Gentle Friends,
Coming 'up to speed' on Solo I thought I'd share a couple of thoughts/discoveries I've been having. First off, I too have followed the 'my stem's too loose' saga with some interest. I think there's some useful and fun play here for those inclined. I'm a bit worried about hardware store (plumbing) o-rings. IMO they're not a good choice of materials due to temperature concerns. There's a long way between boiling water hot and were we vape. I can see they may well get overheated, being BunaN or Neoprene rather than Viton or Silicone. They're also soft intentionally (better to seal water leaks), I'm not sure that's what we want? I also think the normal cord folks are using (1/8 Inch) is a bit too thick (witness the trouble some have getting the lid all the way down), 3/32 cord seems better sized. Likewise, half inch ID means it has to stretch a lot to pass the stem. I think the size we want is (industry standard size) -113? And in some high temperature material.
However, I think the idea is not to seal but to grip? A line contact like a ring is not really what we want, making the washer type seal a good idea if the hole is right and the thickness OK. Along those lines I'm having very good luck with a very short piece of 550F Silicone tube. Even though it's nominally small (half inch) being as short as it is (about 3/32 as best I can cut with scissors) it easily stretches and being as soft as it is it adjusts easily without problems. Mine is working very well for the last several days, if you have high quality silicone tube in that size I recommend trying it.
In a whole other area I too have had my white knuckle time staring at the lights. I have a very nice 9 Volt six Amp switcher here I'd love to use as a PA but it won't work. Even after dealing with the funny connector. It's giving the 'bottom 3 LED light show' instead. I just did a little test that I think has tied a bunch of this all together. Someone suggested a similar set of problems with charging being erratic was the result of under voltage from a defective wall wort. That got me to thinking about the auto switching that has to go on inside Solo. It has to sense that the 12 supply is good for charging but not for PA. Likewise, it has to 'know' the nine Volts it sees is not to charge with but to use for PA mode. No switches involved. So, I rigged it up to a variable supply and had a watch. That's exactly it. A solid 12 Volts is fine, but it 'yanks a bit' on it and if it sags too low it starts light shows. Several different ones that no doubt spell something useful out to those in the know. A bit above 9 Volts the 'last 3 together' show happens and stays the thing to do until just under 9.0 Volts when PA mode kicks in. As luck would have it my '9 Volt' supply reads 9.2 unloaded. Notice the '9 Volt' supply they sell (and label the unit for) is actually 8.5 per the nameplate? Clue there I think. It's not '9 Volts' for PA it's "at least a bit under 9.0" that's called for. Or so it seems. Next step I lower my supply down a mite and see if that makes everyone happy again. I bet it does.
I think there's more here than meets the eye. Randomly trying supplies is likely to not come out the way you'd normally think. Unless you've a taste for such stuff, sticking with the factory gear is probably the best call?
OF
