WZ and PD Cord Breaks

pbmagnet4

Well-Known Member
Throughout my time owning a WZ I have had my power cord break quite a few
times. I have read that some PD users have experinced this aswell. I am curious if anybody has found a fix for this? I purchased M Type power plugs from radioshack and cut and stripped the wire. I then ran the stripped cord through two holes on the plug and sodered them. I wouldnt mind purchasing a more sturdy wall unit if I had to.
 
pbmagnet4,

lwien

Well-Known Member
I've had my PD for over 2 years and never had this problem. Just takes a bit of caution when handling your vape as to not to put any stress on that plug. Some have found that if they wrap electrical tape between the plug and the cord helps.
 

stinkmeaner

Well-Known Member
For these to break it is probably self inflicted damage. They are probably holding the vape and gripping the cord causing a bend which eventually turns into a break.
 
stinkmeaner,

pbmagnet4

Well-Known Member
Hmm, it seems that it is pretty straight forwarf. No matter how hard I try they always seem to break. I have had three in a years worth of time having it. The first was just brutalized, but the third and second, i have been incredibly careful with.
 
pbmagnet4,

stinkmeaner

Well-Known Member
I had a couple ideas you might try using that may help cord longevity.

*Heat Shrink Tubing (the stuff used for covering wire connections) shrink it over the problem area of a new cord.
*Braided Sleeving
*Tapered Spring (some tools with cords that take a lot of abuse from twisting, bending, or moving use this) My Dremel tool has this and so does the Herb Iron.

http://cableorganizer.com/heat-shrink/
http://www.buyheatshrink.com/
 
stinkmeaner,

pbmagnet4

Well-Known Member
Heat shrink! Sounds great, I actually cant belive I havent thought of that. :/
I also would like to try the tapered string.
 
pbmagnet4,

caseball2051

Well-Known Member
where the power adapter fits into the vape, dont let that hang over. make sure you leave some room for it to relieve stress.

put it on the middle of a table instead of the edge, if that makes sense.

drooping the cord adds unneccesary stress to the joint that is weak.
 
caseball2051,

OC513

Dabaholic
I just wrapped my WDZ cord with electrical tape by where it fits into the WDZ......about 5 inches of it is wrapped and I have had no problems in 7 months.....using it MANY times daily.
 
OC513,

D'LO

Well-Known Member
I have most certainly had the same issues. I just don't think these things are meant to take much abuse at all. I had one break on me literally the day of. I replaced my last two PDP A/C adapters with one from radio shack and it hasn't had any problems, but I do make sure to baby the cord a bit when moving it and such.
 

vaporonly

living in a van down by the river
Throughout my time owning a WZ I have had my power cord break quite a few
times. I have read that some PD users have experinced this aswell. I am curious if anybody has found a fix for this? I purchased M Type power plugs from radioshack and cut and stripped the wire. I then ran the stripped cord through two holes on the plug and sodered them. I wouldnt mind purchasing a more sturdy wall unit if I had to.

how did this replacement hold up then?

i have a power adapter that has broken wires for my WDZ and have been searching around for a replacement, but if it would hold up fine, i wouldn't be opposed to trying a replacement tip.

is the PD adapter also AC to AC or is it AC to DC?

it's amazing how simple the AC to AC adapter is, just a wrapped wire that steps down the power...

edit: to also say I would think a right angle tip would help alot with this, not sure which one you got from radio shack.

i was wondering if another option would be to take the connector and thicker wire of an old laptop power supply and splice that into the log vap wall wort. I'm sure that thicker wire is going to do something to output, lower it right?

any support you add to the end is probably going to move the problem down the wire further, as the new weak spot will be where the support material ends....
 
vaporonly,

max

Out to lunch
any support you add to the end is probably going to move the problem down the wire further, as the new weak spot will be where the support material ends....
Nope. Just use electrical tape and wrap about 3", starting at the plug. Just use enough to get a thick wrap. That eliminates any sharp bending of the cord and the possibility of it breaking. It's a guaranteed fix.
 

vaporonly

living in a van down by the river
Nope. Just use electrical tape and wrap about 3", starting at the plug. Just use enough to get a thick wrap. That eliminates any sharp bending of the cord and the possibility of it breaking. It's a guaranteed fix.

i was just basing that guess off my experience with power tool cords that start to go bad and how the tape fixes it temporarily until the wire flex in the unsupported section causes damage.

I'm glad to hear it works out better for these log vape cords
 
vaporonly,

max

Out to lunch
The small cord, coming off the strain relief, gets flexed easily and badly. When you wrap with tape or whatever, it stiffens the cord and completely eliminates the sharp bending that tends to break the wires over time.
 
max,
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CentiZen

Evil Genius in Training
Accessory Maker
I use a special moulding putty called sugru for various things around my house and workbench, and one of those things is saving my cords!

I put some of this on many different cords at stress points to prevent this long term damage from occurring. This sugru stuff cures into a hard and strong rubber with just enough give to make it so that the most of the stress on the cord is dissipated. It's kind of perfect for this application.

Here is a picture of how I used it on my Cloud.

260aph5.jpg
 

Peloton

Vapes Hard
The small cord, coming off the strain relief, gets flexed easily and badly. When you wrap with tape or whatever, it stiffens the cord and completely eliminates the sharp bending that tends to break the wires over time.

Thank for you clarifying this for everyone, believe it or not some people just plain wear their vape cords out.. one shouldn't be so quick to assume abuse. I treat my vapes like they are my babies, and all that ever seems to go wrong with them is the cords breaking (Twice now has it been metal fatigue that has lead to a break). I really like that electrical tape idea too, thanks Max. I'm going to give that a go.
 
Peloton,

OF

Well-Known Member
I use a special moulding putty called sugru for various things around my house and workbench, and one of those things is saving my cords!

I put some of this on many different cords at stress points to prevent this long term damage from occurring. This sugru stuff cures into a hard and strong rubber with just enough give to make it so that the most of the stress on the cord is dissipated. It's kind of perfect for this application.

I've never seen the stuff, but you can do the same basic thing with hot melt glue. It's a urethane rubber, so when cooled forms a near ideal texture for such things. For some extra insurance, at the expense of appearance a bit, you can also tie a tight knot up close and bury that in the hot melt glue. This transfers the strain to the wire in the knot, not the connections inside the connector.

OF
 
OF,
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