How do you fix bad USB Pass Throughs?

[panderson01]

I have had to of them fail on me now. They are Pen styles from Puresmoker if that makes a difference.

My first one stopped working after about a week. The symtoms were, no light whatsoever. BTW, they are sending me out a new one.

My second one will work intermitendly. I take a hit and it works, I take another hit and it doesn't. I let it sit for a few minutes and it works for one more hit, then it won't.

Ok, now it's working again, about 5 hits in a row???????????????????

My vaping habit is as follows, if this helps: when sitting around, I have the unit laying on it's side. While out and about, I have it battery pointing down. Throughout the day, I have a good balance between the two methods.

At night, I disconnect the atomizer and stand it up, battery end up and pass through, atomizer end down.

Ok, it's not working again??????????????????????????????

Any help on maintainence or repair woul be greatly appreciated. Steve cannot afford to keep replacing these things.

Paul

 

[Cage]

I'd be a little suspect of your power supply. Is this plugged into your PC?

 

[MoonMan]

Sounds like bad/broken wires to me. My 901 did the same - it wouldn't work unless I jiggled the wire right where it went into the cig.

I ending up popping the lighted end cap out and sure enough, one of the wires was nearly broken - it broke the rest of the way as I took it apart. I was able to fix it - there was enough wire left inside to connect to.

 

[panderson01]

I'd be a little suspect of your power supply. Is this plugged into your PC?

3 separte power sources, pc, laptop, power pack.

 

[robw]

3 out of 4 of mine have died as well. The main problem with all batteries is the switch. The juice gets in the switch and makes it sticky.

 

[Cage]

So I'm assuming it behaves the same on all three.
Don't feel obligated to repair it panderson.
Besides, it's not worth the risk of shorting out your PC.
If you received a faulty unit, I'm sure Steve will make it right.

 

[deewal]

I've found the best way to fix them is to throw them in the bin.

 

[Sun Vaporer]

In my experience, the atomizer is not connecting with the passthough--try a new atomizer that you have not used a battery on as the threads lengths are not consitant. See if the passthough will fire up with the new atomizer. Passthoughs are about the most reliable of any of the hardware sold--so give it a try. Sun

 

[digitalmechanic]

the problem with the usb pass-thru is a rubber fitting that secures the wire in place to prevent yanks from breaking it.

I got mine from puresmoker and it works fine, but a little disappointed in the quality. hey what do you expect for 20 bucks for a rma battery that got converted into a usb pass thru.

 

[Steph2323]

Mine just broke after 3 or 4 weeks. I find if I hold the wire just right where it connects to battery I can get it to work sometimes. I read somewhere that people are using tape to strengthen the connection, so I'm going to try that. Ordered a spare too.
Stephanie

 

[Frankie]

My one stopped working before I really used it. No reason at all. I just left it for dead to be used in a power mod, but after I boiled my old atomizer in vinegar I gave it one last chance. It works perfectly out of sudden. So the problem was probably caused by bad electric contact.

 

[nitewriter]

I've gone through 2 already. Most of my problems seem to be where the cord connects to the LED. There is no rubber reinforcement on that end, but plenty on the usb end. I have one on life-support that will work if I"m standing on my right foot and hold my mouth just right.

As soon as I received the one I'm using now, I wrapped the cord upward and taped it to the body. I also took some industrial strength clear glue and used it to strengthen the connection to the LED. I think it will help extent the life of it. So far so good.

 

[jimgman]

mine is working great after nearly 2 months.only problem i noticed(when it stopped working once), is that the usb dosnt fit tight or flush into usb ports, and can get a bad connection to the pc. obviously this is bad since you will be moving the wire around a lot to vape. i am just very careful when moving it around. try wiggling in the port a bit to see if that helps.

 

[ZEKE]

I "fixed" my passthrough by gutting to just a tube, then and buying a soldering iron and a manual switch from raido shack.
i had to shorten the original wire a length of a battery,but no biggie

then soldered the 2 wires back, incorporating the switch where the led was.

works great so far...

 

[ainako]

I "fixed" my passthrough by gutting to just a tube, then and buying a soldering iron and a manual switch from raido shack.
i had to shorten the original wire a length of a battery,but no biggie

then soldered the 2 wires back, incorporating the switch where the led was.

works great so far...

Mine just died today and I was wondering if you could go more in detail on how you did this. Perhaps post a link to what switch you used and/or a pic or two of the finished product? If you do decide to do this it would probably be best if you post it in the modders' section of the forum.

 

[MonkeyMonk]

nitewriter, great idea about looping it and taping it to the barrell. I just did that. What kind of glue are people using to glue the cord to the LED. Is Krazy glue OK?

 

[digitalmechanic]

mine finally broke last night luckily i have a team member here that is amazing with electronics. she gutted the battery and noticed that the soldering job was crap, but considering how thin the wire is it's not surprising. Also a switch was added as she pointed out that the reed switch will fail eventually.

she also gave me some removable heat sinks to wrap around the atomizer to keep it cool.

 

[wv2win]

mine finally broke last night luckily i have a team member here that is amazing with electronics. she gutted the battery and noticed that the soldering job was crap, but considering how thin the wire is it's not surprising. Also a switch was added as she pointed out that the reed switch will fail eventually.

she also gave me some removable heat sinks to wrap around the atomizer to keep it cool.

digital, you provide more detail about the switch she added and removable heat sinks? Pictures would be most appreciated. I've just ordered one and want to make it as "break proof" as possible.

Thanks,

 

[eskimoroll]

Yeah, mine just went out on me today as well (puresmoker 901 passthrough). It's been acting funny for a while now and now it's dead. For me, it was the switch that gave out. I guess I'll save it for when I get brave and start modding things. I have another one on order. I'm kind of bummed because I expected the passthrough to outlast my batteries rather than being the first one to go.

 

[Cyborgasm]

I'd love to see some tutorials on how to rewire these things.

Mine was crapping out on me so I brutally dissected it to examine it's guts and hopefully learn something. All I learned is the pressure switch is sharp and I poked myself like 5 times with it lol.