510 passthrough not working

[Iamfoltzy]

I recently received my PT and used it for the first time yesterday. I thought I read somewhere that it needed to charge for about 3hrs. Well, I was impatient and began using it within an hour to try it out. It worked fine and I vaped from it through the evening.

Today, I came home from work, fired up the computer and began vaping via my PT. Within an hour or so it stopped working. I figured, maybe I didn't let the battery in it fully charge the day before and it couldn't keep up with my vaping, so I switched to my regular batteries and let it sit plugged in while I did my ECF reading. Four hours later, it still isn't working.

Maybe I need to order a new battery for it? Or should I contact the vendor?

- Foltzy

 

[urbancowboy505]

I could be wrong, but I didn't think that passthroughs had batteries. I thought the point was to provide a constant, consistent amount of power directly through the USB port. But, I have only been vaping for about 5 hours, so I could be wrong.

 

[CaptJay]

contact the vendor - I honestly can't see one of those batteries giving up after one night of vaping on it. Its not like your holding the vendor responsible for it being a dud - you just need it replaced (Im assuming you didnt buy it weeks ago from what you said).
make sure the threads (the bits between atty/battery) are dry though - if you want to try and troubleshoot it before you talk to them so you cover all your bases. I have had an issue with an inline battery PT in the past where moisture (or jucie idk which) got onto the contacts and just brought everything to a crashing halt. If still no joy then contact your supplier.
Tell the vendor what you did to troubleshoot it also (the extra charging, thread drying, new atty etc)

 

[tenfour]

Check your battery connections and maybe try another usb port. I had a passthrough and the button needed to be pressed harder before it would work. That is also a possibility... hard to say.

urbancowboy505, you are correct that some passthroughs do not have batteries and connect directly from the usb port, however, there are some passthroughs that use a battery. The usb port charges the battery, and your atomizer uses the battery power.

 

[urbancowboy505]

weird. I wonder which kind I got. Maybe I should be charging it.

 

[tenfour]

The kind with the battery has a rectangular box near the usb connector which holds the battery. The kind without just has the wire, no battery box.

 

[CaptJay]

weird. I wonder which kind I got. Maybe I should be charging it.

No inline battery = no charging required.

 

[Iamfoltzy]

My PT does have a battery, as Ten Four mentioned.

I have tried switching usb ports and that didn't do it. I will try cleaning off the threads and see if that works.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

- Foltzy

 

[urbancowboy505]

cool. mine just has a cord attached to a part that looks like a manual battery for the vapor king.

Sorry for temporarily hijacking this thread.

Anyway, Iamfolzy, I hope you get this figured out or replaced.

 

[Iamfoltzy]

I cleaned the threads and that didn't help. But when I tried a different atty, it worked again! Woohoo!!

Thanks for the suggestions. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to hassle with shipping it back and waiting for a replacement (it was hard enough waiting on it to come in the mail the first time around).

- Foltzy

 

[Iamfoltzy]

Doh! It stopped working again. I guess I'll have to contact the vendor after all.

- Foltzy

 

[urbancowboy505]

did you try using those attys with batteries after you used them with the passthrough? maybe the PT isn't bad and your attys are, or maybe the PT is popping you attys for some reason.

 

[Iamfoltzy]

The atty's work fine on a normal battery.

- Foltzy

 

[tenfour]

It sounds like your passthrough is, unfortunately, defective. Probably a bad connection in the wiring. Sorry to hear that - I know returns are a pain! One last thing you could try is cleaning the contacts where the atomizer connects if they are dirty or have any debris in there, but being a new PT, I doubt that is the case.

 

[CaptJay]

Those tiny wires inside that thin wire/lead - remind me of the countless millions of earplugs for music playing equipment I have burned through over the years.
I mus thave spend thousands (ok hundreds) of $ replacing htem when one of those teeny wires broke and the earplugs stopped working.
I run over my PT cable a lot with my damn chair too at the PC so Ive had to replace one already due to my carelessness; I wish theyd make these things a little more robust.

 

[aldreis]

I could be wrong, but I didn't think that passthroughs had batteries.

I believe he’s talking about the one below, with a 320 mAh Li-Ion 1440 battery inline, picture attached.

BTW, I had the same issues the OP described. Turned out to be a rather finicky USB controller in my machine.

Solved by using an AC-USB adapter ( about 3 USD ) and hooking the PT directly into it.

 

[Iamfoltzy]

@Aldreis, that's exactly the PT I have.

I went ahead and tried plugging it into the wall as well and try a couple different attys on it just to say I tried everything, no go.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.

- Foltzy

 

[VapoMonkey]

I had a similar problem with my 510 pt, plugged it into one of my various 110ac -> USB adaptors, BINGO! problem solved

 

[bsoplinger]

Some of the cheap power to USB adapters only put out 100 or 250ma. Some computer USB ports don't provide 500ma like the USB spec says. Either will make it nearly impossible to charge the battery.

Since it worked initially for you I'd guess you were running off the charge that was already in the battery when it worked for you initially. Then you ran it down enough so that it didn't provide enough power to work the atty. Rechargeable batteries will recover slightly if left alone. That explains why when you tried another atty it worked for a few puffs.

This points to either a bad charging circuit or USB ports without enough current. Bad charging circuit means replacement since you received a dud. USB ports issues is your problem. I know I've seen really inexpensive "iPhone" power adapters that claim to put out 1000ma, way more than you need but at least will likely put out the full 500ma per USB spec. One of those should have your passthru working in no time *if* its a power supplied issue. Trouble is that there is no simple way I can think of to figure out which problem it is unless you have a power to USB adapter that is listed to output 500ma. If you do and the battery doesn't end up charged after 3 or 4 hours you got a dud passthru.