Tech support AREA ! POST HERE FOR TECH SUPPORT PLEASE !!!

[lalasalama8]

Lala, I just answered your support ticket but I will ask you here as well. Is this a BP ECF edition with the lightning bolt venting slots? Did you try taking the mylar sheet out of the tube if it is? No, your batts should not be sticking, but I'm wondering if the mylar got smushed up in there too high.

Just a place to start with my thinking cap LOL

Hi Bovinia,

funny you should get back to me with that suggestion. I've been fiddling around with that very idea. Here's what I've got..with the mylar IN, I never get power and the top battery kind of "clicks" into place, then becomes very very difficult to dislodge.

With the mylar removed, I am getting inconsistant results. ..sometimes it powers up and seems to function normally...about every third attempt at loading batteries, however, there is still that extra clicking into place of the top battery and I get no power. There is definitely something "up there" grabbing the battery that is simultaneously preventing a circuit from being completed..I am getting no power about one out of every 4 times I load batteries...although the battery being "grabbed" does not equal no power each and every time..weird.

 

[Bovinia]

Wonder if one of the vent slots has a piece of metal up in there that didn't come out during milling? When you take out the batts and mylar, you should only see the green bottom of the PCB and the gold colored (tiny) battery contact in the center of the PCB. Get some good light and look up inside the tube and tell me what you see.

 

[lalasalama8]

Wonder if one of the vent slots has a piece of metal up in there that didn't come out during milling? When you take out the batts and mylar, you should only see the green bottom of the PCB and the gold colored (tiny) battery contact in the center of the PCB. Get some good light and look up inside the tube and tell me what you see.

yeah, there's a little booger of metal clinging to the inside of the tube above the top of the lightning cuts and below the PCB..should I try and scrape it off with like a letter opener or something, or will have no luck trying that? It's not really all that small, I'd say a quarter inch across and protruding into the tube about an eigth or a little more

 

[lalasalama8]

oh, and the chunk of metal is unassociated with a vent slot..it's above and between

 

[Bovinia]

If it were me, I would try The only other alternative is to send it back for another tube. It's already unusable, ya can't hurt it much worse LOL Be careful of the PCB...wonder if something like a dental pick with a small curved end would help?

 

[lalasalama8]

If it were me, I would try The only other alternative is to send it back for another tube. It's already unusable, ya can't hurt it much worse LOL Be careful of the PCB...wonder if something like a dental pick with a small curved end would help?

well, I gave it a pretty good shot, but afraid that sucker is NOT coming off..lol..think I'll send it back. I already printed out the RMA form, should I just go ahead and send it?

 

[Bovinia]

Yep...I'm sorry

 

[lalasalama8]

Yep...I'm sorry

don't be sorry Bovinia..no biggie..unless, of course, you personally stuck that little booger of metal up there just to piss me off!..THEN, you'd have to be sorry..lol

sending off today

 

[Bovinia]

Hahaaa! Newp, I wouldn't be that mean! In fact, I have never seen one get built! I live in CT, and Notcigs in in CA

 

[caged]

Just got a DOA IPro. It's new old stock (s/n 036). Light stays red when button is pressed with or without an atty attached.

Edit: Forgot to add -- HELP!!!

 

[markfm]

Red without atty, short circuit? Missing or cracked insulator under the top cap screw, or loose positive inside.

Alternate is bad firing switch (rarer).


See what Bov says.

 

[caged]

As far as I can tell, everything with the top cap is fine. The blue light did come on maybe two or three times when I first got it, but I was never able to get any vapor. The Atty had to be in a specific position and I get no blue light at all now.

 

[markfm]

If you are comfortable removing the top cap (similar to the sticky on changing the buzz top cap, make sure to loosen, but not remove, the top cap screw first ), you might pull the batteries, then unscrew it, see if maybe something is odd on the underside. Don't pull too hard when the top cap comes off, there is a fairly short positive lead running to it.

Best case, instant win, you see the positive has come loose, is now touching the side of the tube. Turn the tube upside down to retrieve the screw and washer, reinstall, washer then ring terminal then screw, leaving the screw slightly loose. (this assumes ip has the same interior parts as bp)

Else, when the top cap is off, positive lead still attached to it, you can put the batteries back in. Pull the top cap slightly away from the body, press the fire button. If it now turns blue, there might be a short in the top cap; if it stays red, failed switch or something else less likely user correctable.

 

[caged]

I did already. Decided since I'm likely to change the top cap screw anyway I should go ahead and get the experience now. It's starting to kick on now. I think there's an issue with the button not turning the unit on. If I push the button until it clicks, it's unreliable. If I push it a little harder after it clicks, it usually fires up.

More frustration than I wanted. Not sure if I can trust it as my main PV right now, but hopefully it just needs to be broken in.

EDIT: And it's starting to seem more and more likely that it needed to be broken in. I hope this trend continues. Still get some empty drags every once in a while though.

 

[Bovinia]

Caged, open her up again and look on the inside right behind the fire button. When you press the button, does the switch on the inside move at all?

Thank you Mark! Just out of curiosity, what might cause a short in the top cap?

 

[Raster]

Went to the post office to RMA mine today and had to fill out the RMA form on my leg since it was standing room only. I guess I should have done that ahead of time so if they get an RMA and the return address looks like hieroglyphs that was probably me lol.

 

[Bovinia]

LOL Raster!

 

[markfm]

Just out of curiosity, what might cause a short in the top cap?

Crack in the top insulator or in the one on the underside of the cap. The positive terminal coming from the underside has that insulated bushing section keeping it away from the body of the top cap. Also possible, through unlikely, is just a tiny piece of wire or metal bridging from the positive to the main cap.

If the blue lights when the top cap is not grounded to the tube, and stays red when it is attached, there should be a short in the cap.

 

[caged]

Caged, open her up again and look on the inside right behind the fire button. When you press the button, does the switch on the inside move at all?

Thank you Mark! Just out of curiosity, what might cause a short in the top cap?

Nope, no movement. I think I just had an extra stiff button. It's working better and better now.

This is by far the most mechanical non mechanical mod if that makes any sense.

 

[Bovinia]

Good to hear Caged! Let us know if you have any more problems.

Thank you for the explanation Mark. I'm working with someone else and the only thing we can figure is a short in the top cap. My first thought was a stray wire strand that didn't get crimped into the terminal, but you gave me more to look for

I thought I knew quite a bit about this stuff, but boy has the last couple of weeks been a crash course! I LOVE learning!!