Roughstack not working

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Bucktoothzombie

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Im guessing it one of two things.. The blue straw they use is not set right or bent.. But my main guess is you have a bad switch.. The switches are not very reliable and seem to go out easy.. Im on my third switch and I had same issues as you all. Rest assured cause MG will take care of ya.. That'd why I keep going back..
 

kgeiger002

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reserecting this thread.

Got my maxi RS today and unfortunately having the same issue. Won't fire with any 510 atty. But the weird thing is it will fire right up when I use a 510 to kr808 adapter. I opened it up. The straw and spring look fine. I raised a ticket with madvapes about it. Glad to hear all the good reviews on their Customer service.

So anybody have any ideas as to why no 510 atty works but yet when I use the adapter all is good? Problem is I want to use it with 510 attys. :(<sigh>
 

six

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So anybody have any ideas as to why no 510 atty works but yet when I use the adapter all is good? Problem is I want to use it with 510 attys. :(<sigh>

Yes. Your atty has short threads and it isn't making contact with the bottom of the connector. Your adapter has longer threads and is making good contact.
 

emus

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reserecting this thread.

Got my maxi RS today and unfortunately having the same issue. Won't fire with any 510 atty. But the weird thing is it will fire right up when I use a 510 to kr808 adapter. I opened it up. The straw and spring look fine. I raised a ticket with Madvapes about it. Glad to hear all the good reviews on their Customer service.

So anybody have any ideas as to why no 510 atty works but yet when I use the adapter all is good? Problem is I want to use it with 510 attys. :(<sigh>

I had a similar issue.
My 510 atty shoulder didn't bottom out on my RS; atty thread length not problem on mine.
Does 510 shoulder bottom out on yours?
If I screwed atty in just right if would fire.
I found that the spring did not make reliable contact to center post.
I tossed the spring and replaced w/ wire.
Been working perfect since.

Am I the only person who has experienced unreliable spring contact?

The RS is very good and very user serviceable.
Some high end mods are not user serviceable.

FYI: RS is pretty small as shown beside C size batt
 

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arkador

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Am I the only person who has experienced unreliable spring contact?

I have had a spring short out and melt the spring in half, and have had a switch go bad while using dual coil cartos all within the first week.

I stand corrected. I just put a freshly charged battery in, and had to teardown/reassemble the switch twice before the spring finally made contact. Really starting to feel more and more disappointed with my roughstack. Have had to tear down the switch assembly about 10 times in 7 days to keep this thing running...... apparently the change in pressure of changing out a battery is enough to make it loose contact. I don;t see a dab of solder on the 510 connector that hogg refered to in another thread as the source of that problem.

just put my 510 shorty extender on, and it isn't working AGAIN.... about to return the whole thing for a refund. just used a pair of pliars to close the diameter of the top loop of the spring, and it is working yet again. only other thing i can do at this point is permanatley solder a wire in there. if this last fix doesn't last, I am returning my roughstack and getting something different.
 
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emus

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I have had a spring short out and melt the spring in half, and have had a switch go bad while using dual coil cartos all within the first week.

I stand corrected. I just put a freshly charged battery in, and had to teardown/reassemble the switch twice before the spring finally made contact. Really starting to feel more and more disappointed with my roughstack. Have had to tear down the switch assembly about 10 times in 7 days to keep this thing running...... apparently the change in pressure of changing out a battery is enough to make it loose contact. I don;t see a dab of solder on the 510 connector that hogg refered to in another thread as the source of that problem.

just put my 510 shorty extender on, and it isn't working AGAIN.... about to return the whole thing for a refund. just used a pair of pliars to close the diameter of the top loop of the spring, and it is working yet again. only other thing i can do at this point is permanatley solder a wire in there. if this last fix doesn't last, I am returning my roughstack and getting something different.

What I did:

Center pin atty connector pops right out.
Can solder wire to popped out center pin.
Discard spring.

Dab RTV on center pin then pop back in.
Dab RTV such that it is sandwiched between body and switch.
My RS has been leak free for weeks.

Did you verify switch itself not working w/ meter?
Or the switch circuit board assembly?
Is it possible the spring contact is your only issue?

Did you disassemble the push button switch itself?
 

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pwyll

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... I don;t see a dab of solder on the 510 connector that hogg refered to in another thread as the source of that problem.
...

A dab of solder is the solution, just not on the atty connector. I have two V1 RoughStacks-both of them have a small bit of metal (like a tiny battery spacer) soldered to the part of the switch pcb that serves as the positive battery connection. From the pictures I've seen, the V2 switch boards have done away with the metal bit and merely have a dab of solder piled there to serve as the connection. Evidently some boards have less solder than others and or the mound can be worn down with use.

Simply putting a dab of solder (like a solder bridge, but you're not going anywhere) should fix your battery connection issues. Personally, I'd just buy one of those magnetic spacers and solder that on there and turn the switch into a "V1" since they seem to be identical otherwise. H311, one of my RS pcbs is burnt--the silicon board actually charred--and the d@mned thing still works. I dunno if the previous owner over-used the button or there was some manufacturing defect in the pcb itself, but it still works like a charm, 100% of the time.

These things may not be bullet-proof, but they are bomb-proof.
 

emus

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A dab of solder is the solution, just not on the atty connector. I have two V1 RoughStacks-both of them have a small bit of metal (like a tiny battery spacer) soldered to the part of the switch pcb that serves as the positive battery connection. From the pictures I've seen, the V2 switch boards have done away with the metal bit and merely have a dab of solder piled there to serve as the connection. Evidently some boards have less solder than others and or the mound can be worn down with use.

Simply putting a dab of solder (like a solder bridge, but you're not going anywhere) should fix your battery connection issues. Personally, I'd just buy one of those magnetic spacers and solder that on there and turn the switch into a "V1" since they seem to be identical otherwise. H311, one of my RS pcbs is burnt--the silicon board actually charred--and the d@mned thing still works. I dunno if the previous owner over-used the button or there was some manufacturing defect in the pcb itself, but it still works like a charm, 100% of the time.

These things may not be bullet-proof, but they are bomb-proof.

My batt pos post is tall.
Solder bridge is near flat.
It works fine so far w/o tall solder bridge.
I'll keep an eye on bridge for wear.
Was your board charred near the bridge pos post connection?
Maybe from a short circuit event or poor contact?
 

pwyll

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Was your board charred near the bridge pos post connection?
Maybe from a short circuit event or poor contact?

Nope. The burn is beside the atty spring terminal. It can't be a short event because all solder and electrical contacts are physically undamaged and obviously unrepaired--and the charring is beneath the surface of the silica, in the substrate of the board itself--can only be heat.

First time I opened it and saw it I was scared that it was damaged beyond repair but when I pulled out the switch assembly I was only confused. Somehow it had gotten hot enough inside the silicon wafer to char the substrate enough to be visibly burnt on both sides of the board, but not hot enough to deform, or even discolour, the solder bridge or connections. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the switch assembly electrically or mechanically, but it looks like it's so damaged it shouldn't work at all...
 

pwyll

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Well I've been fiddling with mine as suggested. I managed to get one of the attys that came with it working. All my others don't. I'm annoyed. Considering I just got it I still want it replaced (or at least the top piece). I don't want to have to disassemble and do my own repairs on a brand new devise.

I have done at least 4 repairs to mine in the first week. Hope that is the end of that, or I am going to ask to have the entire cap assembly replaced.

+1

I generally find it easier and quicker to fix things myself, when possible, than to send in for repair. That's the way I feel about it and I don't expect anyone else to feel the same way.

That being said, it sounds like both of you have "probblematic" units--sometimes it doesn't matter how many things you fix or how often, that piece is just "cursed." In cases like that it's almost always a part of the unit that you can't replace that has some kind of fault that prematurely degrades good parts, or simply keeps good parts from working as expected in the first place. When that is the case, replacement of the entire unit is the only option.

In my experience, MadVapes has always gone above and beyond to make things right. Open a ticket, or send Hoog a PM, and I'm sure he will bend over backwards. Personally I've never had a problem with the ticket system so I've never dealt with the boss-man directly, but some people/locations/ISPs/something seem to have problems with the ticket system on the MV site and it seems Hoog has always stepped in when he was aware of the problem and handled things.

Good luck. I'd hate to see anyone give up on a RS for repair/reliability issues. Fix it your d@mned self, if you are so inclined--that's what it was designed for. But by all means raise the issue with MV if you are not inclined to fix it--anything sold as new should work out of the box and MadVapes is famous for standing behind their products...
 

emus

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Nope. The burn is beside the atty spring terminal. It can't be a short event because all solder and electrical contacts are physically undamaged and obviously unrepaired--and the charring is beneath the surface of the silica, in the substrate of the board itself--can only be heat.

First time I opened it and saw it I was scared that it was damaged beyond repair but when I pulled out the switch assembly I was only confused. Somehow it had gotten hot enough inside the silicon wafer to char the substrate enough to be visibly burnt on both sides of the board, but not hot enough to deform, or even discolour, the solder bridge or connections. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the switch assembly electrically or mechanically, but it looks like it's so damaged it shouldn't work at all...

Just curious...

What do you think was the heat source?

Tech left it near gun while on lunch break or insufficient solder trace or 20 second toots or???
 

pwyll

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I really have no idea as I bought it second-hand and so don't know if it came from MV like that or not (got a second head-cap with it because the person from whom I bought it wanted a second switch "just in case" and didn't want to have to take the cap apart if the switch went bad).

It's obviously (to me, but I could be wrong) heat-related, but all the damage is almost compleatly internal to the wafer, so I'm assuming there's a pocket in there where the substrate isn't properly fused. The three most likely scenarios I can see are the damage occurring in the kiln when making the wafer, the result of building the board with solder bridges rather than etching/printing, or happening over time as a product of long draws.

The "long toot" hypothesis was actually my first, until I noticed the damage seemed to be almost (if not) totally internal. I should be able to test this theory since I tend to take 10 second draws on dual-coils/LRs and 15 to 20 second drags on SRs. If it gets worse, it's probably "operator error" ;)
 

emus

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I really have no idea as I bought it second-hand and so don't know if it came from MV like that or not (got a second head-cap with it because the person from whom I bought it wanted a second switch "just in case" and didn't want to have to take the cap apart if the switch went bad).

It's obviously (to me, but I could be wrong) heat-related, but all the damage is almost compleatly internal to the wafer, so I'm assuming there's a pocket in there where the substrate isn't properly fused. The three most likely scenarios I can see are the damage occurring in the kiln when making the wafer, the result of building the board with solder bridges rather than etching/printing, or happening over time as a product of long draws.

The "long toot" hypothesis was actually my first, until I noticed the damage seemed to be almost (if not) totally internal. I should be able to test this theory since I tend to take 10 second draws on dual-coils/LRs and 15 to 20 second drags on SRs. If it gets worse, it's probably "operator error" ;)

The long toot should not cause any pcb wafer heat if the trace is thick enough to handle the current. I took my wafer out yesterday and no sign of heat after several weeks of DC use at 3.7v.
Could easily jumper the trace if it is thin. I'm lovin the simplicity of RS.
 
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