Discontinued Pax Vaporizer by Ploom
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Just got my PAX today and am looking forward to using it. It's now in it's dock at my office. I've been using a SOLO for the past couple of weeks and love it. My plan is to use the SOLO at home and use the PAX as my take-out. Regarding the comments on the this thread, this is what I've experienced. One has to press on the mouthpiece softly and it clicks out and back in quite easily - it doesn't pop out; just don't treat it like a ball point pen. To change temps, just press on the LED lightly and hold it till you see the color temp that you want. Will let you know how the Vape tastes relative to the SOLO. Regarding battery, does anyone have suggestions related to charging. Can one leave it in it's cradle indefinitely until you're ready to use it or should it by cycled?
A few hours ago Planet Vape sent me this message:
"We have some disappointing news regarding the PAX. You are correct, currently the chargers supplied with the PAX only accept 110 -120 volts and this is why PAX sales will be limited to Canada and the USA only.
"We have had to change our website to reflect that we can sell only within Canada. We love that you chose PlanetVape for your PAX order and would really like to sell you the PAX, but at this time we are only allowed to sell in Canada.
"Good news is that PAX will soon have a charger capable of higher voltages, not sure if it will work in Australia though.
"We hate to ever say this to a customer, but it looks like we will have to cancel your order and refund your money, please let us know if this is okay with you."
PV always replied to my emails promptly. As far as I'm concerned, they did their best, and if I lived in Canada, I'd buy a PAX from them.
My message to lucky PAX owners: Spare a thought please, for us underprivileged Aussies and Kiwis down-under.
sucks aye surley it cant be that hard to sus something out can we not just get a adapter or something like that? And the nz voltage is 240 so would that just mean it would just take longer to charge or someshit? I dont really know much about that shit haha
tranceporter
The Cloud Conductor
A few hours ago Planet Vape sent me this message:
"We have some disappointing news regarding the PAX. You are correct, currently the chargers supplied with the PAX only accept 110 -120 volts and this is why PAX sales will be limited to Canada and the USA only.
"We have had to change our website to reflect that we can sell only within Canada. We love that you chose PlanetVape for your PAX order and would really like to sell you the PAX, but at this time we are only allowed to sell in Canada.
"Good news is that PAX will soon have a charger capable of higher voltages, not sure if it will work in Australia though.
"We hate to ever say this to a customer, but it looks like we will have to cancel your order and refund your money, please let us know if this is okay with you."
PV always replied to my emails promptly. As far as I'm concerned, they did their best, and if I lived in Canada, I'd buy a PAX from them.
My message to lucky PAX owners: Spare a thought please, for us underprivileged Aussies and Kiwis down-under.
I hope things get sorted out for our Aussie vapor brothers. You guys deserve an awesome product just as much as we do.
Vapor Junkie
Active Member
It wouldn't just take longer to charge, instead it would simply burn up the charging circuit in the Pax, ruining the device.
why don't the aussies and NZ guys just buy a converter? When I was in Iraq everyone had to buy a 110 converter because all the bases in country are 220Volt outlets, european style. the converter costs $75 online or cheaper and you can use any North American voltage product in the future.
Do NOT use it with 240 volts. You'll fry the charger. If you had a voltage converter, then you'd be ok. Most electronic devices these days now come with built in circuitry that allows for either 110 or 240 volts which is pretty much the standard. This gives companies like Apple the ability to produce only one version and not have to supply 2 versions to the world which used to be the case. However, the PAX has not followed this approach probably to keep costs down.
I still have an open question about charging. Can one just leave the PAX in the charger indefinitely or does it have to by cycled?
mod note: back-to-back posts, merged. Please use the edit button instead of posting twice in a row, thanks
I still have an open question about charging. Can one just leave the PAX in the charger indefinitely or does it have to by cycled?
mod note: back-to-back posts, merged. Please use the edit button instead of posting twice in a row, thanks
It is best to cycle lithium batteries. leaving them on the charger topped off creates this thing called hyper oxidation in the battery world and will degrade the life of the battery over time faster. Best way to use lithium batteries in any device:
try to keep it at 80% charge most of the time.
Never let a lithium go below 30% charge
Never store a lithium at full charge for more than a few days
the tips above reduce oxidation of the cells significantly
hope this helps
Vapor Junkie
Active Member
Without getting into the complexities of battery technology(because I'm typing this on my iPad), the answer is No. You should not leave any device with a lithium battery on the charger indefinitely.
Of course every device has different charging circuitry and it's likely the Pax charger stops outputting as soon as the battery is full, however it's never good to leave any lithium battery fully charged for an extended period of time. This slowly damages the cell(s) of the battery over time and decreases their effective capacity permanently. The best practice is to leave them around 50-70% charged if it's going to be for more than a few days. I realize this isn't always possible or convenient, but it is best for the health of the battery.
theShatteredOne
Member
This is from their Q&A section on the website:
That being said I would like a concrete yes/no on just leaving it on the charger.
edit:
Just spoke with the customer service duder through their online chat here's the transcript:
So looks like were good to go to leave them on the base station per Ploom.
From our experiences, there is no harm to leave any battery powered device plugged into its' proper charger, this includes your cell phones, laptops, PAX and most consumer electronics. If there are products that can be damaged by overcharging, it is usually due to a poorly engineered electronic charging circuit. It is known that keeping a lithium Ion battery fully charged all the time will diminish it's lifetime, so it's good to run down the battery with regular use vs. always keeping it fully charged. Hope that helps and more folks save their lungs with so many great Vapes to choose from!
Vapor Junkie
Active Member
While I'm happy that you got an official response, I feel I should let you know that the posts made earlier about leaving lithium batteries fully charged is FACT. It has to do with the chemistry in the battery, not the charging circuit in the device.
Also I believe someone posted a few days ago that the 10 year warranty does not cover the battery.
I'm just making sure you know the implications of leaving it fully charged. It WILL (slowly)damage the battery over time. This is the same reason why everyone's laptop batteries die before they reach their expected cycle life. The manufacturers don't bother to tell everyone that leaving your laptop plugged in and fully charged all the time is BAD for the battery!
Just food for thought. If you want your Pax to last a really long time(5+ years), my PERSONAL recommendation is that if not using it for a few days or more, take it off the charger and run the battery down a little bit.
Well thanks everyone for your input on my question. I will go with their recommendation just so that I will always have it on hand to take with me and not have to worry about its charge state. I'm not looking to keep any device for 5+ years. If I have it a couple of years, that's fine, then I'll go buy the next one that's available, if not before. It's only a couple of hundred dollars, not a couple of thousand. :-)
I'm used to very good product and all I need is three nice hits and I'm fine on my SOLO. Looking at the size of the oven on the PAX, one can fill it up for days worth from my perspective. Question is: if I put in a couple of pinches like I do on the SOLO, will it perform?
mod note: back-to-back posts, merged. This is the second time you have been asked not to do this in this thread. Please use the edit button. This is your last free pass.
I'm used to very good product and all I need is three nice hits and I'm fine on my SOLO. Looking at the size of the oven on the PAX, one can fill it up for days worth from my perspective. Question is: if I put in a couple of pinches like I do on the SOLO, will it perform?
mod note: back-to-back posts, merged. This is the second time you have been asked not to do this in this thread. Please use the edit button. This is your last free pass.
So I got to try mine last night.
I just took two hits on medium cause I still have basically no tolerance for herbs yet. The taste was very unique, different from my MFLB. It actually tasted good! I also am not a fan of how herbs smell so for me to like the vapor was surprising. Had rather large vapor clouds so I was impressed. I got pretty medicated so I just listened to music until I eventually fell asleep. I am loving this device for its simplicity and ease of use.
My only issue was that to draw it seemed kind of hard. Like there was resistance. Perhaps I packed the bowl too tightly or something.
I just took two hits on medium cause I still have basically no tolerance for herbs yet. The taste was very unique, different from my MFLB. It actually tasted good! I also am not a fan of how herbs smell so for me to like the vapor was surprising. Had rather large vapor clouds so I was impressed. I got pretty medicated so I just listened to music until I eventually fell asleep. I am loving this device for its simplicity and ease of use.
My only issue was that to draw it seemed kind of hard. Like there was resistance. Perhaps I packed the bowl too tightly or something.
SOLO is like that as well. As was discussed earlier on, you can smoke it by sucking on like a cigar and breathing in. I do that in combination with inhaling slowly; no need to rush it. I'm still interested in whether one has to fill the chamber or can we fill it let's say by 1/4 or half and will that work?
just got my pax in the mail a few hours ago, used it right out of the box for a few hits, some of the best tasting vapor i've had from a vape before. just finished charging it up and now going for a full session, so far its been great 
the oven lid does get quite hot, but honestly the rest of the device is only warm to the touch, obviously its much hotter towards the bottom (i'm on the highest temperature setting). that being said, its still not so hot that i can't touch it at all, i can definitely remove the lid without burning myself at all, maybe thats just because i'm used to using a blow torch though
also, the clicking of the mouth piece is not bad at all. already used to it
i already love this thing, will post back here if i have any complaints about it though.
the oven lid does get quite hot, but honestly the rest of the device is only warm to the touch, obviously its much hotter towards the bottom (i'm on the highest temperature setting). that being said, its still not so hot that i can't touch it at all, i can definitely remove the lid without burning myself at all, maybe thats just because i'm used to using a blow torch though
also, the clicking of the mouth piece is not bad at all. already used to it
i already love this thing, will post back here if i have any complaints about it though.
just got off work and picked up my pax from my lhs, the guys there were all stoked about it which made me even more stoked. just staring at the orange charging light... can't wait!
For anyone interested in maximizing battery life you need to break in the battery:
If you don't have a volt meter, just vape a bowl, charge, vape two bowls, charge, ect until the battery goes red. I wouldn't push the device once it hits red, not enough is known about what voltage triggers the red battery indicator but if it is at near 30% I personally would not press your luck with that extra sesh since lithium batteries that go below 30% suffer irreparable harm, in extreme cases where the battery is let to drain to 0% the battery may not recharge at all. just food for thought.
I'll test the voltage at full charge and calculate accordingly for the safest max discharge on this device and report back. (in terms of how many bowls can safely be done with a red battery indicator)
mod note: Back-to-back posts, merged. Did you think the last two cautions on this page only applied to Steve S.? Use the edit button, don't make two consecutive posts five minutes apart.
For anyone interested in maximizing battery life you need to break in the battery:
- fully charge
- discharge to 80% (use a volt meter on the battery charging contacts behind mouth piece
- Fully charge
- discharge to 60%
- Fully charge
- discharge to 40%
- fully charge
- discharge to 30%
- fully charge
If you don't have a volt meter, just vape a bowl, charge, vape two bowls, charge, ect until the battery goes red. I wouldn't push the device once it hits red, not enough is known about what voltage triggers the red battery indicator but if it is at near 30% I personally would not press your luck with that extra sesh since lithium batteries that go below 30% suffer irreparable harm, in extreme cases where the battery is let to drain to 0% the battery may not recharge at all. just food for thought.
I'll test the voltage at full charge and calculate accordingly for the safest max discharge on this device and report back. (in terms of how many bowls can safely be done with a red battery indicator)
mod note: Back-to-back posts, merged. Did you think the last two cautions on this page only applied to Steve S.? Use the edit button, don't make two consecutive posts five minutes apart.
Drastic
Vape4Life
Got the unit yesterday, gone through about 5/6 loads now. This thing is great!
When I first opened the box and checked battery it was red. I put it on the charger and it turned green in like 10 minutes. I kept it on for maybe 2 to 3 10min sessions empty for the burn-in and it pretty quickly started to flash red.
There was no plastic smell but there was a smell of like warming solder flux, reminded me of the smell coming off a just used soldering iron when its sitting on its stand. I'm pretty sure its gone now, all I smell is a lil avb smell after a thorough cleaning with 99% iso.
There was no visible vapor at all coming out of a new empty unit!! YAY!!
Flavor is great for the first 5/6 hits, can't compare to the first 1 or 2 bags on a volcano of course.
One thing i noticed, the magnets on the oven cover get very hot, close to oven wall temp and heat will demagnetize magnets. Not sure if the magnets inside the unit get hot but the ones on the oven cover will definitely loose their hold over time, should just be able to get a new oven cover though.
I still have to test the battery duration, it seems a little short so far.
How many sessions do you guys get in, on what temps, and for how long? This will vary due to preference and the standby mode but lets try to collect some data on this.
Time for more testing!!
When I first opened the box and checked battery it was red. I put it on the charger and it turned green in like 10 minutes. I kept it on for maybe 2 to 3 10min sessions empty for the burn-in and it pretty quickly started to flash red.
There was no plastic smell but there was a smell of like warming solder flux, reminded me of the smell coming off a just used soldering iron when its sitting on its stand. I'm pretty sure its gone now, all I smell is a lil avb smell after a thorough cleaning with 99% iso.
There was no visible vapor at all coming out of a new empty unit!! YAY!!
Flavor is great for the first 5/6 hits, can't compare to the first 1 or 2 bags on a volcano of course.
One thing i noticed, the magnets on the oven cover get very hot, close to oven wall temp and heat will demagnetize magnets. Not sure if the magnets inside the unit get hot but the ones on the oven cover will definitely loose their hold over time, should just be able to get a new oven cover though.
I still have to test the battery duration, it seems a little short so far.
How many sessions do you guys get in, on what temps, and for how long? This will vary due to preference and the standby mode but lets try to collect some data on this.
Time for more testing!!
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