HAH! 2AMP 5V USB passthrough car adapter EXPLODES!

[Heisenberg]

Well not the whole thing, just an electrolytic cap. I was so excited when i got it. I went right out to the car and turned it on, plugged the thing in. The LED was orange...from experience I should've known right then that something was wrong. But I was just like "oh well the LED is orange". So I plug the passthrough in, take one puff...and as I smile in satisfaction I hear a pop. And I'm like "what fell off the dashboard" or something. Then I see the cloud of smoke. Then I took in the familiar fishy aroma of a busted electro cap. (!!!!) I was so ......! Wiped that smile right off my face!

So I took it inside, took it apart and saw the busted cap. A 47 uf 50v cap. Not sure why it exploded, but part of the toroid coil winding was touching the heatsink of the voltage regulator!! Also the reason the red LED was glowing orange was because the freakin resistor was mounted verticaly and the lead before the resistor was touching the postive lead of the LED. WTF?! What crappy manufacturing! The fuse was also blown. I had to dig around for a 47 uf cap that I thought would have a high enough voltage rating. I could only find a 25v. So I put that in. Had to find a bunch of old car adapters (finally a use for these!) and find a fuse that I thought would work. I chose a 2A. Put the thing together and it works.


But man, right outta the box with those sorta flaws inside?? If anyone gets these I strongly suggest unscrewing the pointed end and opening the casing to see if there are any unwanted contacts. I'm pretty sure it was the winding of the toroid coil touching the heatsink, which is tied to the tab which is usually tied to 5v+ on regulators.

 

[Heisenberg]

check em, unless you know how to fix em

 

[lorikay13]

care to enlighten us as to where you obtained said device?

 

[Heisenberg]

madvapes.com. I mean, the thing works fine now. Not all of them can be messed up. But mine happened to be.

 

[Heisenberg]

BTW, the thing really did explode. The force of the cap exploding forced the enclosure apart. It would've busted in two if it weren't plugged into the car outlet. There was that fiber filling everywhere.

 

[DaveP]

The only thing that beats the odor of an exploded electrolytic is a burned up selenium rectifier. You don't see many of them anymore.

Good info on the 12VDC USB PT Adapter.

 

[DaMulta]

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Whistle_Pig]

Got mine at madvapes too. Of course, I don't imagine there's much, if any difference among the $5 ones. Whether mine actually works, I don't know, because it makes such poor contact with the lighter socket that it won't stay on.

I've had it opened up. Nothing too complex there, so I'm going to wire it directly to 12V under the dash.

 

[mwa102464]

Steve over at Vaporkings.com has a special one he specked out at 2amps that where made for him. I happen to have one and it is a very good one at that, just a suggestion if you want another one of quality, best price isn't always best.!! not to be meant as a smart crack, his is a bit more only a bit more than the good ones out there at maybe $12-15 bucks but it is worth it if your gonna use a PT in the car

 

[Heisenberg]

I was thinkin of taking pictures while I was doing it. It's too late! I can go take it apart and show you the insides.

 

[Heisenberg]

Here. I never use my camera so the battery was dead. Iphone camera is blurry. But you can SORTA see where everything is.

The purple cap in the top right is the one I put in. You can see the toroid coil. I pushed in part of the coil so it didn't touch the heatsink.

 

[BobbyLupo]

Got mine from madvapes been working great!!

On a side note my 1,000 mah car adaptor from cignot.com started smoking about 2 weeks in. Now it only works when you hold it at a certain angle, and no I wasn't using 5v on this before you ask.

 

[mianker]

That is a bit scary.......shouldn't the fuse have blown or something?

 

[Heisenberg]

It did blow. After the capacitor exploded.

 

[Bobbeeman]

I have one from madvapes as well, and today I plugged in my 5V PT with a Stainless steel drip tip, and when I took a drag I could feel a tingle like electric, when my lips touched the drip tip, so I unscrewed the atty and screwed it back, and I quit, has anyone else had this happen?

 

[ab357]

Got mine at madvapes too. Of course, I don't imagine there's much, if any difference among the $5 ones. Whether mine actually works, I don't know, because it makes such poor contact with the lighter socket that it won't stay on.

I've had it opened up. Nothing too complex there, so I'm going to wire it directly to 12V under the dash.

I'm having all sorts of problems with my 5v PT that I also got at Mad Vapes. I went to the website today to learn the warranty was only 14 days. I would have actually purchased another but they were out of stock.

After reading this thread I know it's not just mine but a bad batch. They will be wise to make it right with me. A good day for me these days is when I don't buy more stuff. I'm sure they would like to get more of my business.

Not to mention I asked for some of their business cards because folks want to know where to go buy stuff. I think I'll actually have to find time to call and speak to them tomorrow.

 

[Edwv30]

I bought a 510 5v PT from them and it quit working after less than a week. I took the end cap off to see if a wire had came loose but it is full of white gunk. I eventually found that the PT would work if the wire was held in a certain position so I got some electrical tape and taped the wire to the PT body. Very cheap made and poor quality. I would like to order another PT but am worried that they are all made like this...any suggestions of another supplier or product?

 

[rtbob]

I picked one up at Frys about six months ago. It was less than $15.00. Still going strong. 5 volts/ 2amps with two usb ports.

 

[ab357]

Well I came off satisfied after speaking with them. They said out of a batch of 500, they had only been told of a few including mine that had went bad. They also said their next batch is in route and from a different supplier with a longer, thicker cord; 5 ft. vs. the old 4 ft. I think I was the first to inform them about the exploding car adapters. I do know they logged onto the forum immediately to see what people were experiencing.

Mad Vapes has a special place in my heart as it was the Hello 016 I purchased from them that freed me from the "Luci" system I started off with. One of the aspects of vaping that as a newbie still stands out is the difference dealing with the e-cig vendors in general as opposed to other mass produced products.

You call with a complaint or concern, they do what they can to resolve it including contacting manufacturers and reporting the bugs their clients complain about. I brought up LR conamizers with them today. I bet they will call Hello and tell them their clients are skeptical of buying the 016 because it doesn't offer a LR conamizer.


The other aspect that I realized about a week ago is most of the vendors here at ECF are relatively new themselves. That point came through reading a post by Geoff of TV mentioning they had only been in business a year or so (I think). Since I've only been vaping a little over a month, I assumed these guys had been around forever.

E-cigs are a major positive news report or magazine article away from becoming mainstream. These vendors will then have to fight off major corporate money/clout. Most of our favorites are basically family operations. You call and can still speak to the owners of the largest operations and they don't attempt to rush you off the phone.

I didn't intend to go off track. However I think we do need to keep in mind these are relative startups with products that are literally just being released. Our feedback greatly influences their decision making process.

I am a bit saddened that one of the highest regarded juice vendors has to temporarily shut down, primarily because his funds were tied up in juices that are being held up. I assume Joye is considered the largest e-cig manufacturer. You can even go directly to its owner here at ECF.

I personally hope the day doesn't come where our favs become so huge they loose the personal touch. It's understandable when a vendor tries a product and there are some bad ones in the batch or the entire line is bogus. I personally can't blame them if they do all they can do make it right once it becomes known.

I've been hanging with DonDaBoomVape too much! Look how long this post is.

 

[5cardstud]

I bought a 510 5v PT from them and it quit working after less than a week. I took the end cap off to see if a wire had came loose but it is full of white gunk. I eventually found that the PT would work if the wire was held in a certain position so I got some electrical tape and taped the wire to the PT body. Very cheap made and poor quality. I would like to order another PT but am worried that they are all made like this...any suggestions of another supplier or product?

Mine did that after a couple months. I took it apart and found a loose wire put it back on but it finally bit the dust. I made my own and it works great. My 12v to 5v car adapter is fine though, no problems.