iStick Pico 75W - a love/hate relationship due to USB issues

[DogPatch1149]

Please forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong location or duplicating, but search didn't turn up anything like this in my results. I wanted to share my love/hate relationship and experiences with the Pico 75W.

I love the look, size, price, and performance. However, there's one big caveat. Well, one small caveat. OK, make that a micro caveat...namely, a micro USB port caveat.

First Pico worked fine for about six months. One day, the port came out still attached to the end of the cable. No broken pins, all five present. But, there was no sign of solder on them...only the sides of the shell had traces of solder on them. Disassembled and verified the pins had never been soldered in place. Figured it was a fluke, stuff happens, no biggie. Set the first one aside to fix later with a new micro USB port and bought a second Pico.

Second Pico made it eight months, and the exact same thing happened. Found the exact same thing when disassembled - shell soldered, pins weren't. Now I've got two to fix, and it's definitely not a fluke or coincidence. E-mailed eleaf support; they thanked me for the information and said they'd look into it. I'll be checking back with them next month to see if they've found anything.

Bought a third Pico (yes, I like them that much), but this time disassembled it right when I got home, and you guessed it - shell soldered, pins weren't. Grabbed the soldering iron, some flux and 60/40 solder, and after a few minutes work, it's soldered solidly, tested, and working like a charm. Now I'm just waiting for desoldering wick (because I ran out recently) and two new surface mount micro USB ports, then I'll fix the other two and have backups on hand.

So what have I learned?

First, I no longer passthrough vape. Yes, I should have known better to begin with, but c'est la vie, c'est la guerre. Second, I now have an external charger and spare battery - the USB port is now used only for firmware update, custom logo update, or charging if I'm in a pinch. Third, no matter what manufacturer or type of unit I buy in the future, I will disassemble and check everything before I put a unit into daily use.

Thanks for letting me share this. Hope it helps or amuses someone.

 

[bombastinator]

I am unsurprised. Not even eleaf’s fault, really. That’s microUSB2 for you. The problem is actually baked into the spec. MicroUSB2 was never designed to be used as a power source.

The right way to use a removable battery mod though is to swap batteries. Using a decent charger is better for both the batteries and the mod. Plus if you have several batteries charging is effectively instant.

 

[Baditude]

I should have known better to begin with, but c'est la vie, c'est la guerre. Second, I now have an external charger and spare battery - the USB port is now used only for firmware update, custom logo update, or charging if I'm in a pinch.

Your story is the perfect example of why we ECF veterans encourage folks to not charge external batteries in their mod via the micro USB port.

The primary purpose of the USB port is to download firmware updates. Secondary purpose could be to charge the battery in an emergency (on vacation and you didn't bring your external charger along).

It's a shame that the manufacturers of these products advertise that customers can charge the batteries via the microUSB internal charger. It's a selling point to potential customers. However, you can see how it only benefits the manufacturer in the end --- you ended up buying three mods from them. Manufacturers, if they were honest, would advise customers of what I said in the above paragraph. But if they did, they might not sell as many mods.

The micro USB is tiny and fragile, a poor design for everyday wear & tear use, slower charging, and potentially more dangerous than using external chargers. Even Battery Mooch has mentioned this. Yes, micro USB charging seems more "convenient" to many users, but as you discovered you often pay for that convenience in the long run.

 

[stols001]

Yes, often the "USB charge" option is appealing to newer vapers, who may feel they don't want to get a charger, more batteries and etc. The problem lies in the company sort of "falsely" in my opinion advertising that you can charge via USB when it really isn't advised with external battery mods. The USB port on internal battery mods is often slightly more robust, and truly "designed" for USB charging, but when you have an internal battery a host of problems can happen, including uneven charging, overuse of a USB port not really "designed" for ongoing USB charging.

And, even the best internal battery mod is going to fail someday. Even the most robust USB will show wear and tear eventually and batteries are not designed to be "recharged" forever.

Glad you figured out what you need to do, and it is well worth doing, IMO.

Anna