Photo Pete

That’s brilliant. Thank you.

No argument there. But £130 for a mod which lasts less than a year and then becomes a safety hazard whilst destroying two sets of batteries? A website which shows random latin text under the warranty section? Based upon my experience with this device it is certainly not a premium product or service. It is not even a safe product. Sorry if I am starting to rant a bit. That wasn’t my intention when starting this thread but, the more I think about the risk this failure created, the more annoyed I am becoming. I shall try and chase down Evolv and Lost Vape or, if I get no joy there, the store from which I bought the mod. If all that fails it will be sent to trading standards for inspection.

Much appreciated advice. I bought a new set yesterday but had only thought of getting rid of the batteries that had fully died. You are quite right, I’ll get rid of all that were in the mod both times it overheated. This is getting expensive!

So you have to carry it in your hand all the time? There is no lanyard connector. In any event, all those Evolv and Paranormal safety features should provide protection against overheat if it fires by accident, right?

Thanks Is it just me, or does this really not sound very professional? Also, how do people carry their mods if not in a pocket or bag? Why would that be so bad if nothing else is in the pocket? sounds a little like a company avoiding liability for anything.

Just had a look on the Lost Vape website. This is what it said, above a ‘read more’ button which just took me back to the same page: FAQ & WARRANTY Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor.

Thanks. This is the sort of thing I’m trying to find out. In the UK I should be covered by a return to the vendor under my statutory rights, but I am always a little reluctant to take that approach and hold the store responsible for a defective product rather than the manufacturer. Regardless of the duration of the warranty period I would have thought manufacturers of a high end mod and board should be extremely concerned about a safety issue like this occurring within 1 year of purchase. Potential purchasers and existing owners should certainly be concerned.

Both extremely hot, but the one furthest from the board was the critical one (both the 25r and VTC6 which were in that slot are both dead now. Control buttons, front plate and battery door were also too hot to touch (actually burnt my finger opening the battery door to get the batteries out)

Makes sense. One of the replies above indicated that Evolv handles Lost Vape warranty work. Is this correct? I don’t want to be caught in a position where Evolv deny responsibility and Lost Vape do too. To be honest, this has freaked me out a bit and I’ve lost all confidence in the mod. I really just want my money back as I’ll not feel safe using it now.

Possible I guess. I’ve just unscrewed the 510 connector and there is no sign of juice inside that I can see, and nothing in the battery compartment. It also was not firing when it was overheating (second time happened almost immediately the battery door was shut and I put it on the table. No noise from firing and no vape seen. To be honest though it doesn’t matter whether it was firing or not. A regulated mod with safety protection should not overheat to this degree no matter what it is doing. Extremely dangerous.

Bought a Paranormal 250c in June last year. Generally been OK. This weekend I had Samsung 25R batteries inserted with the device on standby in my pocket. Suddenly noticed it getting very hot. By the time I managed to get it out of my pocket it was too hot to hold. Somehow managed to get the battery door flipped open and the batteries dropped out. One battery was so hot the wrap was starting to bubble. It took nearly 30 minutes to cool down. Battery was dead. I couldn’t believe a mod with this chip and safety controls could let this happen. Must be something wrong with the battery I thought, so I tried again with some Sony VTC 6 batteries. Exactly the same thing happened, but this time the mod was just on a table, not in my pocket. One battery dangerously overheated and is now ruined... all with the device on standby and not firing. I find this REALLY concerning. If this had happened whilst I was away from the device and not in a position to pull the batteries there would have been a fire / explosion. The current must have been completely uncontrolled to get to that sort of temperature and to destroy two batteries. Ideas?

Hi Is the vape similar when using each of your DNA mods or are they completely different to each other when using the same atomiser / tank? My arctic fox mods all vape similarly with the same tank (minor differences) but the Paranormal DNA mod is COMPLETELY different. It needs around 50F increase in temp to be comparable. What magnitude of difference are you experiencing with the same tank on different mods please?

Sorry to hear that. Maybe this is a hardware problem with the Paranormal rather than a board or firmware problem? It would be a little ironic for me if it turned out to be a faulty 510 connector in the Paranormal, as a poor 510 connector is why I ‘upgraded’ from my much cheaper Wismec Reuleaux RX Gen 3.

So my ticket has suggested I return the mod to Evolve for what could be a resistance reading problem. I am to ship the mod from UK to USA at my own cost and the terms and conditions state they hold no responsibility for any damage caused during the repair. They’re kidding right? On that basis I’ll be returning it to the vendor in the UK for a full refund and use the money to buy another brand that works.

Interesting. Stealthvape recommend the Steam Engine file for their wire. Are you suggesting this recommendation may be wrong and a higher TCR might be required? Is Ti the best option to try and calibrate to? Still seems odd that arctic fox consistently handles the Steam Engine SS316L file in a more expected manner.

OK. I've spent a bit more time on the arctic fox and escribe device monitors. The DNA 250 is recording the temp within +/- 5F of the set temperature and the live resistance that is showing is in line with the temperature predicted by the steam engine curve which I'm using for SS316L. My wismec is recording the temp within +/- 25F of the set temperature (to try and reduce that variation was the reason I bought the DNA250c in the first place). Even though the variations are equally above and below the set temperature, perhaps it is the higher peaks which are giving the feel of a warmer vape. Oddly enough it probably also gives the vape more flavour by bringing out different nuances in taste which come at slightly different temperatures, making the vape feel 'fuller'. Maybe the DNA temperature is correct and the 420F to 470F range just doesn't give a good warm and flavourful vape on a dual coil direct lung tank. Interestingly I also had a look at replay mode. I set the watts to give a good vape, set replay mode and then used the device monitor to view the live ohms (temperature isn't displayed). Translating the live ohms onto the steam engine curve it gave me a vape temperature of 530F! This was at 34w for a dual SS314L coil with total cold resistance of 0.252 ohms... so at the lower end of the normally recommended wattage range for that build. I set TC mode for 530F, and sure enough got a very similar vape to replay mode. Probably why replay mode is being so heavily favoured by people trying it compared to TC mode... it is easy to bring out more flavour by vaping at much higher temperatures without realising it. Difficult decision now. Vape weak and possibly 'safer' or bump up the temperatures in TC mode or (without knowing what temperature I'm setting) in replay mode to achieve a better vape?

Yes. Mine does this too. I hadn’t really noticed it until I read your post... now it will annoy me! 😞 With the wobbly inlay panels and anaemic temp control vape with SS coils this mod is beginning to feel like a bit of an expensive lemon to me! By the way, if you have the wobbly inlay panels a bit of tape fixed to the rear of the panels and lipped up the edges (folded over a couple of times) seems to fix it and, if done carefully so the tape doesn’t project past the front face of the panel, is completely invisible.

Thanks retird. I've submitted a ticket now and have linked to this thread as there is a lot of useful information about the problem in it.

I understand where you are coming from. That's why I bought the DNA. I thought it would be a big improvement. I just simply can't ignore the fact that when vaping with the supplied SS316 profile or the SS316L Steam Engine profile that I need to be setting a temperature of 510F or above to get a decent vape, when the generally accepted range is from sub 400F to 470F. There is something wrong. I've tried Replay. It gives a good vape, but gives no feedback on the temperatures it is reaching (unless I use a TC profile rather than wattage mode and set it to work with Replay, at which point the same problems with temperature occur as when using the regular TC mode). I had hoped that the benchmark DNA chip would have given me more accurate reporting and control of temperature so as to help me vape at levels which carry less risk of toxic substances being produced (e.g not going above 470F for stainless steel). Without providing temperature information the Replay mode offers little to me above what I can achieve using regular wattage mode with Kanthal and a power curve applied (I can't remember the last time I had a dry hit). OK, so that's a bit harsh and Replay is a great development for wattage vaping... but it was temperature control I was looking for out of the DNA mod. Of course, it is possible that my DNA is reporting the temperature correctly and a weak vape with very little flavour and not much vapour is what can be expected below 470F, but it is unlikely I think.

Thanks for this. Much appreciated for you spending time to try and assist. It is looking like it might be a defective device (hopefully not an intrinsic problem with the DNA250c). I've tried your CSV, thankyou. It does provide a steeper 'curve' than the steam engine version, but only improves things by around 30F. Using a SS304 curve from Steam Engine is slightly more aggressive still and gets me much closer to a satisfactory vape in the 420F to 470F range. The problem I have is that I don't see why I should need to be modifying TCR curves or using curves for other materials when other mods seem to handle the default curves just fine. I'll try submitting a ticket, talking to Lost Vape and then returning the mod if I can't sort it out satisfactorily. There are other, much cheaper, mods which appear to handle TC better than this. Admittedly the other mods have slightly more variation around the set temperature, but at least the set temperature produces some vape and some flavour as expected!

No, their software is working fine, even on far less sophisticated hardware. It is the Lost Vape Paranormal and DNA 250c which is failing to work satisfactorily. I guess I will try submitting a ticket or returning it.

OK, I've been trying some other stainless steel round wire and 26g stainless steel core / 32g kanthal wrap Clapton wire from other vendors (Crazy Wire & UD). They all vape weak and flavourless in TC mode on the Paranormal DNA 250c using the Steam Engine profile for each wire type. All are fine on my mods running Arctic Fox. There is definitely something wrong with the way the Paranormal / DNA 250c handles temperature control with SS wire. The alignment between the measured resistance during the vape and the temperature assigned to it is simply wrong. £130 for a so called high end mod which can't handle SS temperature control as well as a £30 Wismec!

I’ve already done the quick and dirty fix. I scaled each point on the material curve to give myself a bespoke curve that vapes more like I’m used to. Works well, and gives a curve virtually identical to SS304. It’s a bit of a kludge though and it doesn’t give me any confidence that I’m not vaping at temperatures which are potentially harmful. I like your idea of ‘calibrating’ using a singe/burn test. It sounds more scientific and should give a better confirmation of what the actual temperature is.... what are the trigger temperatures? 420F for singe? I guess it partly depends on the wicking material. I’m using Cotton Bacon by Wick ‘n’ Vape. Apologies in advance if I don’t respond again for a while... it’s 3am here and time for sleep!

Probably more like 50F what I’m used to vaping at 450F needs about 500-510F on the dna

Thanks for that confirmation about Item 1. At least it doesn’t seem like I have a faulty copy. No, I’ve not tried other TC materials on this. I far prefer SS and the reason I bought the dna was for the promise of increased TC accuracy which would better handle the lower TCR of stainless steel (it does indeed show less variation in temperature, but the overall temperature just feels wrong!) I guess what I’m saying is that if I can’t get it to work satisfactorily with SS then there is no point me using it!