Have just a couple of ??

[KyanaBelle]

A disclaimer: I tend to be long winded (sorry)

I will be purchasing my first starter kit at the beginning of the month. I've spent the last week reading everything I can get my hands on about vaping, "window" shopping and watching how-to videos. I'm a heavy chain-smoker who absolutely must quit. I've quit before, but it wasn't the tar, nicotine, and smoke that I missed. I never got over being depressed about missing the lung-hit and all the hand-work. I'll worry about cutting the nicotine out later, right now I just want to get on the vapor and off the smoke.

I know that I will not be happy unless I go the tank system route. I also know that since I am disabled and a bit reclusive, 90% of my waking hours I am on my computer or near an outlet. A pass-through would probably be what I am on most of the time. That is where my confusion comes in. I've seen the pass-through battery/charger combination and what appears to be just a pass-through (no battery or charger?) What I want is just something to plug into my atomizer and run on the computer or household current. I can save my charged batteries for when I leave the house or go out in the yard. My question is am I understanding what the product just called a "pass-through" (no mention of a battery or charger in the description) really is? And if so, how are they as far as reliability? Do they burn out frequently? I do intend to get an extra as a back up, just to be on the safe side.

And one more question: those who are using the tanks - how are they doing with an 80/20 mix of PG/VG? One video advised only PG. One store advised 75/25 PG/VG minimum. I would like a little VG in the mix, unless it causes delivery issues in the tank system.

 

[JC Okie]

Pass-throughs are great. There's a Joye eGo 650mAh passthrough at E-Liquid and Electronic Cigarette Shop - Category Listings that you could use with the tank. I have one and it's great. I even use it in my car hooked up to the cigarette lighter port. You can unhook it when you want to walk around.

I don't anymore but I used my tanks with 50/50 mix of PG/VG and it worked for me. That was probably pushing it. Instead of hooking a pass-through to the computer, I'd plug it into a wall plug. They suck a lot of power from a computer....they could fry your computer. If you go to Liberty-flights, click on the 20% off on the top left corner. Go to eGo 510 and scroll way, way down the page till you get to the pass-through. They have lots of colors...I have a green one.

 

[clark8876]

+1 for the Ego passthrough.

I've used one since October last year and it's still going strong. I'm hooked up to my computer all day and if I need to go somewhere I just unhook it and go. The battery still has several hours charge and as JC Okie said, you can plug it into an adapter in the car. This becomes really handy if your normal charger packs it in or you are suffering power failures.

 

[davelog]

I use 80/20 in my tank, never had a problem with leaking or poor wicking. 20-30% vg seems to be the sweet spot.

 

[KyanaBelle]

JC Okie,
Forgive me for being dense - but what happens when that particular battery is ready to die? Do you have to buy the whole thing again? And is there a danger of your battery overcharging and getting ruined if you want to run the pass-through much longer than it takes for the battery to fully charge? That was why I just wanted to get a pass-through that didn't have a charger and battery on it. As I said, I am very confused about the pass-throughs. The only thing I am sure of is that most of the time I will want to run my set on the house current or the car current and the pass-through is the way to do that. LOL!

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Pass-thorugh's are great! But, I would only use them with household current and not on the computer. Sometimes the PT and the computer don't play well together. I only use a wall adapter that's plugged into a surge protector. The eGo PT plugs into the battery and charges while you use it and also acts as a stand alone battery.

 

[Panky]

If the passthrough is anything like the battery, it will not let itself overcharge. I do not have one so I am not sure but I have an ego-t and they stop charging when they are full. It should be the same though.

 

[KyanaBelle]

I use 80/20 in my tank, never had a problem with leaking or poor wicking. 20-30% vg seems to be the sweet spot.

From what all I had read, I think that I will prefer having a bit of VG mixed in. I had settled on 20% to test when I saw the video recommending a 100% PG juice. Will try it at 80/20. Thank you!

 

[KyanaBelle]

Pass-thorugh's are great! But, I would only use them with household current and not on the computer. Sometimes the PT and the computer don't play well together. I only use a wall adapter that's plugged into a surge protector. The eGo PT plugs into the battery and charges while you use it and also acts as a stand alone battery.

So the battery part of the assembly, once it is toast, you just replace it with a regular 650 mAH battery instead of buying a whole new pass-through set? That's where my confusion is - is the battery in the pass-through set just an ordinary 650mAH battery or is it a special 650 mAH battery just for using on PT?

 

[KyanaBelle]

Thanks, Panky. One concern down. I can't afford to be burning out batteries prematurely if I can help it. LOL

 

[WomanOfHeart]

When the battery goes dead you'll have to buy a new PT. The eGo is what we consider to be an "all-in-one", meaning that the battery isn't separate.

If it makes you feel more comfortable, I've had the same Riva/eGo batteries that I originally bought back in September of last year. They're still going strong and my fiance uses them daily. I've since moved on to mods.

 

[dormouse]

I think 20% will be good. I also like that level for a cartomizers. But if you find you mouth, throat or lungs getting irritated then you may have to lower your nicotine or raise your VG. Nicotine is a skin irritant and PG does little to buffer it. I also recommend that since you will be chain vaping you not go overboard with the nicotine level. Whatever you get, get some lower or get some of the same juice in 0mg so you can mix it down to lower levels.

Batteries dying - as in caput? No idea. They are supposedly good for 150+ recharges in general. I think a battery would probably start not holding charge as well when it gets old. And occasionally somebody gets a more drastic total failure.

 

[clark8876]

Battery life is good, as I mentioned, mine has been working every day for the past 7 months with no problems.

If it does eventually die you have to buy the battery and cord again but they're only about $5 more than a regular 650 eGo battery.

 

[hairball]

I will try to make this simple.

There are several types of passthroughs. I will try my best to explain the 3 that I have in mind.

5V passthrough - only to be used with a 2amp wall adapter, dangerous for your computer. Alot of juices have a tendency to taste burnt at 5V but each person is different. I have one juice that I love on my 5V but that's the only one out of about 50 flavors that I have. You can't use low resistance atomizers or cartomizers on these...it has to be standard resistance or higher.

3.7V inline passthrough - these can be safely plugged into your computer usb port however I still use a wall plug (I would rather be safe than sorry). These take a 10440 battery that is placed in a battery holder. If you choose one like this, get a couple extra batteries. You can use low resistance on these which works beautifully.

eGo passthrough - plug and play device. Battery can be unplugged and taken with you or leave it plugged in and use it. Either way, it works great and my choice out of the 3. You can use low resistance on these if that's what you choose but it can lead to premature battery death. I, personally, have not had a problem with mine and it's 9 months old.

 

[KyanaBelle]

Okay, that's great everyone! Now I'm clear on it. I am going to go ahead with the eGo pass-through and will be running it through the wall outlet to be on the safe side. I think I'm just going to put together my own "starter kit" since I've not really found a pre-assembled kit that is a very good fit for me. I had already decided against the LRs.

And thanks for the warning on the nicotine, Dormouse. I had come across that warning already and I knew I would be hitting this thing hot-and-heavy so had decided to stay in the 6mg-11mg range.

Clark, I was having a "blonde moment" (or a senior moment - I'll never tell!) on the price of the PT batteries. I was mentally stuck on kit prices w/ the addition of the PT and wasn't paying attention to the single battery prices vs. the PT battery prices.

Again, thank you everyone! You've been a huge help!