Passthrough won't work in car (and has 1-2 second cutoff!!)

[THE]

This is the passthrough I got from Red Dragon.. I've only used it with my computer usb ports and it's always had a 1+- second cutoff.. Is that because the amperage is too low?? When I first plug it in, it blinks three times.. but it works.

Today I tried it in the car with a dual usb cigarette lighter adapter. It says 2000ma on the side of it. The first couple if times I plugged it into that, it blinked three times but very fast, and when I try to draw on it the light comes on for a split second and goes off. Subsequent attempts at plugging it back in didn't even make it blink. I did notice, however, that when I plug the passthrough into the cigarette lighter adapter, the LED on the adapter itself dims about 20% ... What's the story, here??

 

[Bageone]

I had the same problem with one of mine I was convinced it was bad, try plugging it into a usb adapter and let it get a full charge before you use it as a passthru... I let my sit and go charge all night and it finally works well for me now.. The flashing blu is most likely a dead battery or bad adapter... sounds like your battery is completely uncharged.

 

[THE]

I had the same problem with one of mine I was convinced it was bad, try plugging it into a usb adapter and let it get a full charge before you use it as a passthru... I let my sit and go charge all night and it finally works well for me now.. The flashing blu is most likely a dead battery or bad adapter... sounds like your battery is completely uncharged.

The blue led is on the cigarette lighter adapter.. it's not flashing, it just dims when I plug the passthrough in..

I don't really understand about the battery on the passthrough, could you give me some detail about that? My passthrough is just a wire going into a battery looking thing but it's not a battery ... it doesn't work AT ALL without a power source..

 

[Bageone]

Can you link to a picture of your passthru?

 

[THE]

Can you link to a picture of your passthru?

Yeah let me see if I can grab one with my phone real quick

 

[THE]

Yeah let me see if I can grab one with my phone real quick

Nevermind, here it is
USB Passthrough, Electric Cigarette Kit, Best Electric Cigarettes Accessories - Buy Red Dragon

They were nice enough to send it to me for free since I had problems with the batteries..

 

[Israfil]

I don't recognize the model, but most of the ones I've seen like that have an integrated battery used to regulate the power of the USB connection. Just like Bageone I would suggest leaving it plugged in overnight to see if it'll take a charge. If it doesn't work after that I would say send it back. If your car connector is 2000MA then you've got enough current to run it on that. It should be working.

Sounds like you've had a rather bad time with it...sorry to hear that man.

 

[THE]

I don't recognize the model, but most of the ones I've seen like that have an integrated battery used to regulate the power of the USB connection. Just like Bageone I would suggest leaving it plugged in overnight to see if it'll take a charge. If it doesn't work after that I would say send it back. If your car connector is 2000MA then you've got enough current to run it on that. It should be working.

Sounds like you've had a rather bad time with it...sorry to hear that man.

I actually am pretty tolerant of some things.. I've been using this passthrough for two weeks with the less than 2 second cutoff and I don't even seem to mind.. But it's been plugged in for quite some time and the "battery" never takes a charge

I think it's just hitting the usb port directly ... which I know isn't good for my board ..

The biggest question here, to me, is why it won't work on the cigarette lighter adapter.. When it's working on my computer usb which can't be more than 550ma if that ...

 

[THE]

All of my batteries are dead and I won't have my new stuff for AT least a week so I have to keep this SOB working somehow..

 

[Israfil]

hmm. If it's hitting on your usb port but not your adapter try plugging a usb powered device in in your car. If that doesn't work then you've narrowed it down to your car adapter.

 

[THE]

hmm. If it's hitting on your usb port but not your adapter try plugging a usb powered device in in your car. If that doesn't work then you've narrowed it down to your car adapter.

The cigarette adapter seems to work for other things like charging batteries and things of that nature. . .

 

[markfm]

Yours is like my PT, no battery within it. Mine is pretty finicky on draw -- it works direct-attached to a PC, but won't work on things like a powered USB fanout device or the USB extension port on a hard disk. Not quite enough "oomph" on the output.

(It might well work fine for other things -- a battery charger may only push out a couple hundred mA, still charge the battery okay [it just takes a while])

 

[Israfil]

If the car adapter works for other things...gah. This doesn't make any sense. The only thing I can think of is that it may have a max draw of 2000ma but be a really low voltage transformer. Honestly...pcs don't put out a lot of current, but the usb ports run 5 volts so it evens out to about 2.5 volts (according to my multimeter attached to the passthrough with load) (apparently my Iphone adapter does better at 3.7 volts under load)

Not sure the solution here...

 

[THE]

I tried the car adapter again.. this time with the car running.. The light on the adapter dimmed twice as badly when I plugged the PT in, this time.. the light on the PT came on solid and it wouldn't do anything. I plugged it in again, the light stayed off but I got a tiny bit of smoke.

The bad news is I noticed the false battery on the PT heating up ... which it NEVER does .. now I plug it back into the PC and the light does not work at all but I got more vapor than normal and a burned taste (which I am hoping it may be a burned cart)

Did I just my passthrough?

Edit: Wonderful.. the switch is screwed, plug it in and it just sits there stuck "on"
What in the did I do that was so wrong?
I looked at the adapter again and it's 1A (not the 2000 I had thought)

GRRRRRRR

It takes alot to make me mad but GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

 

[THE]

Definitely the cart that burned somehow
On the bright side, I have a burning freight train of vapor .. having to keep the cart flooded to keep it from burning any more

This is ridiculous

Sigh

Interesting, though, none the less it is interesting
I have a plan .. to get through till I order the new stuff .. I'll just have to make a switch for this stupid thing

GOT RID OF THE 1 SECOND CUTOFF, AT LEAST!!

 

[THE]

Here's a picture of the culprit

 

[Israfil]

I doubt that adapter is the culprit. I didn't even think that you might have been trying it with the car off lol!

The passthrough sounds faulty for sure. Didn't see a switch on it though.
Hmm..maybe build your own..
It might be possible that the ecig you've got normally only runs at pretty low voltage. Not sure.

 

[THE]

Well, the passthrough stopped working, completely... And I don't have any tools to speak of.. So I had to use the old, reuse solder and heat it with matches trick.

The connector was pretty tough to get out.. had to tap a knife between it and the casing on each side before I could pull it out of there.

So now I guess I have a manual passthrough without a switch... I reused the solder and got a wire to stick to the center post and all I have to do to activate it is touch the other wire to the outside

Works pretty good

Confirmed, no battery in the PT ..
Here's what the guts look like

And this is what the new and improved home made PT looks like

Tomorrow I'll solder a couple of wires on and put a momentary switch on it some way

 

[Bageone]

The things we do to get out vape on! HAHA! Good job!