My Passthru works, but not on my laptop...any ideas?

[KongsRevenge]

So I just got a new manual KR808 USB Passthru from GoodProphets...At first, it worked when hooked up to my laptop, then it just quit after an hour or so. In an attempt to see if the problem was the passthru or my laptop, I plugged the passthru in to other things. It works just fine when plugged into my X-box, my iphone charger, and my wife's laptop...but for some reason it won't work on my laptop, which is the whole reason I bought it in the first place!

Anyone have any ideas on why it isn't working/what I can do? My laptop is fairly new and everything else I hook up to the USB ports works fine!

 

[icemanx3]

Did you try the other USB ports on your laptop? Some may be passive USB ports, which don't supply power. Some of my boxes have 2-4 active ports, and 2 that are passive.

Good luck!!!

ice

 

[Maast]

Does the USB port work at all? Can you plug a USB optical mouse into it and it works? (optical mice have a red or IR light that it uses)
If not try looking into your BIOS and making sure all your USB ports are enabled.

 

[AttyPops]

Does ur PT have a battery or is it a direct PT?

 

[Slea]

Did you try the other USB ports on your laptop? Some may be passive USB ports, which don't supply power. Some of my boxes have 2-4 active ports, and 2 that are passive.

Good luck!!!

ice

This is my best guess, as well.

 

[SubOnAux24]

Using a KR808 manual PT to my usb port. I have had my manual button stick ON and cut power to my usb port. Thinking of the worst thing was burning out my usb port. I have dual usb on one side ond they BOTH lost power. Computer was fine. Being in high power business, it would make sense that these would have a breaker or a Ground fault Circuit Interruptor (GFI or GFCI) to protect these electronics in case of a liquid spill or voltage spike or overload, similar to your outlets in your bathroom with a TEST and RESET button. I re-started my computer and my usb ports engaged full power again. I have a 1 yr old toshiba satellite which are virtually indestructible anyhow. I deal with high power on a daily basis (3 phase) and the passthrough is factory rated for the usb port. At least the manufacturer tells you so. I do not recall seeing a UL or Underwriters Laboratory tag on the PT but i am betting on safe and will continue to use in my usb port as you should be your own judge with safety and a little common sense. Get your PT specs from your supplier and consult your computer manual for usb output voltage. Hope this helps.

Control Panel -> System -> System Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Universal Serial Bus Controllers -> Right click PROPERTIES on USB ROOT HUB -> Click POWER tab -> shows total power available per port. Mine shows 500mA (milliamps) per port
A USB cable has two wires for power (+5 volts and ground) , On the power wires, the computer can supply up to 500 milliamps of power at 5 volts.

 

[deback]

Many passthroughs will not work consistently (or at all) when plugged into the computer's USB ports, because they only supply .5amps, which is not enough for some passthroughs. There have been many posts on this site stating that passthroughs will work consistently when plugged into a 2amp AC to USB wall adapter, which I found to be true after I ordered several from madvapes.com. They are just under $10 each and will solve your problem. They can also be used for USB chargers, instead of having to use your computer's USB ports.

Madvapes also has 2amp Car to USB adapters for $6.99 each.

The 2amp adapters are highly recommended and have worked great for me. I no longer have to worry about burning out my motherboards.

 

[DaveP]

Is your passthrough the type with no inline battery box or does it have a battery? The ones without a battery box draw full power from the USB port. Battery box types just keep the battery charged while you are vaping and can be used offline.

I would use the ones with an inline battery rather than the direct passthroughs on my computers. Too much draw can burn up the port and there are accounts where this has happened. Not all ports have a reliable current draw shutdown circuit. Once this happens you buy a motherboard.

There's always the option of using an AC or car USB charger for your passthrough that costs about $7-$10.

 

[AttyPops]

FFS, Don't ya hate it when a OP asks a question and goes away for a week? lol. We'll never know what PT it is....... lol.

Like everyone said:
2 amp Car to USB Adapter
2 amp AC to USB Adapter, ideal for Passthroughs
for direct PTs. You need 2 amps for 5V direct PT.

For battery-PTs, you only need about 500 ma, so almost anything with usb connection. However, I still don't ever use a PT on a computer... why risk over-drawing a computer USB port? You can get batteries for portability, or portable chargers for being mobile without using/risking a computer mobo.

 

[SubOnAux24]

I LOVED my 2amp AC until i forgot it in an outlet in a hotel in Denver (

 

[deback]

I LOVED my 2amp AC until i forgot it in an outlet in a hotel in Denver (

Oh, bummer!

 

[Heartbskts]

The 2amp adapters are highly recommended and have worked great for me. I no longer have to worry about burning out my motherboards.

Yikes- I will have to get one of these adapters- I didn't realize that the PT's could ruin my laptop!! Thank you

 

[deback]

Yikes- I will have to get one of these adapters- I didn't realize that the PT's could ruin my laptop!! Thank you

Yup, they can. When I used the computer to plug in the passthroughs, I was always worried about it. I knew (from advice given in this forum) that .5amps (500 milliamperes) wasn't enough to power passthroughs, so I've since bought five of those 2amp wall adapters from Madvapes. They work great and work every time, unlike when the PTs were plugged into my computer (the PTs didn't work every time I took drags). I use these adapters for my USB battery chargers, too. The 2amp Car to USB adapter works great, too. They're both well worth the money.

 

[KongsRevenge]

FFS, Don't ya hate it when a OP asks a question and goes away for a week? lol. We'll never know what PT it is....... lol.

Like everyone said:
2 amp Car to USB Adapter
2 amp AC to USB Adapter, ideal for Passthroughs
for direct PTs. You need 2 amps for 5V direct PT.

For battery-PTs, you only need about 500 ma, so almost anything with usb connection. However, I still don't ever use a PT on a computer... why risk over-drawing a computer USB port? You can get batteries for portability, or portable chargers for being mobile without using/risking a computer mobo.

Haha sorry for going away for a few days there...full time work and full time grad school combine to make a harsh mistress!

My PT does not appear to have an inline battery- at least as far as I can tell (it can't be used when not plugged in). On the bright side, my PT is working with my laptop now- I turned off the option to allow my computer to disable USB ports to save power and restarted the machine...it's worked since then.

Should I still be worried about power draw if I'm using my PT while my computer is plugged in/charging? Also, I don't know if it matters, but I have one of the extra-capacity laptop batteries- my laptop gives me about 6.5 hours of battery life on a full charge...will that affect the way my PT draws one way or another? I'm not computer-illiterate, but I don't know much about power supply/usage.

 

[deback]

Haha sorry for going away for a few days there...full time work and full time grad school combine to make a harsh mistress!

My PT does not appear to have an inline battery- at least as far as I can tell (it can't be used when not plugged in). On the bright side, my PT is working with my laptop now- I turned off the option to allow my computer to disable USB ports to save power and restarted the machine...it's worked since then.

Should I still be worried about power draw if I'm using my PT while my computer is plugged in/charging? Also, I don't know if it matters, but I have one of the extra-capacity laptop batteries- my laptop gives me about 6.5 hours of battery life on a full charge...will that affect the way my PT draws one way or another? I'm not computer-illiterate, but I don't know much about power supply/usage.

It's very possible that the PT will work for a while and maybe it will always work. But I had problems with two brands of passthroughs when they were plugged into the computer. They worked sometimes and they didn't work sometimes. And I was always worried about destroying the motherboard, since many people here advised that .5amps from the computer was not enough power, and that PTs needed 2amps of power. I would definitely buy a 2amp AC to USB adapter. I have five so far, use them for the PTs and to charge batteries, and have no more worries about ruining the motherboard. (Also, I believe two of the Volcano Magma (junk) passthroughs I had were damaged by not receiving enough power from the computer's USB port.)

 

[KongsRevenge]

It's very possible that the PT will work for a while and maybe it will always work. But I had problems with two brands of passthroughs when they were plugged into the computer. They worked sometimes and they didn't work sometimes. And I was always worried about destroying the motherboard, since many people here advised that .5amps from the computer was not enough power, and that PTs needed 2amps of power. I would definitely buy a 2amp AC to USB adapter. I have five so far, use them for the PTs and to charge batteries, and have no more worries about ruining the motherboard. (Also, I believe two of the Volcano Magma (junk) passthroughs I had were damaged by not receiving enough power from the computer's USB port.)

Good advice. I'll refrain from using the passthru with my computer's USB, then. One thing I noticed- When hooking the Passthru to the USB/AC adapter from my iPhone, it seems to work really well. Anyone know the power output on those? I'm trying to figure out if using it like that will hurt my PT.

 

[markfm]

Just look on the adapter -- it'll have the output printed on it. For instance, mine says 5V 2.0A.

 

[KongsRevenge]

Just look on the adapter -- it'll have the output printed on it. For instance, mine says 5V 2.0A.

Ahh...thanks...this iPhone USB/Wall adapter says Output: 5v--->1A....is that good? Bad? will it hurt my PT? Will my PT hurt it? sorry for being Johnny Questions here lately.

 

[deback]

Ahh...thanks...this iPhone USB/Wall adapter says Output: 5v--->1A....is that good? Bad? will it hurt my PT? Will my PT hurt it? sorry for being Johnny Questions here lately.

1A means one amp (amperes) (or 1000 milliamperes)

That's better than .5amps and might work fine, but the recommendations here are for 2amps for passthroughs. I can't tell you if you'll have problems or not, because I only know what was recommended to me several times in the last six weeks.

 

[AttyPops]

Haha sorry for going away for a few days there...full time work and full time grad school combine to make a harsh mistress!

My PT does not appear to have an inline battery. <snip>

Welcome back Sorry to hear about the harsh mistress! Glad you can take a joke tho....

Those two links I gave you (that you quoted also) will give you the adapter for a wall plug or car. I'd go with those if you can. Probably won't harm the PT, but without specs, I am only guessing. You will usually have problems with too little amperage on a direct-PT.

They have portable chargers for devices that put out some amps too, may save your computer's battery. Basically you would want 2.0 amps output on a usb port (which is 5 volt by definition). Then again, you can just use your computer and risk it... but that's a lot of constant on/off draw on a USB port.

The other thing to think about is that the PTs with batteries take less amperage, since the battery is acting kind of like a capacitor. Most are 3.x volts though, but you could change atties. Good Luck!