How to fix an E-Power/noEgo before it breaks

[BlutO]

After experiencing button failure on my 18650 noEgo (Same as the E-Power), I decided to take a pipe cutter to it in the interest of science. Here is what I found out:



The center plastic ring is glued to the housing with what appears to be super glue. This glue is very brittle and the plastic ring is smaller than the inner diameter of the housing. The plastic ring can become loose and rotate inside of the housing. If this happens, while even the "hard plastic" button is being pressed down, it can cause the button to stick or not fire at all.

The plastic ring in the 18650 model is pretty thick, so after my replacement noEgo arrived I went ahead and drilled a small hole in the outside of the housing on the opposite site of the switch. I put a screw in the hole and tightened it down. Now the plastic ring can't rotate and the switch will always stay lined up properly.

If the manufacturer would use a larger diameter inner ring and better glue, this modification wouldn't be necessary.

So far, my new noeGo is working fine and I'm pretty sure this would work on any E-power with a switch problem. Just be sure to drill a very small hole that a very small screw can fit. Directly behind the button is the PCB. You really don't want to screw through it.

This is a fix that can be applied before the problem happens. You could probably rotate the plastic ring to re-align the button after you drill the hole, if yours is already malfunctioning.

Good luck and I hope I posted this in the right place. I have been lurking a while and am just now figuring out the posting etiquette.

-BlutO

 

[Croissant]

haha that is awesome man. all in the name of science FTW

 

[northhar]

Yes saw your post and came here,. Excellent fix for the plastic turning. I gathered you had to do this to the switch with the hard plastic button, which of course cannot be removed without opening the switch.
The fix you describe is excellent, as you do not have to open the switch to secure the inner ring.

Too bad you did not find me before taking the pipe cutter to the switch, a much less drastic procedure will do.
If you ever have to open one try this procedure.

1, get a cheap jewellers screwdriver with a thin shaft;
like in this link the 3rd or forth one;
http:///www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/HandTools/ScrewdriverSets/PRDOVR~0573505P/Mastercraft+6-Piece+Precision+Screwdriver+Set.jsp?locale=en

2: cut off most of the black shaft leave about 1/4 to 1/2" and sand it flat.
3: get a six sided 3/4" socket.
Like in the link on the left;
Mastercraft Regular Socket | Canadian Tire
4: get a hammer..
5: with the switch in hand pull out the pin and the rubber/silicone protector from the positive battery side, that is the side of the switch that contacts the battery, be care full and your wires will remain attached, otherwise you will have to solder them back.
6: now place the switch with 510 connector face down into the 3/4" 6 sided socket. You will notice that the edges of the switch make contact but not the face.
7: insert the now cutup jewellers driver at an angle away from the connector at the 510 end.
8: give a light blow on the end of the driver,
9: remove the driver and replace opposite from the first position at the same angle and give another light blow.
10: remove the the driver and pick up the switch and see if the cap started moving.
11" repeat steps 6 to 10 until the end caps drops out.
12: Once the cap is out flip the switch and repeat 6 to 10 on the battery side and that cap will come off.

Now you must clean the glue that is on the switch body and the caps. The reason you do that is I found a switch that the glue insulated the top cap and had no power.
You can glue the plastic part inside the switch body, or also replace the switch inside if the board is done.
When you rebuild the switch be careful with the glue as it will insulate and cause bad contact use it wisely.

The part I would have liked to continue with is not done yet is a new electronic or/and a mechanical switch insertion
I am still trying to find/make one that will fit and take 3amps or better.

I will post when it happens but it is slow, life gets in the way and new toys need playing with..
vape on and enjoy your NoEgo it's a great mod.

 

[BlutO]

Very cool! Thanks for the instructions. It looks like I might have to give this a go since now I have one that the light comes on solid as soon as you attach the battery. The button isn't stuck, it just won't do anything. Any idea what would cause this? Is the switch shorting out? I am a heavy dripper sometimes and maybe some juice got into the hole and onto the pcb. I don't think any juice got in there, but I can't think of anything else that would cause it to fail.

 

[northhar]

Very cool! Thanks for the instructions. It looks like I might have to give this a go since now I have one that the light comes on solid as soon as you attach the battery. The button isn't stuck, it just won't do anything. Any idea what would cause this? Is the switch shorting out? I am a heavy dripper sometimes and maybe some juice got into the hole and onto the pcb. I don't think any juice got in there, but I can't think of anything else that would cause it to fail.

Well most of the time when the light comes on like that means the mosfet is done. You could test it with a multimeter to see if you have power at the 510 connector.

Some where someone has replaced it with a momentary switch, I will try and find it and post the link here. It was not pretty but it got the switch working again with no features, ie no led, no 12 sec shutoff.

 

[BlutO]

Well most of the time when the light comes on like that means the mosfet is done. You could test it with a multimeter to see if you have power at the 510 connector.

Some where someone has replaced it with a momentary switch, I will try and find it and post the link here. It was not pretty but it got the switch working again with no features, ie no led, no 12 sec shutoff.

I still have the pcb/switch from the one I destroyed, so maybe I can use your method and get a working mod out of two dead ones

 

[northhar]

I will try and get a pic and an explantion of how I used the original board and switch working again by next week.
It will work till it dies with no led basically mechanical, but it is pushing the limits of the little switch.

Till then...

 

[paise]

I'm confused but perhaps you can help; it is most likely due to my lack of usable sight but here is my problem. My E-Power w/the 14560 battery's button part is broken. The rubbery thing popped out and along with it came this little square feeling chip-like piece. My daughter, who is sighted, says it looks like it sits inside the steel part on a chip in it. The button on the little chip-like piece makes the clicking noises as it did before the rubber piece got stuck then popped out completely along with the chip-like piece.

Is it possible to glue the rubbery piece onto the clicky chip-like piece then glue that on the inner chip part to get it to work until the replacement piece (which I couldn't afford to begin with and now I'm not sure I can pay all my bills this month let alone even think about Christmas but this is the 3rd year we've had this problem b/c SSA won't approve DH's disability claim from the heart damage & probls w/his type I juvenile diabetes) arrives sometime on Monday or Tuesday? I ordered the part from the closest store to me that had it in stock but even that isn't going to help for the weekend b/c it's still a state or two away even with priority shipping.

I can't go back to analogs for 2 reasons; my health is the most important b/c I have not had bronchitis in over 2yrs 4mos after giving up the analogs for the e-cigs and the fact I can't stand the smell of analogs now not to mention I can't afford them... I feel like Murphy's Law and bad luck is following me around and doesn't want to leave me alone! I need an alternative back up button thingy piece; however, it took me some 4mos to save enough to buy this kit and it was on sale!

It's got to the point where I feel each time I stand up, I'm getting kicked in the teeth and dropped to my backside again. I'm not afraid of dusting off my pants and getting up again but there's only so many times you can keep getting up, if you know what I mean. Lupus (SLE) & Sjogren's is doing all it can to put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, Sjogren's is causing inflammation in my corneas trying to destroy my dream of some day, hopefully many years from now, donating my corneas to someone who can't see will be able to even if I can't stop the degeneration of my sight and ultimate total blindness when it comes. I'm already down to about 2-inches max from my eyes as far as what I can see and that's only when it's large things, not small ones and only on good-eye days, as my family and I refer to them. I haven't been as sick despite the hosed immune system with exception of the last several months of trying to get rid of an ongoing stubborn sinus, inner ear, and inner/outer ear of my right ear that hasn't responded to the last 5 to 6 antibiotics - at least not until my doc broke out the big guns with a script for high-dose Augmentin pills and high-dose ear drop antibiotics. I still have the vertigo, which I take medication to help ease the effects but my ear: inner & outer canal, as well as inner ear, and sinuses do not feel as painful or infected as they did before this run of high-dose antibiotics normally saved when others fail along with the doubling up with otic ear antibiotic drops saved for the same reason. Doctors don't want people to become immune to the antibiotics or rather have antibiotics become immune to infection where overuse causes the infections to adapt and mutate making regular antibiotics not work anymore. I am prime for something like that b/c I'm prone to infections, bacterial and viral.


So, if you have any ideas, I'd appreciate them but please bear in mind I am not the most technically inclined when it comes to e-cigs and parts like this. I used to could tear down a computer, repair it, and put it together again but now, that's not easy to do anymore.

Even worse this week, my long-time powerhouse Logitech mouse quit working and I can't even afford to replace it and the mouse touchpad with my notebook hates me and has never worked well.

After experiencing button failure on my 18650 noEgo (Same as the E-Power), I decided to take a pipe cutter to it in the interest of science. Here is what I found out:

View attachment 64481

The center plastic ring is glued to the housing with what appears to be super glue. This glue is very brittle and the plastic ring is smaller than the inner diameter of the housing. The plastic ring can become loose and rotate inside of the housing. If this happens, while even the "hard plastic" button is being pressed down, it can cause the button to stick or not fire at all.

The plastic ring in the 18650 model is pretty thick, so after my replacement noEgo arrived I went ahead and drilled a small hole in the outside of the housing on the opposite site of the switch. I put a screw in the hole and tightened it down. Now the plastic ring can't rotate and the switch will always stay lined up properly.

If the manufacturer would use a larger diameter inner ring and better glue, this modification wouldn't be necessary.

So far, my new noeGo is working fine and I'm pretty sure this would work on any E-power with a switch problem. Just be sure to drill a very small hole that a very small screw can fit. Directly behind the button is the PCB. You really don't want to screw through it.

This is a fix that can be applied before the problem happens. You could probably rotate the plastic ring to re-align the button after you drill the hole, if yours is already malfunctioning.

Good luck and I hope I posted this in the right place. I have been lurking a while and am just now figuring out the posting etiquette.

-BlutO

 

[BlutO]

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish I had some experience with the soft buttons on the 14500, but I've never owned one. I would assume it is the same button that was used on the eGo devices a few months ago. I know Joye has started using the hard plastic buttons. I'm sure they did so to avoid the issue you are having.

I have heard that when people have the problem I had with the soft button, they were able to pop the button out and realign the switch. That might be all that has happened in your case. Try to put the hard plastic piece inside of the soft button and then reinsert the button. As long as it lines back up with the switch on the board, you should be fine. Does the atty work if you press the switch on the board with a toothpick? If so, then the switch is probably fine and you just need to reinsert the button.

Happy thoughts heading your way. Good luck!

I'm confused but perhaps you can help; it is most likely due to my lack of usable sight but here is my problem. My E-Power w/the 14560 battery's button part is broken. The rubbery thing popped out and along with it came this little square feeling chip-like piece. My daughter, who is sighted, says it looks like it sits inside the steel part on a chip in it. The button on the little chip-like piece makes the clicking noises as it did before the rubber piece got stuck then popped out completely along with the chip-like piece.

Is it possible to glue the rubbery piece onto the clicky chip-like piece then glue that on the inner chip part to get it to work until the replacement piece (which I couldn't afford to begin with and now I'm not sure I can pay all my bills this month let alone even think about Christmas but this is the 3rd year we've had this problem b/c SSA won't approve DH's disability claim from the heart damage & probls w/his type I juvenile diabetes) arrives sometime on Monday or Tuesday? I ordered the part from the closest store to me that had it in stock but even that isn't going to help for the weekend b/c it's still a state or two away even with priority shipping.

I can't go back to analogs for 2 reasons; my health is the most important b/c I have not had bronchitis in over 2yrs 4mos after giving up the analogs for the e-cigs and the fact I can't stand the smell of analogs now not to mention I can't afford them... I feel like Murphy's Law and bad luck is following me around and doesn't want to leave me alone! I need an alternative back up button thingy piece; however, it took me some 4mos to save enough to buy this kit and it was on sale!

It's got to the point where I feel each time I stand up, I'm getting kicked in the teeth and dropped to my backside again. I'm not afraid of dusting off my pants and getting up again but there's only so many times you can keep getting up, if you know what I mean. Lupus (SLE) & Sjogren's is doing all it can to put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, Sjogren's is causing inflammation in my corneas trying to destroy my dream of some day, hopefully many years from now, donating my corneas to someone who can't see will be able to even if I can't stop the degeneration of my sight and ultimate total blindness when it comes. I'm already down to about 2-inches max from my eyes as far as what I can see and that's only when it's large things, not small ones and only on good-eye days, as my family and I refer to them. I haven't been as sick despite the hosed immune system with exception of the last several months of trying to get rid of an ongoing stubborn sinus, inner ear, and inner/outer ear of my right ear that hasn't responded to the last 5 to 6 antibiotics - at least not until my doc broke out the big guns with a script for high-dose Augmentin pills and high-dose ear drop antibiotics. I still have the vertigo, which I take medication to help ease the effects but my ear: inner & outer canal, as well as inner ear, and sinuses do not feel as painful or infected as they did before this run of high-dose antibiotics normally saved when others fail along with the doubling up with otic ear antibiotic drops saved for the same reason. Doctors don't want people to become immune to the antibiotics or rather have antibiotics become immune to infection where overuse causes the infections to adapt and mutate making regular antibiotics not work anymore. I am prime for something like that b/c I'm prone to infections, bacterial and viral.


So, if you have any ideas, I'd appreciate them but please bear in mind I am not the most technically inclined when it comes to e-cigs and parts like this. I used to could tear down a computer, repair it, and put it together again but now, that's not easy to do anymore.

Even worse this week, my long-time powerhouse Logitech mouse quit working and I can't even afford to replace it and the mouse touchpad with my notebook hates me and has never worked well.