Does the warranty still apply to a secondary buyer or just the original purchaser? If not, that poor soul who bought your protege might be screwed eventually.
It Carries over Mark
As far as the switch ... a2 is correct ... The switch we use is the exact same switch we use for every
device we have. It has been tested at 3.7 - 6v+ without issues.
What Casey found on Friday is quite interesting .... We were testing a 401 adapter (for a client) that we put on an existing Protege ... As soon as the atomizer was hooked up - the unit shorted - and the switch was *fused* shut due to the short.
When a short was found in a Prodigy, it would burn up the resistor (whether that be due to the atomizer or adapter) When a short is found in a the Protege, it fuses the contact ring in the middle of the switch to the closed (on) position.
When we encounter a switch issue now, we also want to take a look at the adapter, to make sure there is no *slice* in the delrin, thus causing a short. We also ask to take a look at the atomizer that was on the device when the switch stuck on. This allows us to try and diagnose the issue.
As far as picking a *better* switch. The problem is .... our resources are quite limited, especially wanting to keep the switch in the position we have it now. Can we put the button, or make a mechanical button to put near the bottom? Absolutely .... But, there are several vendors that already produce such units thus, our styling of trying to be different. We have ordered roughly 30 or so *mechanical* type switches, one was even outfitted on the Protege plastic insert. THe problem here is, micro mechanical type switches (key/etc...) have almost ZERO gram force rating, meaning -- very easy to press down. For our application, the mechanical switch just didn't work like it should. Without having an obtrusive/ugly switch sticking out of the unit, our options are of 1 type ... a tact switch. Thus, we picked the heaviest duty tact we could get. A 350 gram force rating tact switch is no wimpy tact .... its about as strong as you can get with the throw that we liked.
With that said, we will continue to produce -- mid tube -- switched devices. The new Prodigy and the next Protege will both be cammed units -- or those without a switch at all. They will still be a manual device, but there will be no actual switch. We like to try and keep options open, so for those that want to be able to use their index finger/thumb, they can still get such a device.
