Vision Spinner won't charge fully (I don't think it's a pin issue)

[jman5]

Hi all,
I'm back into vaping and loving it again.

I've got four vision spinners: 2x 1100mah, and 2x 1300mah



but straight out of the box i'm having trouble charging them…. i'm using a usb charger on a laptop
The two batteries (1100 + 1300) react completely differently,,,

i've left them both for 12+ hours and neither has reached the 'all green' complete charge on the charger…
The 1100, did the usual: battery light on, charger red, flashing green -> battery light off -> charger green, flashing red…
But ~9 hours later, its still green flashing red…
I unplugged it, and plugged it back in and: the battery flashes 3 times, the charger light goes a solid green for a few seconds; then the battery light flashes 15-20 times then turns off,,,, (if i recall; meaning its done..) but then the charger resumes flashing from green, briefly to red….
and after awhile, it at random intervals changes to red for a good second or more and then goes back into flashing mode...

i dunno what's up with it,,,, i've tried my spare usb chargers (same make) and its the same scenario.

------

and as for the 1300mah,,, the charger went red when plugged in, and was red 12hours later,,, not one green flash,,
the battery light went off, which was good, i guess.


->

So all that said; i've been using my 1300mah for a good six hours and its been working great. Love it.
But this charging business is very strange and (worrying) as i don't know if they're fully charged or not, or when e.t.c

I've contacted the company i bought it off - and they suggested its a 'pin lift' problem…
But what i don't understand - is how come they charge at least part the way, and also work on my protank2's… >
if there's a connection problem?
Plus this problem is happening on both 1300's and 1100's (with the respective issues..)

I used to have the same chargers, same 1100's….. and it worked as it should (few hours -> light is green)


So i don't know what to do… -> i was informed by my supplier to 'try' the pin lift and sent a video on how to do it with a screwdriver,,, but i was also told to be careful as doing this voids my warranty…. :/
So i'm reluctant to mess around with it; as i have an aptitude for breaking things..


sorry for the extensive post…
what do you guys reckon i should do?
I could take it all into the shop and ask them to check it out for me….. but i doubt they'll want to sit there with me watching it blink over and over

thanks very much for any advice
J

 

[bogmonster]

There could be a couple things at work here….

1) the laptop USB port may not be pushing out enough juice. You need 500mA or higher, I believe. On some laptops, only one of the ports will give you that; on others it could be none. Check the manual for your laptop or try a wall charger if you have one handy.

2)Iirc, the spinners should to be set at 3.8v when charging to get a full charge

Always a good idea to give your contacts a good cleaning as well, as juice can crust up if left too long

Hope that's of some help.

Edit: I've "pulled my post" a few times with no horrible results, but only on my toppers, not the batteries

 

[DarkDays93]

It might be worth seeing if you can plug them into a wall and charge them that way? That's the safer way of doing it anyway.

In regards to the pin lift, I did it on my MVP with no problems and I'm guessing it would be a similar process but somebody with more experience should see this and reply soon

James

 

[Vlennhoff]

Could be the charger, too. I've had to replace multiple chargers.

 

[jman5]

hey - thanks for the replies.
I think i might try a wall charger…. i just read up on the power from the usb ports on the macbook i'm using;

"Up to 500 mA (Milliamps) at 5 V (Volts) to most Apple USB peripherals"

so, they apparently have 'up to' the 500mA…. could well be the problem..
also, i have been charging them at 4.2v as i thought i read somewhere that was the right setting, (been six months away from vaping)
So i'll give it an hour or two at 3.8v to see if it charges.


i've tried out 3 out of 4 of the usb chargers i bought; and they all seem to be doing the same thing sadly..
and i really am scared about this 'pin lift'… i know i'll just yank the whole thing off somehow...

i'm surprised; the place i got it from said they'd heard of this problem and the very first thing to try is the 'pin lift'….
i would've thought that'd be the last resort.. - the fact that they are charging, somewhat - seems to me that there is a connection being made, just not - well…. i'd be leaning towards enough power.. now..

i'll try ordering a wall charger, and setting the voltage to 3.8v with the usb in the meantime.


thanks very much for the advice,
i'll let you know what worked - when it's solved.
kind regards
J

 

[SleeZy]

I'd recommend wall charge over usb anyday. You don't wanna wear out the usb ports. And i've read about some people have burned their motherboard by using the usb to charge (overheated or failed battery so it pushes the electricity back in on the motherboard)

Also if you're using USB to charge you would need USB 3.0 for an efficent charge. USB 2 can't push out enough power.

 

[jman5]

hey all..

still haven't got my wall charger,,, - the company i bought it off forgot to send it
So the verdicts still out on whether my laptop is putting out enough power.


However i just tried yet another battery… this one a 1100mah spinner.
i plugged it in and the Battery light and the Charger light just flashed on, off - intermittently in unison.
The charger light was red,

I've now tested out three batteries…. and they all have completely different weird quirks…

the 1300mahs charger stays red for all eternity, but eventually the battery light goes off.
one 1100mah charger eventually goes green with brief red flashes. - The battery light goes off at some point.
one 1100mah charger + battery flash in unison….. charger just going red, off, red e.t.c. - battery light; on, off, on……


what a headache.

When my wall charger Finally arrives…. i'll test that..
but seriously… four out of four batteries is a pretty big fail rate. (both 1300mah batteries do the same thing.)

i've used this company before; for {previous} 1100mah spinners… - and all was dandy.
this time - fail, fail fail fail……

 

[Choc_Addic]

Why not "stop this nonsense" - get a multimeter and test it?

What is the voltage after charging for a few hours? Just be sure you don't shot it out with the test leads.

That will narrow down the problem if batteries are bad or ego chargers are bad? Do as you will after you find out. Since you are somewhat getting them charged, you can't say it's bad batteries , can you?

Cheers.

PS. Never ever charge any thing on computer. USB chargers are cheap as chips. If one blows, it will cost you a few bucks to replace.
How much would it cost to fix your computer???
Get a good one here : Anker 25W (5V/5A) 5-Port USB Charger $14.50 w/ V.me by Visa Checkout + Free Shipping - Newegg Deals, Coupons and Promos

 

[*deleon517*]

Rather then waiting for the wall wart to plug the charger into try using one that comes with a cell phone. They are pretty much universal and the usb end will plug right in and plug to the wall.

 

[sidewinder]

Hello all,

I am new to vaping (3 weeks or so). Originally I purchased a small started eGo (says SMOKRBC, but that's on the tank) which i totally dig, so much in fact that i decided to upgrade. I got what I assume is the 2014 Vision Spinner 1300mah mAh Variable Voltage 3.3V-4.8V. I say assume as there is no marking on the unit, product name, model number, or otherwise; and when purchased from local vape shop it was just in the display case in a clear plastic sleeve - no other packaging. I identified via pictures on the internet. When I left the shop it worked great, but when the battery went dead and I tried to charge it I ran into similar issue as Jman5. I plugged charger into computer, screwed base into charger and the battery light started blinking and the charger light turned red as expected, but two seconds later the battery light came back ON and the charger light started flashing green occasionally (barely noticeable). So the base looked like a flashlight! Light just stayed on, brighter than normal it seemed. I tried several other power venues: all ports on computer, iphone wall charger plugged into almost every outlet in the house, the USB on my cable box which I've used to charge phones and PS3 controllers, etc. Results were all the same. Anyways, I let it go like that for a while and charger evetually went green but charge barely lasted a few hours. I went back to the shop and the guy grabbed a new charger, plugged into their register monitor, and it worked fine. He told me to go home and recharge cuz it wasnt completely charged, which I did, and got the same result...battery light on constant after two seconds, and charger light flashing occasional green. I went back to the shop and the guy grabbed a new unit and new charger and sent me on my way with an apology. I used it until almost dead and went to charge, and the same thing happened, again. So I'm totally confused and disappointed.

Can anyone tell me whats going on? Sorry for the annoyingly long post/reply, but i wanted to be thorough. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Mogy]

I have used a spinner before i moved to other things. In my experience I could never charge it on pc had to use the wall plug. When you first plug it in the button light comes on on battery shines like flash light. It turns off when battery is getting close to be charged. The little red/green light starts blinking red and green... Once it fully charged it stays green.

 

[mkbilbo]

hey - thanks for the replies.
I think i might try a wall charger…. i just read up on the power from the usb ports on the macbook i'm using;

"Up to 500 mA (Milliamps) at 5 V (Volts) to most Apple USB peripherals"

so, they apparently have 'up to' the 500mA…. could well be the problem..
also, i have been charging them at 4.2v as i thought i read somewhere that was the right setting, (been six months away from vaping)
So i'll give it an hour or two at 3.8v to see if it charges.


i've tried out 3 out of 4 of the usb chargers i bought; and they all seem to be doing the same thing sadly..
and i really am scared about this 'pin lift'… i know i'll just yank the whole thing off somehow...

i'm surprised; the place i got it from said they'd heard of this problem and the very first thing to try is the 'pin lift'….
i would've thought that'd be the last resort.. - the fact that they are charging, somewhat - seems to me that there is a connection being made, just not - well…. i'd be leaning towards enough power.. now..

i'll try ordering a wall charger, and setting the voltage to 3.8v with the usb in the meantime.


thanks very much for the advice,
i'll let you know what worked - when it's solved.
kind regards
J

Do the "pin lift" gently and not very far. A very, very slight difference can affect the connection. The pin has a wire soldered to the back end but if you're careful and don't "lift" much, you should be fine.

On the other hand, a brand new battery is very unlikely to have a pin issue. The pins are held in a rubbery kind of ring and can be pushed down by screwing on cartos and clearos and whatnot. You really should not have to do that with a new, out of the box battery.

Do check the contacts of the charger. Small amounts of juice can be transferred to it by batteries. I used to wipe mine with alcohol wipes periodically (back when I used Twists and such). They get dirty fast. Of course, make sure it's dry before using it again.

What's the output of the charger? Mine was 420 mA and that would charge an 1100 in maybe 6 hours? And, yeah, I'd get a USB wall adapter. Something rated at 1 amp or so (an iPad wall adapter is rated 2 amp and works fine by the way). A 500 mA source wasn't enough for some of my stuff. Yeah, you should be able to pull 420 mA from a 500 mA source but there's variance in any electronics and that is maybe cutting it close.

But, honestly? I think the vendor should just swap them out. Crazy "blink" patterns with brand new, just out of the box batteries usually means a bum battery. I had a Twist do something like that. The pattern seems to mean something but even the vendor couldn't get Joytech to tell us what. If other batteries charge fine with the charger... you probably just got defective product. It happens...

 

[Mogy]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/variable-voltage-apv-discussion/378804-vision-spinner-1300mah-charging-question.html found this maybe it helps?