The Arizer Air

[Justpassedu]

It does every thing it should do, except it doesn't keep doing it long enough.
So it heats up and when it's up to temp, sometimes it goes for a minute and shuts down,
sometimes it keeps heating for 3 minutes, 5 minutes....
Basically, it shuts down randomly.
This is with a freshly charged battery.
I got two batteries, both with same results.
I haven't tested it plugged in yet, can it be used without batteries when plugged in?
Though it would be weird that both batteries go south after about the same time.
I haven't charged them any other way than in the air.

Hmm sounds like a software issue . No you cannot use it plugged in with no battery. You can use it plugged in with a battery though if the battery has a good amount of juice already in it. Give it a try.

 

[OF]

I haven't tested it plugged in yet, can it be used without batteries when plugged in?
Though it would be weird that both batteries go south after about the same time.
I haven't charged them any other way than in the air.

As said above, it needs at least a partially charged battery to work with the charger plugged in. You might also see if it runs OK without heating, in such cases the charger alone provides more than enough power.

Strange as it sounds, if there are two dead batteries in the world, the chances of the second showing up with the first is actually higher than anywhere else. Both yours were made in the same lot, probably very near each other presumably. Both were subject to the same abuse in shipping (say heat?). I would not dismiss that possibility. Do you have any other 18650s you could try?

You might also try unscrewing the end cap a bit while it's running, there's an off chance the connection at the bottom is marginal (one guy reported trouble there).

Good luck. IMO the fact it behaves normally for a while points to a power problem of some sort to me.

OF

 

[johnlenin]

Hello FC. I have been reading the air thread and the solo thread for awhile now and i decided to purchase the air today. Thanks to everyone on this site posting experiences, there is really nothing like the FC community, you guys rock!
I ordered from randy at piu. They said extra batteries were out of stock but i sent randy an email asking when they would have more in and he replied in like 20 min and said they had a few left, and he sent me an invoice for an air and an extra battery. And get this, he didnt even charge me for the extra battery! So obviously cant sing randy's praises loud enough. If anyone is on the fence about ordering, order from randy at puffitup!

 

[SlightlyStonedSD]

Hey everybody, I haven't been by in a few days, been a stressful work week plus I didn't have my Air I wasn't even able to get to the post office to send my unit back to Arizer until today. So hopefully I'll have a working unit in my hands in 2 weeks or so. It's good to hear all the happy new Air owners and the great deal you guys got. lol

I've been on the fence about buying a MFLB as a temporary primary portable and longterm backup. I'm going to Vegas this weekend and I didn't want to bring my Herbalizer but it's my only working vape now.

So it seems I'm one of the few if not only person on FC? with a defect air.
I contacted Arizer and they suggested sending it back.
It can only be sent to Canada, so this could cost me another air if customs charge
me as much as they did when I first recieved it.
I'm still not sure if I'm going to send it back or if I'm going to wait a few weeks and buy one
online from Holland and forget about this one all together.

It does every thing it should do, except it doesn't keep doing it long enough.
So it heats up and when it's up to temp, sometimes it goes for a minute and shuts down,
sometimes it keeps heating for 3 minutes, 5 minutes....
Basically, it shuts down randomly.
This is with a freshly charged battery.
I got two batteries, both with same results.
I haven't tested it plugged in yet, can it be used without batteries when plugged in?
Though it would be weird that both batteries go south after about the same time.
I haven't charged them any other way than in the air.

Hate to say it but it sounds like the same problem I had.

 

[kahlilhc]

Used the PiU code, 194$ (130£) shipped to the UK, now I just hope I don't get raped by customs tax..I have about 40£ to spare for it before it would've have been worth just getting it from vapefiend (169£/253$).

Air en route.

 

[EVlL 55]

I have actually recently received 2 wonky 18650 Panasonics...
Off charge levels,..more towards the dead side...I almost returned a mod until by chance tried an a/w battery....worked fine....
It was those batteries that came together and I'm assuming were produced together.
Frustrating.

 

[CarolKing]

Hey everybody, I haven't been by in a few days, been a stressful work week plus I didn't have my Air I wasn't even able to get to the post office to send my unit back to Arizer until today. So hopefully I'll have a working unit in my hands in 2 weeks or so. It's good to hear all the happy new Air owners and the great deal you guys got. lol

I've been on the fence about buying a MFLB as a temporary primary portable and longterm backup. I'm going to Vegas this weekend and I didn't want to bring my Herbalizer but it's my only working vape now.




Hate to say it but it sounds like the same problem I had.

So far there are 2 FCers with faulty Airs. Hopefully with all the new owners there still will be a low return rate. It seems to be a very nice and sturdy device that works well and seems easy to operate. No learning curve involved.

Best of all it medicated sooooo well!

 

[SavageCore]

Used the PiU code, 194$ (130£) shipped to the UK, now I just hope I don't get raped by customs tax..I have about 40£ to spare for it before it would've have been worth just getting it from vapefiend (169£/253$).

Air en route.

Let us know! I went with Vapefiend today didn't want to risk it.

 

[marvil701]

Is it possible to use the Air without a battery plugged inside? While it is attached to its power unit, of course.

This would be great, because it would be a way of giving the battery a break, thereby extending its lifetime.

 

[Justpassedu]

Is it possible to use the Air without a battery plugged inside? While it is attached to its power unit, of course.

This would be great, because it would be a way of giving the battery a break, thereby extending its lifetime.

No

 

[MechanicalENTgineer]

Is it possible to use the Air without a battery plugged inside? While it is attached to its power unit, of course.

This would be great, because it would be a way of giving the battery a break, thereby extending its lifetime.

No, the way the charger works is that it charges the battery while you use it. This will cause the battery to lose charge (eventually) if you only charge while vaping. The charger itself can not power the device on its own merely recharge the battery (while it is being discharged)

 

[al bundy]

The Vapir No2 you could take battery out and use it.

 

[fabronaut]

It can only be sent to Canada, so this could cost me another air if customs charge me as much as they did when I first recieved it.]

customs charges you for receiving previously paid product replaced under warranty? damn... :/

I live in Canada and haven't ordered much stuff internationally, so I have no idea if the reverse would be true, but that's unfortunate :/

only issue I seem to be having is one of the two batteries doesn't seem to hold a charge well when stored? It's from the same lot, pretty sure. It's stamped with the next serial from the batch I believe.

hope all works out for you!

edit: borked quote

 

[DJ Colonel Corn]

OK well....
I didn't want to believe @OF at first, when he said companies (like Arizer and others) will ruin batteries in order to get longer vape times out of their units.
Well, I see now that the red 'discharged' light on the Air kicks on at or below 3.49 volts.
This is way too low for most 18650 batteries. However, SOME batteries CAN go this low without damage.
Since I have not seen any specs on the Arizer batteries, I don't know if this is the case with them.
One of my Arizer batteries says v3 and the other one v4 (white one is v3, red is v4).
Does anyone know the specs of the Arizer batteries ?
I'm only using stock, to protect my warranty. If people out there want different batteries, well, make sure they are hi-drain 30amp minimum and can discharge to 3.49 volts.
That said, if you don't know about batteries, just use the stock ones. More than 2 shouldn't be necessary for normal vape sessions.
Still preferring the long Solo stem on my Air, and got it set on Green.
Loving this Air.
So, anyone got specs for these Arizer batteries ? Can they go down to 3.49 volts safely ?
I haven't tested how high the voltage of a charged arizer battery is (charged in unit). I'm hoping no more than 4.2 volts...

 

[OF]

I didn't want to believe @OF at first, when he said companies (like Arizer and others) will ruin batteries in order to get longer vape times out of their units.
Well, I see now that the red 'discharged' light on the Air kicks on at or below 3.49 volts.
This is way too low for most 18650 batteries. However, SOME batteries CAN go this low without damage.

Actually I never said that, did I? I sure didn't intend to if I did. I said some makers will press the limits and sacrifice battery life for increased run time. Very different from "ruin". They still warranty the battery, they'd have to replace the batteries their design ruined?

I also said that it's possible Arizer was insisting on that particular battery for a good reason (like this) not just to try to make more money.

And I can't think of a single Li-ion that can't stand 3.49 Volts, typical numbers are like 3.2 Volts. Protection PCBs tend to be in the 2.5 to 2.75 range. Can you point to one that's not OK at 3.49?

So, anyone got specs for these Arizer batteries ? Can they go down to 3.49 volts safely ?
I haven't tested how high the voltage of a charged arizer battery is (charged in unit). I'm hoping no more than 4.2 volts...

If people out there want different batteries, well, make sure they are hi-drain 30amp minimum and can discharge to 3.49 volts.

No specs yet AFAIK. Centizen and Pipes were on this issue at one time, hopefully they will find something useful, both are known to share such information when they know for sure what the facts are. Until then I too am recommending sticking with the factory battery.

I measure close to 4.25 Volts on mine (it varies a bit) another owner has confirmed to me off line he finds that same (4.25) with his. Centizen said, I think, he found abnormally low discharge cut off. Either of these reasons, if real, could cause problems with some Li-ions making blind substitution unwise. That (substitution) could lead to ruin of the battery since it'd be run outside it's individual spec. I would not expect Arizer (or any responsible maker) to push the envelope too far, they have to cover wrecked batteries under warranty. But I can see them insisting on a battery with special specifications as TV and many others.

Same I think, perhaps, for chargers. They may have selected a charger that charges to higher voltage than normal in the quest for longer run times (they exist) meaning sub standard run times with the factory batteries if you use typical chargers (wouldn't hurt the factory battery in this case I'd think but the charge life would be less). Does anyone have the factory charger? What does the nameplate say?

Needing 30 Amp capability is not true. 4 or 5 Amps is plenty for this application. It's closed loop. You can never take advantage of the extra capacity like you can with say Cera or Persei for that reason, and to get that the maker trades away capacity we'd rather have I think?

OF

 

[DJ Colonel Corn]

.... hooked up my PNWT to my Air...
.... even cooler hits, although the vapor isn't as think I'd say ......
but fun nonetheless.
Here's a pic:

The Arizer Air With PNWT
​

You'll need a #7 O-ring, the size that comes on 510 concentrate coil heads, placed onto the glass stem of the Air. Then u got a perfect air seal.
(I got my pnwt here, a great seller I recommend.)

Actually, @OF , most devices cut off around 3.6volts or so, and, your advice was to avoid charging them to full power, and avoiding draining to minimum, which is sound adivce for an li-ion battery.
However , the Air does not indicate its power level, only 'good' and 'no good', so there's no real way to cut off the power as you suggest, without using an intelligent charger that shows voltage as its charging, like the nitecore d4. I'd suspect it charges the batteries up faster too, ,although I don' know the mAh's going into the battery thru the arizer charger.
As it's been discussed before, vaping while charging will end up in system failure, so, I really recommend a separate charger so you can always have one charged battery ready to go.
The car charger Arizer offers, I don;t know how many mAh's that puts into it either.
If anyone knows, please share.
I'm happy using my d4 charger and not vaping pass-thru as this will degrade the battery.
Much Love !
Edit: i see the 110 us power adapter says 1200 mAh. Not bad, better than my 750. Hm. So it might be quicker to charge it internally, I dunno. But I sill trust my d4 the most......

 

[OF]

However , the Air does not indicate its power level, only 'good' and 'no good', so there's no real way to cut off the power as you suggest, without using an intelligent charger that shows voltage as its charging, like the nitecore d4.

As it's been discussed before, vaping while charging will end up in system failure, so, I really recommend a separate charger so you can always have one charged battery ready to go.

Yes, you can discharge the Air far enough to hit cutoff, try it and see. I can't speak to colors, but there is a real cutoff. It's about 55 minutes out from 'full', give or take. At that point you need several minutes on charge to get going again. It takes about 2050 mAh of charger current to bring it back to full. Presumably that level is set at a safe level, at least for the factory battery.

I sure don't agree with "the red 'discharged' light on the Air kicks on at or below 3.49 volts.
This is way too low for most 18650 batteries" as I said, I don't know any Li-ions with lower limits that high. Consider this popular 18650:
http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-data/pdf2/ACA4000/ACA4000CE240.pdf

The chart upper right clearly shows we still have over a third of the useful capacity at 3.5 Volts. E-cigs typically regulate to 3.2 or so for this very reason (longest safe run time from their Li-ions), that seems logical here? Do you have an example of any Li-ion that's not safe discharged to 3.5? TIA

You can actually use current sense to detect the shift from CC to CV with the internal charger, I've been doing it with Solo for a year or so, the current one looks like this:

It's tripping about 650 mA IIRC. That's 12 VDC, of course, so you need a regulator to work with Air (5 VDC) my original looked like this:

Since the currents at normal charging levels (discharged battery) are basically the same for Solo and Air (about 800 mA max) the settings I've been using for Solo work fine for Air. The internal charger stops about .1 Volt early, about 10%, say six minutes run time? I still get four full sessions (I count 'em), and need around 1900 mAh to recharge. It can be done.

I don't agree that charging while using will end in failure. It's leaving it fully charged that's the issue. IIRC the charger can supply about 40% of the needed power, since it's a Norton node current summing game current from the charger doesn't have to come from the battery. That means it doesn't have to be replaced later. So the battery is discharged and recharged less. This will actually make the battery last about 40% longer if the owner is careful to avoid full charge as a matter of routine......which I think most would if they got into the habit? That (full time 'charged, ready to go') is what typically kills cell phone and laptop batteries. I'm sure we all know of such devices that no longer run very long, that's probably why. Not a good feature in a portable vape I think.

Confusing stuff for sure, but that's my understanding of the rules.

Regards to all.

OF

 

[peterpiper]

Just received my air. Very nice so far. Came with short stem with tip and longer stem without. Just ordered another battery and small stem with tip. Also came with 2 heat resistant caps, very nice.
Edit: Just fully charged. Used while still plugged in but after the 10 minute session it went to a flashing yellow top light, not the green bottom light for charging.
Is this normal, how will i know when fully charged (i know it was fully charged) on future uses.
If this makes sense
Thanks

 

[OF]

Just ordered another battery and small stem with tip.

I think you'll find you ordered a longer (about half an inch) version of the short stem you now have. Very useful IMO, the bowl size is bigger than the short stem you now have, like the longer one?

Sorry, being color blind I can't help with colors but that doesn't sound right to me. You should be getting four full sessions per charge?

OF

 

[shawn0223]

Just received my air. Very nice so far. Came with short stem with tip and longer stem without. Just ordered another battery and small stem with tip. Also came with 2 heat resistant caps, very nice.
Edit: Just fully charged. Used while still plugged in but after the 10 minute session it went to a flashing yellow top light, not the green bottom light for charging.
Is this normal, how will i know when fully charged (i know it was fully charged) on future uses.
If this makes sense
Thanks

Mine hasn't done that yet. It has however given me a double blueish green solid color before that doesn't do anything i noticed. I just powered off and on and it worked again. Try that and time the session. Like OF said, you should at least be getting full sessions

 

[peterpiper]

Thanks again of
Not sure how many sessiond im getting yet.
What i meant was.
I charged to full(solid bottom light) then had a 10 min sesh while still plugged in. When it timed out it went to a flashing top light. Not back to the bottom charging light, again if that makes sense
Thanks

 

[OF]

What i meant was.
I charged to full(solid bottom light) then had a 10 min sesh while still plugged in. When it timed out it went to a flashing top light. Not back to the bottom charging light, again if that makes sense
Thanks

My guess is that's normal. It goes back to standby expecting you to eventually start another session? I'm sure it's charging in the background still, but since I don't use it that way that's an 'educated guess'.

As a test, unplug it and plug it back in, I bet it goes to charging?

OF

 

[peterpiper]

Great thanks
I will try

 

[EVlL 55]

...I'm probably wrong here,..but I seem to remember that on the solo,..when you first turn it on...it blinks a determined color according to battery life...
I know you can mute it like the solo....

..I think the blinking light after a cycle while plugged in is just telling you its in charge mode...again...probably wrong.

 

[HerbalHealing]

After about a month of using my Air, I've really been enjoying it. Excellent build and performance.

I wish I could load a bit more into it, but the great taste more than makes up for that.

Solo fans would not be disappointed with the air in any way.