Eleaf iStick "pico"

[pufZeppelin]

it's not TRUE passthru

unit still powers thru the battery, so when internal charger is engaged the fire button is not disabled
but battery still has to have sufficient charge... (for operation)

is that a little better said maybe

 

[Jim_ MDP]

I want to pull the rigger on a Pico, but my previous experience with iSticks has me a little concerned.

These are 3rd gen iSticks, if that helps.

First gen is up through the i50 (got a few of that series)... we know the history.
Then the i100, i40TC and i60TC (got the first two of those as well). No real major issues.

But these are a new ballgame for Eleaf. The i100TC and Pico are part of a larger family that includes all of joyetech's recent TC mods. The Wismecs (RX, Presas, VapeForwards), VTCs and iSticks all share JT's components, chips, boards, TC software, firmware update features and code, etc. It's a big stable.

Perfect, flawless, issue-free? Absolutely not. What is?
But I think the days of keeping the fire dep't on speed dial and charging with one eye on the mod are behind us.

 

[Jim_ MDP]

According to spec, it's not suppose to say low/weak battery until it gets to 2.9v.

That seems quite low.

Cut-off should be in the 3.2v area. A little lower is no big deal.
Sag will take it below cut-off... briefly (I think), but it should never be displaying 2.9v.

 

[eiraku]

That seems quite low.

Cut-off should be in the 3.2v area. A little lower is no big deal.
Sag will take it below cut-off... briefly (I think), but it should never be displaying 2.9v.

According to the long 40-min, all encompassing German guy YT review (check last page), cutoff is around 3.2v.

Not sure if it works that way with passthrough charging as well.

 

[sofarsogood]

Hey guys. My friend thinks his Pico is acting funny and I want to know if this is normal.

So he has the Pico with an LG HG2 battery just like I do. He vapes with an Aspire Triton at 45 watts. He vaped it until it was dead. He plugged it in for a few minutes, and I asked him why he wasn't using his passthrough. He said it's cuz it wouldn't let him. I saw him try it, and indeed it did not work. So you can't get a Pico to fire on a weak battery even if it's plugged in?

After it had been charging for a while, it would fire. However, it would say "weak battery" or "low battery" after every puff. I forget which one. I switched it to bypass mode and it was reading 3.4 volts. According to spec, it's not suppose to say low/weak battery until it gets to 2.9v. 3.4 seems like it's in the normal vaping range. It was still plugged in at this point.

So is this normal, or is it defective? I've never had this problem because I've never drained the battery below 3.6 before. Also, I only vape 7 watts, not 45 like my friend does.

I spoke to the company I bought it from, and he said he would replace it if I sent it to him and he deemed it defective. I would have to send it first though, so I want to know if this is normal or not before I waste a lot of time and trouble.

I'm pretty sure it works like this. Your USB charging device and/or the charging circuit in the mod are only allowing 1 amp or less to flow through the USB cable. When you press the fire button you're drawing more than that. For instance, 4 volts x 6 amps = 24 watts. You need 6 amps to hit 24 watts when the battery voltage is 4. The charging cable is not providing anywhere near that and it shouldn't.

I also suspect that when you're pushing the fire button on the pico the charging power is momentarily disconnected from the battery but I could be wrong about that.

 

[Carnage9270]

I'm pretty sure it works like this. Your USB charging device and/or the charging circuit in the mod are only allowing 1 amp or less to flow through the USB cable. When you press the fire button you're drawing more than that. For instance, 4 volts x 6 amps = 24 watts. You need 6 amps to hit 24 watts when the battery voltage is 4. The charging cable is not providing anywhere near that and it shouldn't.

I also suspect that when you're pushing the fire button on the pico the charging power is momentarily disconnected from the battery but I could be wrong about that.

This is why I laugh when I hear the term "pass-through". Wrong term for what they are trying to say. There is no such thing as pass through in these circuits. Charging stops when you start to vape, then starts again when you release the fire button. This also puts wicked cycling on your batteries, but they don't tell you that.

 

[sofarsogood]

This is why I laugh when I hear the term "pass-through". Wrong term for what they are trying to say. There is no such thing as pass through in these circuits. Charging stops when you start to vape, then starts again when you release the fire button. This also puts wicked cycling on your batteries, but they don't tell you that.

I have doubts about the "cycling" issue you mention. My phone and mod are charging for a high percentage of the day. I'm not noticing that battery endurance is declining rapidly. The tradeoff I see is that being fully charged is more stressful than being in a partially charged state but a battery that's fully charged, meaning higher volts, needs less amps to provide the watts so there would be less stress on account of that. My practice is to keep battery charge topped off.

 

[sofarsogood]

This is why I laugh when I hear the term "pass-through". Wrong term for what they are trying to say. There is no such thing as pass through in these circuits. Charging stops when you start to vape, then starts again when you release the fire button. This also puts wicked cycling on your batteries, but they don't tell you that.

My practice is to keep my mod charging whenever charging is available. I'm not seeing evidence of this cycling problem you mention. My reasoning is that higher volts means less amps are needed to provide the watts so less stress on the battery.

 

[Carnage9270]

Cycling is very real. Now whether you notice it or not, that's a whole different story.

 

[sofarsogood]

Cycling is very real. Now whether you notice it or not, that's a whole different story.

How about providing a little more technical detail on this problem.

 

[USMCotaku]

View attachment 560931

View attachment 560935

take those same settings, and drop the battery voltage down to 3.4 volts......

 

[USMCotaku]

Nice post. Like I mentioned earlier, short runtime, 7 minutes. Wrong tool for 75 watt vaping.

that is 7 minutes constant...considering most people puff at around 3 second puffs....that translates to hours of vape time, up to a day depending on frequency of vaping

 

[USMCotaku]

And to clarify, I didn't say don't use a 20A battery, just don't use one at or near max wattage. I run a 20A battery in it all day long.....but I am vaping it around 30 watts

 

[USMCotaku]

I THINK it is how it is supposed to be

"TRUE" passthru would mean you could use device WITHOUT battery
and just the USB plugged in (which they won't)

passthru in this case (my thoughts) is that when you plug USB in
the UNIT DOES NOT shut off so you can't use it

BUT IF BATTERY is not above Safe Cut-Off limit, unit will not fire...
same with most all of these devices

didn't say that very well, but that's what I think is going on...

indeed, it is not "true pass through" as it is still drawing from the battery when vaped while plugged in

 

[Amlowe]

What is it with clearomiser tanks? 22x54mm and only holds 2ml?? I sneeze 2ml Nice mod tho.

I love my pico... Ordered the device & pif'ed the tank... Threw my hera+ on it... Awesome mod...

 

[USMCotaku]

This is why I laugh when I hear the term "pass-through". Wrong term for what they are trying to say. There is no such thing as pass through in these circuits. Charging stops when you start to vape, then starts again when you release the fire button. This also puts wicked cycling on your batteries, but they don't tell you that.

A lithium battery cycle isn't measured in how many times it is hit with a charge current, but how many times it is charged from "empty" to full.....I.E. if you charge it at 50% to full, it would take that twice to count as one cycle.

 

[Carnage9270]

A lithium battery cycle isn't measured in how many times it is hit with a charge current, but how many times it is charged from "empty" to full.....I.E. if you charge it at 50% to full, it would take that twice to count as one cycle.

Rapid charge and discharging (cycling back and forth) of any battery type is not good for the battery. ANY type of battery.

 

[GarfieldDC]

Now this is truly a stealth setup. The Bachelor Nano was a bit tall for the Pico. The Serpent Mini on the other hand complements it nicely. [emoji2]

 

[WickedWicks]

The i100TC and Pico are part of a larger family that includes all of JoyeTech's recent TC mods. The Wismecs (RX, Presas, VapeForwards), VTCs and iSticks all share JT's components, chips, boards, TC software, firmware update features and code

Do you have a source to back this statement?

My VTC-Mini reads the resistance about 10% higher than the Pico, which ultimately also effects the wattage (assuming voltage is correctly set). So running the same atty with the same settings provide different vapes depending on which mod it's running on.

The Pico reads the same resistance than 2nd Gen iStick 40/60.

 

[aznnp77]

Thanks for the replies about my friend's issue then. So what you guys are saying is, you think this is normal and not a defective device correct?

So what I'm hearing is the typical battery voltage range is 3.2-4.2v, and that 3.4v is normal to see a low battery message?

My battery doesn't really last as long as I thought either. I would probably get a day and a half, go through 3-4ml of juice, vaping at 7 watts before the battery would die on me (if I ever let it get that far).

Seemed kinda weird when I've heard some people vaping 70 watts and 10ml+ of juice during the same time. Then I thought to myself that I probably take way more puffs than the average person. You guys are probably taking big hits then putting it down for a while, while I'm tootle puffing frequently during the hour to and from work.

So I guess making my tank fire more frequently drains the battery just as bad or worse than firing 10x the wattage less frequently? Or am I off base here?