510 PCC Review

[a2dcovert]

Well, I solved the flaky performance on my PCC. It never crossed my mide that it could be contamination on the connection between the PCC and the battery. I took my favorite contact cleaner, "DeoxIT", and sprayed it on a q-tip and swabed it around on the contacts on the PCC and on all my batteries. I was supprised the amount of black crud that came off on the q-tip. This solved the intermittant issues with the PCC. Now the charge indication led comes on imediatly simply by placing the battery into the slot.

You know that we forget that the liquid seeps into the connection between the atomizer and the battery. So I will be cleaning a lot more often than I was. DeoxIT may be a little over-kill for this application so any contact cleaner that is safe for use on plastics should work. I use DeoxIT in my electronic tinkering in HAM radio.

Kevin

[mamacat]

SurkMonkey -

This was perfect timing for a review of the 510 PCC! I just got my 510s and was looking at getting the PCC for them but was undecided - until now! Now, the only decision I have to make is in regards to color.

Many thanks for the fantastic review!!

[pipe6078]

i got a silver one in from widow today. it is soooo cute and petite i charged it up only took two hours and my 510 charged in one hour. love it so far. i did wipe the connectors down with alcohol 1st. does anyone know if you can charge the unit and the battery at the same time?

[Surf Monkey]

I'm glad everyone is finding the review helpful! I can't over state how essential I think this thing is.

In terms of the color, the "blue" model that I have is really nicely colored. As I said in the review, it has a kind of slightly textured powder coat on it that sparkles a little bit and shows a little color shift as you move it around. It's way more purple than blue. It looks fantastic, really. I assume the other colors are similar. I'd be interested in seeing how the black looks compared to blue. I wonder if it has that metallic quality to it.

[Surf Monkey]

Update: Mine actually appears to have a defective battery circuit. It behaves as if has no charge sometimes, even though it's just spent 4 hours plugged into the mains. But Widow's Beadwork is sending me out a replacement on Monday. I have no reason to believe that there's any systemic problem with these, but I'd strongly recommend getting one at Widow's based on their excellent and very responsive customer service just in case. Plus, they have the best price I've seen on them so far.

Widows Bead Work - Home

[ddouglas01]

i just got mine friday and have been taking it to the pool. It rocks i recharged 1 battery, then switched charged another then the original one again. so a total of 3 batteries. this is so convenient its awesome! really like it.

[MlrGrl]

Update: Mine actually appears to have a defective battery circuit. It behaves as if has no charge sometimes, even though it's just spent 4 hours plugged into the mains. But Widow's Beadwork is sending me out a replacement on Monday. I have no reason to believe that there's any systemic problem with these, but I'd strongly recommend getting one at Widow's based on their excellent and very responsive customer service just in case. Plus, they have the best price I've seen on them so far.

Widows Bead Work - Home

I'm just curious; when you say it behaves like it doesn't have a charge, what exactly do you mean?
I ask because when I first got mine, it appeared it was inoperable also. When I popped the top and pushed down on the battery, the LED flashed and the appropriate light on the PCC turned on.
Come to find out, either the charging unit is down lower than it should be, or the battery is shorter than the PCC was designed for.
Through the help of friends here, I now just put a little piece of folded felt in the top and it's been pushing it down the right amount.
I'm still not too keen on the idea of having to mod it, but, I'd rather have the PCC than go without it.

[Surf Monkey]

Like I said, it acts like the charging circuit doesn't know what the state of internal battery is. Pushing the battery deeper into the slot, letting it come up a little, twisting it around and so forth do nothing.

Here's what happens: the PCC gets charged to full in about 4 hours. Then it either 1) is able to charge one 510 battery before going dead or it 2) won't activate at all. When I plug it back into a power source, the battery indicator for the case turns red again and takes another four hours to charge, even if it was just charged to full moments before.

So, either bad power management/charging circuit or a bad battery that can't hold a charge. Either way, the issue isn't the fit of the battery in the case. It's something more complex than that.

But the best thing is that Widow's Beadwork is sending me out a new case today. Awesome customer service. I'm confident that a replacement unit will work fine.

[tlynn]

Is the PCC safe to plug into the computer? It's not like the passthrough that might burn up the computer?

[a2dcovert]

I charge mine from my PC every night. It should come with a wall charger adapter & car adapter. You can use these if you are worried about using your PC.

Kevin