Okay, so one of my 306a batteries quit working. Well, it would still work but not when attached and used as normal. I could blow on the end and get it to work, it was still sending current to the atomizer but wouldn't work otherwise. So, I figured somehow the sensor wasn't working. My guess is that some liquid dripped into the battery and gunked up in the felt over the sensor, causing the microphone in the battery to be less sensitive and not respond to the sound of air going through the atomizer. Yes, that's right-- a microphone! 
I strongly suggest being aware of this issue and making sure to not let liquid get into the battery. I read that these "electro-magnetic" (aka Sound Sensor) batteries are resistant to the liquid because there's no mechanical switch to get stuck, NOT TRUE! These units are just as susceptible to malfunction due to liquid getting in there it just seems more mystifying it happens. After the pictures, I took the mic and swapped it with the mic in an old computer desktop mic and it worked the same as the mic that was in there. Very interesting. Seems the chip in the battery only engages the switch upon certain frequencies.
I tore the whole thing apart and took some nice macro shots of the guts. I had to "peel" the steel tube away, sort like a corned beef can. It cut the hell out of my thumb but it's for a good cause.
Please view the images fullsize by clicking on the bar on top of each pic.
Enjoy!
Side by side, with labels.
Just the Li-ion battery.
Inside view of the threaded coupling.
View of the mic where it meets the coupling.
Another view of the mic.
Well, I hope this has been informative and helpful. You may view even larger images on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizzyb0t/sets/72157615595184504/
~Chris
I strongly suggest being aware of this issue and making sure to not let liquid get into the battery. I read that these "electro-magnetic" (aka Sound Sensor) batteries are resistant to the liquid because there's no mechanical switch to get stuck, NOT TRUE! These units are just as susceptible to malfunction due to liquid getting in there it just seems more mystifying it happens. After the pictures, I took the mic and swapped it with the mic in an old computer desktop mic and it worked the same as the mic that was in there. Very interesting. Seems the chip in the battery only engages the switch upon certain frequencies.
I tore the whole thing apart and took some nice macro shots of the guts. I had to "peel" the steel tube away, sort like a corned beef can. It cut the hell out of my thumb but it's for a good cause.
Please view the images fullsize by clicking on the bar on top of each pic.
Enjoy!
Side by side, with labels.
Just the Li-ion battery.
Inside view of the threaded coupling.
View of the mic where it meets the coupling.
Another view of the mic.
Well, I hope this has been informative and helpful. You may view even larger images on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bizzyb0t/sets/72157615595184504/
~Chris
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