Vaporesso Podstick USB malfunction

[Plantsmantx]

I've had three Podsticks, and they've all failed at the USB charging port. Two of them eventually developed something like a short. You have to move the cable up and down to make it start charging. The third one got so hot during charging, the plastic end cap started to melt. Has anyone else run into these problems?

 

[dangkhoa02106]

Is this problem start immediately or after a while? Can you give the information of the rating current of the charger that you use? Is your charging cable still in good condition?
Before find out which is cause this problem, please, do not charge your device anymore. The connection when charging is not good, it can damage the board and the battery.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I had this problem with a couple Innokin mods a long time ago and they replaced them.

Are you using the charge cable that came with the podsticks?

Are you vaping on the podsticks while they are charging?

Maybe @Vaporesso_Chelsea should see this

 

[Plantsmantx]

Is this problem start immediately or after a while? Can you give the information of the rating current of the charger that you use? Is your charging cable still in good condition?
Before find out which is cause this problem, please, do not charge your device anymore. The connection when charging is not good, it can damage the board and the battery.

Not immediately. They all started malfunctioning in the same way around the same time- within a two week or so time period, which is kind of strange, because I bought one in July and one in August, but I bought the first one in December of last year. The charger is rated at 2.5 amps, and I used two of the 3 cables that came with the Podsticks. Neither of them were damaged.

 

[Plantsmantx]

I had this problem with a couple Innokin mods a long time ago and they replaced them.

Are you using the charge cable that came with the podsticks?

Are you vaping on the podsticks while they are charging?

Maybe @Vaporesso_Chelsea should see this

Yes, I used the cables that came with them. Nope, I didn't try to use them while they were charging.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I'm not an electronics guru and have limited knowledge of these things. But using a 2.5A max charger would be OK assuming the podstick has the ability to limit itself to draw the only the maximum amount of amps from the charger that the podstick's circuit can handle.

Sounds to me that there's a possibility that the podsticks are not limiting themselves as to the amount of amps they pull so using a 2.5A max charger may be your problem. However, since Vaporesso do not supply the charger (I'm guessing) then this is actually not your fault unless the manual specifically tells you not to use a charger rated at over X amps.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I'm going through the Podstick manual right now.

Couple of things to note.

Page 1 on the specs:
Charging current: 1A/5V micro USB

So the max amps the Podstick will pull from a charger is 1 amp. In theory.
So to my limited knowledge (again, limited knowledge), using a charger that has an output rating over 1 amp would be fine ASSUMING that the Podstick's circuitry is designed properly to limit itself to only draw a maximum of up to 1 amp from whatever charger you use.

But

Page 4 CAUTIONS:
Please use a standard USB output charger in proper charging Current and Voltage range.

This makes me think that possibly the Podstick does not actually limit itself to draw only the maximum 1 amp it's circuit can handle and therefore it is up to you, the user, to make sure you only use a charger that has a max of 1 amp output rating.

If this is what your problem is, I still say that it's not your fault because the manual does not specifically tell you what the max output of the charger should be. It is not reasonable for a company to assume that a consumer understands what "proper charging current" means. Most electronics consumers do not understand such things. This is why companies either have to use the proper circuitry to limit their devices' amp draws or provide the proper charger (preferably both or at least the former).

 

[Superuser187]

Wierd tho a modern device nowdays to not have any protection....in rare cases like that usually the cable that comes with the device it's a cable that can carry only the proper amps for the device....in this case 1amp....cause the cable can limit also the current

Also btw the 2 pods seem to just have a damaged charging port I guess since moving them charges them....the one of those 3 pods tho that melted ....dam

 

[Plantsmantx]

Wierd tho a modern device nowdays to not have any protection....in rare cases like that usually the cable that comes with the device it's a cable that can carry only the proper amps for the device....in this case 1amp....cause the cable can limit also the current

Also btw the 2 pods seem to just have a damaged charging port I guess since moving them charges them....the one of those 3 pods tho that melted ....dam

Yes, the last one I bought got hot enough to melt the plastic about not quite 2 weeks after I started using it.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

That one that got hot and melted: You could try charging it with a 1A or lower charger if you have one, to see if it gets hot. But honestly, it's probably best not to chance it. We don't know the reason that happened for sure. It could have nothing to do with the charger and the podsticks are just merely crappy, unsafe and defective.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Heck, if you're changing these things overnight or otherwise unattended, and you aren't taking them of the charger once they reach full charge, I guess it's possible that the podsticks do not have an overcharge function and are overcharging. Still, this would be due to unconscionable design and not your fault.

We as consumers cannot be expected to sit next to our devices (vaping devices or otherwise) during the duration of their charging when they could easily be designed to shut stop charging when they reach full charge. I don't care if that means it costs $5 more lol

 

[Superuser187]

Or try charge them with a 1amp charger like uncle said but make sure u are around looking at it...

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Or try charge them with a 1amp charger like uncle said but make sure u are around looking at it...

That's what I assumed, but even then it still could make for a dangerous situation. I wouldn't want to be around the thing when the battery explodes lol.

 

[Plantsmantx]

I'm going through the Podstick manual right now.

Couple of things to note.

Page 1 on the specs:
Charging current: 1A/5V micro USB

So the max amps the Podstick will pull from a charger is 1 amp. In theory.
So to my limited knowledge (again, limited knowledge), using a charger that has an output rating over 1 amp would be fine ASSUMING that the Podstick's circuitry is designed properly to limit itself to only draw a maximum of up to 1 amp from whatever charger you use.

But

Page 4 CAUTIONS:
Please use a standard USB output charger in proper charging Current and Voltage range.

This makes me think that possibly the Podstick does not actually limit itself to draw only the maximum 1 amp it's circuit can handle and therefore it is up to you, the user, to make sure you only use a charger that has a max of 1 amp output rating.

If this is what your problem is, I still say that it's not your fault because the manual does not specifically tell you what the max output of the charger should be. It is not reasonable for a company to assume that a consumer understands what "proper charging current" means. Most electronics consumers do not understand such things. This is why companies either have to use the proper circuitry to limit their devices' amp draws or provide the proper charger (preferably both or at least the former).

Thanks for all the good information. Yes, if that's the case, they should make it explicit. The possibility of a charger mismatch didn't occur to me. I assumed it was a matter of the USB port becoming deformed and/or misaligned.

 

[Plantsmantx]

That one that got hot and melted: You could try charging it with a 1A or lower charger if you have one, to see if it gets hot. But honestly, it's probably best not to chance it. We don't know the reason that happened for sure. It could have nothing to do with the charger and the podsticks are just merely crappy, unsafe and defective.

I threw that one away. The Podstick is advertised as having the "Mini Omni board", and I assumed that included protection circuitry.

 

[r77r7r]

I used to use these magnetic usb chargers

 

[TrollDragon]

Wierd tho a modern device nowdays to not have any protection....in rare cases like that usually the cable that comes with the device it's a cable that can carry only the proper amps for the device....in this case 1amp....cause the cable can limit also the current

Also btw the 2 pods seem to just have a damaged charging port I guess since moving them charges them....the one of those 3 pods tho that melted ....dam

Really? Never heard or seen a USB cable that can limit or control current...

 

[Superuser187]

Really? Never heard or seen a USB cable that can limit or control current...

Yea i mean the cable thickness is not enough for current to flow....for example u may buy a cheap micro usb to charge your phone and wont charge with more than 1amp...or even 0.5amps
But ofc nowdays all after market usb cables from a good brand support more amps and most even cheap ones support 2amps at least .....havent bought any that dont

 

[Superuser187]

I used to use these magnetic usb chargers

Yea never had those but its cool idea to not stress your usb port.....it just points out a little bit but its not dealbreaker in most cases

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

I once had a USB TC card for my PC so I could hook the TV cable to my PC and watch TV. It had short USB cable with a really thick wire. I lost that USB cable and grabbed a regular one out of my stash of many and after using it for about a half hour the cable was melting.