Prodigy Problems

[gjrhine]

My guess is that compressing the diameter of the spring coils will likely yield an off center high spot that may not provide enough contact surface to allow a low resistance path to ground and therefore, not yield a consistant result for various Prodigy owners attempting a home repair/upgrade.

Well yeah that would be something to watch for but we're talking about one little squeeze with a pair of pliers here. I think that would be pretty trivial and worth a try for the few seconds it would take while being conscious of allowing for enough contact.

 

[PuffinStuff]

Just squeeze the spring a tad to make it smaller in diameter?

Looking at the silver round neg. end on my batteries, only one battery has a very big silver thing. The other three it is much smaller, just a bit bigger than a pencil eraser.

I am also noticing that when I compress the spring with my fingers, the small end of the spring goes down inside the rest of the spring. Maybe make it smaller and bend it up a bit? This could be the answer to my connection problem.

 

[gjrhine]

That's it. Just enough to make sure it looks like there is going to be enough spring to batt contact when you're done.

 

[PuffinStuff]

It works! I have a lot more power now. Thanks much. Just a little thing like that makes the difference.

 

[gjrhine]

Check's in the mail?

 

[fjames]

Is "Powerizer" the brand name, what are the battiy specs, and where do you get them?

Yes, a brand name - same specs as the stock cell - LiFePO4, 3V, 123 size. The exposed metal on negative end is larger so less chance of missing with the spring. The charger for them is nice and tight too.

Putting some kind of sleeve in the battery tube is easier for me than fooling with the spring - it's an aluminum spring I think, so easy to mess it up.

 

[PuffinStuff]

Check's in the mail?

Yes, on its way

 

[PuffinStuff]

Yes, a brand name - same specs as the stock cell - LiFePO4, 3V, 123 size. The exposed metal on negative end is larger so less chance of missing with the spring. The charger for them is nice and tight too.

Putting some kind of sleeve in the battery tube is easier for me than fooling with the spring - it's an aluminum spring I think, so easy to mess it up.

Yes, a sleeve sounds like a fix too. Wondering, since the neg end has wiggle room so must the postive end, a small connection space there too.

 

[fjames]

Yes, a sleeve sounds like a fix too. Wondering, since the neg end has wiggle room so must the positive end, a small connection space there too.

I think the problem is at the negative end. I've used 5 different 123 cells and the only ones to have a problem are the Tenergys, and they have a visibly smaller opening on the negative end. Also, when you make a sleeve, it's obvious that the negative end of the tube is larger - a sleeve tight enough to require shaking the front cell out still leaves the rear little floppy.

 

[PuffinStuff]

fjames, thanks for the tip, I made a sleeve for mine too. I used a piece of copy paper and rolled it up. The batteries are nice and snug now. Will see how it does. I also tweaked the spring just a tad. Between the two fixes it seems to be working perfectly. Still gonna try the Powerizer batteries too. Your help is appreciated.

 

[rheobase]

There's just no way people are blowing attys as much as they think. If it was true, then every other multi cell mod out there would be doing the same, or more since the Prodigy is the only resistored one.

So, tip - if you think you blew an atty, and don't have the technical knowledge to affirm that with a DMM, don't throw it out. As a matter of fact, for the noobs out there, don't ever through a questionable atty out, just save it in a "maybe bag" for future trial.

I think a lot of the supposed atty problems are really battery/charger problems. Since I switched to Powerizer brand cells and charger I haven't had one instance of the insta-death I was getting with the default cells/charger.

Good advice. I was certain that I had "fried" an 801 atty with the Prodigy, but then tested it with a standard 801 battery and it was fine. I then disassembled the Prodigy, made sure all of the contacts were clean, re-attached the atty, and everything worked fine.

This was a difficult problem to diagnose, because it was not clearly reproducible. When I checked the Prodigy with a multimeter, all of the voltages looked correct. When I ran across the same problem a few days later, I randomly unscrewed the adapter (a quarter turn or so) while attempting to vape, and all of a sudden, the device sprang back to life.

This leads me to believe that the problem was the contact between the battery and the grounding spring, as others have suggested. By unscrewing the adapter a little bit, I think that the alignment of the spring and the battery changed, providing the solid ground that was not present before. Since then I have been very careful to align the spring with the battery, and have had no problems, so I'm thinking that must have been the cause. Or I might be a superstitious ...... These alternatives are, of course, not mutually exclusive.

 

[Grey_]

This leads me to believe that the problem was the contact between the battery and the grounding spring, as others have suggested. By unscrewing the adapter a little bit, I think that the alignment of the spring and the battery changed, providing the solid ground that was not present before. Since then I have been very careful to align the spring with the battery, and have had no problems, so I'm thinking that must have been the cause. Or I might be a superstitious ...... These alternatives are, of course, not mutually exclusive.

At your own risk - bend the spring in a bit, I did this day one and haven't had any problems with spring-battery contact.

I took this pic for a friend who just got his Prodigy today (he's in japan and I had to buy and re-ship for him since Puresmoker doesn't ship outside the US).

 

[PuffinStuff]

That worked for me too. Also I added a sleeve of paper inside the battery housing. Everything is nice and snug and it works perfectly. The problems I had were connection related.

 

[PuffinStuff]

Puffin,
Don't toss 'em atty's til yer dad checks 'em first. They should be about 3 ohms resistance between the center post and the threads. Thier dead if they read < 1 ohm resistance on his multimeter. If between 1-2.5 ohms try a good boiling water rinse 'n let 'em dry out, may be able to revive a few.

Hey, just want to thank you again for your help. You are sooo right!! The 3 attys I thought were dead are NOT DEAD!!! After I fixed my connection problems I put a drop of juice on each one and performed atomizer CPR! Had to take several quick, stong primer puffs (tailpiping) add more juice, primer puffs again. After about 6 cycles of this, viola!! They all work perfectly now!! Hope others will try this before tossing an atty that is playing dead.

 

[StratOvation]

Hey, just want to thank you again for your help. You are sooo right!! The 3 attys I thought were dead are NOT DEAD!!! After I fixed my connection problems I put a drop of juice on each one and performed atomizer CPR! Had to take several quick, stong primer puffs (tailpiping) add more juice, primer puffs again. After about 6 cycles of this, viola!! They all work perfectly now!! Hope others will try this before tossing an atty that is playing dead.

Glad to hear that Puffin! And congrats on earning your "Atty EMT" Badge!

 

[PuffinStuff]

Glad to hear that Puffin! And congrats on earning your "Atty EMT" Badge!

Thanks!! I really feel like I earned that one, fiddled and worried all day!
I would have tossed em if I hadnt read your post.

I can relax and enjoy my Prodigy cause I can play with the big kids now!

 

[Sergey]

Hey, PuffinStuff
How did you measure voltage? I thought it should give 5V under load (atty attached). I think mine reads around 6v without atty attached...
And Steve, I have same issues as other guys - going through attys at a speed of light =(

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I took it apart and cleaned all contact points, got a lot of black crud off of them. Firing nicely right now. (this is the second time you saved my bacon) Also, went next door to my dad's and he checked it with the meter, I have a good 5v.

Now, gotta really pay attention and not blow any more attys. I had one this morning that worked great, went to take a hit and nadda. I am not blaming my Prodigy at all for this, I just need to learn to use it correctly. I cant watch any of the vids as I have dial up. So am reading all that I can on the forum! So thankful for all of the great help here!

 

[Sergey]

StratOvation and others, question about resistance...
I have about 10 "dead" attys... Just thought I check them... Strange results..
My voltmeter on resistance setting is showing "1" without attys attached.
Shortened would show "0". Now, a few of my "dead" attys show readings like
40ohm, 120ohm, and one showing 1500ohm!
What is wrong with them? I played with the one that is 40ohm by putting more voltage through it. Got it down to 10, but could not get it any lower by
using 6v (2x3v batts). So... I thought I use 2x3.7v... 1 sec - and it went to 1200ohm!!! Guys, any help appriciated!

Puffin,
Don't toss 'em atty's til yer dad checks 'em first. They should be about 3 ohms resistance between the center post and the threads. Thier dead if they read < 1 ohm resistance on his multimeter. If between 1-2.5 ohms try a good boiling water rinse 'n let 'em dry out, may be able to revive a few.

 

[StratOvation]

StratOvation and others, question about resistance...
I have about 10 "dead" attys... Just thought I check them... Strange results..
My voltmeter on resistance setting is showing "1" without attys attached.
Shortened would show "0". Now, a few of my "dead" attys show readings like
40ohm, 120ohm, and one showing 1500ohm!
What is wrong with them? I played with the one that is 40ohm by putting more voltage through it. Got it down to 10, but could not get it any lower by
using 6v (2x3v batts). So... I thought I use 2x3.7v... 1 sec - and it went to 1200ohm!!! Guys, any help appriciated!

Sergey,

I'm not sure how you are testing your attys. This is how I suggest you test w/multimeter set for lowest range of Ohms (or just select the Omega symbol if you have an autoranging MM).
With your MM set to Ohms, touch the red lead to the center hole of your atty and the black lead to the top thread. On a healthy 801 atty you should get a reading of about 3 Ohms. See pic below...

Hope this helps. Let Us know what you find with this testing procedure.

Mike

 

[DjTravTrav]

good reply, i am glad you put a pick there... =]