Arizer Solo

DJ Colonel Corn

The Vapor Ninja
this still tells me nothing about this part of the question :

"Can I charge and leave it or do I still have to be carefull and disconnect before the light stops blinking?"

So @Belgianvapor :
With the new Arizer Solo... you do not need to disconnect charger before the light stops blinking. The unit has an overcharge protection system which saves your battery once it's charged. I leave mine on the charger well after the unit has charged.
Enjoy your Solo.
As a note I'd like to mention I got the HC battery for the Solo and it increased my use time by over 50%....highly recommended.
Loving my Solo, looking at the Air solely because, of course, the interchangeable battery means I can vape longer sessions...
All the best ! :leaf::luv::leaf:
 

VANVAS

Well-Known Member
So @Belgianvapor :
With the new Arizer Solo... you do not need to disconnect charger before the light stops blinking. The unit has an overcharge protection system which saves your battery once it's charged. I leave mine on the charger well after the unit has charged.
Enjoy your Solo.
As a note I'd like to mention I got the HC battery for the Solo and it increased my use time by over 50%....highly recommended.
Loving my Solo, looking at the Air solely because, of course, the interchangeable battery means I can vape longer sessions...
All the best ! :leaf::luv::leaf:
So...with the New units that you can use while charging, don't you need to disconnect before the lights stop blinking??? Right now im a bit confused, I always do this rule , i disconnect before lights stop at 7 . Can i leave till stop with no problem??
Thanks
 
VANVAS,

fubar

Ancient and opiniated inhaler
So @Belgianvapor :
With the new Arizer Solo... you do not need to disconnect charger before the light stops blinking. The unit has an overcharge protection system which saves your battery once it's charged. I leave mine on the charger well after the unit has charged.

Well, the overcharge protection stops overcharge for sure, but there's been lots of discussion here with smarter people than me pointing to evidence that for the longest battery life with reasonable sessions it's wise to rarely push the battery into the top and bottom 10% charge bands (ie 0-10% and 90-100%) - ie charge just before you need to and stop charging just before the green light goes steady. Yes, it's Zen. It's an art form and part of the fun imho. I'll try to find OF's favourite link before he does :)
 

DJ Colonel Corn

The Vapor Ninja
OK.
Most Li-ion devices, like the Solo, especially vape equipment, normally stops charging the battery well before the 'top' of the battery's charge, thus saving your battery and it's life. The same goes for discharge, it most likely won't allow the battery to fully discharge. Either over-charging or under-charging this type of battery can seriously ruin them, and I've been on the same battery for quite a while, meaning over a year on the stock batteries before I switched to the HC middle of last year. No problems here with my batteries losing functionality, life, or any other sign of abuse, and I leave mine plugged in quite a bit.
That said, I welcome someone who really knows if the Solo cuts off the charge at a safe level for the battery. My vote knowing these devices is yes.
A note: If you are going to store your Solo for a while, like 3 weeks or more... store it at 1/2 charge, 5. This should be roughly 3.7v and these li-ion batteries can only be stored at approx. that voltage, or they get bad. True story. I actually have quite a bit of experience with li-ion batteries as I use ecig-type mods to fire my concentrate conductive vape setups.
Stay tuned, Solo enthusiasts ! More to come....!
 
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DJ Colonel Corn,

fubar

Ancient and opiniated inhaler
OK.
Most Li-ion devices, like the Solo, especially vape equipment, normally stops charging the battery well before the 'top' of the battery's charge, thus saving your battery and it's life.
If (not suggesting Arizer is the case here) a manufacturer asked a sales department, they'd probably end up telling the engineers to push and pull hard on the battery to maximise the 'hours continuous use' on the box staying well within cell manufacturer's specs of course because otherwise batteries explode - hence the thermal and electrical safety cutouts on the pack. I'm not sure they'd set the voltages on the charge circuit to routinely sacrifice 20% of "hours continuous use"?
Sorry to sound cynical, but I'd want to see data to support any claim of capitalist beneficence?

Oh and no question it has safety voltage charge/discharge cutoffs on the pack, but the device probably routinely charges and discharges close to the manufacturers recommended limits for maximum 'performance' (hours continuous use - not lifetime # charge/discharge cycles!) if you charge when it tells you and stop charging when it stops blinking green.

I'm talking about userland charger control here - some folks have timers and other tricks to stop charging and start charging well within the recommended limits - in the hope of getting twice as many charging cycles - even if each only lasts 80% of the maximum possible sessions per charge.
:)

Update: here you go - http://electronics.stackexchange.co...-lithium-batteries-to-maximise-their-lifetime
 
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lookhigh

FC member
I recieved my new solo today. My friend got my previous solo as a present but in less
than a day I decided to order a new one because I already missed it.
I haven't used it yet but on the bottom it says M162CC... is this a new model?
A colder, hotter or just the same running solo?
Or, as I read many times here, it means absolutely nothing?
Can I charge and leave it or do I still have to be carefull and disconnect before the light stops blinking?
First charge until light stops blinking and then as much as you can, 5hrs is good overnight even better.
All other charges try and stop before light stops blinking and dont fully discharge.
Numbers mean nothing for us. only for Arizer warranty.
 

OF

Well-Known Member
"Can I charge and leave it or do I still have to be carefull and disconnect before the light stops blinking?"

You can do anything you want I guess. If, however, you're looking for maximum battery life not running to the top (until the light stops flashing) should be avoided. Keeping the unit constantly (or even mostly) at full charge is probably the worst thing you can do for battery life since you're prevented from over discharge, the other popular way to kill them off young, by the 'soft' (battery level as displayed) or 'hard' (protection PCB in the battery pack) limits.

Notice at the bottom of the cite above:
http://electronics.stackexchange.co...-lithium-batteries-to-maximise-their-lifetime

There's a chart lower right? Notice it shows a doubling of useful life (or more) for stopping early? That's what we're talking about. It has to do with the battery not the model. If it was a good idea before (and I think it is obviously), it still is. Even more so since now the natural tendency for many will be to leave it plugged in ('use while charging' then set it down) so it'll 'be ready to go (fully charged)' on demand. This means, on average, it's fully charged rather than an average of less than that over time that happens when you 'run the battery down' before recharging.

I think we all know of cell phones, lap tops and other such gear that use these types of batteries that have been routinely left charging and now will only run on batteries a small fraction of when new? That's why. And those devices have basically the same 'protection' as Solo. It's total hours at high charge levels over time that kilt 'em.

Your call, batteries (in fact the whole Solo) are pretty cheap. But 'killing it with kindness' introduces that early I think. And remember, unlike the older model (with true PA), you're SOL when the battery goes out. "Use while charging" needs a good battery at least partially charged to work in the new models The wall wort for charging won't provide enough power alone for the job (which is why it takes more hours to charge than discharge).

Regards,

OF
 

Belgianvapor

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info OF

I don't know if it's already somewhere on this forum but wouldn't it be easy to put all the charging
info of each vaporizer or their batteries together, so we know what to do to maximize battery life etc?
I don't know if it's only the solo that needs this kind of battery attention to assure longest
performance but with all my other vaporizers, I just charge untill full and then some.
Because I'm from Europe, it's mostly cheaper to buy a new vape when something is wrong than to
send it in for a new battery so keeping them in optimal condition is rather important for me.
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info OF

I don't know if it's already somewhere on this forum but wouldn't it be easy to put all the charging
info of each vaporizer or their batteries together, so we know what to do to maximize battery life etc?
I don't know if it's only the solo that needs this kind of battery attention to assure longest
performance but with all my other vaporizers, I just charge untill full and then some.
Because I'm from Europe, it's mostly cheaper to buy a new vape when something is wrong than to
send it in for a new battery so keeping them in optimal condition is rather important for me.

You're welcome, glad to help.

While I agree it would be nice indeed to have such a resource available, and I would be glad to contribute to that effort, I think that needs more organization than we have available?

I feel strongly enough about this to have made a series of 'gadgets' to do exactly this. By monitoring the charging current it detects the end of charge early and cuts off (and beeps to let you know.....). The latest version looks like this:
jy0w0hN.jpg


The cord plugs into Solo, the charger in the jack upper left and when the button (goes through a hole in the top) is pressed the cycle starts. The screw on the blue part at the extreme right sets the 'trip level'. An added bonus is it cuts 'the slow part' off the normal charging time, about half an hour. That is if it used to charge in 2 hours, it's now 90 minutes. If it was 90 minutes, it's now an hour.

A 'retuned' version (to deal with the lower charge current there) with a different cable works the same way for Ascent. And I assume Vapor Blunt, although I never tried that.
JiH7A5A.jpg


I even built one with a regulator so it can use the same 12 Volt source as everything else around here seems to use (no need for the special Ascent charger). The regulator is below the hand made prototype gadget:
w5O6XvM.jpg


And I've built an adapter so the same gadget (with the same settings, BTW) will charge the Air's single cell in the same manner (by converting the 12 VDC out to 5 VDC as Air requires).

How to put even that small amount if information in one place I've no idea......

It's also worth noting that while sales types try to push charging as far as possible within the limits of warranty to get the longest run times to advertise, this might not be the best compromise for us owners who will have to buy replacements all the sooner. In fact, it's looking like Air might push this even further than normal. Warnings are out from the maker not to substitute batteries or external chargers. Investigation so far has found internal chargers slightly out of range (mine is about 4.25 Volts) and discharge limits set lower than normal. It seems at least possible they have picked a battery (really technically a "cell") to use that's better able to handle the abuse. Using 'less capable' (in this respect) batteries could shorten their life or even get them to fail outright. Likewise the charger's photo (nobody has tested the factory one yet) has been identified as 'looking just like' a Chinese charger that charges to abnormally higher voltages (meaning 'normal chargers' would give less run time but probably not damage the factory battery).

Fun stuff, lots left to explore and hopefully exploit.

OF
 

OF

Well-Known Member
PUI/Randy doesn't charge for return of items. He even offered to pay both ways when there was a problem.

I'm not sure if that includes international shipping? And even if it does, Customs Duty on the replacement can be quite expensive I understand. And that will be borne by the owner. For those in the EU it often makes sense to abandon gear that would be sent in domestically, just as it is for us here sometimes?

OF
 

DJ Colonel Corn

The Vapor Ninja
Wow, OK, good to know.
The devices I'm used to cut off at 3.6 volts (on a single 18650) to save the battery, and my charger (nitecore d4) stops charging at 4.2 volts, includes 'soaking' charge, which is important....
So, I won't let my Solo sit on the charger anymore I suppose. As you said, batteries for the Air for example are pretty cheap, and we're talking life going down after maybe 6 months to a year, I can handle buying $20 worth of batteries once a year or so.
It's a shame the Solo charger appears, according to OF, to overcharge the battery, keeping it at too high of a level. I'm used to intelligent chargers.
I've probably damaged my battery somewhat by leaving it on the charge.
Well, this is a major reason why we're all here, to learn about combustion-less vaping devices !! Right ?
:nod:
A good site for learning about li-ion batteries, whether yours are replaceable or not, is Battery University. I've found their explanations to be clearly understandable and thorough.
Again, grateful for the knowledge !
 

OF

Well-Known Member
It's a shame the Solo charger appears, according to OF, to overcharge the battery, keeping it at too high of a level. I'm used to intelligent chargers.

I'm not sure it's fair to say it overcharges the battery, it just pushes the top end of the acceptable range. For reasons they think are important (better capacity values to help sales).

I guess I didn't make myself clear enough.

That is I think they too are using an "intelligent charger", it's just what they think the smart compromise might differ from yours or mine? My bigger concern is the 'use while charging' and 'keep it plugged in so it's ready to go' philosophies are naturals to combine with the new models to get innocent guys to wreck their batteries by keeping them at 100% charge 99% of the time? I think it's best to treat it as a portable that needs charging from time to time rather than a desktop with battery power for when you want to take it somewhere special.

OF
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Only thing I must ask is the glass stem supposed to be so loose in the unit? I have a bit of OCD or something so it bugs me a tiny bit.

While they're usually pretty tight when new, that doesn't last long. If it's an 'open box' one it would be very rare if it's not loose. The maker considers this not an issue (part of the design), he's on record as saying he expects stems to fall out if you turn it over. Not to worry. Enjoy the Solo, as you've already discovered it's a great vape.

If it really drives you bonkers, you can get an improvement with adding a correct size o-ring above the oven. Size (has to fit very well) and material (has to take 400F) are important. There are two sizes in general use that usually fit the two different thickness caps, but caution putting it in is still needed. You don't want any 'clamp down' with the cap. Guys sometimes do that with a too fat ring trying to make the fit even tighter which it does for a while......at least until it breaks the retaining tabs on the bottom.....

You can get either size from Planet Vape (whom you should check out right now anyway......), but I advise getting to know it as it is. Don't fall into the 'read it on the web' trap, make up your own mind what works best for you based on your experience......not the experience of some guy you never met not even using his real name?

OF
 

Mr H

New Member
Many thanks for your reply and excellent advice.

It's only a niggle but I think I will fit one at some point it looks like no problem to do,and you are very informative and all I can say again is thanks.
This is a wonderful vape just what I was hoping for it ticks all the right boxes for me.
 

lookhigh

FC member
I'm not sure if that includes international shipping? And even if it does, Customs Duty on the replacement can be quite expensive I understand. And that will be borne by the owner. For those in the EU it often makes sense to abandon gear that would be sent in domestically, just as it is for us here sometimes?

OF
Yes it does, I'm in Ireland. Customs are another problem :bang:
 

OF

Well-Known Member
It's back again. How do I do a hard reset?

Bummer. You have to open it up. Remove the cap and carefully remove the four screw in the bottom. Gently push the works out the bottom and unlatch the battery cover. Unplug the battery for half a minute or so, I usually push a few buttons to be sure all the stored power in the electronics is quickly bled off. Then put it all back together.

Be very careful with the cover latches and screws. Be sure the tabs are solidly down on the body before you put the screws in lest you break the tabs. Don't screw the screws down over tight, they're tapered and will split out the tapered hole in the tabs.

Take it slow and easy and if you're at all handy you'll have no real troubles. BTW you need a size 0 Philips screwdriver at least. One of mine doesn't fit very well at all. I find 00 to be a better fit. Be sure to work over something, them bitty screws can make a break for freedom at any time......

OF
 

Pain

Well-Known Member
Is there a good glass extention for the Solo stem or a longer stem? Looking for another 2 to 3 inches for the bent stem for slightly cooler vapor, but not a water filter.
 

LiquidVape

Well-Known Member
Is there a good glass extention for the Solo stem or a longer stem? Looking for another 2 to 3 inches for the bent stem for slightly cooler vapor, but not a water filter.

i would look at this thread :http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/joda-glassworks.13915/
And contact Vaped&Confused, he will make you a custom stem, with all your specifics and give you a quote.

Also, Planetvape.ca has some custom stems that i find much better then the stock. Though they are not longer except for the PVHE Vortex, found here: http://www.planetvape.ca/pvhes-high-efficiency-vortex-stems.html Which is brand new, and ill be giving my opinion once i get it tomorrow.
 
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