5v Passthrough and USB outlet adapter ...

[ki77en]

... These 2 just ain't working together.
I got the 5v manual PT from electronicstix and happily plugged it into the AC adapter (w/ a carto, of course) and the blue led light on the bottom just flashed at me. Tried another outlet and nothing. I have a car adapter also and when I plugged it into that it was vaping heaven so I knew that it wasn't the PT itself.
Got to work, tried another outlet.. just in case. Nothing.

I haven't a clue as to why it's not working w/ the AC adapter so any suggestions would be welcomed!

 

[sailorman]

Do you have a multimeter? That would tell you what voltage you're getting through your AC adapter. I suspect it's either defective or not rated to supply enough current. It's also possible that your USB isn't fitting the port in the AC adapter properly. Try wiggling it around a little.

My guess is that the AC adapter isn't rated for 2A or more. That could explain the flashing light. Check the specs printed on it. It should be able to supply 2 amps. A lot of them are intended for charging, not straight through vaping, and are only rated for 500ma. Your car adapter is different. It comes straight off the car battery through a pretty hefty fuse and can easily handle the current draw.

 

[ki77en]

Crap!! I knew it... or at least, should've known. (I think?)
Yes, this adapter is used for charging so I thought it would be fine for use as a PT. Never even thought about it until it didn't work, naturally.
I checked a couple sites that offered these adapters but there weren't any specs so I suspect they are merely used for charging...

 

[sailorman]

Don't despair. I found a really good AC/USB adapter with 4 ports that I can use to charge things at the same time as I use it as a 5V passthrough. It's a "Rosewill" on Newegg.com and it only cost about $15, IIRC. It's worked great for over a year now. There are others out there, but most are pretty expensive.

The other option is to get a self powered USB hub, but you still need to make sure it's rated for the current.
Don't try to plug into your computer USB. You very well might blow your motherboard.

 

[ki77en]

Nice advice. Thx!
I was actually thinking of trying Micro Center for s/thing since it's close to me but if they don't have a reasonably priced one, then I'll be hittin up Newegg, or maybe TigerDirect.
They should have a Woot for vapers.

 

[Gizmo42]

I have a couple Dynex 4 port powered USB hubs from Best Buy that work fine with my 5v pts. Even work good when charging a battery or pcc charging case on the same hub.

 

[Slim Batz]

keep in mind with multiport AC adapters that the current rating is not per port .. its for the whole device, so if you plug a passthru into one of the ports of a 2A device it will use most of the rated current available and plugging other things in, like chargers may overtax it. Its a little more money, but Newegg also has a Scosche 4 port 5A USB adapter for $20. Thats a monster.

 

[wv2win]

Is your USB to AC adapter a 5 volt/2 amp adapter??? If it isn't, that easily could be the problem as it might not be able to handle the power draw. Some adapters that are rated lower might still work, but you won't be really vaping at 5 volts.

 

[RocketRod]

2000mAh is the answer. Your car plug is most likely on an 8 amp+ fuse line. When I went shopping for my 5v pass through, every site rated it at 5v 2000mAh. So if your plan is to toot a@5v with a 3.0 Ohm carto, then you need a power source capable of 2000mAh or 2 amps. This question seems to be asked allot.

 

[sailorman]

The problem was that she was trying to use a AC/USB charger. She's figured that out.

The adapter I mentioned has 4 ports and they're labeled as to their max. current.
1 is 2000ma
1 is 1000ma
1 is 650ma
1 is 500ma.

They can be used simultaneously. If you use one in the wrong slot, it's ok as long as the total capacity isn't exceeded.
For the longest time, I had my 5V passthrough plugged into the 500ma slot and recharged another device off the 2000ma slot and it still worked fine. Had I tried to plug in 2 more devices in the wrong slots, it may have been a problem if the total was too high. I don't know, it never came up.

 

[Retriever]

I used my passthrough in the USB port of my laptop with no problem. Then I learned that I could have fried the motherboard. Most new computers have USB ports that can handle external drives, etc. but why take the chance? I went out and bought a USB hub. The best purchase I have made in a long time. Now I have my passthrough going and batteries charging too.

 

[ki77en]

I have a 3.7v PT I use on.. not my laptop.
Bought the 5v to vape at that range b/c I have some cartos that I bought when I didn't understand the ohms on them very well, but I knew not to plug THAT one in to any usb on a computer/laptop.

 

[sailorman]

You are correct, ki77en, there's a difference in passthroughs.

The 3.7-4.2V passthroughs contain a battery, either in-line in a separate box near the USB plug or in the handpiece.
Those batteries are being charged by the USB port. You are not drawing 2A from the USB, you're drawing it from the battery, which is acting as a "buffer". The USB is only charging and takes 500ma or less.

The 5V passthroughs without any kind of battery are the ones that need to be plugged into a port capable of 2A. Those are the ones that will fry your board or your hub if it can't handle the current.

 

[sailorman]

I used my passthrough in the USB port of my laptop with no problem. Then I learned that I could have fried the motherboard. Most new computers have USB ports that can handle external drives, etc. but why take the chance? I went out and bought a USB hub. The best purchase I have made in a long time. Now I have my passthrough going and batteries charging too.

External drives that are not "self-powered" and don't need to be plugged in are designed to draw 500ma or less, as specified by USB standards. No external drive (or any other USB compliant device) that relies on a USB for all of it's power draws more than 500ma.

If you have a 5V passthrough, you could well have fried your MoBo. A few computers are designed to "share" current between several ports, so that you could, theoretically, get away with it. But the minute you plugged something else in, you'd exceed the total capacity and fry.