@darkrom This is the price you pay for buying the old kit. The V1 persei top that comes with the old EO carts has no short protection as the Herc hadn't been designed/released yet when it was developed. The V2 tops and later were designed to detect a short in the Herc and flash instead of applying power. The V3 was designed with customer feedback to have an on/off function and a protruding button, IIRC this one has some issues with false detecting shorts, some issues with the center pin - long term durability. When G says not as reliable as he'd like, I think the reference there is in how they hold up after 6 months or a year of heavy use. NOT in a fragile product that fails easily. Gary has a different definition of acceptable, "perfect", or "reliable" then a lot of people, and it's why I own so much UP tech gear. G and the UP Tech crew have been hard at work on a V4 top for some time that will incorporate a much more reliable touch button, less moving parts = less breakage, and also even more featured with Hammer functionality built in.
I can understand your concern, but as far as your worry, I think it is misplaced. UP Tech has a stellar warranty program, and if/when your current products break and you send them in for warranty, you are always upgraded to the latest & greatest. If you are inside the warranty period those upgrades are FREE and if you are outside the warranty period or even intentionally damage your vape, it is less than 1/2 the cost of a new Persei to get your new Persei.
As far as oxidizing your remaining 5Ω cart. Put it on a device in 3.7v mode. Look down the tube and hold the button for a very few seconds at a time. You are hoping to see a faint glow off the coil in the very bottom of the cart. You don't need to want to get the coil glowing red-hot: The coil is designed to be submerged in oil and that keeps it cool and lasting a long time. After a few cycles of this you are ready to load your oil. This test confirms that the cart is working, step 1 before you put expensive oil into a disposable cart is checking operation. Step 2 is do a few cycles holding the button down for about 3 seconds and then off for say 10 seconds for the coil to cool down. This part is called pre-oxidizing. After this you are ready for step 3, loading
UP provides good cart fill instructions:
http://www.w9tech.com/content/instructionmanual/extract_cartridge_fill_instructions.pdf
Insert the fill tool funnel into the top of the cart. Line up the 'bars' and press hard. Then take a torch (or these days I prefer a heat gun to use the bare minimum heat for maximum flavor) - pre-heat the cartridge about halfway down, and heat the funnel. This is with a very low heat and only to transfer a bit of heat into the cart so that when you load your oil, it turns liquid and runs all the way to the bottom quickly, without cooling. When you have your cart+funnel warmed up, but not hot to the touch, then drop your oil/wax/whatever into the funnel and continue using low heat to melt it in per w9's instructions. Getting the oil melted all the way to the bottom of the cart is critical for good flavor and getting the max life out of your cart. Holding the cart at a slight angle while filling will let it 'burp' while loading.
In my personal experience having loaded dozens of EO carts and if memory serves... the really old 2.4 and 1.5 ohm carts even when preoxidized had a slight metallic taste for a dozen or so hits; and that faded pretty quickly into hundreds of good tasting hits with the correct slow draw. The old 5Ω carts I never had good luck with getting to taste anywhere close to decent. The 2nd 5Ω cart I used out of my 2nd V1 persei kit (I've bought 3 V1 kits total) I preoxidized and tried using on 3.7V for 20 or so hits (just to make sure all the oil was melted in and no air pockets, etc- verrrrry long button press and sloooowww draws) and it tasted OK then when I put 7.4V to it, even with 1/2 second taps it didn't taste very good to me. Later on I purchased a newer style 5Ω cart and with the new style if I can see the coil glow, it's ready to load. The new ones taste good, but still, are harder to use by nature than the 3.7... I discovered I myself prefer the 3.7V carts and being able to hold the button for longer amts. of time instead of tapping & always being scared of burning the oil... it is my own personal preference.
With the SR-74 at 7.4v though you don't have to worry really about burning the oil or about doing something wrong and ruining the flavor, or melting the oil in with a torch or anything.
To load the Herc you assemble the unit per the instructions on w9tech.com or Gary's videos on youtube. You check that the rod gets hot, squish your ti coil and insert that, load about .3 into the chamber - make sure it gets to the bottom, use a tool or dabber to push it down if not- then use short 1-2 second pushes to introduce a little heat to the oil and get it to melt in to the coil. Then I add another say .3ish on top (it's been so long since I've actually weighed herc loads out), give it another couple taps... I have the mouthpiece inserted on the top cap so once it starts melting in I pop that on and start to give her a long, gentle draw with a few more button taps at the beginning- My idea here is to prevent any oil from leaking into the bottom chamber with a cool down draw, then I put the black PTFE shields on the Herc and it's good to go.
If you have crumble or honeycomb, that's the 'toughest' to load. I think it's because of the air pockets, maybe? I find a heat gun works wonders to get those fully-stable concentrates to start melting enough to get the air pockets out, and the oil in contact with the Ti & ceramic, at which point the heat from the herc can do its thing.
*One last thing. I would highly recommend you try out KISS carts on your Persei. There's a reason the Persei currently comes with a 7.4V kiss cart. It's an easy to use, super powerful little coil that tastes good and makes some thick vapor!
