Discontinued The Grasshopper

[frank grimes]

Are you sure Bro? Reverse polarity protection is elementary in any device that uses batt. even the cheapest,
mod.

I’m sure. I’m without 2 hoppers because of that. That’s the real problem with the grasshopper design. Looks great but that’s at the sacrifice of any safeguards or protections any solid reliable product would have.

If you don’t believe, all you got to do is try it yourself.

I didn't even know this was something you could do.

Neither did I. Word of advice, don’t change batteries when you’re high. Twice I put in the batteries backwards when I was under the influence and it cost me dearly. Second time, I realized it just was I was tightening the backend onto the body but alas, it was too late....

 

[muunch]

I always keep an open mind on these vapes, coz I really don't understand everything about them yet.

Yup! I love this mindset.

Speaking of; we now have had pictures of 'hopper backend, and PCB in the past few pages. There's not much else left to show of the 'hopper, aside from the heater now... and the only place I can find with a picture of the heater (in this review posted by @david8613 few pages back) leads to a dead link.

(here: https://i0.wp.com/californiasea.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/grasshopper-heating-element.png)

Would really love to get a better understanding of the heating mechanisms of this device. I'm also kinda interested, as that page says the 'hopper was once 30W - now it will be over double that?

 

[triskelion]

So that is your challenge for me to believe you? To put my batt in reverse on my hopper?

I've put my battery in backwards before and it definitely didn't damage the unit. If I remember correctly it just turned red until I unscrewed the back end. Turned the battery around and it worked fine again.

I think it's not the battery or the hopper. It's the when your high, my goodness @pakalolo where are you?
Hehehe, just kidding.

 

[guyonthecouch]

@frank grimes

"Hey, you ok Grimey?"

 

[Raf]

Did you by chance put your battery in backward?
If you did, it instantly shorts the backend rendering it useless. Trust me I know, I did it twice.

@Hopper Labs, this problem is a HUGE design flaw which I’m surprised hasn’t been addressed. I bet a lot of RMAs are because of this. If it weren’t for the slight burnt smell that is emitted after the battery touches the backend contact, I wouldn’t have known that’s the reason it shorted. Kudos on the incredible esthetic design, but not worth it for the headaches it brings.

Sorry but this is false I have a stainless steel Hopper that I figured I could risk testing the strong bullshit feeling I was having on. I just put the battery in backwards and activated the device now when I turned it around it still works

On the other hand, I can confirm that spiking your unit into the ground, clicky side down, with 3 lb of glass behind it will definitely break the back end
I guess that was exciting for the stainless unit to come out of the box though, probably gave the old girl a thrill

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

There’s a lot of lighthearted talk about this but for safety’s sake I would really like to know what would happen if you insert your battery backwards into your Grasshopper. I’m OCD and a bit paranoid in general so I always double check when changing the battery but it would be nice to know if I don’t have to do that.

With so many different builds of the hopper possible and with multiple revisions to each component it might be impossible to say for sure.

Recent info says it’s fine and nothing happens. In the past there was an incident by @MoltenTiger and possibly another one by @lovecrush , but that one looks like it may have been the result of a torn wrapper. I wanted to post about this recently but by the time I got here it got a little out of hand with that one guy talking about Reddit posts...

@Hopper Labs: is there reverse polarization protection built into the device, has it been there all along, and if not when was it added?

So after 2.5 years, or near enough, I discovered last night that the GH doesn't have any polarisation protection!

Don't put the batteries in the wrong way, holy fuck!

I'd go as far to say that this would explain the few instances of burnt out devices.

I was pretty baked and grabbed a battery from the charged stash, I have one battery which I've adjusted the wrapping on the negitive end - I picked up that one, but decided to use a different batt. The one I grabbed was sitting 180° from the other, and without looking I dropped it in the hopper. I did the back end up and decided to select a different temp, finding that the dial was really hard to turn, almost fixed in place. How strange I thought, has the unit just died? A lot of force got it twisting, so I tried some big turns back and forth to 'loosen up the mechanism'. I hear electrical noise but no LEDs light up, and I'm thinking maybe the battery is inverted, or the back end is properly stuffed. I click it on, and the back end starts heating up fast. It doesn't stay on, but it was continueing to heat up and I began to smell hot electronics, the body and back end were beginning to be seriously hot to touch and I was considering grabbing a rag to further handle it, but I madly rushed off the back end and removed a HOT battery from the device.

The back end was also super hot, so I left it to cool down. The smell subsided, and I reckon much longer and things would have been catastrophic.
The front end wasn't affected.

I thought I probably killed the device, and eventually tested it to find that it still works as per normal.

Whoops!
Don't burn your houses down.

Someone should take the design and components and bring it to a single PCB. The amount of general problems is one thing, but the safety spec is very questionable.
Sure it's user error, but it's clearly happened before

https://www.reddit.com/r/GrassHopperVape/comments/5481nl/my_grasshopper_almost_exploded_serious/


How tarnished are the back-end threads looking?
A bit of blue tack might be able to spruce it back to life.

Also check the threads on the body, the battery terminals and contacts and the chamber itself for residue

My grasshopper almost exploded.

So, seems like I'm going to submite my fourth warranty request or whatever the fuck that means. I just switched batteries with my unit turned off and instantly I started to smell burned electronics in my room. My grasshopper got REALLY hot, like I couldn't even touch it, but I tried my best to unscrew the unit and remove the battery. My fingertips are hurting at the moment. The battery was melting and the top piece just got fucked as you can see in the picture. My room is still stinking like burned electronics btw. Honestly I'd just like a refund at this point (I don't know if that's possible, since I've already registered for the three previous warranties)

Nope, I always check my batteries before inserting them on my grasshopper. I ordered 8 of them in my initial order. The battery melted after I inserted it in my unit that was turned off.

 

[MoltenTiger]

There’s a lot of lighthearted talk about this but for safety’s sake I would really like to know what would happen if you insert your battery backwards into your Grasshopper. I’m OCD and a bit paranoid in general so I always double check when changing the battery but it would be nice to know if I don’t have to do that.

With so many different builds of the hopper possible and with multiple revisions to each component it might be impossible to say for sure.

Recent info says it’s fine and nothing happens. In the past there was an incident by @MoltenTiger and possibly another one by @lovecrush , but that one looks like it may have been the result of a torn wrapper. I wanted to post about this recently but by the time I got here it got a little out of hand with that one guy talking about Reddit posts...

@Hopper Labs: is there reverse polarization protection built into the device, has it been there all along, and if not when was it added?

I was thinking about that just last night.

I have combined my HT back end with my plain TI body (I thought the plain Ti unit was the device I was using when I had that hot reverse battery issue, but now I’m not sure as it was dated Sep. 2018 so it must have been my HT unit...) but anyway, my plain Ti has a 2019 or late 2018 (newer) heater design with older PCB, and the HT back end is a single clicker and looks holographic with it’s polychromatic finish. So combining both gets a single click on unit that’s a bit more powerful than my all HT set up.
I’ve been getting amazing clouds with the Ti body and playing Halo Reach most of the week, heaps of fun.

however, last night I decided to place a battery in backwards, not entirely sure why. But, it didn’t behave the same as last time. No LED illumination, no smells, no indication anything happened, although there was a mark on my brass plate on the back-end where the positive battery terminal was making contact. Probably mechanical scraping, but it left a silver circle which I then sanded off.

So, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll reassemble the all HT and see if it does something different. It shouldn’t cause a catastrophic failure, although from what I was describing before, maybe it can.

 

[Longen]

@Hopper Labs My original hopper needs to be sent in, (once you guys are back up and running) serial GS004373. I'm presuming it will still get repaired?

It has been back a couple of times, but when it was working it was definately my best vaporizer by far. I have also paid a deposit for a new hopper. Looking forward to seeing it milk my glass :-)

 

[Raf]

I was thinking about that just last night.

I have combined my HT back end with my plain TI body (I thought the plain Ti unit was the device I was using when I had that hot reverse battery issue, but now I’m not sure as it was dated Sep. 2018 so it must have been my HT unit...) but anyway, my plain Ti has a 2019 or late 2018 (newer) heater design with older PCB, and the HT back end is a single clicker and looks holographic with it’s polychromatic finish. So combining both gets a single click on unit that’s a bit more powerful than my all HT set up.
I’ve been getting amazing clouds with the Ti body and playing Halo Reach most of the week, heaps of fun.

however, last night I decided to place a battery in backwards, not entirely sure why. But, it didn’t behave the same as last time. No LED illumination, no smells, no indication anything happened, although there was a mark on my brass plate on the back-end where the positive battery terminal was making contact. Probably mechanical scraping, but it left a silver circle which I then sanded off.

So, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll reassemble the all HT and see if it does something different. It shouldn’t cause a catastrophic failure, although from what I was describing before, maybe it can.

That's really crazy reading those accounts above about what happened when batteries were put in reverse. I'm resisting hard to ask you guys how you can put one in backwards unless you did it in the dark or on purpose to see what would happen ( it's okay, you don't have to answer, I didn't technically ask)

For what it's worth, the stainless unit that I intentionally put the battery in backwards in last night was GS001777. I share this to rule out the possibility that new back-end safety improvements caused putting the battery in backwards not to blow up my device. I'll admit I was nervous clicking the button with the battery in reverse. Probably wouldn't have tried it (edit: indoors) if I had seen @Vapor_Eyes collection of historical posts. edit: the account of doing this repeatedly killing units over and over just did not ring true to me at all and I really wanted to prove it wrong, so yeah it was happening.

This was one of the early devices which I purchased off eBay because I was behind the curve on finding out about the Indiegogo campaign. So I ordered a titanium off the website right away which took about a year to arrive and then picked up some stainless off eBay

 

[Vaporific]

So that is your challenge for me to believe you? To put my batt in reverse on my hopper?

Don’t do it intentionally. While I can’t recall I’ve ever done this, accidentally or otherwise, I’ve observed a few issues. Once I thought I put the battery in - and didn’t, there was none on the unit - and I attempted to screw the backend and put the clip in the battery chamber (easy enough a mistake) and red lights came on for a sec. Whoa! Similarly I accidentally tried to put the backend in upside down - button first - without a battery in and noticed red lights for a sec. Again, whoa!

While one would hope there would be protection against reverse polarity (RUSH! -> Vital Signs ) the unit tends to conduct current without a batt in some cases. It’s odd but not surprised. I would never intentionally do this but just some random and accidental observations.

 

[MoltenTiger]

That's really crazy reading those accounts above about what happened when batteries were put in reverse. I'm resisting hard to ask you guys how you can put one in backwards unless you did it in the dark or on purpose to see what would happen ( it's okay, you don't have to answer, I didn't technically ask)

For what it's worth, the stainless unit that I intentionally put the battery in backwards in last night was GS001777. I share this to rule out the possibility that new back-end safety improvements caused putting the battery in backwards not to blow up my device. I'll admit I was nervous clicking the button with the battery in reverse. Probably wouldn't have tried it if I had seen @Vapor_Eyes collection of historical posts.

This was one of the early devices which I purchased off eBay because I was behind the curve on finding out about the Indiegogo campaign. So I ordered a titanium off the website right away which took about a year to arrive and then picked up some stainless off eBay

well I described it in more detail than I remembered in my post in 2018, but basically I was going to use a particular battery, and changed my mind, grabbed another and without looking slapped it in and spun the back end on. Near the end of the twisting is when I noticed something was amiss, but I just forced it on and that's when I ran into issues.

Just a classic mistake that I had never thought about and chanced upon after years of trouble free battery swaps. Since then I have inserted a battery in backwards at least once that I can recall, and immediately ejected and switched it. I do normally pay attention, but sometimes the cost is too much.
I'm also guilty of loading the top of my PFE instead of the chamber, several times, which is a classic too-stoned-to-need-more-but-I'm-going-to-try-anyway situation. And there was something else I did recently which either involved herb and the battery chamber or the battery and the herb chamber, but I really can't remember.

You can't be this careless with most vaporisers, I always muse when introducing the Sub to people, especially after they have experienced it, how crazy it is to set something like that up, which can melt hair and cause serious burns, only to proceed to get fuck eyed using it. It's actually a little risky. But with little risk is little reward.

 

[Raf]

well I described it in more detail than I remembered in my post in 2018, but basically I was going to use a particular battery, and changed my mind, grabbed another and without looking slapped it in and spun the back end on. Near the end of the twisting is when I noticed something was amiss, but I just forced it on and that's when I ran into issues.

Just a classic mistake that I had never thought about and chanced upon after years of trouble free battery swaps. Since then I have inserted a battery in backwards at least once that I can recall, and immediately ejected and switched it. I do normally pay attention, but sometimes the cost is too much.
I'm also guilty of loading the top of my PFE instead of the chamber, several times, which is a classic too-stoned-to-need-more-but-I'm-going-to-try-anyway situation. And there was something else I did recently which either involved herb and the battery chamber or the battery and the herb chamber, but I really can't remember.

You can't be this careless with most vaporisers, I always muse when introducing the Sub to people, especially when they have experienced it, how crazy it is to set something like that up, which can melt hair and cause serious burns, only to proceed to get fuck eyed using it. It's actually a little risky. But with little risk is little reward.

I hear you, I have loaded the front of end of a PFE at least 3 times. Thats near 0 brain level attention paying time for me tho, whereas with the batteries I'm always feeling a little alert

I guess learning to drive with the thermovape cera taught me to fear batteries very effectively. I wonder what would have happened if you put one of those in backwards

I want to believe that any grasshopper battery that failed had a torn wrapper. I've been walking around thinking these things had a hundred percent safety record. I think I was so relaxed from my lavender aromatherapy that I didn't really read the forum much during 2018

 

[MoltenTiger]

I hear you, I have loaded the front of end of a PFE at least 3 times. Thats near 0 brain level attention paying time for me tho, whereas with the batteries I'm always feeling a little alert

I guess learning to drive with the thermovape cera taught me to fear batteries very effectively. I wonder what would have happened if you put one of those in backwards

it's pretty annoying with all the resin that it sticks to, and you just sit there thinking, well.... I guess the product works well shiiit.

It reminds me of watching people load up stems without a cone piece, then they realise 'oh shit', and everyone is sad because the mix is floating in bong water and stuck to death in a clogged stem. And the culprit is still next in line. Fuck combustion haha, fuck that mess.

At least when you reload the chamber after scraping it out of a PFE it becomes super charged because of the added amber gold.

 

[Raf]

it's pretty annoying with all the resin that it sticks to, and you just sit there thinking, well.... I guess the product works well shiiit.

It reminds me of watching people load up stems without a cone piece, then they realise 'oh shit', and everyone is sad because the mix is floating in bong water and stuck to death in a clogged stem. And the culprit is still next in line. Fuck combustion haha, fuck that mess.

At least when you reload the chamber after scraping it out of a PFE it becomes super charged because of the added amber gold.

Yeah accidentally loading the front of the PFE is a victimless crime, a personal Yao laugh face moment. No harm done, good times. Once you start loading the battery chamber tho, then yeah you need to rest for a while. Lol.

 

[MoltenTiger]

Yeah accidentally loading the front of the PFE is a victimless crime, a personal Yao laugh face moment. No harm done, good times. Once you start loading the battery chamber tho, then yeah you need to rest for a while. Lol.

haha

PFE more like

I'm pretty sure whatever I did that was even stupider was mostly due to dabs and the Sub, which the GH goes so well with. Terpy headiness on top of something close to saturated ECS, sublime. But, very disfunctional.

 

[Cheesequake]

Once I thought I put the battery in - and didn’t, there was none on the unit - and I attempted to screw the backend and put the clip in the battery chamber (easy enough a mistake) and red lights came on for a sec.

I don't see how that could have possibly happened unless you had it hooked to the charger as well. The hopper is an incredible device but I'm 99% sure it doesn't magically produce its own electricity.

 

[Raf]

Maybe one of the circuits has a small capacitor on it? For me the technology here is sufficiently Advanced that I don't understand so it counts as Magic.

What I have seen happen is while putting a new battery in a new Hopper, it would momentarily pulse red as if to say "that feels good". My friend and I were each independently having this happen with the new bodies. It seems like it's stopped doing that after a while. It makes me wonder if it's because the maximum capacity of my batteries has degraded beyond the point where the hopper is like: yeah baby, that feels good! when I put a freshly charged one in

Pulse was medium bright, then slow fade to black < 1 sec

 

[Vaporific]

I don't see how that could have possibly happened unless you had it hooked to the charger as well. The hopper is an incredible device but I'm 99% sure it doesn't magically produce its own electricity.

I know but I recall exactly where I was when this happened
- and it wasn’t connected to the mag charging cord, which I’ve only begun to use with minimal frequency as of late. It’s an extreme case, yes I was baked when it happened, but recall it well. Perhaps the unit had some residual charge built up sans battery in it but I recall seeing red lights for a second. It was very weird.

Weekend regards to all.

 

[Baron23]

Maybe one of the circuits has a small capacitor on it?

Yes, this was my thought also.

 

[frank grimes]

So that is your challenge for me to believe you? To put my batt in reverse on my hopper?


I think it's not the battery or the hopper. It's the when your high, my goodness @pakalolo where are you?
Hehehe, just kidding.

Nope, no challenge. No need to be so sensitive.

My statement should be taken at face value. If you don’t believe, you can try it yourself...or not. Don’t matter to me.

 

[Raf]

We will be making a trip to visit the original battery factory and the new battery factory in the middle of next week. After this, we should have a timeline and more updates on when the new batteries will be coming out.

Remember that scene in Temple of Doom where Indiana Jones is boarding the plane while the Chinese villains laugh and then it turns out their company name is printed on the side of the plane?

I hope the battery factory tour goes well @Hopper Labs

 

[triskelion]

My take is that the batteries that power these portable units are notoriously unstable devices and should always be treated with respect. we cannot be absent-minded about them. there are cooler ways to disagree with anybody's opinion, Peace.

 

[david8613]

Is it bad to leave a battery in the hopper when not in use?

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

I recently ended my voluntary T-break and have been using my Grasshoppers again. The Ti unit is still working well but the SS seems to be running cold. I noticed this drop in performance right before my break earlier this year but considering I was taking a break and with the long wait for warranty I decided not to send it in. I thought about just buying a body but the auto shutoff hasn’t worked either since the last repair in October 2017. If I put my Ti back end on my SS body it still runs cold but the auto shutoff works. If I put my SS back end on my Ti body it heats well but doesn’t turn off automatically. One benefit of having multiple devices is that it makes it easier to troubleshoot.

I guess it is finally time to fix my SS hopper.

 

[NOLOGO]

When you look at the circuit board in the body you can see where the positive terminal of the battery either rubs off the contact over time, or sort of polishes it. (I think it was discussed at length many moons ago. Does anyone remember what that is?
@Hopper Labs could you possibly remind us?)

But anyway my point is that that area is smaller diameter than the entire contact's area, but maybe not as large as the negative end of a battery. Then you have solder with varying tolerances, right at the edge of the gold contact, and I would think that the negative end might could touch some of it. In some hoppers but not necessarily ALL of them. This is, of course, simply speculation.