Any advice on a non-working Prodigy?

[sparkomatic]

Hey all,

Thought I'd shoot this out to all the experts here before I bother Casey and open a ticket. My Prodigy with a 901 adapter has been intermittently crapping out for the last week. I would usually be able to mess with it in one way or another (unscrewing things, putting it back together) and it would start working again. Now it's stopped cold and won't work at all. Here's the scoop so far:

- Tried three different sets of fresh batteries, no change
- Tested the voltage at the adapter with button depressed. 6.8 volts
- Tried multiple atomizers, verifying each one works with my PS PT
- Tested multiple atomizers with an ohmmeter, all around around 3.5
- Thinking there might be a bad connection between the Prodigy adapter and atomizer, I unscrewed the adapter from the housing and screwed in an atomizer, then tested ohms under the adapter contact points. Still reads 3.5
- Cleaned all contact points with a cotton cloth, also the eraser method mentioned in another post
- Disassembled and inspected the button assembly, I can see no issues, no discoloration, etc.

So, what I know is, I'm getting nearly 7 volts at the adapter (though not under load), and I know the adapter and atomizer are making good contact because I can read a decent ohms level from the adapter with the atomizer screwed into it. It seems like I would be able to detect a failure if it were an issue with a contact point, yes? If anyone has any troubleshooting tips I'd greatly appreciate them.

 

[Zofryer]

Get some 320 grit sandpaper, and sand your contacts. Both sides of the switch, the bottom of the atomizer endcap, and the top of the atomizer adapter. Stretch your spring. Just did this recently and my vapor output doubled.

 

[paulspikey]

I think there might be a loose nut on the other end of the atomizer....j/k I think maybe you got some bad atomizers.

 

[CaSHMeRe]

Spark --

Is that voltage reading consistent every time you press the button?

Also -- Have you bent the spring towards the center to make sure you have contact 100% of the time?

 

[sparkomatic]

Hi Steve,

Yep, it reads 6.59 or 6.60 every time I hit the button - Interestingly, it reads .25 volts with the button unpressed. That may be normal, not sure. When I let off the button, the number drops to that .25 mark but not as fast as when it goes up to 6.6.. Maybe takes a couple seconds. That could be my cheap multimeter though.

Thanks to others for their posts. I'm iffy on the "bad atomizer" route, but it's a possibility. I have four that I rotate, and all four check out okay on the ohm meter and all four work fine with the PT, so I'm thinking not an atty issue. I did clean the contacts with metal polish as well, and gave them a light rub with 400 grit sandpaper. Everything looks shiny, and everything meters through okay. Stretched the spring on the battery, curled the tip inward slightly to make sure and catch the middle of the battery and not the plastic wrap, and checked continuity there (the spring came off the end cap about a month back. I re-glued and had no problems since.) My boy Flitz lives here in town and I may con him into letting me borrow his Prodigy for a few minutes to do some part swapping to see if the trouble follows any particular component.

 

[sparkomatic]

The root cause was definitely the switch/button. During my additional tests, I was never able to get continuity between the two poles of the switch assembly with the button depressed. Why I was still getting voltage at the adapter, I have no idea. Possibly it was making just enough contact to register voltage with no load on the meter, but not enough contact to let to proper amperage through to the atomizer?

In a feat that no doubt voided the warranty on my switch assembly, I actually disassembled the tact button itself. It's a rubber membrane type momentary switch that allows a tiny metal plate to touch an inner contact and two outer contacts when the rubber membrane is pushed down. Well, whatever was supposed to make contact was nothing more than a blackened crumbly mess. I cleaned everything up in there, took an old computer keyboard, and carefully trimmed an new contact plate from the keyboard (just a tiny plastic circle coated with a conductive material), slid it in there with some tweezers, put the membrane back, and snapped the top of the button assembly back together. Checked it about 30 times with my multimeter, and then put the button riser back on and reassembled the Prodigy. The vapor is so strong it made me a little woozy. Time to cut the e-liquid back a bit.

I opened a ticket with Casey earlier today and she kindly and quickly offered a replacement if I send back this button assembly. Stellar customer service from Puresmoker as always, but I'm going camping this weekend and was really hoping to bring the Prodigy with me, so I decided to take a chance and hack it. I'm planning on buying a replacement switch assembly when they're available though.