batteries getting drained fast on 5 click off or standby (PICO)

[HansWu]

Hi,

I have an issue with an Istick pico. 5x click off this morning and within this day the battery bar went down by two tiles with full sony konion.
In the past e.g. I didnt use it for like 4 days and batteries were empty at about 2,7V. Also quite some time ago I had the same issue with a VTC mini and a ZNA Clone.
In all cases this wasnt there from the start, usually you could leave them on standby for weeks/maybe months.

I opened the pico at the top and bottom and it seemed bone dry inside.
batteries are like 4 months old. When I had the issues with the other mods, I had totally different batteries.
All of those mods have different boards/pcbs.

Im from germany and already asked in a german forum.
While there are clearly other people who experienced the same issue, nobody knew the cause (speculation of leakage current) or a solution (except always remove batteries).
I think often people wont easily notice this, bc they constantly change batteries and dont let the mod sit for a couple of days unused.

Did anyone have this issue and solved the problem, or atleast knows the cause?

cheers

 

[Izan]

Hi and welcome.
5 clicks only enables or disables the fire button. It does not turn the device Off nor On. (It does not break the connection between the battery and the board.)
Parasitic lose, battery age and any dirt/skin oils/dust/juice/humidity can all affect battery life and usability.
Clean the mod contacts with SS mesh.
Clean the 510 on the mod and the atty.
Clean battery contacts with SS mesh.
A bit of ISO on an ear bud will degrease the parts mentioned and leave them ready for use.
After cleaning try not to touch the internal contacts of the mod nor the battery contacts.
On the Pico, it is important to clean the hidden "pos" contact at the very bottom of the battery port.

HTH

cheers
I

 

[HansWu]

Thank you Izan.

Regarding your advice, do you know if anyone with exactly this problem has ever successfully fixed his mod this way? (though with your to do list it seems this way)
Is this issue known to you/here?
In the german forum they also mentioned ISO (like give it a bath in ISO), but there nobody actually tried it and reported back.

To fully disassamble the pico to get everywhere, I have to desolder either top or bottom cables, right- or wrong?

 

[Izan]

No need to take it to bits. But I believe it just slides apart after removal of the Torx screws. (I'm not suggesting you do so.)

The POS/NEG of most batteries gets touched once or twice a day, after I touch it (remove from charger or insert in charger), I drop the dirty, oily, dust magnet into the pico.
If I've left the battery cap off of her, I'm 100% positive dust, pollen and muck are raining down into the POS contact, unbeknownst to me.

Give her(pico) and her batteries a good clean.
Mostly it's easy, almost free and doesn't entail any disassembly.


Cheers
I

 

[HansWu]

Are you talking about the positive copperish part down at the bottom?
As I ve had issues with top screw cap -hindering conductivity (getting dirty like you explained), while I unscrewed top and bottom of the pico yesterday, I grinded on the copperish battery pin down in the battery tube with some sharp metall -to remove dirt or oxidized metall. If this is what you were talking about - it did not solve the problem.

 

[Letitia]

Just a hello and welcome. I've never had your battery issues. I wipe contacts with iso regularly.

 

[Izan]

Besides the threads on the battery cap, we seem to exhausted the possibilities.
Are you running the Joy firmware or ARCTICFOX?
For me, the Joy firmware sucked in TC mode. The AF firmware is a vast improvement.
If you are still on the Joyware, I would suggest you try the AF suite. Nothing to loose.

Sorry to hear your issues persist. I believe you are justified in purchasing something new. (congrats!)

Thumbs pressed you get this sorted or replaced.

cheers
I

 

[HansWu]

I dont think its firmware related, though I use arctic fox.
As I described I had this with 2 other totally different mods that use different pcbs.
And it wasnt there from the start.
Yeah, I already ordered a new pico, I still would love know to what exactly is causing this.

*edit, thx for the hint regarding the top caps threads, I will test that

 

[HansWu]

...grinding top cap's outer and inner threads didnt help

 

[puffon]

As I described I had this with 2 other totally different mods that use different pcbs.

Could be the battery, if it happens with two other dissimilar mods.

 

[Izan]

...grinding top cap's outer and inner threads didnt help

Please update if you make any progress.... I've exhausted my bag o' tricks.

Cheers
I

 

[HansWu]

I wrote in my first post:

Batteries are like 4 months old. When I had the issues with the other mods, I had totally different batteries.

I use 2 batteries and an external charger and swap when one battery is empty. Happens to both.

 

[Topwater Elvis]

What power range are you using?
4 months might be all the serviceable life you get from batteries depending on how hard you push them.
Single cell power device consistently used 50+w = relatively short life span compared to 30w & under.
Are you positive your cells are authentic?
Could be you're using insufficient CDR cells.
If I'm understanding sounds like your problems follows the batteries not the power device.

Part of routine maintenance is keeping battery contacts and all threaded surfaces shiny bright & clean.
That means each individual thread on 510 connection points & battery cap.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

I would look more to the use and abuse of the batteries than to the mods.
What ohms are your coils at? Single coils? Dual coils? Quads? Are you using TC, Watts, bypass? how many amps are you pushing?

If you are using higher watts and lower builds, you are going to shorten the life of the batteries. Not charging your batteries for several days can bring them down to below safe to use levels and degrade performance.

 

[HansWu]

Im using 0,71 Ohms and vape at about 20watts. I think konion VTC5 or something, those with the higher A rating -though I vape at pretty low watts.
I use 2 devices, and each has a dedicated set of batteries.
So like each battery is beeing used about 1/4th of a day.
I got them from nkon.nl which is a european vendor that has specialized on battery stuff.

If I put a battery out of the charger and let it sit for a couple of hrs, if V didnt change in a comparable way, its not the batteries, right?

 

[HansWu]

I put the battery outside and left it over night - voltage didnt change at all.
If in the mod I think a couple of 100mA (maybe 400mA) are getting drawn every day, without touching the mod.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

The device doesn't shut down completely after five clicks. It only disables "press and hold to fire" and the display. The device has to recognize the five clicks to fully power up, so the battery has to supply a small amount of energy to let this happen.

 

[HansWu]

so the battery has to supply a small amount of energy to let this happen.

though in this case its rather large

 

[Beamslider]

I a couple picos and the battery sometimes stays in them several days as I don't use them continually. The picos don't drain the battery much.

 

[HansWu]

yeah, thats how it should be, when there isnt an issue with them