.

This place just wouldn't be as much fun without you......don't run off now.....

OF

Haha I could see myself picking one up to have as a solid backup, that is a shame about losing one that could run on main power, I suppose use while charging is not the worst tradeoff. Perhaps an even steeper discount will be seen on 4/20, assuming of course stock hasnt been depleted by then.

THAT SINKING FEELING......I once got a package like that. Unfortunately, the glass rattling WAS a $1200.00 soxhlet extractor. It arrived in about 5000 pieces. Yeah sure, throw it in a box, cross your fingers and ship it across the country. Some shippers don't have the brains God gave geese. Glad InhaleExhales' experience was better.

Oh no, that must have been a awful time! Hopefully it was taken care of by the shipper in an appropriate manner

@kreaturebait I add some shatter and wax to my herbs in my solo2 every now and then to great effect, works well. Just dont add too much concentrate, and make sure it is sandwiched between herbs so it doesnt leak into the oven. When I am doing this, I add some herb to the stem first, and fill it about 1/4 of the way and then add the concentrate, less than a dabs worth for sure smaller than a match head by about 2/3, then top the remaining 3/4 off with herb this will prevent any from leaking into your solo2's oven.

Other methods include using cotton, or degummed hemp fibre, or reworked concentrate pads
 

kreaturebait

Active Member
I noticed the color of my new Mystic Blue is slightly different than my first one, more of a darker Blue tone.
I also noticed the % counter display on the LCD while the battery charges, Never seen this on my old Solo 2 or just maybe to lifted to notice.. cool!

Cheers

@tonuzzi Mine has a battery meter charging image that goes up and down until it's fully charged. Does yours have an actual number percentage?

Dry herbs only in my Solo II. I like to vape high temps. I'm on holiday, taking sneaky sessions. 220c and blowing clouds out the bedroom window then going surfing.

@vaporcloud Sounds like you're gonna have a good weekend! I miss surfing so much! Where are you surfing btw?

@kreaturebait I add some shatter and wax to my herbs in my solo2 every now and then to great effect, works well. Just dont add too much concentrate, and make sure it is sandwiched between herbs so it doesnt leak into the oven. When I am doing this, I add some herb to the stem first, and fill it about 1/4 of the way and then add the concentrate, less than a dabs worth for sure smaller than a match head by about 2/3, then top the remaining 3/4 off with herb this will prevent any from leaking into your solo2's oven.

Other methods include using cotton, or degummed hemp fibre, or reworked concentrate pads

@dynospec Nice! I'll try the mix bowl. Cotton seems weird to me...how is that? do you get any burnt cotton taste?
 

OF

Well-Known Member
I had a protopipe for many years. Was not too bad for sneaky sessions. The Solo is my modern day proto.

PP! That takes me back. For years I carried one, had to make two more 'pokers' over the years due to corrosion (the pin is piano wire (carbon steel, it rusts....). It got so gummy in the 'resin trap' that I had to heat it up too hot to hold without a rag and force the plug out to clean it.

I once handed it to a friend, an old 'grunt' (Army) guy who got caught short. Told him to use the stored herb (a gram?) and then get the resin if needed. He gave it back blindingly polished. Like in the Army, ready for inspection, inside and out. Did it with toothpaste, a toothbrush (hopefully an old one....) and q-tips. Took him hours one night when loaded.......

Someone should make a vape that neat. ArGo is a step that way from Solo I think.

OF
 

dynospec

Well-Known Member
Nice! I'll try the mix bowl. Cotton seems weird to me...how is that? do you get any burnt cotton taste?

It works, albeit it isnt the best way to go about it to me. It adds a hint of flavour, not really burnt but just slightly alters the taste of whatever the concentrate youre using tastes like. Another option that is a little better is degummed hemp fiber, I have not personally used it but Ive heard good things. It looks alot like cotton, but will taste better I guess.

Another option, again which Ive yet to try myself is unwinding a concentrate pad, I bought some volcano ones myself to use for this but just havent gotten around to trying with them yet. As @OF was kind enough to let me know if you decide to go this route, dont cut or tear the pads instead try to unwind them, as they are a single strand wound up, and this way you avoid bits and pieces of stainless steel falling out while you vape. I guess mighty concentrate pads might be smaller, but Im not sure, and the volcano ones will surely be easier to find.
 

Pepus

Well-Known Member
Hi, a few days ago I reported a 7 error code, due surely to my bad habit of 'screw' the stem in and out. In the end the unit stopped working and the seller agreed to refund and luckily allowed me to keep the defective unit! So I opened it up, saw the twisted and broken cables, replaced and soldier them to the board and now... It doesn't turn on. But I know it is still alive because it comes to life when I put it to charge. I don't know what I did wrong, before my intervention, it reacted to the buttons even though it finally went off with the 7 error code. Does anyone know what could I try to get it back?

By the way, seems to be a design problem with the oven, all the 6 screws fixing it are tight but it is still loose...

Cheers!
 

OF

Well-Known Member
It works, albeit it isnt the best way to go about it to me. It adds a hint of flavour, not really burnt but just slightly alters the taste of whatever the concentrate youre using tastes like. Another option that is a little better is degummed hemp fiber, I have not personally used it but Ive heard good things. It looks alot like cotton, but will taste better I guess.

You know, long ago when this cotton thing came up (IIRC it's @Vitolo who's at fault here.....) I did some experiments/research/poking around. I came to the same conclusion as most I think, cotton is just not reactive at these temperatures. It doesn't burn, scorch, discolor or even loose much weight. It's commonly used in e-cig atomizers for that reason.

There was a lot of 'organic only' talk, with Japanese specialty cotton being considered the best. Scientific tests seem to find no issues here. There's also some importance attached to the 'bug' put on by (some) growers, largely a marketing ploy? There are exceptions no doubt but I took our Vitolo at his word (hard to ignore 'the Sage of the High Desert' you know.....) when he said 'just pull the end off a handy q-tip and go for it'. I'm more refined than that, I started collecting the cotton from vitamin bottles (assuming there's no pesticides there......).

A couple batches of process hemp were harder to use and gave no better results IMO, but should be tried if you're interested?

It doesn't turn on. But I know it is still alive because it comes to life when I put it to charge. I don't know what I did wrong, before my intervention, it reacted to the buttons even though it finally went off with the 7 error code. Does anyone know what could I try to get it back?

By the way, seems to be a design problem with the oven, all the 6 screws fixing it are tight but it is still loose...

OK, a couple of thoughts for your consideration. First off there are only four wires, in pairs (heater and sensor). One will read about 10,000 Ohms (the thermistor) the other much lower (few Ohms?). Polarity is not important, but 'crossing up' could be fatal. Caution advised.

This is a processor controlled system, the processor is running all the time (or it wouldn't 'see' button presses when off). It most likely 'sees' the button press but faults out on 'POST' (Power On Self Test) much like some computers won't boot up unless there's a keyboard. Before 'lighting up' it would check things like enough battery voltage, heater not open (failed), sensor giving reasonable readings, no stuck buttons and so on. Don't misread stuff, it can be detecting a problem or it could have been damaged in the service work. That, intorducing a new fault investigating a first, is a real land mine in troubleshooting sorry to say. Once two (or more) different problems are loose chaos is about all you can really expect. Single point failures are much better......

And don't put too much stock in the oven being loose when cold, it has to be in many designs. Stuff 'grows' a lot with 200C rises. Mount it too solidly and you're sucking around for cracks and other problems down the road......to be avoided at all costs as we've discussed? The leads may provide sufficient flex but personally I'm not counting on that. It is a departure for Arizer it seems (from what I can tell the cup in ArGo is quite solid (and interestingly enough the vents run horizontal (out the side) not vertical (down below)? So there could be a fault in the design?

Thanks for the report, good luck on the next steps. I'd start with retracing what you did?

OF
 

dynospec

Well-Known Member
Fair enough, I had read somewhere on here (FC) someone (who, I cant recall) mentioned they thought they noticed a more hempy taste with the hemp fiber. Hard to say for sure, but I do love having a variety of choices!

I finally watched some videos of the vapman by the way, got to say after watching that Im alot more interested! Plus with the little heating station seems really cool, will definitely be getting one some day. A much more elegant design than the vapcap, although I would like to get one of those aswell.

I wonder what 2018 is going to have in store for Arizer, they did have a active year of releases in 2017 with solo II, air II, and ArGo. I wonder if they will release a EQ II, or something similar.

Either way, new releases or not Ive got plenty of Arizer products to get my hands on this year, likely going to try and get a solo og, and a air II or ArGo, probably go for the air II first and wait for the Go.

@Pepus good luck with it, hopefully you can get it going again. Your unit was already sent in for warranty right? Perhaps Arizer would ship you a new one?
 

Pepus

Well-Known Member
You know, long ago when this cotton thing came up (IIRC it's @Vitolo who's at fault here.....) I did some experiments/research/poking around. I came to the same conclusion as most I think, cotton is just not reactive at these temperatures. It doesn't burn, scorch, discolor or even loose much weight. It's commonly used in e-cig atomizers for that reason.

There was a lot of 'organic only' talk, with Japanese specialty cotton being considered the best. Scientific tests seem to find no issues here. There's also some importance attached to the 'bug' put on by (some) growers, largely a marketing ploy? There are exceptions no doubt but I took our Vitolo at his word (hard to ignore 'the Sage of the High Desert' you know.....) when he said 'just pull the end off a handy q-tip and go for it'. I'm more refined than that, I started collecting the cotton from vitamin bottles (assuming there's no pesticides there......).

A couple batches of process hemp were harder to use and gave no better results IMO, but should be tried if you're interested?



OK, a couple of thoughts for your consideration. First off there are only four wires, in pairs (heater and sensor). One will read about 10,000 Ohms (the thermistor) the other much lower (few Ohms?). Polarity is not important, but 'crossing up' could be fatal. Caution advised.

This is a processor controlled system, the processor is running all the time (or it wouldn't 'see' button presses when off). It most likely 'sees' the button press but faults out on 'POST' (Power On Self Test) much like some computers won't boot up unless there's a keyboard. Before 'lighting up' it would check things like enough battery voltage, heater not open (failed), sensor giving reasonable readings, no stuck buttons and so on. Don't misread stuff, it can be detecting a problem or it could have been damaged in the service work. That, intorducing a new fault investigating a first, is a real land mine in troubleshooting sorry to say. Once two (or more) different problems are loose chaos is about all you can really expect. Single point failures are much better......

And don't put too much stock in the oven being loose when cold, it has to be in many designs. Stuff 'grows' a lot with 200C rises. Mount it too solidly and you're sucking around for cracks and other problems down the road......to be avoided at all costs as we've discussed? The leads may provide sufficient flex but personally I'm not counting on that. It is a departure for Arizer it seems (from what I can tell the cup in ArGo is quite solid (and interestingly enough the vents run horizontal (out the side) not vertical (down below)? So there could be a fault in the design?

Thanks for the report, good luck on the next steps. I'd start with retracing what you did?

OF

Hi OF!

I'm sure the cables are in the right position, because even though two of them were broken inside, not the plastic cover, and I changed them one at a time. What it weird is that before with them broken the unit responded to the buttons and started the countdown, but now with the cables reconnected it doesn't react at all. It is not easy to connect the cables, they are attached to the oven not soldered but glued by a white paste and you only have a few millimeters to work on. Do you know if Arizer would sell a new oven or is it any way to get it?

By the way, I finally bought this and according to your calculations I thought it would be able to charge the Solo 2 at least 3 times, but it only arrives to one and a half, enough for my needs on the other hand...

12V DC 3800mAh / 5V USB 5800mAh Batería Recargable Li-Ion Lithium-Ion https://www.amazon.es/dp/6040387874/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apap_rgKwHFEEQiT2v

Thanks!

Fair enough, I had read somewhere on here (FC) someone (who, I cant recall) mentioned they thought they noticed a more hempy taste with the hemp fiber. Hard to say for sure, but I do love having a variety of choices!

I finally watched some videos of the vapman by the way, got to say after watching that Im alot more interested! Plus with the little heating station seems really cool, will definitely be getting one some day. A much more elegant design than the vapcap, although I would like to get one of those aswell.

I wonder what 2018 is going to have in store for Arizer, they did have a active year of releases in 2017 with solo II, air II, and ArGo. I wonder if they will release a EQ II, or something similar.

Either way, new releases or not Ive got plenty of Arizer products to get my hands on this year, likely going to try and get a solo og, and a air II or ArGo, probably go for the air II first and wait for the Go.

@Pepus good luck with it, hopefully you can get it going again. Your unit was already sent in for warranty right? Perhaps Arizer would ship you a new one?

Hi dynospec, the seller was so kind to refund my money and luckily allowed me to keep the defective unit, which I'm trying to come back to life. Thank for your wishes!

Cheers
 
Last edited by a moderator:

OF

Well-Known Member
It is not easy to connect the cables, they are attached to the oven not soldered but glued by a white paste and you only have a few millimeters to work on. Do you know if Arizer would sell a new oven or is it any way to get it?

By the way, I finally bought this and according to your calculations I thought it would be able to charge the Solo 2 at least 3 times, but it only arrives to one and a half, enough for my needs on the other hand...

The only conductive glues I know that will work are Silver filled, and that would be marginal. It's not soldered I suspect due to temperature. Soft solders melt at something like 360F, soldering iron temperatures are typically 600 to 700F. Spot welding or Silver brazing are the common bonding in such applications were mechanical clamps aren't used. The white stuff is probably ceramic cement, for insulation and mechanical support. You can test the connections by measuring resistance where they connect to the PCB. If the resistances are OK the it should be good to go.

You can contact them and ask, but with Solo I they refused and called for returning it.

I'd be looking for some fault introduced in the service. Also check the switches, many such systems 'hang up' on a stuck key.

Not sure what to say about the capacity. Perhaps an 'optimistic' rating? You see a lot of cheap 18650s claiming 4000 and more mAh....... Fortunately it will cover the immediate needs.

OF
 

Pepus

Well-Known Member
The only conductive glues I know that will work are Silver filled, and that would be marginal. It's not soldered I suspect due to temperature. Soft solders melt at something like 360F, soldering iron temperatures are typically 600 to 700F. Spot welding or Silver brazing are the common bonding in such applications were mechanical clamps aren't used. The white stuff is probably ceramic cement, for insulation and mechanical support. You can test the connections by measuring resistance where they connect to the PCB. If the resistances are OK the it should be good to go.

You can contact them and ask, but with Solo I they refused and called for returning it.

I'd be looking for some fault introduced in the service. Also check the switches, many such systems 'hang up' on a stuck key.

Not sure what to say about the capacity. Perhaps an 'optimistic' rating? You see a lot of cheap 18650s claiming 4000 and more mAh....... Fortunately it will cover the immediate needs.

OF

Hi, curious behaviour, it doesn't turn on by any way, but starts to charge when plugged, then starts to heat if I press the central button, so all seems be working fine. If I unplug it, goes off immediately.

Another extrange thing, the down button does its function without the cover but acts like the central button when covered, I tried a few times with the same result.

I think I had to disconnect the cables one by one and see what happens. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Edit: I made it all again with exactly the same result. I give up, at least I have a spare battery and cover for future needs.
 
Last edited:

WildChild

Seeking My Shangri-La
Greetings, Fellow FC'ers

It's been sometime since I posted as I'm currently in Myanmar (Burma) on a seven-month contract.

Weed is pretty illegal here so I have done without since October 25th. Also, I'm in a very remote town right in the middle of Myanmar and had no clue where to find my friend 'Herb'. That is, until a friend of mine gave me some treats yesterday that he picked up in Mandalay. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

As it turns out, I brought my Solo II along with me just in case I had some luck finding 'Herb'. I left it at about an 80% charge (a bit much, I know, for storage) last October and turned it on for the first time last night. The unit was still at 80% and hadn't lost any charge in almost 3 months. Impressive. I loaded up a stem and enjoyed the first vape session I have had in awhile. As usual, it performed like a champ. The present I got wasn't the best I've ever had but the Solo II milked every last bit of goodness out of it. Bliss.

Anyhow, I've been keeping up with the posts and certainly am enjoying all the stories and experiences here...at least the positive ones, anyway.

All the best to all of you. And to my fellow Canadians, please don't vape all the weed there before I get back! :D
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
I think it’s important to remind folks to warm up the unit so the stem goes in a lot easier. One of the things that I like is that the stem won’t fall out while I’m using my Solo 2 in bed or lounging on the couch, even though ive had my vape since June. I had thought the oven would eventually stretch out. That hasn’t happened yet.

I like using my unit at home as well if I’m on the go. I make sure I keep it charged up. The battery continues to perform like a tank.
 

kreaturebait

Active Member
I’ve been packing my stems completely full and vape at 395F. I think I get thicker vapor with a slightly dense pack rather than a loosely packed stem. I’m experimenting with kief and hash too. I like the portability and how you can pre-load the stems. I like pre-loading my stems with different strains/flavors.
 

Rocor

New Member
With no red seal fix for the Solo 2 .. measure your stem out side bowl .. the units in the box in my experience are less than 14.5xmm .. After market units and Arizer after purchase units can run as large as 14.8xmm

Organize your stems to save the large ones ( plus 14.5xmm ) for well down the road .. when regular wear and tear allows for a bit of stretch in the units seal

Do not be in a rush to heat and stretch to fit the larger sized units while you have the smaller originals still in normal use

I bought two 14mm gongs ( use with water tool) from Arizer .. one has an OSD OF 14.53mm but the other came in at a whopping 14.78mm ..way to large for planned use in the next year or so for me ..

On the other side .. less tightness alows for more air .. good for some .. some after market stems ( tube/bowl ) have channels cut for air on the sides ..

What ever unit you use, resist twisting or turning to insert , no experience myself but lots of info on it msybe causing error seven on some previous models ..
 
Last edited:

OF

Well-Known Member
What ever unit you use, resist twisting or turning to insert , no experience myself but lots of info on it msybe causing error seven on some previous models ..

I disagree a bit with this advice. While there's reason to avoid twisting the stem WHEN FULLY INSERTED (to avoid twisting the cup inside the oven and stressing the leads?) it's basically impossible to insert them in many cases past the seal without twisting. To the point of damaging the seal I'd think?

As far as I know the guys reporting problems were practicing a questionable practice from Solo I that was intended to keep the floor of the oven clean, these guys are basically scrubbing it out with the end of the stem?

CK's advice is Gold here, heat the oven up before you insert the stem until you get to know your unit and stems and how each will fit. Another tip we've worked out over time is to keep the stem 'bowl up', lower the (heated) Solo over it then take the first couple of hits 'upside down' (like a Hamster at a water bottle) before putting it upright (although those using WTs usually leave it inverted the whole time). Doing this tends to 'glue' the load in place as the trichomes collapse so that the herb is a mass that doesn't drop onto the floor.

OF
 

Rocor

New Member
As I stated above .. I have no pracical experience with the heat and stretch .. but perhaps I was focused mostly on the stems that have the ridges cut into the bottom and the channels in my comments .. that really increases the friction ..

Any comments re these cut and channeled stems OF ?

Would you/have you treat/treated them any different .. ? The two samples I had seemed quite rough ..
 
Top Bottom