Dropped my Vamo V3, now it's dead.

[mydartswinger]

So I'm out of town on business, vaping on my Vamo V3 for the last 4 hours without a hitch. I get to my destination, get out of the car, and start walking in the building. I then stepped hard on a bump in the parking lot, jarring the Vamo out of my shirt pocket and onto the ground. I pick it up to take a vape and get nothing. I click it 5 times to turn it on...nothing. OK, sometimes I have to repeat the 5 clicks a couple of times to get it to turn on, so I think nothing is out of the ordinary. That is, until I repeat this several times and get nothing. Fortunately, I have my Bolt and my eGo with me as spares to get me until I can get off work.

When I got off, I took it to a local vape shop to see if they could help. They looked at it, took out the battery, reversed the battery (it was in there correctly when I went through the above), and really didn't do much else except look inside the head. Frustrated, and without the disposable funds to get a new V3 or similar, I picked up an EVOD-twist just to get me by for my VV vaping until I can either replace the V3, or get it fixed.

When I got back to the hotel, I started looking up what I could do to fix it, but cannot find much. I did ensure the battery was installed correctly and spread the spring to ensure that it was getting good contact. It's still not powering on. I also tried vaping it to see if the screen's just dead, but get nothing.

What can I do before contacting the manufacturer once I get home or completely replacing it?

Thanks

[mydartswinger]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I also switched to my spare battery that was not in it when it was dropped and still got nothing.

[spydre]

Check the spring, make sure it didn't compress too much to push the battery up to make contact. Try stretching the spring out a bit, and see if that helps. Could be the battery jolted down hard on the spring, compressed it. Vape shop should have checked that, because Vamos have that happen without being dropped.

[Jeffb]

A wire may have become disconnected.

[spydre]

A wire may have become disconnected.

^^

That too. I'm really surprised the vape shop didn't check more stuff, to tell you the truth. Maybe you got the one person there that doesn't know much about APVs?

[Compenstine]

After dropping my V5 a few times it is acting a little quirky. I have to sometimes click it 7 times to get it on. Also, I found that the seam had separated a bit not allowing the battery to make good contact. I could not get any flat top to work. I now use only button top batteries in it and that solved most of the problems.

[irwink]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune but don't hold your breath trying to repair a Vamo. At the price it's sold at it's pretty much a throwaway device imo.

[mydartswinger]

Thank you for the suggestions.

Before I go on to the point of this reply, let me recap what I did to troubleshoot/repair it.

1. Stretched spring

2. Tried 3 batteries (2 Trustfire 2500mAh 18650s and 1 IMR 2000mAh 18650)

3. Attempted power on process several times

4. Attempted excess click power on several times

5. I even went as far as a slight drop on the carpet to jar things back into place (kinda dumb, I know, but figured WTH, it was dead anyway).

Before I went to sleep last night, I put the Trustfire that was dropped and the IMR on the Intellicharger, and left both until I got off work today. Before I went to work, I gave the Vamo a few attempts at powering on with the battery that wasn't dropped, but nothing happened. I get off work, give the same battery another shot, still nothing. Then I figured, I doubt it'll work, but WTH. I tried the battery that's been on the charger since last night a shot. IT WORKED!!

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more confused, I tried the other Trustfire again for good measure. Nothing. Switch back to the one it worked with, came right on and vapes. So I put the one that's not powering on the Vamo on the charger, and it's got at least 2/3 of it's charge (well, 2 of 3 lights went solid within a couple of minutes), looking like a possible fully charged battery (as I only used it to check the device after it was dropped, and the 3rd light just went solid a minute or so after the 2nd).

If you can't tell, I'm kinda doing some mix and match troubleshooting as I type this.

Tried the dropped battery, looks like it's toast. I didn't see it before, but the negative post is dinged. I swapped batteries again (to the non-damaged Trustfire and the IMR). The Trustfire didn't initially power on the device, but the IMR did. Did a swap back to the Trustfire (I use the Trustfire batts in the Vamo and the IMR in my Bolt, so I wanted to keep a Trustfire in the Vamo if possible), tapped the device against my palm, and it works.

I'm thinking that something is loose inside, but it works...for now. I'll vape it for a few days and see how it does before I make any more decisions on it. If it works without issue, I'll keep it for a while. If it gives me trouble, I'll start looking for a new mod.

[mydartswinger]

Just a brief update on the V3.

I vaped it a bit Friday morning before heading to work, but was having some issues with it. It was difficult to turn on, and wouldn't stay on. I would have to turn it on a couple of times in about a 5 minute period because it just randomly shut off. So I put it on the charger and vaped my EVOD-Twist and my Bolt until Friday evening (when I returned from my trip). I picked up the Vamo shortly after getting home, and had the same cut-out issue that it was having that morning. I wound up switching amongst my 3 devices, leaning more towards the Twist, for the rest of the evening. I did, however, find that tapping the screen a bit eased the process. Threw the batts on the charger before I went to bed for an overnight charge.

Got up this morning and went straight for the Vamo. After a few bouts with difficulty powering on and staying on, I finally managed to get it on and stay on. I've been primarily using the Vamo all day, with a few swaps for the Bolt or the Twist, and have had little issue the rest of the day.

I'll keep tabs on it and start looking at some other mods as a possible replacement, start preparing for the worst. and hoping for the best.

I'm seriously considering the Provari, but we'll see.

[ton80]

i know this happend about a month ago, but I was wondering if you had any luck getting it to work ok again.. I had a very similiar experience with my vamo 5(thats only 2 weeks old).. I have 3 new batteries for it, and only 1 would work now since I dropped it.. So here is what I did..

open the battery tube, remove the extension. Look down in there, and you should see a little red spacer, its cardboard, I used a small screw driver to pry it out of there. Viola, all 3 of my batteries are working again. this worked for me, and I am not sure if it comprimised the safety, etc.. but if you still have issue, you can try this.

[mydartswinger]

Well, it kinda works. It's a pain to turn on, and once on, randomly cuts out. Due to an unrelated drop, the inside threads (can't remember the correct type of thread that they are) are messed up, so it'll only work with eGo type threaded tanks. I still have it, but don't even mess with it anymore since I picked up a Tesla.

[Roguejuices]

I had a nice Vamo V3 that stopped working about a year ago after a month (my third one, I own a wholesale juice business, so I literally have over 40 different pv's I switch back and forth with, and always have to buy new ones (or at least feel compelled to). Anyways, after reading this thread I took a screwdriver and scraped away the red spacer inside the battery chamber up by the post. Fn works good as new! Super stoked, because they had already sent me a replacement for this one last year and I left that one in a cab in Portland. Glad I found the post on this thread. Thanks!

Edited March 13, 2015 by Roguejuices