VMax button/connection problem

[Swigger14]

Thought I'd see if anyone had any thoughts here. Just this morning, my VMax stopped working.When I insert batteries I get the 123-456-789 display, but the button does nothing. I can only imagine the button is busted or something. I can't get any reaction (no light) so I can't cycle to the menus.

Tried with both flat tops and nipple top batts. Tried both with cartos and without.

I've already had one VMax crap out on me due to the button not working. That one, though, I just needed to hit at a certain angle or something. I can't get any response out of this whatsoever.

I imagine I'm out of luck, but let me know if anyone has any thoughts. I looked around a bit, and the button issues are somewhat known, but I didnt find a fix.

 

[irwink]

Sounds like a wonky circuit board. You're probably sol. Because of erratic button issues with mine after several months I just got a sigelei telescoping Zmax V3. It appears to be better constructed and so far has zero button issues. My Smoktech Zmax V2 started having button issues soon after I got it. I used a Vmax before that but it developed issues with the lcd display. At this point I'm probably done with Smoktech devices.

 

[Steemax]

I'm actually having the same issues with the wonky button, I have to fire it at a weird angle for it to work and sometimes it'll just start cycling through the menus when I go to fire it... and it's only a week old :/ started doing this a couple days after purchasing it and smoktech customer service is so far terrible. I emailed them about warranty and still waiting for a reply for two days. I'm really ......, I expected something with quality for $110

 

[irwink]

I'm actually having the same issues with the wonky button, I have to fire it at a weird angle for it to work and sometimes it'll just start cycling through the menus when I go to fire it... and it's only a week old :/ started doing this a couple days after purchasing it and smoktech customer service is so far terrible. I emailed them about warranty and still waiting for a reply for two days. I'm really ......, I expected something with quality for $110

That's exactly how my Smoktech Zmax behaved. The button behavior only got worse with time. It's now on the shelf as a backup device.

 

[Steemax]

Thought I'd share that I fixed my zmax mini!!! I took out my battery and found that the main circuit board was out of its tracks. I used my index finger to wiggle it around until it just clicked back into place. When tried pushing the circuit board up it wouldn't budge now pushing it up against the switch fires it from the inside too since it has now situated perfectly on the button from inside.

So far it's been working flawlessly because it had gotten very bad lately.

 

[look30]

Thought I'd share that I fixed my zmax mini!!! I took out my battery and found that the main circuit board was out of its tracks. I used my index finger to wiggle it around until it just clicked back into place. When tried pushing the circuit board up it wouldn't budge now pushing it up against the switch fires it from the inside too since it has now situated perfectly on the button from inside.

So far it's been working flawlessly because it had gotten very bad lately.

No dice on my Zmax V3 telescope. The button although clicks 1 out of 3 times does not make electrical contact.
I tried pushing it from inside but I didn't felt anything moving when I did that.

 

[fairmana]

@look30
I had the same problem with my Segelei Zmax V3 telescope. I bought my Dad one right after I got mine and he developed the same issue. Some have reported that the circuit card will spin inside the tube and the internal button doesn't line up correctly anymore and you can see if that's your problem by looking through the clear button. You shouldn't see a partial black button beneath it. If this is your problem, it's fixable by removing the top cap and re-glueing the circuit board in place. It isn't hard to do.

The above was not my problem however. Both me and my Dad had issues with the button itself. I've since replaced both buttons in our Segelei Zmax V3 telescopes and they now work flawlessly. I suspect a bad batch of buttons or low quality buttons used in some of these.

Anyway, you can see my write-up on how I fixed mine which includes the part # for the replacement switch ordered from Digikey here:

 

[acezzz]

I have fixed button problems on 2 z-maxes by spraying wd-40 into the button.

 

[fairmana]

I'm glad that worked for you, and thanks for sharing that. No offense, but I personally wouldn't want to get WD-40 inside my PV and all over the internal circuit board, etc. I just wouldn't want to have to smell WD-40 every time I do a vape. I would suspect that even if you clean up the outside really good, there's a good chance you'd still be able to smell a hint of it, which would bother the heck out of me. Were you able to smell it at all on your PV after you did it? I personally would only consider the WD-40 approach if I had no other recourse (ex. If I couldn't replace the switch or I didn't have a backup PV). I might be more willing to do it if I removed the circuit board first so I could apply a single controlled drop of WD-40 to the top of the actual surface mount switch that's soldered onto the circuit card. At least that way I could get the WD-40 where I want it and not all over everything else.