Bummer, DOA Prodigy V3.1

[hificat101]

Hi everyone. Tried e-cigs a few years ago, but only hung with it for a few weeks. Had a couple friends that started vaping recently, and thought I'd take it up to get off those nasty analogs. Long story short, after careful consideration, I ordered a Prodigy 3.1 (3.7V, 510) from Puresmoker and it arrived today...DOA. Thing just won't fire. Did a bunch of testing on it today with a meter, and the switch seems to be working, but it doesn't always seem to seat fully. Sometimes I can push button, and it seems to go down against bottom of tube, other times there is a quarter inch gap.

I'm pretty sure the real problem is in the adaptor, that attys and cartos won't seem to screw down enough into. Have been in communication with them, and they seem to agree, and gave me some advice on trying to resolve it, but no go.

It's not my attys or cartos, as I tried them in a friends rig today and they work fine. I'm hoping I'll get email from puresmoker in the AM offering to hook me up, but I'm bummed that I have no idea when it will get to me.

Bummer. Funniest thing is, I read a ton of reviews of the Prodigy 3 and 3.1, and the one thing that was said about it more than anything else, was "it never fails to fire when the button is pushed". I beg to differ.

Still pretty sure I made the right choice. Just bummed that I need to buy more patches now.

 

[Renzuli]

Welcome and rest assured , your choice of the Prodigy , was a good one . But things happen . Puresmoker , will correct the problem . I've had several Prodigy's and they were some of the most dependable I've ever owned . Hang in there , it will be resolved . You could always go down to a 7/11 or smoke shop , and pick up a few disposables to hold you over . Probably cheaper than more patches .

 

[brianishiwa]

Hey bud, sorry to here about your woes.

Preemptive copout: you may have already done all this yourself or with Puresmoker's advice, but let's see if I can help any.

Let's start from the bottom up. Literally. Take off the bottom switch assembly. From the bottom, you have the switch. Make sure it's "unscrewed" all the way, i.e. all the way counter-clockwise when you're looking at it. It should be flush with the "V3" plane. Going up, you have the threaded section, then the black delrin piece, then the copper contact screw and the spring seated in the outer ring of the delrin. There should be absolutely no play with regards to the screw or the delrin plastic, so if you need to, use your thumb/fingernail to tighten the screw as needed. (You shouldn't need a driver to do this.) The head of the contact screw does not sit flush, it should be a tad higher than the delrin. If the spring feels loose, make sure to seat it fully as well - it should not fall out when you hold the assembly upside down if it's seated properly. Make sure that the switch moves up and down fully at this point before screwing it back into the tube, then screw it back into the tube without the battery. Check again that the switch moves properly.

Now, the top piece where you screw the atty/carto/etc. into is the only tricky part I've ever had to troubleshoot with my Prodigy. Looking at it from the top, you'll see the contact pin and the black washer. From the bottom, you'll see the base of the contact pin and another washer. Now, sometimes if you force an atty/carto to screw in further than needed, it will push the center pin down a bit. From the bottom, there should be no gaps between base of the contact pin, washer, and the main piece. Get a Sharpie or some other blunt object and push the base up as much as you can, in case it may have gotten moved when you were screwing something in.

The thing to remember with the Prodigy is when screwing things in, they do not go all the way, like they would on most other batts/mods, otherwise there would be no airflow to the tiny vent holes on the sides of the atty/carto threading. Screw in only until you feel resistance, and then maybe a hair more just so it's snug, but don't ever force it. You will notice that your vent holes on the atty/carto should still be visible, both for airflow and so that any stray juice will drain into the juice well.

Put your battery into the tube, and before you screw the top piece on, make sure it "bounces" on the spring; the 3.7v IMR's will stick out a little prior to putting the top piece on and should move freely in the tube as well. Then screw on the top piece. It should fire.

The Prodigy is a mechanical mod, hence the reviews you've read of reliability. If I were to postulate a guess, it's either the center contact assembly at the top needs to be pushed back up (perhaps you screwed something in too tight) or the bottom switch assembly just needed some tightening at the copper contact screw/delrin/spring assembly. Unless Puresmoker cut your tube too long, there really shouldn't be an issue.

Report back. I'd love to here what ends up happening. And don't fret, the Prodigy is an awesome mod.

 

[hificat101]

Thanks for the input guys. I have a question for you brainishiwa. When the button is depressed on this, should it sit flush with the bottom of the tube? They asked me this yesterday in one of the emails, but the more I look at, it doesn't. It also has a very short travel, like maybe an 1/8 inch. When it is depressed there is 1/4 inch gap between switch and bottom of tube. I've had this whole thing apart several times.

Here is what I did yesterday to test.

1) Tested bat with VOM to make sure it was charged properly. Tested at 4.19V, so all things good there.

2) Tested switch with following method. With carto off, stood Prodigy up on desk with negative probe of VOM under switch. Carefully put positive probe of VOM on center bat contact on top of adaptor (center dot where you screw carto down)

3) Checked VOM for zero voltage, then carefully pushed down to depress switch. Voltage turned on.

The last email I got from puresmoker Steve told me they had seen this a couple times, and what he thought it was, was a burr left in the threads on adaptor from the manufacturing process. In the threads where the carto screws down, that it wasn't going in enough to make contact. He suggested I screw a carto in and out repeatedly, trying to screw it in a little further each time to see if I can work it past the suspected burr. I gave that my best shot for 10 min, and still no go. What I would really like to see, is puresmoker just send me another whole unit. Not a whole full kit, as I have confirmed bat, charger and atomizer are fine, but just the actual unit. I'm also curious if my switch travel is the way it should be. It seems short, which makes me wonder if the tube isn't a few mm short.

One last thing. While I was typing this book, my heat kicked on, and it reminded me that I have a forced air heat vent on the floor right next to me. One of those wrought iron deals with big holes in the top. I think that means I need to get some extra springs, as I will certainly fumble one at some point, and it will wind up in my ductwork. Would Lowes or my local hardware possibly have a spring that would fit this guy?

Thanks again guys for all your help. I am just DYING to start vaping.

 

[brianishiwa]

Hey hifi. I agree with you, if your Prodigy truly is defective, Puresmoker should send you out a new unit. If it turns out it is, I'm sure they'll take care of you, I've had nothing but great customer service from them. But let's look at some things quickly.

My Prodigy loaded with AW 3.7v 17670 IMR's

You will see that there is about a 1/8" gap between the screwable switch and the bottom of the threaded switch body. You sound like you know what you're doing, so if yours is really 1/4" gap there, then something is wrong.

Depressed, i.e. - firing the carto

The switch moved all of about 1/16". Since it's mechanical, all you're doing is completing the circuit, no electronic "switch" or anything, just the contact screw touching the negative terminal of the battery. Checking VOM's, again, you obviously know your way around these types of things but I just want to be concise.

Switch assembly, closed

I still think that your problem is somewhere in this assembly, so just make sure yours looks exactly like this, no gaps, nothing loose, nothing missing, etc.

Switch assembly, open

Ditto above, just showing you that 1/4" gap isn't normal, the black delrin insert should stop the switch assembly from extending out further than this, again about 1/8".

How far your cartos should go

This is more or less how far your carto should go into the top. See the vent hole and gap? Like I said earlier, the vent holes in the carto's threading should be exposed like this, so you get airflow and so stray juice will drain into the ring well. Since you've checked current with a carto off and verified that power is getting through to the center pin, then I can only imagine that something is going on with the carto's connection at the top. Make sure that it looks pretty close to this picture. You'll feel resistance when screwing them in at about this point, where the carto makes contact with the positive center pin.

Good luck, report back.

 

[hificat101]

Thanks for the excellent reply Brian. After looking at your pics, I probably overstated the quarter inch. My button and its travel look almost identical to yours. Looks identical with the button out too. As I said, I had tested the button operation yesterday with a VOM, and it seemed to be working fine. What made me start looking closer is one of the emails I got yesterday from puresmoker asked if the button was against the tube when fully depressed, or if there was a gap.

I got another email from someone at ps, asking if I was experiencing the problem on all 3 Boge cartos I ordered. I pointed out (as I told them yesterday) that the problem was happening with two different cartos I got from them, as well as the atty that came with the Prodigy. I also told them again, that I had tested two of the three on a friends rig and they work fine, as well as trying his Carto on it and that wouldn't fire either.

I really wish they would just send me another unit, and allow me to return this one that has never fired. I'm getting a little impatient, since now its Fri, and its looking like I'm going to be into another 5 or 6 days wait time before I can get started.

I have to say I really appreciate all your help though. It's very nice of you to go to the trouble of posting all the pics of your setup. I'd reciprocate, but I'm at work, and the Prodigy is at home.

 

[hairball]

Here's another suggestion...take the switch assembly completely apart but pay attention on how it goes back together but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out if you forget. Once apart, apply a little noalox to all the pieces that run through the delrin center piece and put back together. I say this because I bought one used that a man never could get to fire correctly. Having used 3 of them already, I had a good idea of what was wrong with it. My "idea" was correct and the problem was in the switch itself. Also if there are 2 stacked washers (which there shouldn't be) remove one of them before reassembling.

 

[hificat101]

Thanks Hairball. I'm really pretty sure it is the adaptor. Cartos don't seem to be screwing in enough. I'm pretty cetain that the switch is good, because I tested with a volt ohm meter, and it is providing 4.19v to the bat pin on Carto aide of the adaptor as soon as switch is depressed. One of the people that emailed me from ps yesterday mentioned that a few times they had seen cases like this that were caused by a burr on the threads you screw the Carto into. They suggested I try and screw a carto in, then back out, then back in again a little further until I get past, but I had no luck, so it must be quite a burr. I wish they would just break down and either send me a whole different Prodigy, or at the very least another adaptor. Not to be too terse with them, but I paid a decent amount for this ecig, and the fact it was USA made had a lot to do with my decision. Shame on me, I thought it would work out of the box.

Incidentally, the wife and I have an 11 week old kitten and she looks a little like your avatar.

 

[brianishiwa]

Awesome suggestion hb.

And hifi, you may be right that it's the adapter if your switch looks like mine, and the fact that you verified that current goes through when depressed validates that.

As far as the adapter, can you screw a carto in as far as my last picture? And did you try pushing up on the bottom flat plate of the center pin to ensure it's all the way up? At this point I'm hoping that the center positive pin is just too far in and needs a little nudge to snap back into place. It may have gotten lodged in too far during the "de-burring" process.

Sorry hifi, I know it's frustrating. You spend a good chunk of cash on a product that is well-reviewed, and it sucks to be the one with the bad apple. I feel you, all this troubleshooting should not be necessary for a PV that you spend this much money on. If after tonight you try pushing up the center pin as much as you can and it doesn't work, link Puresmoker to this thread if you need to. I highly doubt it's user error, you really sound like you know what's up.

 

[hificat101]

Morning Brian. Had to work late last night helping out a friend, and am just getting ready to go back now, so I didn't get a chance to get photo's for you but I looked at your pictures of a carto screwed in, and compared to mine. The dual coil cartos I got from PS screw in pretty far, but it is hard to tell. Vent hole on carto maybe a mm or two above the top of adaptor. The Boge LR carto I got not so much. Like three threads are sticking up. But keep in mind both of these cartos work on my friends GLV-2. Screw in and fire with no problem.

I wondered about the center pin too. I asked PS about it in one of my emails, and this is what they told me "And the center post on the Prodigy is supposed to stay "Fixed" -- Unmoveable. If it does start to move, there's a problem". Well Houston, I think we have a problem.

Thank you again for all your help. I REALLY appreciate your time and patience. Maybe later I'll see if I have a few minutes to get you a photo of my center pin.

 

[brianishiwa]

...I asked PS about it in one of my emails, and this is what they told me "And the center post on the Prodigy is supposed to stay "Fixed" -- Unmoveable. If it does start to move, there's a problem". Well Houston, I think we have a problem.

First off, you don't need to thank me, we're all in this together bud - the way I see it, you've had to resort to patches & potentially could end up lighting up again because a product you purchased is not only probably defective, but the vendor seems to be less than willing to fully rectify the matter. To be honest, I'm kind of starting to lose my patience with Puresmoker. I'm surprised that they haven't offered to just cross-ship you a replacement. Even if they asked you to send yours back first, you'd have a new unit by now if they offered it from the get-go.

As far as the center post that's supposed to stay fixed, sure, it's supposed to. I've had mine for a while now, & I can tell you that this one part is the only problem I've had with mine. Mind you, it only has occurred once, but that's how I know it can happen. I was pretty deep into a bottle of fine single malt scotch, & remember screwing a carto into my Prodigy. I tried to take a draw and I couldn't, no airflow. In my slightly drunk state, I had screwed the carto in very tightly, to where the vent holes were no longer visible. I unscrewed the carto enough so that the vent holes were exposed, but the unit didn't fire. After unscrewing the carto off, I noticed that I had pushed the center post in. I had to remove the top cap and push the post back up. That's what I think may be going on with yours. Since you've verified with the voltage meter that once the button is depressed, there's voltage coursing through the center post, the logical thing to assume is that the center post simply isn't making contact with your carto's center post. You've already validated that the cartos work on another unit, so they aren't the problem. When you get a chance, get something blunt and push as hard as you can underneath the center post's base to see if you can get it up any further.

Another thing I'd suggest is get a straightened paper clip and use it to pry the carto's center post out a little bit. Please bear in mind, you should not have to do this much work to enjoy vaping with your Prodigy - I just want to see if we can get the damn thing to at least finally fire once. And I still maintain that you need to link Puresmoker to this thread. As a Prodigy fan, I'm kind of disappointed that you've had to resort to a stranger on a message board to get this kind of support; if it were my product, I'd go out of my way to make sure you were happy.

Report back hifi, I'll be subscribing to this thread until your matter gets resolved, even if it means getting a whole different mod.

 

[hificat101]

Thanks for the advice, and the cool story about the scotch. I'm considering trying to move the pin, but am hesitant to try because ps was so adamant that I shouldn't. I did send them a link to this thread, so they can see what we tried.

I think we have exerted every reasonable effort to resolve this thing. I really think at this point, they need to send me a replacement. If they do, I'd like to fire it immediately, and once it's clear it works, I'll start swapping parts in from the old unit to determine what it was for sure. My moneys on the adaptor.

If they do send me a replacement, I hope they include some extra springs for my trouble, as I can see that I am definitely going to lose springs down the heat vent that is at my feet while I'm typing this.

 

[hificat101]

Still waiting to hear something this AM from Puresmoker. I really hope they can get this corrected for me soon. It's day 4 now and still no fire. I have been on nicotine patches, and smoking (albeit smoking less) for almost 2 years, and I'm really looking forward to getting off the patches, and cutting down between 90% and 100% on the cigarettes with this. I'm also sitting and looking at a col pile of e-liquid I'm dying to try that I ordered from various places.

A little off topic, but does anyone have any great places they get liquid from? So far I have ordered from the Vaporcast Store, Backwoods Brew, and a cool place in Alaska called Arctic Vapor (still waiting on that to arrive). Somehow I feel better about American made liquid.

I wish I could review the liquid, but I still have no fire.

 

[hificat101]

For the record, Puresmoker contacted me, and is shipping me another adaptor. They say they have tested it, and it works fine. Hope they expedited it.

 

[brianishiwa]

For the record, Puresmoker contacted me, and is shipping me another adaptor. They say they have tested it, and it works fine. Hope they expedited it.

Finally. Please keep us posted.

 

[Maximillian]

btw brianishiwa,

Not to highjack this thread, but...

How do you like the Chibi tanks and Acorn tanks? I just ordered a couple of each from parkes and am excited to try them out


Maximillian the Mostly Mischievious

 

[brianishiwa]

btw brianishiwa,

Not to highjack this thread, but...

How do you like the Chibi tanks and Acorn tanks? I just ordered a couple of each from parkes and am excited to try them out


Maximillian the Mostly Mischievious

Hey Max, I'm sure hifi won't mind, we're working on a solution with Puresmoker & it looks like we've made headway.

The Chibi & Acorn tanks are awesome, great bang for your buck.

Chibi I have a Liquinator & a couple of the DCC Carto Tanks, and they are both awesome. What I like about the Chibi is it is a lot smaller profile than most of the other tanks out there, but still holds ~3ml which easily gets me through a day out or at work. Another bonus is that the seals that Bill uses are tight, like seriously tight. I've never had my other tank leak, but there has been a few occassions where I shoved them into my pocket too fast and when I pulled my PV back out, I found that the tank had slid up a little. Again, no leaking, but still potentially could have been disastrous if it slid past the fill hole. Because the Chibi is smaller & because the seals are extremely tight, I pocket it all the time without issue.

Acorn I'm one of those "love the CE2's/hate the CE2's" vapers. Love the taste, love the TH with the coil so close to my draw, love the theory behind it...hate filling it, hate thermometer-ing it, etc. I do all the "stuff" you're supposed to do with your CE2's (bottom o-ring removal, fluff the wick around the slits, insert the middle o-ring upside down, etc.) and still use them, but it's kind of a hassle. The Acorn solves most of this wonderfully. I always hated filling CE2's (syringes or o-ring removal, either is still a pain) and the combination of a large tank reservoir & the screw top nails this down perfectly. Because of the fact that in order to "tank" a CE2, you have to slice the carto open, the Acorn isn't quite as pocketable as the Chibi, because since the carto isn't one piece, it doesn't support the tank very sturdily. Mine has never leaked on me, but then again I don't ever put it in my pocket. I can angle the tank around on the bottom o-ring fairly easily, so that's why I never place it into my pocket.

Simple but super awesome Acorn tank tip: when you get it, it will have the typical black CE2 o-rings inside the top half. Take them out, and put the one with the small wick indents back in the bottom of the carto's top half, flush. Then, push the top half of the carto up enough through the Acorn lid so that when you screw it together, the bottom where the o-ring is is flush with the top of the ceramic cup. This way, the wicks stay super saturated and it hits fabulous every single time. It will not leak if you have the o-ring/top half flush against the cup. I don't know how well I described that, so maybe I should post a picture, hahahaha.

 

[hificat101]

Hi Brian,
I may look into a Chibi for my ailing Prodigy once it's up and running. It'd be pretty awesome if my replacement adaptor got here tomorrow so I could use it on my 6 hour round trip Thu, but I'm not counting on it. If it does, and I'm vaping tomorrow, PS is back 100% in good graces with me.

 

[Maximillian]

Simple but super awesome Acorn tank tip: when you get it, it will have the typical black CE2 o-rings inside the top half. Take them out, and put the one with the small wick indents back in the bottom of the carto's top half, flush. Then, push the top half of the carto up enough through the Acorn lid so that when you screw it together, the bottom where the o-ring is is flush with the top of the ceramic cup. This way, the wicks stay super saturated and it hits fabulous every single time. It will not leak if you have the o-ring/top half flush against the cup. I don't know how well I described that, so maybe I should post a picture, hahahaha.

lol. Pasted this into a text file and saved. There's no way it's all gonna make sense 'till I have the gear in my hands to play with. Then again, that's true with most vaping gear that's new to me, I've found.

Thanks for the lengthy reply brianishiwa

My order from parkes shipped a few hours ago, so hopefully will have it in a few days. Even more off topic, since i was already ordering from them, I couldn't resist trying 30ml of vanilla cupcake for $10. Sounds tasty!

Maximillian the Oft Wandering

 

[FatBill]

hifi,
try pulling the center post down on the carto Like brian says.....THIS WORKED FOR ME... my prodigy is almost a year old. But when it was new, the threads were tight. I couldn't get my atty to thread all the way down to contact the prodigys contact...now the threads are used and I have no problem.

I use my fingernail and gently pry the post out of the atty (carto) just a little is all you need.