Vaporesso Polar firmware upgrade, how to?!

[Kazuko]

Hi everyone,

I just received a Polar mod with outdated firmware so I'd like to upgrade it. I'm on Mac, so I downloaded the firmware upgrade and the Mac app, tried every possible connection, the app doesn't seem to recognize the device...

I tried :
- connecting the device (with batteries) then starting the app
- starting the app then connecting the device (with batteries)
- connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries) then starting the app
- connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries and while pressing the fire button) then starting the app
- starting the app then connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries)
- starting the app then connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries and while pressing the fire button)

I also tried another USB port, but still the same issue. It does get power, as the batteries start charging when it has them, and the screen lit up with some debug info when I connected it without batteries and pressing the fire button. It's my first upgradable mod, so I really don't know what the procedure is, I tried to follow several guidance blog posts from Vaporesso, but it didn't work...

 

[Kazuko]

FYI, I also tried running the .exe file using Wine, it still didn't detect the device when plugging it. I also tried it with and without batteries (always with the app started though).

Nobody here is both a Mac and Vaporesso mod owner?

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Hi -

Silly question, but are you sure you're using a USB data cable? If you're using a usb power (only) cable, the computer won't be able to talk to it.

Good luck!

 

[Kazuko]

Hi -

Silly question, but are you sure you're using a USB data cable? If you're using a usb power (only) cable, the computer won't be able to talk to it.

Good luck!

I tried with two different cables, a Microsoft Xbox controller cable (that should work just fine) and the one included in the Polar package

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Apologies - I don't have that device.

I know that in Windows, if I connect my firmware-updateable mods, they do not necessarily show up. I have not looked in Device Manager to see if they are listed (but that's Windows, not Mac).

I've just copied this from a search result - it's probably not much help:

Verify that the device appears in System Information: Choose Apple menu > About This Mac. In the window that appears, click Overview, then click the System Report button to open System Information. In the window that appears, see if the USB device is listed below Hardware in the list on the left.

MacOS may have a device manager after all (I'm not sure how up to date this information is):

What is Device Manager on Mac?
Search for System Information in Lion or later (or System Profiler in Snow Leopard and earlier versions of Mac OS) in Spotlight (press ⌘ and Space ). The program is in /Applications/Utilities and is the tool to see the connected USB devices and other hardware details. It is quite simliar to Device Manager on Windows.

Do you have any other USB data devices you can test those cables on? They're probably fine, but just in case...

I'm sure a Mac / Polar user will show up with better suggestions.

 

[Kazuko]

Thanks for both tips! The second one is actually another way of accessing the System Report mentioned in the first one.

The device is recognized by the OS (joining a screen of that).

I recall using the Xbox controller cable to browse data on an old Android phone, can't test it right now, but I'm pretty sure it did work for data...

 

[My Batt Hurts]

That's promising - I wonder if it might just be the software / update app? Can you confirm its compatibility with your version of macOS?

From the Vaporesso site, I am not 100% clear as to whether the updater supports the most recent Vaporesso mods (I think the Polar uses Omni Board 4 - whatever that means) :

Currently there are 2 versions of firmware on new products from Revenger kit (Revenger/RevengerX/RevengerMini/SWAG/TransformerwithNRG). Please follow below instructions to check which one your device is compatible with.

You can check the firmware version in System set (For products chip after OMNI board 2.2: RevengerX/Revengermini/TransformerwithNRG) or by short-cuts: pressing fire and mode button simultaneously for 2 seconds (For products chip before OMNI Board 2.2)

I see the Mac updater has 2 parts (?) There's 'vapores-1.0.3.dmg' and 'E-Cigarette-10.5.dmg' - are you using the right one?

 

[Kazuko]

Their posts are not the clearest... They mentioned the Revenger as there are indeed two different software versions for different devices of the series, there are TPCBAT and SPCBAT. They include an app for each of those in the dmg file.

I checked my mod and it's the SPCBAT family, so the vapores.app. It may be an issue with their app only reading older devices though, that's something, though not a cool thing :/

I tried the exe provided with the Polar firmware file through Wine though (an app that lets Linux/macOS run exe files), so it should read the Polar mod, and it didn't. I'm not sure how well the app can detect USB devices though, as it's an emulated Microsoft-ish environment...

 

[My Batt Hurts]

Hmmm... I wonder if Vaporesso need to update something on their side. And yes - their guidance isn't too clear.

Is bootcamp still a thing? You'd have tried that already, I guess. Sorry - I'm out of touch with Macs.

The software trailing the hardware isn't new, but it's annoying.

 

[Kazuko]

It's actually still a thing, but my Mac is also my work laptop, so lots and lots of stuff on it, and with a 256GB SSD, there's only so much disk space I can spare, not enough for a Windows partition sadly... But it probably would've solved my issue...

I guess I'll wait till I get a hand on a Windows computer I can use, might take a while, but the actual firmware isn't bad really. Just the weird spike they did for the "Insta-Fire" thing, but it's only an issue with normal VW, it hits actually way harder than the hard preheat mode, so I'll make do with that until then.

Thanks for the time you took to come up with those suggestions, they were all good! Hopefully someone has had the issue and found a way around I can replicate, but I'm still happy with the device as is

 

[UlkaHuren]

Hi everyone,

I just received a Polar mod with outdated firmware so I'd like to upgrade it. I'm on Mac, so I downloaded the firmware upgrade and the Mac app, tried every possible connection, the app doesn't seem to recognize the device...

I tried :
- connecting the device (with batteries) then starting the app
- starting the app then connecting the device (with batteries)
- connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries) then starting the app
- connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries and while pressing the fire button) then starting the app
- starting the app then connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries)
- starting the app then connecting the device (WITHOUT batteries and while pressing the fire button)

I also tried another USB port, but still the same issue. It does get power, as the batteries start charging when it has them, and the screen lit up with some debug info when I connected it without batteries and pressing the fire button. It's my first upgradable mod, so I really don't know what the procedure is, I tried to follow several guidance blog posts from Vaporesso, but it didn't work...

I recently got a Polar and successfully updated the firmware from v1.02 to v1.04. I was gonna use my Mac, but when I decided to do it I had Windows running so I used that.

I think the app is kinda sketchy and it took some attempts to get it to start updating. Here’s the process.

1 Remove the batteries. You can’t boot load mods with batteries in them. All mods I’ve updated work that way. Also the charge current usually causes a PC USB port to overload and shutdown.

2 Connect the USB cable and press the fire button. You should see a connection status in the app. Also, it may take a couple attempts as Windows will be installing the driver.

3 Select the firmware file, press and hold the fire button and start the update. Hold the fire button in through the update which takes maybe 3 minutes and you’re done.

Normally you shouldn’t have to hold the fire button in, but for me the update stalled halfway since for some reason the bootload timed out and I was afraid it might brick the mod. The second attempt I held the fire button in and it loaded just fine.

My Polar mod is working perfectly. I had a coefficient issue with TC though. It was running too hot with the usual 0.00092. It took playing with the value and cycling the mod power which fixed it somehow and now 0.00092 works normally.

Good luck!

 

[Kazuko]

I just tried again, and still stuck to "Unable To Connect Devices"

I did as you said, removed the batteries, opened the app, then plugged the USB while holding the fire button. I see the boot load thing happening on the mod, with some text and two big 0.00 counters, but nothing happening on the app...

 

[UlkaHuren]

I just tried again, and still stuck to "Unable To Connect Devices"

I did as you said, removed the batteries, opened the app, then plugged the USB while holding the fire button. I see the boot load thing happening on the mod, with some text and two big 0.00 counters, but nothing happening on the app...

Something is odd. My mod stayed blank. Nothing on the screen. Plug in without holding the fire button and see if it connects. Watch to see if the driver installs. If not then press fire after it’s plugged in to USB and see if that works.

I just tried mine and it connects with no fire button press now. Apparently the firmware update changed how it boot loads. Lovely. I guess that’s an improvement though. I guess yours is behaving differently because it’s a different firmware version than what mine was. Confusing, isn’t it?

Are you using the Vaporesso V2.5 app? The app installed from the “Polar_20180702.zip” download file?

 

[UlkaHuren]

Something is odd. My mod stayed blank. Nothing on the screen. Plug in without holding the fire button and see if it connects. Watch to see if the driver installs. If not then press fire after it’s plugged in to USB and see if that works.

I just tried mine and it connects with no fire button press now. Apparently the firmware update changed how it boot loads. Lovely. I guess that’s an improvement though. I guess yours is behaving differently because it’s a different firmware version than what mine was. Confusing, isn’t it?

Are you using the Vaporesso V2.5 app? The app installed from the “Polar_20180702.zip” download file?

One other thing. Try other USB ports. Sometimes it can get temporarily hosed while doing stuff like this. I used the USB cable that came with the mod. Other Vaporesso mods I’ve done the cable worked too and the process was basically the same.

 

[Kazuko]

I run it on a MacBook, so no, I'm using the Mac app they ship separately, vapores_1.0.3.dmg, which handles the SPCBAT* firmware upgrades. Also, as it is Mac, there is no driver installation :/ I tried plugging the mod without holding the fire button, nothing happened, either on the mod or the app

 

[UlkaHuren]

I run it on a MacBook, so no, I'm using the Mac app they ship separately, vapores_1.0.3.dmg, which handles the SPCBAT* firmware upgrades. Also, as it is Mac, there is no driver installation :/ I tried plugging the mod without holding the fire button, nothing happened, either on the mod or the app

I was gonna do it on my MacBook Pro but I was on Windows on the Mac doing some other firmware stuff and decided to do it there. When I get a chance today, I’ll run the Mac app and see what happens and let you know if I can get it to boot load and hopefully how to proceed.

 

[Kazuko]

I was gonna do it on my MacBook Pro but I was on Windows on the Mac doing some other firmware stuff and decided to do it there. When I get a chance today, I’ll run the Mac app and see what happens and let you know if I can get it to boot load and hopefully how to proceed.

Thanks a lot!

 

[UlkaHuren]

Thanks a lot!

After trying out the Mac version, my conclusion is that this app is not compatible with the new Polar mod. I did see the mod display flash as you mentioned giving the boot loader name, version, and those big zeros. Yeah I'm afraid you're gonna have to hook it up to an icky Windows computer to update it. -_-

 

[Fidola13]

What does the upgrade address? Ie my mods working fine as is so should I bother to upgrade?

 

[Kazuko]

What does the upgrade address? Ie my mods working fine as is so should I bother to upgrade?

Up to version 1.0.3 the "normal" pre-heat actually hits hard. DJLsb talked about it in his video and I noticed it as well, I vape around 70W and the normal mode pre-heats waaaaay harder than the hard pre-heat (I think it does roughly 100W for half a second). It doesn't happen in VV or curve mode though, so I worked my way around that, but I like the SP display, and it behaves like normal VW, so pre-heats too hard for my liking