"Dumb" PCC's?

[susan28]

agreed, though this one batt-charge shouldn't deplete it that much. it's been in about 6 hrs now, and i'll give it til midnight and see what happens. definitely something they need to iron out, though, either way. i'd happily pay more to ditch the glitch if it came down to that. make it right and charge what ya need to (no pun intended).

[susan28]

OKAY, here's what happened, for those following it:

the batt i inserted after charging the box yesterday morning was charged in a couple hours, and i left it in til this morning. the box was still alive. so i inserted another dead one, and it charged for a few minutes then the box died. i wish i'd have left the original batt in a bit longer, but i think the evidence is sufficient that leaving a charged batt on the charger will eventually deplete the box, and any additional time after charging is complete will take away from the juice left for other batts, and that if left on long enough, will eventually deplete the box.

bummer. but i can see a CLEAR opportunity here for a motivated pcc designer/modder to corner the market with a line of pcc's that don't do this, and i hope someone will take up the challenge. it couldn't be that hard and i'd pay dearly for one.

i think part of the thing with the Chinese is that they're very cost-focused and operate on the assumption that people will usually choose cheaper over better, which sadly seems to be the case, even before the depression hit. ya get what ya pay for. this was only 25 bucks. i'd rather have paid 50 for a unit i didn't have to baby-sit. that defeats the purpose, as it's easier just to charge a buncha batts and bring 'em with you than have another child to mind!

at this point i'd say it's a cool gimmick / fashion statement, but not a true convenience.

my tack when i choose to use the box will be to charge 2 batts and leave one unscrewed in the charger slot to add at one more battery cycle to the day/night's power availability, which should give me a total of 5 batt cycles, 2 to start with and 3 charges. that should be sufficient til the box can be recharged, especially with the 401, but i feel sorry for those 510 folks!

[Can_supplier]

Wow I never suspected that... As I said before the power has to go somewhere, and that's a scary thought...

One more thing to try Susan, if you are up for it...

Is by any chance the PCC fried now, and I wouldn't be able to charge that dead batt even if the PCC came fresh off the charger? Or has the performance dropped substantially since new? (i.e. could charge 3 before can barely charge 1 now)

What I am wondering if in one of these running the PCC to dead cycles, it has permanently damaged the PCC batt?

[susan28]

Wow I never suspected that... As I said before the power has to go somewhere, and that's a scary thought...

One more thing to try Susan, if you are up for it...

Is by any chance the PCC fried now, and I wouldn't be able to charge that dead batt even if the PCC came fresh off the charger? Or has the performance dropped substantially since new? (i.e. could charge 3 before can barely charge 1 now)

What I am wondering if in one of these running the PCC to dead cycles, it has permanently damaged the PCC batt?

oh i'm up for it, PCC's are like my Holy Grail, i'm determined to have one that fulfills the promise! next step is badgering the modders to do something to rectify this!

anyway, the box is on the charger now, and i'm gonna see how many fully-dead batts it will charge today.

i might even consider buying another one if the results are disappointing, just to compare to see if a fresh, un-abused one works better. then i'd have 2 boxes to take me the distance, just don't start the second one til the first one's dead otherwise i'd have *two* to babysit. not something you wanna have to think about while partying.

i don't see any melting anywhere, though.

[tribalmasters]

The ultimate PCC exsts but it is big and involves a wire and a Janty Stick/Passthrough - the USB battery pack!! Charge it from any USB port and then attach a USB device for portable power.

I have the Kensington, it has a capacity of 2000mah for almost 2 days of heavy vaping! You can attach a passthrough and vape direct or even use it to charge up your USB equipped PV such as Janty Stick or the PCC!

Its not ideal as its another box and wire to carry but very good for a weekend away

[susan28]

you could just leave the pcc plugged to the charger when it's in your purse or put away, and unplug it when you need to fetch something from it. not as good for guys who want to put the pcc in their pocket, but plenty purse-friendly.

[susan28]

OK, here's the update:

i charged up the box, charged 2 401 batts then left the box sitting empty overnight, and when i inserted the 3rd batt the next morning it only charged it part way before the box died. i got about an hour out of the partially-charged batt (i usually kill a 401 in about 3hrs with heavy vaping).

i then charged it up again and charged 3 401's in quick succession with no delay in removing them, and the 3rd one still killed the box with about the same amount of charge on it.

CONCLUSIONS:

A) leaving batts on this charger after charging will continue to drain the box.
B) leaving the box sit empty for long periods will not drain it at all.
C) the real charging capacity of the VOGUE PCC is approximately 2.5 401 batts.

i spoke to Shawn at Litecigusa (my usual source), and he said that the 401 PCC's he's expecting in soon are not these, but in his words, "Genuine Smoore" product, which may be superior and may or may not also be the new "smart" PCC, which he claims don't have this problem.

ADDENDUM:

i tried inserting a fully-assembled 403 into the spare-batt slot but no go. however, if you trim a mouthpiece to just long enough to clear the atty bridge you'll have a compact, positive-hitting drip-only unit that will fit assembled into the PCC.

this concludes our investigation.

[Charlie58]

I have no experience with the 901 but in comparison to my 510 the J118 gives a better overall vaping experience for me.
When I use it at work it gives me around 3 times the battry life of my 510 when taking 10-15 drags off of it every 20 min or so.
The flavors of my juices tend to come out more with the J118. The 510 seems to have more vapor but the J118 is also a good vapor producer when the atty is broken in, to me it is not very far behind the 510 in that reguard.
Throat hit is adequate in the reguard that it satisfies the urge for a smoke and is more of a fullness of vapor and taste than the general harsh vapor of my 510.
With moderate vaping as long as you don't chain vape it it drains the cart down to just a little left at the bottom of the filler with the stock filler and no cart modification. If you chain vape it drawing on constantly for a good number of hits it is possible to out run the wicking ability of the cart but you would be doing the equivilant of hot boxing an analog.
So my overall comparison is that it has a better battery life,longer cart life,more efficient use of juice. More flavor. And comparable vapor with more taste than my 510.
I hope this helps you since I don't have any experience with the901.

[susan28]

yes very helpful indeed, C58. i've noticed that Modern Vapour is only selling J118 ("902") parts now, dunno if he's abandoned the kits or not (he makes no bones about being a die-hard 401 fan, and prefers the Sidesho model for style/ergonomic reasons, though i think the 902 is sexy as well), but he still has the cool-logo'd PCC's for them. no meter on front so probably not "smart". one of these days i'll have to contact them and ask point blank if their chargers deplete if left charging unattended.

ok, another update, this from Kevin at SharpSmoker (from whom i purchased this PCC), copied below with his permission:

Ok, so with the the 401/402 PCC, you do have to unscrew the battery a little once it is done charging. I confirmed this with my manufacturing rep and also with my own test. I got the same result you did. I fully charged the PCC and then just put a battery on there and left it. After an amount of time, the PCC battery died.

However, it seems the "smart" PCC may just be smart after all. I put that battery on there probably about 72 hours ago and left it in there. It is fully charged now (of course) and the status indicator for the PCC battery also still shows a fully charged battery. So it seems that it did turn itself off and does not discharge like the other PCC's out there. Good news is, Smoore (manufacturer of the 401/402) will eventually be making a Smart PCC for the 402/401. When exactly it will be ready, I am not sure?

[Charlie58]

This vendor is still selling the J118 kits etc. Smokeless Cigarettes | Electronic Smoking Device | Electronic Cigarette - E Cigarette Cartridges | Cigarette USB Charger | E Cigar Battery | ELiquid
I haven't done any business with them so I can't vouch for them.
Their kits don't seem to be a bad price but Shawn at liecig has better prices on parts.