The short version: If you have an eGo-V 650mah VV battery with passthrough, do not try to charge it using anything besides the included cable or mini-USB adapter, because other cables could fry the electronics of the battery.
The long version:
I bought an eGo-V 650mah VV battery with passthrough a couple of months back. It has a funky USB port, which is fine, since it comes with a mini-USB adapter as well as a cable from a standard USB port to the funky eGo-V USB port. As luck would have it, the cable began shorting out after about a month, and as time went on it became more and more difficult to find a way to twist it so that it would charge. The adapter worked fine, but it's bulky and makes passthrough vaping rather awkward.
So I did some research about the eGo-V. I could not find anything online about the actual battery port except that it was a Fuji type, though there are several Fuji type USB plugs. After spending hours looking at Amazon products that had enlargeable photos of Fuji-type USB plugs, I figured out that the funky eGo-V plug is the one called "USB Fuji Type IV." You can get them on Amazon for a few dollars, since they're frequently used to charge digital cameras. So I ordered one. Coincidentally, the day after I ordered one, the digital camera we got for our daughter's 16th birthday arrived, and it uses USB Fuji Type IV plug. It comes with a cable that looks identical to the one provided by eGo. I didn't bother to try charging with it, since the one I ordered from Amazon was in the mail and scheduled to arrive the next day.
Once the Amazon cable arrived, I used it to connect my eGo-V to my computer's USB port. I immediately got an error message saying that the USB port was shut down for drawing too much current. Tried this on USB 2 and USB 3 ports with the same results. Then I tried it on both 0.5amp and 1.0amp USB chargers that plug into the wall. No charge at all; did not even acknowledged that it was plugged in. Then I plugged it into a wall outlet that I changed out so that it has two 1.0amp USB output ports on it. Same thing: no charge.
At this point, I was wondering if I got a bum cable. So I went and borrowed the cable from my daughters camera, and plugged it into one of the USB chargers that plugs into the wall (I don't remember which). The battery immediately got warm, though it showed no sign of charging. I quickly unplugged it. It is now fried. The battery is dead, and nothing will charge it at all.
Anyway, the eGo-V only cost around $30, and I got a couple months' good use out of it. I enjoyed it while it lasted, and I used its demise as an excuse to buy an eVic, which I'm kind of excited about. All's well that ends well.
Even so, I wanted other people to have the opportunity to learn from my mistake. There's a paucity of information about the eGo-V 650mah port and cable; maybe I'm the first person who tried this -- or maybe I'm just the first person who doesn't feel terribly stupid having tried it. In any event, I'm posting it here for all to see: the cable that comes with the eGo-V 650mah battery is not likely to be the same cable as other cables with the same plug, and other plugs may fry your battery.
(Incidentally, the newer eGo-V "V2" that is 1200mah purports to use a "standard mini-B 5-pin USB port," and is likely not liable to the same problem.)
The long version:
I bought an eGo-V 650mah VV battery with passthrough a couple of months back. It has a funky USB port, which is fine, since it comes with a mini-USB adapter as well as a cable from a standard USB port to the funky eGo-V USB port. As luck would have it, the cable began shorting out after about a month, and as time went on it became more and more difficult to find a way to twist it so that it would charge. The adapter worked fine, but it's bulky and makes passthrough vaping rather awkward.
So I did some research about the eGo-V. I could not find anything online about the actual battery port except that it was a Fuji type, though there are several Fuji type USB plugs. After spending hours looking at Amazon products that had enlargeable photos of Fuji-type USB plugs, I figured out that the funky eGo-V plug is the one called "USB Fuji Type IV." You can get them on Amazon for a few dollars, since they're frequently used to charge digital cameras. So I ordered one. Coincidentally, the day after I ordered one, the digital camera we got for our daughter's 16th birthday arrived, and it uses USB Fuji Type IV plug. It comes with a cable that looks identical to the one provided by eGo. I didn't bother to try charging with it, since the one I ordered from Amazon was in the mail and scheduled to arrive the next day.
Once the Amazon cable arrived, I used it to connect my eGo-V to my computer's USB port. I immediately got an error message saying that the USB port was shut down for drawing too much current. Tried this on USB 2 and USB 3 ports with the same results. Then I tried it on both 0.5amp and 1.0amp USB chargers that plug into the wall. No charge at all; did not even acknowledged that it was plugged in. Then I plugged it into a wall outlet that I changed out so that it has two 1.0amp USB output ports on it. Same thing: no charge.
At this point, I was wondering if I got a bum cable. So I went and borrowed the cable from my daughters camera, and plugged it into one of the USB chargers that plugs into the wall (I don't remember which). The battery immediately got warm, though it showed no sign of charging. I quickly unplugged it. It is now fried. The battery is dead, and nothing will charge it at all.
Anyway, the eGo-V only cost around $30, and I got a couple months' good use out of it. I enjoyed it while it lasted, and I used its demise as an excuse to buy an eVic, which I'm kind of excited about. All's well that ends well.
Even so, I wanted other people to have the opportunity to learn from my mistake. There's a paucity of information about the eGo-V 650mah port and cable; maybe I'm the first person who tried this -- or maybe I'm just the first person who doesn't feel terribly stupid having tried it. In any event, I'm posting it here for all to see: the cable that comes with the eGo-V 650mah battery is not likely to be the same cable as other cables with the same plug, and other plugs may fry your battery.
(Incidentally, the newer eGo-V "V2" that is 1200mah purports to use a "standard mini-B 5-pin USB port," and is likely not liable to the same problem.)
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