USB charging, yea or nea

[bombastinator]

Watch the video. Micro USB failed between 7900 and 8000 incretions, not 800!

oops. Blew a decimal point.

Depending on how you count that, 7900 is 21 years worth of incretions if performing 1 a day.

so good enough then. I believe that’s what I said

My earlier example counted plugging in and removing as separate incidents so even my -80% life span is grossly exaggerated.

May not reach the 10000 spec, but willing to bet the majority of electronics will fail before the USB port.

this did not happen in my experience. Or apparently the experience of the members of the mobile phone consortium. Your point seems to be “it’s not the fault of the spec”. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Still doesn’t matter. People in practice have had enough trouble with the things to be wary of them. I don’t buy them at all if I have a choice, and when I do I replace them with magnetic adaptors.

So in the case of the OP’s question, will his device live 21 years to see out the failure of the USB port?

That wasn’t the question. Not even vaguely.

 

[Baditude]

There are more than the big 4, Samsung, LG, Sony & Panasonic that manufacture Li-ion batteries.

Why go back to re-wrapping if you have invested in manufacturing? He doesn’t have to compete with the big guns – which I suspect only takes on large contracts…leaving smaller contracts open for the bidding. The big 4 can’t cater to all customers.
I have no idea how many manufactures there are making these common sized cells, but I suspect there are dozens, and all over the world. Even Samsung does not use their own batteries for their own products.

Word is the AW facility was destroyed by a flood. It seems to me that if AW only wrapped other manufacturer's batteries, it would be way easy to find or build another re-wrapping facility than to make another battery factory, since other manufacturers would still be able to supply batteries for AW. That hasn't occurred in over two years time, which to me suggests that AW did in fact make the majority of their AW batteries.

 

[jandrew]

Word is the Aw facility was destroyed by a flood. It seems to me that if AW only wrapped other manufacturer''s batteries, it would be far easy to find or build another rewrapping facility than to make another battery factory, since other factories would still be able manufacture batteries for AW. That hasn't occurred in over two years time, which to me suggests that AW did in fact make the majority of AW batteries.

Well, that does assume he would even want to restart (whether he was re-wrapping, or actually manufacturing), how much inventory and equipment was lost, what his insurance covered, and how profitable/viable the business model really was (especially in the face of rampant counterfeit wrappers) ... it could be that the flood spelled financial doom, or perhaps a convenient exit opportunity.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

Word is the Aw facility was destroyed by a flood. It seems to me that if AW only wrapped other manufacturer''s batteries, it would be far easy to find or build another rewrapping facility than to make another battery factory, since other factories would still be able manufacture batteries for AW. That hasn't occurred in over two years time, which to me suggests that AW did in fact make the majority of AW batteries.

I heard it wasn’t a flood at all but the use of Micro USB 2

 

[Tabac man]

I've never has a micro USB fail on me ever. I'm always a bit wary of them though as they have always felt delicate. There's a few mods have a bad rep for charging ports failing when the port falls away inside but that's obviously down to poor build quality. The Aspire Zelos has a bad rep as had the Istick 80W on it's release.

If I find the male-female connections are a stupid tight fit I'll try another cable. Forcing delicate parts together makes no sense. The only mod failure I have ever had was the fire button on a MVP. The original, built like a tank, will last forever, they just keep on working, mod. That one. I moved to rechargeable batteries not because they are better, but because there were so many reports of charging ports breaking on newer built in battery mods. If it was a problem on older mods I certainly never noticed it.

 

[DaveP]

I ran across a couple of old 18650's in plastic boxes inside a shoebox of vaping stuff recently. Those were button tops bought for my Provari V2 back in 2010. One (Orbtronic) was at 4.15v and the other (purple Efest) had opened internally and didn't respond to the charger. Who knows when they were charged the last time, but it was years ago.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Just wondering for what reasons specifically charging via USB is not preferable over a dedicated battery charger. Currently I'm using an aegis Solo with an AW imr 2000mAh battery. Should I just stick to what I've been doing my whole vaping experience and continue to use a dedicated battery charger?

For me, unless it's a DNA device, I'd charge externally when possible. As others pointed out, a good charger will likely treat your batteries better than the cheapest possible circuitry/boards in most mods.

But this thread did take a funny turn. Don't use the usb because it might eventually fail, then you'd have to charge externally? Ummm. That's like saying you should push start your motorcycle (or old manual tran. car), because if you use the battery/ignition system, it might eventually fail, then you'd have to push start it. Not logical. Yeah, it might be better to charge externally, but potential failure of the USB is not a reason to do it. If that were the only potential pitfall, use it until it fails, because it's more convenient.

And yeah, usb's seem fragile, but I've never had one fail. I'm sure it happens more often if you're impatient and jam it in there, or stress the connection with the cord.

 

[stratus.vaping]

If there's a choice I charge externally every time.

Murphy's Law applies.

 

[stratus.vaping]

...
And yeah, usb's seem fragile, but I've never had one fail. I'm sure it happens more often if you're impatient and jam it in there, or stress the connection with the cord.

So many people "jam it in there", upside down, sideways, anyway. A neighbour brought me their Android tablet saying it wouldn't charge. The usb charge socket had been broken off the PCB and pushed inside, it was only 2 weeks old! Presumably continued efforts to locate the plug in different orientations had pushed it in, they did not even feel that anything was physically wrong.

Problem is that even the best quality PCB mounted sockets ( of any type) are fragile, many are relying on the electrical connection for their mechanical attachment to the PCB. Cheap ones with poor soldering and QC inspection tend to fail sooner.

 

[Baditude]

Regardless of the durability of usb ports in general, I think many of you are over-looking that in order for the Aegis mods to maintain their water and dust resistance, the silicone cover must remain intact. We all know how fragile silicone can be. Geekvape does include a spare plug, but still ... daily wear & tear of the plug's integrity is at stake if you charge via USB on a daily basis.

 

[sonicbomb]

For me the main reasons I charge externally are:

• the ability to visually monitor the cells during charging
• better heat dissipation
  
• depending on the charger, the ability to control the charging amp rate. Mod manufacturers favour high amperages and fast charge times as a marketing tool. I like to charge low and slow as this puts less stress of the batteries.
• I've seen discussion regarding correctly balanced charging from a charger opposed to in-mod chargers.
• The ability to rotate sets of batteries, one set for use one set on charge. My main beater does not have a charge port, so I need to do this.
• The unreliability of wall-warts and usb cables. In my experience just because the wall-wart says 2 amps does not mean it delivers it. The quality and amp throughput of usb cables is equally hit and miss. This does not apply to me as I like a low charge rate, but to others it might.

 

[Lalli]

I have vaped for over 3 years without having external charger. Zero troubles with usb- charging so far with 7 mods I have used, all of them still work.

 

[Rossum]

But this thread did take a funny turn. Don't use the usb because it might eventually fail, then you'd have to charge externally?

No, then you can no longer update the firmware in that mod.

But... Do we charge our phones and tablets externally? I don't know anyone who does. In fact, most of those devices make it impossible because the batteries aren't readily removable(*). Whether the micro-USB socket on those lasts the life of the device is largely a question of the quality of the socket and how it's mounted to the circuit board. Some had a terrible reputation, while others were never a problem.

If you're concerned about wear and tear on the the micro-USB socket, you could always get a magnetic coupler and cable set, and just leave the magnetic coupler in the the port.

(*) As an aside, I've often wondered how long those batteries would last if we could charge them externally and only charged them to 4.20V instead of the ~4.35V most of those devices charge their internal batteries to.

 

[Punk In Drublic]

No, then you can no longer update the firmware in that mod.

Assuming firmware updates are available. Outside DNA’s and NFE tools (Arctic Fox) I have noticed the majority of manufactures cease updates after a few months. But guess there is the possibility of flashing with an older FW should a user experience an issue.

(*) As an aside, I've often wondered how long those batteries would last if we could charge them externally and only charged them to 4.20V instead of the ~4.35V most of those devices charge their internal batteries to.

Do mobile devices really charge to that level? I have a few working older models that allow access to the battery – I should measure the voltage after charge. But do agree that with detailed charging, their cells will most likely last longer

 

[Rossum]

Assuming firmware updates are available. Outside DNA’s and NFE tools (Arctic Fox) I have noticed the majority of manufactures cease updates after a few months. But guess there is the possibility of flashing with an older FW should a user experience an issue.

Sure, but we have the same sort of situation with phones and tablets. You get updates for a limited amount of time. After that, the only way to update them is to jailbreak/root them and DIY, and in my experience, the third-party ROM images are always dodgy in one way or another.

Do mobile devices really charge to that level? I have a few working older models that allow access to the battery – I should measure the voltage after charge. But do agree that with detailed charging, their cells will most likely last longer

Sure looks like it to me:

Of course there are cells that are nominally rated to charge to those kinds of voltages. I didn't care much about battery longevity batteries were readily replaceable, but now that they're not, it really bothers me, especially since there are few other compelling reasons to be on a short upgrade cycle anymore.

 

[barkfunklerbunk]

I thought about charging my solo via USB the other day while driving.. then I realized my cell uses USB-C(only had my usb c cable).. oh well, not a big deal to just swap out the battery. I drive quite a bit, probably about 1500 miles per week, so at times it may be convenient to just plug it in if the need arises. I think I'll just stick to external charging, and I always carry about 6 batteries with me.. major overkill. Like it was pointed out, I worry about damaging the usb port cover.

 

[markfm]

Part of why I like my 2x700 squonkers (on lanyards) - 8ml in the squonk bottle and a full 4000mAh = lots of vape time.

 

[TrollDragon]

My Asmodus Lustro has a USB C port, I should plug it into my USB C PD power bank and see if switches over to any of the PD charging voltages.

I doubt it, but would be interesting to see it pulling 20V from the bank.