eGo-CE4 questions

[iceman68]

Just got my eGo-CE4, charged the battery(1100mah), filled the clearomizer(1.6ml) and...disappointed. Not much vapor production and very little flavor. Sometimes tastes funny and a little burnt. Not good. I just got this and was expecting so much more out of it. I get much better vapor production and TH from my old Joye 510. What's goin' on? Using 12mg 50PG/50VG RY4 juice.

I've read some other threads about similar issues but still have questions. These CE4's aren't rebuildable, can't take them apart, I guess? Basically disposable I assume. Two came with the kit and I've only tried one so far. Afraid to try the other one for fear that won't be any better. Do I upgrade to CE5, CE6, or some other model? I believe this thing should work better than this right out of the box considering it's brand new. I guess the clearo could be bad but... not sure.

I've heard that removing the little silicone cap on the inside and trimming it down allows more liquid to get to the wicks. Is that worth trying? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Kinda bummed right now 'cuz this thing didn't meet my expectations.

 

[AngelsBreath]

Yeah, I started with those too. IMHO they are serious juice hogs and have a very plastic taste. I moved on to the kanger protank and the evods, much better flavor and they are bottom feeders which is much better, it doesn't take the juice forever to get to you and you don't have to continue rolling it around. Some people love them but I'm not one of them.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Give it more tilt, take a drag or 3 without adding power, then take a real drag. See if that helps.
I gave up on the CE4 style. Sometimes good hits, most times..blah. I have now tried and like the kanger MT3's .. bottom coil.. although I really prefer carto tanks

 

[440BB]

CE4 clearos come from many different manufacturers, and have a wide variation in quality. I've had some that were wound too tight to wick well and had that burnt plastic taste - cheap knockoffs. I have had really good results with genuine Vision Ego clearos, the original short wick and the long wick as well.

You can try trimming a tiny bit of the silicone cap, but if you've got that plastic taste it may not help. If you can stick to genuine Vision and genuine Kanger clearos you'll probably enjoy your vape much more. Good luck!

 

[crosscheck]

I'm in the same boat, except i'm completely new. I've only been vaping for 5 days now, and both ce-4's from my ego-c starter kit are now leaking, and I cannot seem to fix it. They worked fine until now, then all of a sudden I'm getting non stop leakage from the bottom where it screws on to the battery. Looked up videos and threads, tried everything but didn't get any results. I can't seem to empty the air valves of e-juice. As soon as it seems clean, I put the thing back together and within a couple of attempts, it's clogged back up and flooding again, resulting in no vapor, bad taste, etc etc.

I fear I only have a few hours to go before I have to pick up an analog, but I'm going to keep trying to fix this until I can't hold on anymore

 

[iceman68]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll try fiddling with this for awhile and see if it improves. However, the general impression I'm getting is these CE4's aren't that great so I might just upgrade to something else and be done with it.

I fear I only have a few hours to go before I have to pick up an analog, but I'm going to keep trying to fix this until I can't hold on anymore

Don't go back to the cigs! Go get a disposable or two from a local retailer to hold you over until you can get new gear. Anything to stay off the cancer sticks.

 

[Alter]

I use the CE4's and am quite happy with their performance I think they are better than the CE5's.
I get more than a month out of the wick. They can be finiky sometimes and give a dry hit. Thru youtube I've managed to be able to keep the several I have always burning good and getting no more dry hits or burnt taste.
I'm using the rebuildable kind...the ones without the texture on the bottom are disposable ones and they are real chit..I got less then a week before it crapped out and I just tossed it. You can force the silicone cap out the top to dry burn it a bit but good luck at getting it back in there without major hassles.
This is what I do to use and maintain my clearos:
-make sure the centerpost isn't crooked cause having one of the wicks crushed against the side can impede the juice flow, just tweak the centerpost, not the wick head or you bend it and it will never sit right.
-Don't fill the clearo past the top of the wicks or you get inproper airflow...dry hits and leaking onto the battery top.
-Tip them a little so either or both of the wick holes are open and aren't obstructed with juice...again you get dry hits if the atomizer holes are plugged, hence no airflow.
-Everytime I fill with juice I take a pair of tweezers and wiggle the silicone cap a bit and lift up a iota...the cap can crush the wicks and again you get dry hits or lousy vapor production.
-After a while you notice it just isn't vaping as it use to then it requires to be cleaned out..I just fill a old juice bottle with HOT water and fill the clearo bout half full and shake, dump out and repeat till the hot water bottle is empty, IMO getting water on the coil doesn't do nothing cause I've been doing it that way and my wicks are still going strong. I don't put all the parts into a container and shake..thats just looking to bend or break something.
-Onto the table I take the entire clearo apart, remove the o-ring from the drip tip, o-ring from the bottom of the clearo, the o-ring from the heating core and wash them all with alcohol along with the grooves they sit in..once the juice gets behind the o-ring in the groove it will always leak.
I clean the threads and drip tip with alcohol cause I don't drink and I'm not buying vodka just to clean clearos.
Carefully dry the wicks with paper towel, blow out all the water and make sure all is dry, replace all the o-rings back and put it back together except for the tank part.
-Dry burn( hold bout 3 seconds and let off, blow the smoke away and repeat till you see the coils all go red.. bout half dozen times) take a toothpick and LIGHTLY slide it across the coil inbetween burns to loosen the cocoon around the coil.
Fill up to the bottom of the wick holes with juice and I take a bunch of powerless hits to force the juice up the wick. Take several powered short and slow draws at first to make sure the juice is on the coil and you'll see your getting more vapor with every slow draw.
IMO the biggest culprit to getting dry hits is filling the clearo too full, I was getting the dry hits and just crappy vapor way to much especially after a refill.
It takes me bout 10 minutes from start to finish to clean my clearo but I live in the middle of nowhere and have to rely on Canadian mailorder so maintaining them is what I have to do to get all I can get outta them so I don't have to pay $10.00 shipping fee for 5 bucks worth of wicks.
I hope this helps you out.

Edit: we are still using 3 out of the 4 origional CE4 wicks we got with out starter packs a month and 9 days ago. The 4th musta been a friday coil..it just never worked very well and I took it apart to see what made it tick.

 

[RT88]

Good God Man you didn't clean it? i'm using 1/2 oz cheap vodka to soak heads and wicks for a few min on first use. then some water to cover and dilute and i add the tank and tip. i worry about the silicone in the 40% alcohol. leave it for 30 min or more and look at the surface. most times i see clear oil slicks or something floating

just get some Vision 2.0s you'll never buy a CE4 or 5 again