[LarryBud]

I just finished up my OAV 4 x 5 treatment and since the weather was still good, went to do another round and the Varrox wand apparently died. The first hive went off, saw the smoke but I had a pile of crystals of the screen. The second hive, nothing happened-dead. The battery was charged to 100% just before using it and it was only two shots. I hooked it up to my Land Rover and it didn't even get warm. It's a couple months old and this round of treatment was the first use. Is it dead dead or am I doing something wrong? Anyway to repair or can I return it (Blue Sky)?

 

[elmer_fud]

I would contact the seller. It could be a broken wire or something that you can repair, but I would start with trying to get it replaced.

 

[BenjaminM]

While my preference of multi-meters is Fluke, you can pick up an inexpensive brand from Ace Hardware or HomeDepot for about $25.

I would start by checking continuity / resistance across the battery connectors on the unit itself.

I would think under normal conditions, you should have continuity (no broken wires) across the two terminals.

I don't have a clue what the resistance should be, but I am going to make a wild guess of 500 Ohm, or something in that general ball park.

You might what to check continuity to ground as well. That is to say between the battery terminals and the metal block which is heated. Again, I don't have a clue about your vaporizor, but I would not expect to see continuity to ground.

 

[elmer_fud]

I don't have a clue what the resistance should be, but I am going to make a wild guess of 500 Ohm, or something in that general ball park.

power = voltage * current
If you assume you have a 100 watt heater in the wand (may be off by a factor of 2 either way) and a 12 volt battery you will have a current draw of about 8.3 amps.

resistance = voltage/current. If you have 12 volts and 8 amps the resistance should be about 1.5 ohms. With a cheap multimeter you may be able to measure 1-2 ohms, but anything less than that will be in the noise.

If you get a resistance reading of less than 5 ohms between the clips that connect to the battery on the wand it is probably ok, anything higher and you have a problem.

 

[LarryBud]

power = voltage * current
If you assume you have a 100 watt heater in the wand (may be off by a factor of 2 either way) and a 12 volt battery you will have a current draw of about 8.3 amps.

resistance = voltage/current. If you have 12 volts and 8 amps the resistance should be about 1.5 ohms. With a cheap multimeter you may be able to measure 1-2 ohms, but anything less than that will be in the noise.

If you get a resistance reading of less than 5 ohms between the clips that connect to the battery on the wand it is probably ok, anything higher and you have a problem.

power = voltage * current
If you assume you have a 100 watt heater in the wand (may be off by a factor of 2 either way) and a 12 volt battery you will have a current draw of about 8.3 amps.

resistance = voltage/current. If you have 12 volts and 8 amps the resistance should be about 1.5 ohms. With a cheap multimeter you may be able to measure 1-2 ohms, but anything less than that will be in the noise.

If you get a resistance reading of less than 5 ohms between the clips that connect to the battery on the wand it is probably ok, anything higher and you have a problem.

Ok, this is somewhat embarrassing but I actually do have a very nice multi-meter that I use on cars and when I do house wiring but to be quite honest, even with a post graduate degree in engineering, have no idea what this means.. So far, my house hasn't burnt down nor have I melted a wiring harness in any of the cars I restored.

As I understand your instructions, I'm just setting the meter on ohms and connecting to the clips? Not with the battery connected? I'm a dirt engineer and am not good with anything that isn't visible like electricity. Thanks Mr. Fud.

 

[elmer_fud]

As I understand your instructions, I'm just setting the meter on ohms and connecting to the clips? Not with the battery connected? I'm a dirt engineer and am not good with anything that isn't visible like electricity. Thanks Mr. Fud.

correct. You put the meter on ohms, put one clip on each lead of the multimeter and measure it.

If you are interested the V=IR is ohm's law.

 

[Robert Holcombe]

I just finished up my OAV 4 x 5 treatment and since the weather was still good, went to do another round and the Varrox wand apparently died. The first hive went off, saw the smoke but I had a pile of crystals of the screen. The second hive, nothing happened-dead. The battery was charged to 100% just before using it and it was only two shots. I hooked it up to my Land Rover and it didn't even get warm. It's a couple months old and this round of treatment was the first use. Is it dead dead or am I doing something wrong? Anyway to repair or can I return it (Blue Sky)?

I have used mine for 5 years, hundreds of times. The only time it did not work is when I loaded the wrong stuff on the wand - embarrassing brain fart. The wand has 150 watt output at 12 volts, thus pulls 12 -13 amps. Check your oxalic acid box for purity and check your wand with a meter for resistance and verify isolation of the leads from the wire to the bowl ( should read very high.

 

[Murdock]

My wand is connected to a battery charger so you can view the charger's meter to confirm current flow. The one time it hasn't worked was caused by a build up of corrosion that insulated the connection... it needed a good cleaning of the GROUND.