Just lost my second PT. The first one was the old design and died a couple weeks ago. That was when the new upgraded versions were coming out, so I ordered another. I mentioned the first failure, and V4L happily replaced that and sent two new upgrade passthrus. Life was good. 
Today I was wanting to find a better location for the PT and realized that I had an old Targus laptop coolpad with built-in 4-port USB hub (AC powered). Plugged in the coolpad....then plugged in the PT. Things went downhill very fast. Very loud sizzle and I hadn't even pressed the button. Heating up fast I quickly unscrewed the carto....but it was still sizzling!. Turns out the sizzle wasn't the carto, but the PT itself. By the time I got it unplugged, smoke was pouring out of the button slot. I let it cool down for 10 minutes and plugged it back into the computer USB slot....dead, dead, deadski.....
So...I have killed it thanks to some sort of malfunction in the USB hub. I will will have to buy another, as I am on my last PT and need a backup. The upside is that I fried a $20 PT, instead of a $300 camera or similarly high priced piece of computer equipment, to discover that that coolpad is majorly horked and needs tossed.
Guess I will be placing an order this week. Wasn't planning on it....
Suggestion to V4L for future upgrades on the PT.....inline fuses if such a thing is possible.
Today I was wanting to find a better location for the PT and realized that I had an old Targus laptop coolpad with built-in 4-port USB hub (AC powered). Plugged in the coolpad....then plugged in the PT. Things went downhill very fast. Very loud sizzle and I hadn't even pressed the button. Heating up fast I quickly unscrewed the carto....but it was still sizzling!. Turns out the sizzle wasn't the carto, but the PT itself. By the time I got it unplugged, smoke was pouring out of the button slot. I let it cool down for 10 minutes and plugged it back into the computer USB slot....dead, dead, deadski.....
So...I have killed it thanks to some sort of malfunction in the USB hub. I will will have to buy another, as I am on my last PT and need a backup. The upside is that I fried a $20 PT, instead of a $300 camera or similarly high priced piece of computer equipment, to discover that that coolpad is majorly horked and needs tossed.
Guess I will be placing an order this week. Wasn't planning on it....
Suggestion to V4L for future upgrades on the PT.....inline fuses if such a thing is possible.
