Madvapes 5V 510 passthrough not getting enough power?

[daath]

Hey guys, I just received my 510 5v passthrough from madvapes. I was thrilled, so I plugged it in, and put in my 510 atty (normal one), and started vaping. It was "ok". I expected much more vapor, but it felt less than when I have it on my Tornado.

So I put on my 306 LR atomizer and dropped, but it doesn't fire at all?! The light at the end of the stick turns on, but no action in the atomizer.

I tried a USB wall plug (rated 1amp) - same thing.

I am thinking it is the "connection" in the 510 plug - Some of my 510 cartomizers work, others no - And some of them are from the same pack?!

 

[daath]

Is this thing really a 5v passthrough?! I just tried dry burning a regular 510 atomizer, and it's nowhere near like when I do it on my normal tornado batt - is it defective or is that the way it is?!

 

[daath]

I just took a multimeter to it - How do you measure it correctly? I took off the atomizer, and measured voltage - around 4.5v - measured amps, and that only showed 20mA?! Defective unit?

 

[cobaltblue]

You didn't mention what you initially plugged it into. A 1 amp adapter won't work. Neither will trying to run it off a charger.

I run mine off their 2 amp AC to USB adapter and it works well. If you've tried that and you're still having problems I'd open a ticket with them.

 

[daath]

Initially I connected it to my monitor, which has a powered USB built in, then off a USB plug on the main board.

But isn't it strange that my 306 wont fire at all? Plus the 510 LR cartoz won't work 95% of the time? I have one plugged in now and it will keep working until I screw it off... It vapes like when I have it on my Tornado battery, maybe less. The normal 510 atty gives SO little vapor...

I gotta find a 2A AC-USB adapter to try it on.

 

[cobaltblue]

I'm always nervous about plugging PTs that don't have an in-line battery into the computer.

Not sure why your 306 or LR 510s won't fire because I only use standard 510 attys/cartos on mine, but if there's a reason someone will come along and let you know. Might just be a defective PT and you'll need to get it replaced. Luckily Madvapes is really good about stuff like that.

Hopefully finding a 2 amp adapter will work for you. Either way they're nice to have. Good luck!

 

[Dawn L.]

My 5V 510 PT from Madvapes works great and I notice a huge difference between that and a 3.7 or 3.2V ecig. I use it with the 2 amp AC-USB adapter I also got from Madvapes. I've read many times that you aren't supposed to use LR cartos or LR attys with voltage higher than 3.7...I'm not sure why, but that's what I've read.

 

[daath]

Supposedly they burn out quicker. But I had to try since when I use my standard 510 attys they produce next to no vapor - less than half of what I get with the battery.

I think I have one more AC/USB adapter - Gotta go find it and see what it's rated at, and try that.

 

[markfm]

No surprise at all. Nominal on a USB port is something like 500 mA. Some ports may have enough oomph, but it's not mandatory, and you may even see a difference on a PC if you unplug multiple things, so that more mA is available on the one port.

Likewise definitely no surprise that an LR won't work -- it absolutely needs even more current to operate.

As already noted, using a PC or anything else you want to survive, to drive a true passthrough (something without an inline battery) is iffy -- you could make something go boom, and don't want to lose a PC.

Get a 2A (2000 mA) output dedicated USB power supply, whether from MadVapes or elsewhere, and life should be good.

(Your LR will still not work if it's really LR and the PT is really a passthrough. USB output tends towards 4.7 - 5V. If your atty is 2.5 ohms or so, then 5Volts/2.5Ohms = 2 amps, OK on a 2A power supply. If you are trying to use an atty that is only say 1.8 ohms, then 5V/1.8 = 2.7 amps, not OK for a power supply delivering 2A; it may work, poorly, by the power supply voltage sagging, but you would definitely be overdriving it.)

Sorry if this is too much information

 

[daath]

Not too much info at all! Thanks

I found a power adapter with two USB plugs, rated at 2A. It's definitely better, but I still get more vapor with my tornado battery. Odd. The atty gets hotter quicker though, so there is a difference. I expected way more though.

The LR 510 cartoz are rated at 2.0-2.3 Ohms. Strangely I got good vapor on those but diminished taste on all liquids I tried.

In all I get WAY more vapor on my 306 LR on battery.

UPDATE: With the 2A adapter the taste is a bit better on the 510 LR.

 

[daath]

Man, I love this forum You guys all rock!

 

[markfm]

You can get diminished taste because basically you're over-cooking, going past the sweet spot for the juice you are using. You might want to see if you have any 2.7 - 3.3 ohm stuff around, give that a whirl on the PT.

A lot of people like right around 5 watts, that's why around a 3 ohm carto on a 3.7V battery or a 2 ohm on a 3.1V device is popular.

On a 4.8V USB, a 2.3 ohm carto would be 10 Watts -- kind of high power. On my PT at work, and the one in the car, I avoid going below 3 ohms, about 7.7W; if I try one of my 2.6 ohm cartos it is getting close to 9W and most juices aren't so good (though the ones that are really shine).

If your sweet spot is a 1.5 ohm LR atty on a 3.1 or 3.2V device (a classic eGo/Riva kind of output under load), you're looking at about 6.8W, while a 1.8 ohm atty delivers about 5.7W.

 

[daath]

Yeah that makes sense. The "Darwin"-mod looks more and more attractive Imagine just inputting your favorite wattage and vaping away, regardless of what you plug into it

Reminds me, that I have a car-USB-adapter too, if I can find it - Gotta try that soon But if I have to use my GPS, I need to get a Y-cigarette-thingy. Only got one cig lighter plug

 

[Zod]

I really think madvapes should list that a 2A usb adapter is required for this passthrough, not just recommended. Even if you have a spankin new motherboard with USB3 ports they're still only 1A vs USB2's 500mA. It makes it look like MV is selling shoddy hardware when really they're not.

 

[daath]

@Zod, One could actually make a mod that has two USB-plugs (like some HDDs do) that would work with a USB3 board! 2xUSB3=2A

 

[cobaltblue]

Daath, you're the one who rocks for asking the question. I'm learning a ton of info all in one spot from the great responses you're getting.

 

[daath]

heheh happy to be of service Type this in your browser: j dot mp slash dual_usb_power <- You could use that with a normal passthrough and a USB3 motherboard!

 

[mdocod]

Have to understand that if a power supply is current limited, then the effective voltage will drop to whatever it can support at that maximum current. 5V is only 5V if it can hold 5V under a load. In the case of current limited power supplies, you will actually get better vaping performance from HIGHER resistance atty's most of the time. The ideal atty resistance is the one that allows you to use all of the available voltage AND current from the supply.

Examples:
5V 500mA
1.5Ohm [X/1.5Ohm=0.5A, X=0.75V, 0.75V x 0.5A = 0.375W]
2.3Ohm [X/2.3Ohm=0.5A, X=1.15V, 1.15V x 0.5A = 0.575W]
3.0Ohm [X/3.0Ohm=0.5A, X=1.50V, 1.50V x 0.5A = 0.750W]
*Maximum possible performance would be achieved with a 10 Ohm atty.

5V 1000mA
1.5Ohm [X/1.5Ohm=1.0A, X=1.50V, 1.50V x 1.0A = 1.500W]
2.3Ohm [X/2.3Ohm=1.0A, X=2.30V, 2.30V x 1.0A = 2.300W]
3.0Ohm [X/3.0Ohm=1.0A, X=3.00V, 3.00V x 1.0A = 3.000W]
*Maximum possible performance would be achieved with a 5 Ohm atty.

5V 2000mA
1.5Ohm [X/1.5Ohm=2.0A, X=3.00V, 3.00V x 2.0A = 6.000W]
2.3Ohm [X/2.3Ohm=2.0A, X=4.60V, 4.60V x 2.0A = 9.200W]
3.0Ohm [X/3.0Ohm=2.0A, X=6.00V, 5.00V x 1.66A = 8.350W]^
^The 3Ohm atty in this case runs below the maximum output of the power supply. In this case, it's voltage limited.
*Maximum possible performance would be achieved with a 2.5 Ohm atty.

Eric