IOLite V1 My Problems, Remedies and Mods (merged)
IOLite V1 My Problems, Remedies and Mods
If there has ever been a guy with bad luck as far as receiving buggy product, well that would be me. I am constantly being tested for my trouble shooting skills which for the most part have not let me down.
I have purchased one of these puppies after doing much research and this model has been tried and proven for a long time now. I picked it up for $99.95 as it was the V1 model. Which leads me to my first question:
What is the actual difference between vintages? (besides the colour)
I actually ordered two as I had a friend who wanted one as well and this worked out well as it gave me a second unit to compare the performance to. This proved helpful to resolve some of the gremlins I had.
1/ Hits seemed to have too much back pressure.
I searched for this problem to find most users complaining about this were told to pack the bowl more loosely. In my case, this would be completely the wrong answer.
The problem ended up been that the mouthpiece was assembled wrong from the factory. The heat resistant disk which the bowl goes into and screws onto the mouth piece was
seated into the wrong holding slots in the housing. This lowered the bowl into the heat chamber by about 2 mm too far. Thus, impairing airflow around the bottom of heating chamber. This problem compounded with the little play (movement) there is with bowl movement within this disk.
The remedy was to take housing apart and put disk into proper slot. I also used a metal washer around the bottom of mouthpiece to eliminate the movement.
The housing comes apart surprisingly easy. Simply remove bowl and mouthpiece. Use thumbs in bowl hole the pull halves apart. Once you start to split the two pieces use a small slot head screw driver to separate the pieces evenly.
Now back pressure is the same as other unit.
BONUS: Once I re-assembled, it also solved a different problem which I though was normal. The bowl/mouthpiece now stays in place much better and actually snaps into place. I was using a hair band to give me better confidence as to not to spill in pocket. Now I have more confidence that it will not to open prematurely.
2/ Gas consumption/filling problems.
Sometimes the unit would run out of gas 10 minutes into the vaping session. Booooo
Tried the purging advise which sure helped and unit seemed to fill better. Was still not comfortable with the feel of the way it seemed to fill and much wastage to confirm a full charge. (it sucks driving and the thing pitters out)
I determined I needed to see what was happening inside when I was filling it up. A modification was needed for this:
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLiteV1-GasTankGaugeMod6.jpg
So I modded the sucker. Now I discovered what was happening. The valve indeed behaves differently then the other unit. As the fill valve is pressed it opens as you would expect however (a big however in this case), it closes again when a little more pressure is applied. This combined with the fact that the supply can of butane generally takes more pressure to open then the IO creates a small window where the gas is actually going into the device. Thus wasting a lot of gas. Worst case was when not using enough pressure to open the supply can but enough to open the IO allowing gas to escape. This was the culprit wasting my gas. I could clearly see this with the mod. I will post the how to for this mod in separate post.
Therefore, the remedy in this case was education and modding unit to achieve confidence in having a full tank.
Notes:
Gas life- Good for 2 each 15 20 minute sessions. 3 is too risky.
The tank has some kind of buffer material in it, 1/3 of the tank (closest to outlet valve) has white cotton looking stuff and there is also some darker material which does have movement while filling or purging.
Second question:
Anyone know what this is and why so much of it? (Most lighters and torches have a thin white strip of material only)
And a third question:
From a couple things I read it says to purge hold the IO upside down (fill side down) and disperse the gas. Why? To me this should be the other way around as the purpose is to evacuate any air or propellant from the butane. Pushing the fluid out first while purging needs an explaination for me to understand. Although it works..Also, in this explanation why do they say to shake the fill can before using? Again, to me this is backward as the propellant is in the air portion so been gentle makes more sense trying NOT to mix the propellant and butane.
3/ Slow heat up time. 4 -5 minutes to get going optimal. Second unit good to go in 2 minutes.
Well, what can I say. While I had it opened I had a close look at the bi-metal thermostat to determine whats up.
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLiteV1_Thermostat-Ignitor1.jpg
It consists of two kinds of metal held together by two pressure pins. I found one of mine was slightly crooked. I used pliers to push it strait the same as other side was. I also gave it a few taps with the handle of a screw driver just to looser the connection up a bit.
To actually attempt an adjustment would be more then likely have devastating results. I believe the setting would be the thickness of the plates combined with the pressure of the two clips.
Anyway after testing again, the thing reacts the same as second unit. SUCCESS.or luck?
4/ Heating chamber discoloured away faster then second IO.
Now this is just down right freaky. Same unit, same herb, similar usage. Second units heating chamber is still shiny with the exception of the center pin. Now on mine, it lost its shine but the center pin is not that bad. Too early to tell but suspect it may have to do with the same problem as above and may now be working the same as second IO. No conclusion to this at this time. Only small difference in usage is that second unit was used with that optional three prong heat distributer right from the start. I didnt start until using after a few days of use.
5/ Igniter Failure.
After getting the unit to work pretty much the same as the second unit I enjoyed all of 2 days before the igniter started feeling odd and took multiple clicks to ignite. Then no click and no ignition. Crap, really pissed at this point and was sure it was nothing I did while inside it. I knew I would have a hard time with warranty as I did open it. Before exploring this route I thought that igniter looked the same as other lighter/torch igniters Ive seen. I did have an old touch lighter I bought for the VG but never worked out for that purpose. Took that unit apart and surprise, surprise and a wonderful surprise in deed.
Not only was it the exact same looking part including the wire lengths but it has a quieter click and ignites 1st click EVERY time. Man what a relief.
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLiteV1_Open.jpg
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLiteV1_IgnitorReplacement.jpg
Feels great the just click once and see that red glow start right away. Knock on wood, have never had to double click since replacement.
Well that it for out of the box troubles. Now for some enhancements(the fun stuff)
First off, that plastic thing they call a mouth piece. Used once and knew it had to go.
Saw pics of rubber hosing some off to the medical supply shop. In my case it was a Shoppers Medical supply center. (It was located right beside a Shoppers Drug Mart)
They had it in two thicknesses with the same ID (internal diameter). I got 4 feet of each at a cost of $2 per foot. Ended up using the thicker tube for a shorter 4 and the thinner stuff for a 3 foot piece of the thinner wall for use when not needing a portable.
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLite1-3.jpg
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLite-DripTip-1.jpg
http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii600/pipes59/IOLite/IOLite-TableTop1-1.jpg
Used a e-cigarette drip tip for the mouth piece. Trimmed the rubber using toenail clippers to round off the rubber at the mouth piece for cosmetic appearance. As for the stand, I found a support for one of my internet routers fix perfect.
After using this unit for over a month now I found it just keeps getting better. At first I was impatient in waiting up to 5 minutes but the wait time seems to get shorter as it works in. I was also using the 3 prong optional heat distributor to quicken the process but found now I dont need it. Makes filling and emptying much easier as well.
As for using it for quick couple hits, useless. You need to have the time put aside.
However, I found you can cut it down somewhat by leaving some previously vaped herb in the unit and use as filler. Trying to put just a bit in a empty bowl will not give consistent hits but spermatic at best.
The vapor density could be thicker but personally if it was I would be coughing a lot more as Im at the border line with what this puts out. So just about right for me.
So to round things up for now.
As for the goods, well lets just say EVERYTHING except for the bads
The bads:
Mouthpiece is a joke.
Sound of hissing does take away from the stealth perspective.
Heat up to optimum temp is a little long.
Flexibility of quantity of herb.
Confirmation of full charge needed.
Well Im getting tired of typing, after all this is my first post.
Pipes