When you buy your first vape mod, the benefits of vaping compared to smoking become evident almost immediately. You still get to enjoy your nicotine when you switch to vaping, but you don’t have to worry about the major drawbacks of smoking – foul smells, throat irritation and coughing, just to name a few. What’s even better is that in the flavor department, there’s simply no comparison between vaping and smoking. A vape can taste like almost anything, but a cigarette will only ever taste like a cigarette.
The downside, though, is that a vape is also quite a bit more complicated than a cigarette. After you light a cigarette, the rest pretty much handles itself. A cigarette can’t blink at you or display an error message, and a cigarette certainly doesn’t require a troubleshooting guide.
Here’s the good news: Once you understand what your vape’s error codes mean, fixing them becomes a fairly simple matter. More importantly, you’ll know what causes the errors and will be able to prevent them from happening in the first place. Apart from occasional low battery notifications, most experienced vapers never see error codes on their vapes at all – and that’s exactly where this troubleshooting guide will begin.
So, is your vape displaying an error code? Here’s what it means and how to fix it.
Low Battery, Check Battery or Low Volts
These messages indicate that your vape mod’s battery is dead. As we mentioned above, this is the most common error code that you’re likely to see on your vape because your device’s battery is going to die eventually regardless of what you do. To fix the error, connect the vape to your computer with a USB cable. An indicator should appear on the screen to let you know that the battery is charging. Wait for the indicator to fill. When it’s full, you can resume using your vape.
Not Charging?
- Use a different USB cable.
- Make sure that your vape’s charging port is clean.
- Use a different computer or a different USB port on the same computer.
Time Out, Time Over, Vape Cutoff
These error codes aren’t actually errors at all but rather indicate that you’ve taken a long puff and triggered your device’s built-in cutoff timer. This feature helps to ensure that your vape won’t overheat if, for example, the fire button gets pressed inadvertently while you’re carrying the device in your pocket. A few vape mods do have adjustable puff timers. For the most part, though, you’re at the mercy of your device here and will simply need to take shorter puffs to avoid seeing one of these error codes.
High Temp, Overheat
These messages indicate that the internal temperature of your vape mod is too high. Every high-quality vape mod has an internal temperature sensor that helps to protect the battery. When the temperature sensor exceeds a certain level, the mod automatically shuts down to ensure that the battery won’t overheat. To fix the error, move the mod to an air-conditioned environment and don’t use it again until it’s completely cool. To prevent your vape from overheating in the future, don’t use it in extremely hot environments or in direct sunlight.
Lock or Locked
Here’s another vape mod error code that doesn’t actually indicate an error. Every vape mod has a locking function that prevents the device from activating when you don’t want it to. If your vape mod displays the message “Lock” or “Locked” when try to use it, the device is turned on but locked. You can usually enable and disable the locking function by pressing your mod’s fire button either three or five times. A few mods also have physical locking switches that allow you to lock or unlock your device by moving the switch.
Check Atomizer, Atomizer Short, Short Circuit
At this point, we’re getting into the more serious errors. These error codes either indicate that your vape mod isn’t able to detect the coil in your tank at all or that the coil has a short circuit. In either case, the vape mod has to shut down because the battery has no load, which can cause overheating. In this guide, we’ll assume that you’re using a commercial vape tank with pre-built coils. If you’re using a rebuildable atomizer and are building your own coils, make sure that you’re testing your coils with a standalone resistance checker before using them. A resistance checker will test for a short circuit, and it’ll also confirm that the resistance of the coil falls within the expected range.
If you’re using a commercial vape tank, follow these steps to fix an error relating to the coil.
- Remove the tank from your vape mod and disassemble it. Remove and reseat the coil to confirm that it’s twisted in all the way and not cross-threaded. If a vape coil isn’t installed properly, the metal heating element could touch another metal component such as the chimney leading out of the tank. If this happens, a short circuit could occur.
- After confirming that the coil is installed correctly, reassemble the tank. Screw the components together carefully to confirm that they aren’t cross-threaded. This is another case in which incorrect assembly can cause a short circuit. If your tank’s components lock up when you try to twist them back together, they’re cross-threaded. Back them up and try again.
- If you continue to experience problems after trying the steps above, it’s likely that you’re using a defective or damaged coil. Replace the coil and try again.
Resistance High, Resistance Low
These error messages indicate that the detected resistance of the installed coil is either too high or too low to fall within the vape mod’s supported range. You can find your device’s supported resistance range by reading the instruction manual or by looking for the information online. Assuming that your device does support the coil that you’re using – which should be the case with almost any modern vape mod – you can troubleshoot the problem by following the steps in the previous section of this article.